Something on C.S. Lewis

Here is part of a really good article describing one error of C.S. Lewis.

C.S. Lewis also believes in purgatory and other things that go against Scripture.

Jordan

I have written several warnings about the popular C.S. Lewis, and I want to emphasize the danger of this man further. Recently a reader sent a quote from one of Lewis's Narnia series, "The Last Battle," from the chapter "Further up and Further in." Note the following very carefully:

"Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath's sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child? I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou shouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek."

TWO DAMNABLE HERESIES ARE TAUGHT HERE

Lewis is teaching damnable false doctrine here, and it is even more wicked, in that it is intended for the indoctrination of children.

First, according to Lewis, those who sincerely serve the devil (Tash) are actually serving God (Aslan) and will eventually be accepted by God. That is the heresy of universalism, and many hold to this false doctrine, believing that God will somehow receive unbelievers and followers of false religions into Heaven even though they do not know Jesus Christ in this life.

When I interviewed the head of the New Testament department at Serampore University (founded by William Carey in India) years ago, he told me the same thing. I asked him whether the Hindus will be accepted by God if they are sincere in their religion, and he replied, "Certainly."

Well, the Bible says certainly not! Ephesians chapter two tells us the condition of every person outside of regenerating faith in Jesus Christ. He is dead in trespasses and sins (v. 1), controlled by and living according to the working of the devil (v. 2), a child of disobedience (v. 2), dominated by the flesh (v. 3), by nature the child of wrath (v. 3), without Christ (v. 12), an alien and stranger from the covenant of God (v. 12), without hope (v. 12), WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD (v. 12), far off from God (v. 13).

In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ had already settled this matter long before the penning of Ephesians. In His conversation with Nicodemus, the Lord Jesus said categorically, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). Nicodemus was a very sincere and religious Jew, and if any category of person could have gone to heaven without being born again, it would have been people like him. Jesus Christ said that it will not happen.

Furthermore, Lewis is teaching that salvation can be achieved by works and religious seeking, and that is a false gospel that is cursed of God in the book of Galatians.

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:6-8).

There is only one true gospel, and that is salvation through repentance and faith in the blood of Jesus Christ; but there are many false gospels, and all of them claim that a man can be saved in some sense by good works.

Thank you Jordan for this discernment.

I often think that many hold C.S. Lewis in high esteem because of his ability to paint flowery pictures. Because he paints like Monet, people are free to imagine what God is like. Yet Scripture is like a Rembrant, the image is more defined and there is little left to the imangination.

In Christ
Jeff

Hi Jordan.

I do not know much about C.S. Lewis, but I wonder if it is wise to gather a man's doctrine, from his fiction?

Chris

Hi ChrisJD,

Well, here's some stuff from his non-fiction books.

On Creation: Lewis believed that evolution was true to an extent in the past, but that it will be superseded in the future (MC, p.169). "... for we have good reason to believe that animals existed long before men. ... For long centuries God perfected the animal form which was to become the vehicle of humanity and the image of Himself ... [Eventually,] God caused a new kind of consciousness to descend upon this organism" (PP, pp.133,77). "... Man, the highest of the animals" (MC, p.139); "... but he (man) remains still a primate and an animal" (RP, pp.115,129); "If ... you mean simply that man is physically descended from animals, I have no objection" (PP, p.72) "He made an earth at first 'without form and void' and brought it by degrees to its perfection" (M, p.125). Nature's "pregnancy has been long and painful and anxious, but it has reached its climax" (MC, p.172). He held that the Genesis account came from Pagan and mythical sources -- "I have therefore no difficulty accepting, say, the view of those scholars who tell us that the account of Creation in Genesis is derived from earlier Semitic stories which were Pagan and mythical." (RP, p.110).

"I have the deepest respect for Pagan myths, still more for myths in the Holy Scriptures" (PP, p.71).

