Hallway and rooms

My brother-in-law DE is especially fond of this passage from Mere Christianity (at the end of the preface) so I thought I'd share it with everyone:

I hope no reader will suppose that “mere” Christianity is here put forward as an alternative to the creeds of the existing communions – as if a man could adopt it in preference to Congregationalism or Greek Orthodoxy or anything else. It is more like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms. If I can bring anyone into that hall I shall have done what I attempted. But it is in the rooms, not in the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meals. The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try the various doors, not a place to live in. For that purpose the worst of the rooms (whichever that may be) is, I think, preferable. It is true that some people may find they have to wait in the hall for a considerable time, while others feel certain almost at once which door they must knock at. I do not know why there is this difference, but I am sure God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait. When you do get into your room you will find that the long wait has done you some kind of good which you would not have had otherwise. But you must regard it as waiting, not as camping. You must keep praying for light: and, of course, even in the hall, you must begin trying to obey the rules which are common to the whole house. And above all you must be asking which door is the true one; not which pleases you best by its paint and paneling. In plain language, the question should never be: “Do I like this kind of service?” but “Are these doctrines true: Is holiness here? Does my conscience move me towards this? Is my reluctance to knock at this door due to my pride, or my mere taste, or my personal dislike of this particular door-keeper?”

When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall. If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more; and if they are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them. That is one of the rules common to the whole house.

I think there's some truth in this. While discussing my intention to investigate the LDS Church in a prior post, I mentioned the benefit of community as it pertains to organized religion. That is one aspect of the room vs the hallway that C.S. Lewis is describing above. Using Lewis' metaphor, right now I'm in the hallway and I'm peaking my head into the LDS room, leaning my weight into the door frame, but resisting the momentum to go all the way in. It will be interesting to see how long that lasts and whether I poke my head into any other rooms before finally picking one. I think it's a question of "when" not "if" at this point and I suspect that Lewis will be right when he says that when I do get into my room, I will find that the long wait has done me some kind of good which I would not have had otherwise.