C.S. LEWIS - IS HE THE FATHER OF ECUMENISM ? BY JACK THOMSON

We know that C S Lewis has been, and continues to be widely acclaimed as a great apologist for Christianity and, while it is not my purpose in this piece to dispute such acclamation - it is certainly my intention to explore the possibility that this prolific writer was not a Christian - by any biblical definition of the term.

Preposterous - untrue - unfair - unfounded - ridiculous - risible - heretical - irrational - you cannot be serious - judge not lest ye be judged…The tirade of comments which I’ve received in knee jerk defence of C S Lewis’ Christian integrity are as endless - as they have been formidable - as they have been hostile. Indeed I sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t be more acceptable in some ‘Christian’ circles to attack Christ’s claims of divinity rather than cast the ‘merest’ shadow of doubt over the authenticity of C S Lewis’ Christian status.

But, setting aside the subject of the popular author’s Christian credentials let me digress, momentarily, by introducing the following questions:

Does a sport’s commentator need to be practised in the sport on which he/she offers informed commentary?

For instance, the renowned, now retired Formula One Racing commentator - Murray Walker - was he ever a Formula One racing driver?

Since the answer to both questions is an emphatic ‘No’, I can promptly return to the main theme with the affirmation that a person doesn’t need to be practised in a discipline to become an ‘expert commentator’ on that discipline. - and it is with this ‘thin edge’ of reason that I hope to begin the arduous process of wedging open the most prejudiced of closed minds to the possibility that a person can have an intellectual grasp of, and be an ‘expert commentator’ on Christianity - without necessarily being a real ‘Christian’.

And, having placed that ‘thin edge’ of reason against, what might only be, the slightest of fissures on the stubborn skull of the partisan, pro-Lewis mindset - let me continue by attempting to hammer the wedge in a little deeper and open the crack a little wider…..

Thwack, thwack.

Window cleaners are an interesting bunch, are they not?

The window cleaner’s task enables him to gather a considerable amount of information about customers’ homes and lifestyles - without any need to enter their houses. When the chamois champ goes about his daily business he can’t help but engage his natural inquisitiveness and explore the furnishings, fittings and personal effects which lie in the rooms behind each of the windows he has cleaned.

Indeed, if such a cleaner, for whatever reason, developed an obsessive interest in any particular customer - he could, if he so desired, prepare a very detailed dossier on that client’s home, habits and interests - and it would all have been done, quite naturally, in the normal course of his work -  without the necessity of entering the home.

So the questions arise, and they are crucial questions:

Was C S Lewis an occupant of a house called ‘Christian Faith’ - or was he merely an inquisitive window cleaner who, for his own selfish reasons, took a special interest in that particular house and occupiers?

Or, to put it another way, did C S Lewis glean all of his information about Christianity purely as a self indulging intellectual exercise - or did he obtain his knowledge by actually becoming a spiritually regenerate  Christian ?.

Thwack, thwack.

Well, despite his copious knowledge of the ‘Christian Faith’ - and his undoubted intellectual familiarity with some of its general precepts and principles, C S Lewis didn’t seem to have much of a ‘inkling’ as to where the only entrance to ‘Christian Faith’ was located - and neither did he have any idea of the doorway’s form - which raises the interesting question of whether or not he had ever actually entered the house………

Thwack, thwack.

So, what of this doorway - where is this ‘one and only entrance’ to ‘Christian Faith’ of which C S Lewis had apparently no personal knowledge and experience?

Well - the door is invisible to the naked eye, indeed it cannot be detected by any natural human sense, nor can it be intellectually appraised - because, like the house which it serves, its substance is spiritual - and therefore, it can only be spiritually discerned and understood.

Yes indeed, as the apostle Paul confirmed in 1 Corinthians 2/14, no natural man (as C S Lewis must have been before his ‘conversion’) is capable of true spiritual discernment:

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Unless, that is - and according to Jesus, the natural man undergoes true spiritual birth:

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. –

 John 3/5-7

Thwack, thwack………

Not that C S Lewis’ experience of spiritual regeneration reflected this.

Thwack, thwack.

Consider the author’s own description of his ‘conversion’ experience:

You must picture me alone in that room at Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England" (Surprised By Joy, ch. 14, p. 266).

Well - it might have been the ‘unrelenting approach of Him’ whom he so earnestly desired not to meet - but I think that this unwelcome 'god' had a more natural origin - I believe that his unwanted visitor went by the name of 'cognitive dissonance'.

Cognitive dissonance is a common psychological condition experienced by all who can hold established attitudes on any subject. The condition presents as a terrible feeling of unease and occurs when a person, in holding a settled viewpoint, is confronted with information which challenges that viewpoint.

When cognitive dissonance prevails, the host will seek to regain peace of mind by engaging one or, if need be, two consecutively operating mechanisms. Initially the host will stubbornly disregard the opposing information and, if this is successful, peace of mind will, once again, prevail - and there will be no more to be done. However, should the incoming information (in over-riding the initial ‘deaf ear’) be persistent and unrelenting in its presentation and persuasion, this might induce a second, more dramatic and very much different response - that of a sudden ‘paradigm shift’ - the result of which is a complete rejection of the established attitude, and the unconditional acceptance of the new viewpoint.

C S Lewis was friends with the Roman Catholic writer J R Tolkien, and had been influenced by G K Chesterton, another Roman Catholic writer - as well as being schooled and heavily influenced through the writings George MacDonald - a Scottish (Universalist) minister and writer of fantasy tales.