"Lewis believed in prayers for the dead. In Letters to Malcolm, he wrote, “Of course I pray for the dead. The action is so spontaneous, so all but inevitable, that only the most compulsive theological case against it would deter men. And I hardly know how the rest of my prayers would survive if those for the dead were forbidden” (p. 109)."

Like most heresy, there is truth mixed in with Lewis' teaching, but there are some serious errors that can't be over looked.

Jordan

Reading CS Lewis's books isn't going send you to hell or prevent you from getting into Heaven. What is sending the Church to hell is the famine of the WORD OF GOD!!

tinluke wrote:
Reading CS Lewis's books isn't going send you to hell or prevent you from getting into Heaven. What is sending the Church to hell is the famine of the WORD OF GOD!!

I didn't say it was going to send you to hell. All I'm doing is pointing out there are serious errors in his works. :-?

Jordan

I didn't say it was going to send you to hell. All I'm doing is pointing out there are serious errors in his works. :-?

Jordan

No, I know you wern't trying to say that. I was just trying to illustrate a point. Forgive me but this is a subject that I've had a strong opinion about for some time now.

I've been around the block with a "prophet" at our church who said that CS Lewis was evil. And there was a big seminar in which this same "prophet" told the people that the enemy is after our kids and this book was a tool of the enemy.

It's frustrating to me because so many people at my church have gotten on this CS Lewis crusade, but these same people sit in front of TV for hours on end. I teach their kids at the church's school and all I hear about is American Idol and MTV, but God forbid the enemy is going to sneak through a book and get our kids!!

I sought the Lord and I believe it is a non-issue to HIM. HIS concern is HIS WORD and what we do with it. Also, I feel very strongly that this crusade is more of a diversion from the enemy that anything else. At least at our church anyway. We have people completely addicted to porn, filthy tv, and every other abomination from the pit of hell, but they got rid of CS Lewis, so it's all good.

I do understand where you are coming from, but CS Lewis is not a prophet, teacher, or preacher and he never claimed to be. He was just a guy who wrote a few books.

Hi Tinluke,

I was just thinking about my other post and I realized I sounded defensive.

I wasn't saying that if you read C.S. Lewis' books that you would go to hell, I was trying to say that God calls us to be holy and it is worth considering what Lewis believes.

Jordan

Yes, you are right we should always be open to consider and hold everything to the Light of His Holy Word. There is alot of garbage out there. It's scary because we don't want to fall into deception and the darkness that surrounds us. I know sometimes I feel like I'm being swallowed up by the darkness around me and I feel unsure of almost everything. The answer is staying at the foot of the cross and letting the Word be our guide. I know for me that when my eyes are on Jesus, there is no deception, no darkness and no confusion. HE is the Way the Truth and the Life!! I'm really preaching to myself right now. Lately, I've been so caught up on all the junk going on all around me and the Holy Spirit is just reminding me to get my eyes back on HIM.

:-D

I just thought I'd throw in my two cents, which aren't much.

There isn't a preacher in the world who has preached perfectly and without error for their entire life short of Jesus. Even the Prophets were known to make mistakes.

In the modern context, there isn't a preacher living or passed away who didn't teach false doctrine at least once. I can think of some things of almost any preacher or teacher I've heard that haven't jived entirely with the Spirit.

Some brothers aer genuinely interested in winning souls but still make mistakes in theology, some change their theology for selfish motives, some are just ignorant.

When I look at the sky I see that it's blue, to someone else looking at the same sky in a different part of the world it may be orange, or pink or yellow. We're all looking at the same sky, the same part of nature but we all see something different. Our Lord doesn't change, sometimes our view of him changes, and just because it's different than someone elses' doesn't even make it heresy, we all see through the eyes we've been given and in the environment that we exist.

CS Lewis's sky and environment were arguably different than our own, some of these differences in perspective or insight might be heresy, some might just be a matter of perspective. I'm frankly going to give him the benefit of the doubt because far and away he shared his faith more vigorously and has had more success in reaching people with the Gospel than many men or women in history.