C S Lewis???

Has anyone researched the character/life of this author. It's seems to me that here of late alot of praise and accalades are being given to him. This would not be a problem if I was to know of him and that he was a Godly man, but I have heard the opposite on a radio program. I am seeking confirmation or contradiction to what was said. To make it short I seem to recall the host mentioning drinking/drunk and womanizing.... This seems to be at odds with what he pens (christian themes / overtones) (this post is for information / research only, please let's not make more of it than that)God Bless All

Well one point that was given in on of the Narnia threads was that someone changes (grows) during his/her walk with the Lord. Perhaps its also useful to check on how he thought at the end of his life and what he then wrote. Just a suggestion. :-)

Yes I agree, would like to get more about him and his Christian walk, his turning point, and inspiration(s)

I've heard that he was NOT an evangelical. Sometimes I wonder about Lewis. Especially in books like "The Great Divorce" where he uses uncalled for profanity in a "christian" book.

I've read a little bit about C.S. Lewis and it seems and he certainly was a very unique man. "Mere Christianity" and "Screwtape Letters" are my two C.S. Lewis favorites.Was he truly an evangelical? I honestly don't know. His step-son wrote a biography a few months back and also maintains a website. Here is the URL: http://cslewis.drzeus.net/.I purchased the book "A Grief Observed" after my first wife died but I never read it and he wrote it after his wife died in 1960 I believe it was.EDIT: Here's an interesting article on Lewis you may wish to read Joseph: http://www.faithalone.org/journal/2000i/townsend2000e.htm.

I read 3 of Lewis' books (Mere Christianity (MC), The Problem of Pain (POP) and A Grief Observed (GO)) when i had only been saved about 2 months at the time they were excellent as a searcher for the truth i found a reasoned argument about the thruth of Christianity to be right up my street.However as i grew as a christian i became less and less interested in C.S. Lewis' works, in my opinion A Grief observed is his best work becuase it is very personal eye opening into Lewis' own life, the other 2 i read were exercises in how christianity is the logically correct belief system, there were parts of MC i found contradicted Scripture, if you push me i can go and find them if you really want to know. Also in the POP i found his rewriting of the Biblical account of creation to be very telling of his opinion on the authority of scripture, at the time of writing he was a theistic evolutionist, but later turned to creationism, of course his work was not revised to fit in with his new views on origins.For me personally the role of apologetics has become less prominent, this could be a reason why Lewis' works have lost favour with me, also other things he justifies lead me to see him as a rather worldly christian, also as a close friend of Tolkien who was a Roman Catholic i found it quite interesting that he had no problem with calling RC a denommination within christianity, which leads to questions on how much he understood the differences between Rome and Biblical christianity.I just feel his use of worldly philosophical methods, knowledge of revisionist history, and other tools he uses to explain christianity to anyone reading his books leaves me with an image of a man trying to do a rubix cube whilst wearing boxing gloves.Just my opinion on his apologetic works, they seemed to portray a very shallow knowledge of following Christ.matt

saved matt,Being an Episcopalian myself, I very much enjoyed and still do enjoy CS Lewis.I am perplexed that so many SI types (fundementalist/baptist/penticostals) strain out the heretical gnats like CS Lewis and Rick Warren and swallow the heretical camel of Charles Finney. Charles Finney flat out denied the doctrine of original sin, justification and the atonement and yet is adored by what seems to be the vast majority on this site. To me any Roman Catholic stands as good a chance to be a genuine Christian as Charles Finney and his followers, for both teach works righteousness.As far as your opinion about Lewis' "shallow knowledge of following Christ", millions of Lutherans and Episcopals could probably say the same about whatever your supposed knowledge of Christ is.

Hi Lamuskrat.C.S. Lewis has been for some time my favourite writer in many areas. His writings are full of all the things that make great reading, from Narnia Chronicles to Screwtape. However, I've never come to the conclusion that he is in any way a Christian teacher. I would put him more in the vein of a person who opens the mind of the individual toward God, and nothing more than that.He clearly holds different views to myself on many things, the subject of Purgatory probably being the most prominent, however he never claims to be writing anything other that his own personal thoughts, observations and imaginations as far as I've come to understand.With regard to his shortfalls and sinfulness throughout his life, he never appears to cover up these things with much effort, and as far as I am aware, much of these seem to be prevalent before his actual conversion. But to be honest, I haven't looked or felt the need to look closely at all, I think the film "Shadowlands" gives a pretty good portrayal of his life in general.Bottom line is mate; if you allow the Holy Spirit within you to discern the truth in what you read, then authors such as this man will offer more than the occasional literary gem to be enjoyed most fully for all its worth.God bless,John.

Hello Jimbob,I am perplexed that so many SI types (fundementalist/baptist/penticostals) strain out the heretical gnats like CS Lewis and Rick Warren and swallow the heretical camel of Charles Finney.I ask heaven to record that I here took the side of Charles Finney the man of God. I didn't realize it until you said what you said, but somehow I get the feeling that it is sacreligous to malign such a man from whose mouth flowed such a pure stream of clear truth. Charles Finney was a sinners true friend. I just wanted to take this opportunity to receive a prophet as a prophet.May God bless you

npausky,Thank you for providing me with the prototypical response I was expecting.One mans "pure stream of clear truth",is another mans heretical, humanistic, and antichristian nonsense."Charles Finney the man of God", THE man of God? Wow! Have another drink of Kool Aid....

