In a now-closed thread, a mighty Christian defender suggests that when leaving Mormonism in search of "the truth" in Jesus, one should turn to the writings of C.S. Lewis.
Been there, done that.
Out of curiousity, some years ago I got myself a copy of one of Lewis' more famous books, "Mere Christianity"--which, quite frankly, I found to be so dull, shallow and boilerplate that I've since lost track of where I laid my personal copy.
Nonetheless, this intense Christian defender brought up my grandfather's name in an effort to make his case for Christianity, which prompted poster SLCabbie to accurately note that Ezra Taft Benson's famous "Beware of Pride" talk was--well, I'll be damned--heavily plagiarized from Lewis' "Mere Christianity." (Cabbie also inconveniently mentioned that Lewis borrowed from Milton in penning his "Screwtape Letters," and so it goes).
Anyway, the point here for those Jesus boosters out there who pound on Mormonism in favor of Christianity and come to this board trying to use both Lewis and ETB to make their case for their unrisen Lord, it's really not that necessary.
Like I said, the Mormon prophet Ezra Taft Benson was cribbing from Lewis years ago. Those of you anti-Mormon Christians who choose to venture on to RFM in the name of the Lewis-for-Jesus movement could save yourself the trouble of scoping out a new faith and just read ETB's purloined version of Lewis' own writings.
Let the point-by-point demonstration of that fact now commence:
--Was Ezra Taft Benson's Famous Sermon on Pride Borrowed From the Writings of C.S. Lewis?--
Previous inquiries along that line on this board have cited a sermon of then-Mormon Church President Ezra Taft Benson, entitled "Beware of Pride."
The question is whether Benson’s sermon plagiarized the writings of Christian apologist C.S. Lewis, from Lewis' book "Mere Christianity," specifically the chapter, “The Great Sin” (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1952, revised and enlarged).
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--Mormon Worship of a Non-Mormon Talk That Mormons Think is Mormon--
In Mormon circles, one of the most beloved sermons attributed to the then-LDS Church President ETB is, in fact, the "Pride" one (which was actually read on 1 April 1989, at the Saturday morning session of the 159th semi-annual General Conference, not by Benson, but by First Presidency counselor Gordon B. Hinckley, who delivered it in the ailing Benson's behalf).
This talk by my grandfather has been described by LDS devotees as "[p}erhaps the best remembered of all Ezra Taft Benson's talks . . . [Church] [m]embers from all over the political spectrum love and agree with him here. This talk is . . . loved."
http://www.zionsbest.com/pride.htmlhttp://www.zionsbest.com/top25.htmlMoreover, in a glowing obituary of my grandfather, the sermon was mentioned as follows:
"Continuing to help set the Church in order and perfect the Saints, he delivered another landmark address entitled 'Beware of Pride' . . ."
http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/daily/history/people/Benson_EOM.htmToo bad he didn't write it.
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--Abundant Evidence of Lewis-Looted Lines--
A line-by-line comparison of the text of both documents provides clear and convincing evidence for the source of Ezra Taft Benson's talk on pride.
His sermon borrowed heavily, and without attribution, both in terms of wording and concept, from Lewis’ earlier work.
Examples of these plagiarisms are listed below, by topic.
**Pride is the Ultimate Vice**
Lewis:
"The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride." (p. 109)
Benson:
"Pride is the universal sin, the great vice."
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**Competitive Nature of Pride**
Lewis:
"Pride is essentially competitive--is competitive by is very nature . . .” (p. 109)
". . . Pride is essentially competitive in a way that other vices are not." (p. 110)
"Pride is competitive by its very nature." (p. 110)
“Once the element of competition has gone, pride is gone. That is why I say that Pride is essentially competitive in a way the other vices are not.” (p. 110)
Benson:
"Pride is essentially competitive in nature. . . .
Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled."
_____
**The Proud See Themselves Being Above Others**
Lewis:
"A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you." (p.111)
Benson:
“Most of us consider pride to be a sin of those on the top, such as the rich and the learned, looking down at the rest of us.”
