Posted on 07/29/2020 9:32:37 PM PDT by Cronos
By now regular readers know that I am a fan of C.S. Lewis, and I was a fan of him before becoming Orthodox. In fact, I consider him one of the influences that led me to Orthodoxy, though I would not have thought of it that way before I became Orthodox. You see, it was not until I became Orthodox that I realized just how much of C.S. Lewis’ thinking reflected a more “Eastern” viewpoint, or perhaps, I had better say a more “universal” or catholic viewpoint.
One of his statements has to do with the whole issue of theosis or deification. Most people in “Western” churches think that it is merely this odd little idea that the Orthodox have and that perhaps it is just a little too “Eastern.” That is, some people suspect that perhaps we had a little too much traffic with Persia and India, to the east of the traditional Orthodox lands. But, many of you have read C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity without realizing just how much Orthodox theology was embedded in this book. In fact, it is Lewis’ capability to take complex theological language and turn it into mere Christianity that makes him so beloved by so many.
This time, let’s take a look at two quotes from that book and see what he says is the goal of a Christian:
“He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has – by what I call ‘good infection.’ Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else”
“The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him – for we can prevent Him, if we choose – He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.”
Finally, there is this quote from him about God: “turning you permanently into a different sort of thing; into a new little Christ, a being which, in its own way, has the same kind of life as God; which shares in His power, joy, knowledge and eternity”
Let’s look at that first line, that he came to this world and became a man in order to spread His life and that we are to become a little Christ. Notice that he says that, “The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.” Look closer at how he says it. He does not say that we are to be “declared” to be little Christs. Rather he uses the word “infected.” That is, Christ’s incarnation had a purpose, and according to C.S. Lewis it sounds just like several of the Church Fathers said:
I could go on with more quotes, but that should suffice. But, I must admit that I like the way that C.S. Lewis puts it, “He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess . . . a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness.”
C.S. Lewis puts it in a way more understandable to us. He writes with the cadences of the West, and his examples are good solid Celtic/Anglo-Saxon examples. More than that, he has a sensitivity to the Western emphasis on God’s amazing grace that shines through his writing. I am not in the least saying that the East did not. However, C.S. Lewis inherits both the catholic sensitivity of the Early Church Fathers and the protestant sensitivity of the great Anglicans like Fr. John Newton, ex slave trader, and eventual Anglican priest. If the East often points us to the heights to which God shall take us, the West often points to the depths from which we have come.
As a Latino who is Orthodox, I can identify with both sides. On the one hand, the Orthodox icons always picture the saints in glory, having won their battles. On the other hand, the Latino holy images are often suffering images, reminding us, as did C.S. Lewis, that “?The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.” We need to be in for the long haul. Sadly that is what is so often lacking in all too much of modern American theology. Latinos have never come from rich countries nor from stable societies. We all too well understand the process, and our holy images reflect that.
Do you remember the words to Amazing Grace? Reflect on them, and commit yourself to the great process of becoming a god, a little Christ.
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev’d;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believ’d!
Thro’ many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promis’d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below,
Will be forever mine.
You are like the village elders who went to the young sage snd said
” We will give you an orange if you tell us where God is.”
The young sage replied,
“I will give you two oranges if you tell me where God isn’t. “
Read the scripture in Acts 2 where Peter quotes Joel’s prophesies from the OT to describe the end times.
Has nothing to do with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Try to tell that to the Quakers and the Shakers.
The topic is whether Clive Staples Lewis was a Christian.
As you do not seem to claim to be one, why are you here, misquoting the Bible, and denigrating a Christian?
Why do you incorrectly label me as a non Christian?
If you say that you Love God, But do not love your neighbor, you are a liar.
You quote Deuteronomy as support for your position.
Do you follow and support all the OT laws in Deuteronomy, or do you accept Jesus as your Savior and His words as the New Covenant?
You are not.
Unfortunately, you stated beliefs do not include anything having to do with biblical repentance or how do be saved from your sins through the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will go to eternal torment when you die.