Down emotional responses, down!Hey, why don't we start another column to discuss Finney, and talk about it with more concrete reasoning? There's a lot of differing viewpoints from differing people here, and we all have to work at our emotions (read many of my responses laid out in haste!) to get our points across effectively. There's no reason to stoop to insults, if we can avoid it.Grace and Peace... :-)

hi, PLEASE... let us judge the writers os the bible with the same viceous eye and moses, david, paul,peter.. to name a few, would be thrown out by my most pious brethren who need to type with a mirror in front of them in stead of a screen. let us examine ourselves on how many lives have we touched possivtivly with our wrirings or words. How do i impact those i contact in life? jimp

Taximan I very much appreciate your reply...good points! :-D

I have a section in a book "A General Introduction to the Bible" by Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix in which some of CS Lewis' docrines are discussed briefly. I was surprised by some of his statements. He is labeled as a Liberal-Evangelical. Here are some quotes, all of which surprised me (from p.177):"For long centuries God perfected the animal form [by natural processes] which was to become the vehicle of humanity and the image of Himself...Then, in the fullness of time, God caused to descend upon this organism, both on its psychology and physiology, a new kind of consciousness which could say 'I' and 'me,' which could look upon itself as an object, which knew God."-Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, pp.65,110If Lewis changed his stance from theistic evolution, I would be interested where this could be cited, especially since the book I read uses him as a spokesmen for the Liberal-Evangelical stance. Another:"I have therefore no difficulty in 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."-The Christian World of CS Lewis, p.153PS. Yes do start a thread about Finney, as I would like to hear where he said sin came from.

LetsgetBusy:Interestingly enough, Lewis' own statement can explain why in some instances he comes across "Liberal-Evangelical", yet was constantly assaulted by the critics in his own day as a bulwark on the Conversative front. In God in the Dock, Lewis writes a section called "On the Reading of Old Books"; this is one of the quotes that may be useful to you:We are all rightly distressed, and ashamed also, at the divisions in Christendom. But those who have always lived within the Christian fold may be too easily dispirited by them. They are bad, but such people do not know what it looks like from without. Seen from there, what is left intact, despite all the division, still appears (as it truly is) an immensely formidable unity. I know, for I saw it; and well our enemies know it. That unity any of us can find by going out of his own age. It is not enough, but it is more than you had thought till then. Once you are well soaked in it, if you then venture to speak, you will have an amusing experience. you will be thought a Papist when you are actually reproducing Bunyan, a Pantheist when you are quoting Aquinas, and so forth. For you have now got on to the great level viaduct which crosses the ages and which looks so high from the valleys, so low from the mountains, so narrow compared with the swamps, and so broad compared with the sheeptracts.Yes, some of the things he purports are questionable, and that is why we are called to discernment (as the old proverb goes, 'Don't throw the baby out with the bath water'). Indeed, "Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means old books." ("On the Reading of Old Books"-C.S. Lewis)A final caveat from his work is this: "People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes. They will not flatter us in the errors we are already committing; and their errors, being now open and palpable, will not endanger us. Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but beacause they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction."'Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it'...and how will one learn unless one reads?In Christ,Benjamin

why does it matter to you what lewis' denomination was. do you think God cares if hes episcaparian, or methodist or baptist? shouldnt the focus be on what he wrote and his beliefs and the truths we can learn from him, rather then his denomination. where does the Bile say that ANY denomination is right? be a follower of Christ, not of a name - "im saved because im EPISCAPARIAN!" thats not Biblical, neither is as is being used in this thread "if he doesnt go to the same type of Church as me im not going to read him, since he was obviously from the devil!"-no salvation by affiliation-only by the grace of God and the sacrifice of the Savior

Hey littlebuff2,Would God really look at church denominations?He looks at the heart, its very much possible that some people in one church are very fake while others in the same denomination are not.But thats not the case with this topic, its ment to see what insights C.S. Lewis had and to compare it to the word. Nowhere in the Bible are we asked to blindly accept teaching from any man. (accept Jesus)Instead we should check on doctrin teached by any man no matter what denomination. I agree with you that this thread can turn in a shortsighted heated discussion, but that is something we have to avoid as it not being edifying.Thanks for sharing your heart and welcome here! :-)littlebuff2 wrote:why does it matter to you what lewis' denomination was. do you think God cares if hes episcaparian, or methodist or baptist? shouldnt the focus be on what he wrote and his beliefs and the truths we can learn from him, rather then his denomination. where does the Bile say that ANY denomination is right? be a follower of Christ, not of a name - "im saved because im EPISCAPARIAN!" thats not Biblical, neither is as is being used in this thread "if he doesnt go to the same type of Church as me im not going to read him, since he was obviously from the devil!"-no salvation by affiliation-only by the grace of God and the sacrifice of the Savior

Concur, John. Same could be said for Dylan's Christain themed music, also...Lewis sowed oats as a young Irishman, but it is obvious he was a beleiver when he wrote most of his stuff. 8-)