_____
**The Proud Also Look From the Bottom Up**
Lewis:
“When you delight wholly in yourself and do not care about the praise at all, you have reached the bottom.” (p. 112)
Benson:
“There is, however, a more common ailment among us and that is pride from the bottom looking up.”
_____
**Pride Equals Enmity**
Lewis:
"Pride always means enmity--it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God." (p.111)
Benson:
"The central feature of pride is enmity--enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowman."
“Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers.”
“Another major portion of this very prevalent sin of pride is enmity toward our fellowmen.”
_____
**Pride and Self-Value**
Lewis:
"You value other people enough to want them to look at you." (p. 112)
Benson:
"The proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they have value or not."
_____
**Pride vs. Humility**
Lewis:
"The virtue opposite to it [pride], in Christian morals, is called Humility." (p. 109)
“ . . . if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble—delightfully humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which had made you restless and unhappy all your life. He is trying to make you humble in order to make this moment possible . . .” (p. 114)
Benson:
"The antidote for pride is humility . . . "
“Choose to be humble. God will have a humble people. Either we can choose to be humble or we can be compelled to be humble.”
_____
**Pride Not Admitted in Self**
Lewis:
"There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves." (pp. 108-09)
Benson:
"Pride is a sin that can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted in ourselves."
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Finally, leading to the false impression that the sermon originated with Benson and not Lewis, only once in ETB's sermon was proper credit given to Lewis as a source:
"The proud make every man their adversary by pitting their intellects, opinions, works, wealth, talents, or any other worldly measuring device against others. In the words of C.S. Lewis: "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. . . . It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone" (C.S. Lewis, "Mere Christianity" [New York: Macmillan, 1952], pp. 109-10)."
_____
--Conclusion: Damning Details on the Research and Writing of ETB's Sermon on Pride--
Some years ago, I visited with May Benson, wife of Reed Benson (ETB's oldest child), in their home in Provo, Utah, during which time the subject of ETB's sermon on pride was a focus of conversation.
The first occasion was prior to the public delivery of ETB's sermon by Gordon B. Hinckley in the April 1989 General Conference and the second visit came after the speech.
May said on that occasion that she had very strong feelings about the subject of pride. She was especially offended and concerned with what she regarded as the Benson family's own problems with pride.
(In fact, she had gotten up in disgust and walked out of a wedding breakfast for my sister, when one of the daughters of ETB, while listening to the father of the groom make some remarks to the assembled, leaned over and whispered self-righteously, "Well, we know which family was blessed with the spirituality").
May said she had put together quite a few thoughts on the subject of pride that she hoped someday to compile and publish in a book.
However, after my grandfather’s pride sermon was delivered, May said she no longer felt it necessary to publish her hoped-for book. Why? Because, she said, her husband Reed had spoken with Ezra Taft Benson about her research on the topic.
May was clearly indicating that her information and study efforts had been used in crafting my grandfather’s sermon on pride.
However, the true extent of May Benson's involvement in that effort was not openly shared by her and did not become apparent until some time later.
Reliable sources in Provo subsequently informed me of rumors that May herself may have worked on Ezra Taft Benson’s sermon.
This I was able to conclusively confirm from a very credible source inside Benson family circles who knows May very well, who was personally and directly familiar with the situation and who wishes to remain anonymous.
The source told me in a face-to-face meeting that May Benson, daughter-in-law of Ezra Taft Benson through marriage to his son Reed, traveled to St. George, Utah, where over a period of several weeks “she wrote his talk.”
It appears that those responsible for the production and delivery of Ezra Taft Benson's "Beware of Pride" sermon were themselves too prideful to acknowlege that:
--(1) the sermon was largely plagiarized from the earlier works of a noted Christian writer; and
--(2) the sermon was actually ghost-written by a woman doing research on the talk for an uninspired Mormon "prophet."
*****
So, for you Christians who come to this board touting C.S. Lewis as an inspired and inspiring alternative to the Mormons' Joseph Smith, just remember that the LDS Church must be true; after all, its prophet, seer and revelator ripped off Lewis big-time for a General Conference sermon and the LDS Church has kept making that rip-off publicly available ever since to its gullible believers.
In the name of Geezus Christ, say it ain't so!
Amen.
Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2010 03:36AM by steve benson.