The Preacher's Ponderings

Excerpts From the Writings
of C. S. Lewis

The following is a sampling of C. S.
Lewis’ beliefs and attitudes towards Christianity and the Bible. (This list
shows C. S. Lewis to be a very dangerous man to follow. ELB)

Prayers for the Dead

“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.” (Letters to
Malcolm)

Purgatory

“I believe in Purgatory… The right
view returns magnificently in Newman’s Dream. There if I remember rightly, the
saved soul, at the very foot of the throne, begs to be taken away and cleansed.
It cannot bear for a moment longer ‘with its darkness to affront that
light.’…Our souls demand Purgatory, don’t they?” (Letters to Malcolm)

Hell — A State of Mind

“And every state of mind, left to
itself, every shutting up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind
is, in the end, Hell.” (The Great Divorce)

Paganism

“I had some ado to prevent Joy (and
myself) from lapsing into paganism in Attica! At Daphni it was hard not to pray
to Apollo the healer. But somehow one didn’t feel it would have been very
wrong…would have only been addressing Christ sub specie apollonius.” (written
to Chad Walsh, 1960)

Salvation Apart from Christ

“But the truth is God has not told
us what His arrangements about the other people are… There are people who do
not accept the full Christian doctrine about Christ but who are so strongly
attracted by Him that they are His in a much deeper sense than they themselves
understand. There are people in other religions who are being led by God’s
secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in
agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it.
For example a Buddhist of good will may be led to concentrate more and more on
the Buddhist teaching about mercy and to leave in the background (though he
might still say he believed) the Buddhist teaching on certain points. Many of
the good Pagans long before Christ’s birth may have been in this position.” (Mere
Christianity)

Blood Atonement Not Necessary

“You can say that Christ died for
our sins. You may say that the Father has forgiven us because Christ has done
for us what we ought to have done. You may say that we are washed in the blood
of the Lamb. You may say that Christ has defeated death. They are all true. If
any of them do not appeal to you, leave it alone and get on with the formula
that does. And, whatever you do, do not start quarreling with other people
because they use a different formula from yours.” (Mere Christianity)

Works Salvation

“There are three things that spread
the Christ-life to us: baptism, belief, and that mysterious action which
different Christians call by different names — Holy Communion, the Mass, the
Lord’s Supper… I am not saying anything about which of these things is the
most essential. My Methodist friend would like me to say more about belief and
less (in proportion) about the other two. But I am not going into that.” (Mere
Christianity)

The Catholic Mass

“What happens in the Lord’s Supper
is a mystery, and so the Roman Catholic conception of the bread and wine
becoming the actual body and blood of Christ might be just as valid as the
Protestant view of the Lord’s Supper as a memorial.” (Letters to Malcolm)

Evolution

“…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.” (The Problem of Pain)

“If … you mean simply that man is
physically descended from animals, I have no objection.” (The Problem of
Pain)

“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.” (Reflections of the Psalms)

Inherent Goodness of Man

“…when the consequence is drawn
that, since we are totally depraved, our idea of good is worth simply
nothing… may thus turn Christianity into a form of devil worship.” (The
Problem of Pain)

No Eternal Security

“There are people (a great many of
them) who are slowly ceasing to be Christians…” (Mere Christianity)

Heaven — Merely a Symbol

“All the scriptural imagery (harps,
crowns, gold, etc.) is, of course, a merely symbolical attempt to express the
inexpressible. Musical instruments are mentioned because for many people (not
all) music is the thing known in the present life which most strongly suggests
ecstasy and infinity. Crowns are mentioned to suggest the fact that those who
are united with God in eternity share His splendor and power and joy. Gold is
mentioned to suggest the timelessness of heaven (gold does not rust) and the
preciousness of it.” (Mere Christianity)

Immortality of Animals

“It seems to me possible that
certain animals may have an immortality, not in themselves, but in the immortality
of their masters.” (The Problem of Pain)

Respect for Mythology

“I have the deepest respect for
Pagan myths, still more for myths in the Holy Scriptures.” (The Problem of
Pain)

–The
Fairhaven Fundamentalist

Tags: Dangers, False Teachings