With the weight of their combined theistic beliefs warring against the author's established atheistic mind set, an increasingly unbearable mental stress, i.e., ‘cognitive dissonance’ would have prevailed in his psyche. And, when this tension reached intolerable levels it would have precipitated a sudden 'paradigm shift' in his thinking and, Voila, our reluctant hero moved instantly from being a stubborn atheist to becoming a confirmed 'Christian'.

In other words C S Lewis' conversion was not 'spiritual' - it was a natural phenomenon which had nothing to do with Christ's supernatural union with his hitherto unregenerate spirit......and had everything to do with the author instinctively, naturally and selfishly seeking to preserve and promote the ‘intellectual’ peace of his own mind.

There are many, many people of the C S Lewis type who have become ‘Christian’ based on their own natural, self preserving and self promoting terms and, because 'their god' essentially remains their own (unregenerate) mind and emotion, they will constantly experience difficulty in extending unconditional authority to God's word. And, alas, when a contentious issue raises it ‘discordant’ head, and they start to feel the goads of conflict between God’s Word and their own established opinion they will, quite naturally, seek to preserve their ‘peace of mind’ by ignoring God’s word - while still maintaining, with one excuse or another, that their ‘traditional’ or ‘modern’ slant on Biblical teaching is ‘reasonable and rational’

I understand that C S Lewis perceived his own ‘spiritual’ re-birth as a life long process which involved as much of his own effort and initiative - as it did God’s.

He referred to God’s presence in His own, or anyone’s life as the ‘Christ life’ (how very impersonal) and he also asserted that the way in which to improve - or increase this ‘Christ life’ resource was by a combination of three different means viz. baptism, belief and participation in the Mass, the Eucharist - or Communion.

Baptism (in the true biblical sense) and ‘belief’ (presumably in Christ) are surely things which would be practiced after eternal birth i.e., after a person had been made spiritually alive in and to Christ - and would be undertaken - or practised to confirm rather than initiate or create new eternal life.

And, likewise, participation in the Lord’s Supper is essentially a commemoration of Christ’s sacrifice, which would - and always will be carried out by those who have already been ‘born again’. As for his inclusion of the Roman Catholic Mass……..well, there is nothing biblical - or Christian about that particular ceremony….and to refer to it as ‘Christian’ must, in itself, call his ‘spiritual integrity’ into serious question.

I can only conclude that his understanding of ‘Christian Faith’ was gleaned from his own external observations - and not as one who had truly entered His Father’s house. And I come to this conclusion with Christian conviction because, through the grace of God, I live in ‘Christian Faith’ - and the hallway which C S Lewis describes in one of his books - with its various doors leading to, and occupied by different denominations - it isn’t there - it just isn’t there - and neither is it planned, for it was never in the Architect’s original blueprint:

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

 John 17/20-23.

Thwack, thwack…….

The problem with C S Lewis and all who come to ‘adopt’ Christianity as a preferred lifestyle - because they have been persuaded ‘intellectually’ that it is in their best personal interests so to do - is that they are ‘coming to Christ’ on their own selfish (unrighteous) terms, and selfish motive (unrighteousness) is not eternal in derivation or spirit - and therefore cannot contribute in the remotest way to eternal birth. It is that simple. New eternal life needs eternal and perfectly selfless - or sinless parentage - which qualities mankind is absolutely incapable of producing.

Eternal conception requires immaculate contribution coming together in immaculate, selfless consummation to give birth to immaculate life, and thanks be to God, it is God who has provided the ‘absolute perfection’ in every instance:

When the eternal Spirit of God descends upon and unites with any person, it does not unite with the sin which has enshrouded and corrupted that person’s true eternal identity, rather it penetrates that sinful mantle - and unites with, and consummates a life giving relationship with that person’s original and true eternal identity.

It is a system which cannot fail, and does not fail, because there is no sin - no anti-life influences to adversely effect a perfect outcome.

God - Jesus Christ is eternally pure; the eternal essence which lies implicit and swaddled within every elect person is eternally pure, the matching of the two partners is perfect because they are the separated parts of a previously intact spiritual reality - and the entire ‘reconciliation’ process is being carried out in the pure and selfless Spirit of Eternal Love.

And the outcome of that eternal consummation is a redeemed and complete child of God - an eternal child of God who will grow and develop as it focuses and feeds exclusively on his/her true eternal companion - on Christ's Holy Spirit for all of his/her spiritual guidance and sustenance:

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

John 16/13-14.

Thwack, thwack.

I believe that C S Lewis lived in a house called ‘Mere Christianity’ - I have never visited it, never had the inclination - but I am aware that the driveway serving this mansion is served by very wide and very grand gates which are situated at the end of a very broad avenue called Destruction Way:

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Matthew 7/13-14.

Thwack, craaaaaaaack.

Why have I written in such a provocative - controversial way about C S Lewis?

The main reason is that I believe that the writings of C. S. Lewis have been directly responsible for the promotion of the strong - and strengthening spirit of Ecumenism which is prevalent in ‘Christendom’ today.

And Ecumenism does not worship God, as Christ directed, in spirit and in truth - God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. – John 4/24. Rather the followers of the ecumenical movement worship ‘God’ in accordance with the lowest common denominator which prevails among their previously mixed and conflicting beliefs - to the continued exclusion, or subsequent rejection of vital eternal precepts.

In consequence Ecumenism produces a false Christianity which does not promote, and therefore cannot produce true conversion (mortal to eternal) in the lives of those who follow its teaching and, as a result, cannot effect real change in the lives of its adherents.