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.