Just as Clive Staples Lewis, an occultist, did.
So you are now judging.
Even Jesus did not come to judge. He came to save.
I’ve already died, went to Heaven and returned to this body. I know where Home is and that I am welcome there.
I’d sooner be there than on earth.
(from the article above at link)
Two Key Works by C S Lewis
Let’s focus on two works which have long been regarded as exemplary expressions of his enlightened Christian theology – Mere Christianity (1952) and Reflections on the Psalms (1958). The former, I believe, has sold several million copies and is used by many born-again Christians as an evangelical tool. The latter, though less philosophical, will allow us to see how much understanding and respect Lewis had for the Word of God.. .”
” . . .Mere Christianity
There are a number of things about the book, Mere Christianity, which should immediately strike any Christian as exceedingly odd. To begin with, Lewis virtually ignores the Word of God throughout. One looks in vain for a scriptural verse to support even one of his countless philosophical observations. What may seem like an eccentricity of his part in the early part of the book becomes more akin to an antipathy later on, especially when he makes one assertion after another which simply cry out for scriptural support.
Secondly, he makes no attempt whatever to relate his ideas to the work of any other scriptural authority or Bible commentator. Everything he says is suspended in a theological vacuum, supported entirely by the authority of just one individual – Mr Lewis himself. To deflect attention from this, he uses the age-old trick of soft persuasion and common sense as the basis for his many theological conclusions.
Thirdly, he pretends to ‘teach’ the basics of Christianity while all the time assuming that his audience already knows them. This is another literary device, whereby the writer avoids exposing any defects in his argument by inducing his readers to fill in the gaps for themselves.
This quicksilver approach is perfectly suited for his purpose. After all, we would be surprised if the author of The Screwtape Letters – which teach the art of deception – did not himself possess a similar skill. The difference here, however, is that instead of instructing his student (Wormwood), he is leading him into accepting ideas which have no Biblical foundation. . .”
We are on the same team.
Be careful a satan promotes fighting between brothers to weaken his opposition.
We should seek common agreement with understanding, not focusing upon the differences.
(from the article linked above)
The Toxic Brew
We can now examine the toxic brew which Lewis serves up in the last eight chapters of the book.
One of the main ideas in these chapters is that the universe is suffused by an invisible spiritual energy. In an earlier part of the book he has already made a distinction between two life energies – Bios, the animating force in living creatures, and Zoe, the eternal spiritual force.
“The Spiritual life which is in God from all eternity, and which made the whole natural universe, is Zoe.” (p.159)
This is developed later into the notion that both Christ and the Holy Spirit are expressions of this Zoe: “…we must think of the Son always, so to speak, streaming forth from the Father, like light from a lamp, or heat from a fire, or thoughts from a mind. He is the self-expression of the Father – what the Father has to say.” (p.173-174).
This is not Christianity, but Gnosticism and Neo-Platonism.
Practitioners of witchcraft call Zoe by another name – The Force. This is the same concept that is eulogised in the Star Wars series of movies (Hollywood is passionately dedicated to the spread of witchcraft and the destruction of Bible-based Christianity).
This energy, he says, pulsates and evolves into more profound expressions of itself: “…in Christianity God is not a static thing – not even a person – but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance.”
(p.175) This dance is akin to the dance of Shiva, a key concept in Hinduism.”
You misquote the Bible, God’s Holy Word, refuse to give any sort of proof of biblical salvation although it is evident to a Christian that you know the biblical Way therof, and mock others online.
You are not saved or a Christian - neither was C.S. Lewis - and we are not on the same team.
Please enlighten me as to any misquotes of the Bible. My quotes were cut & paste.
Maybe your memory needs to be rehabilitated. Go back and read the Bible.
But please invite the Holy Spirit into you first.
Been listening to C. S. Lewis Broadcast Talks on YouTube. They’re excellent! Although only 1 recording of his own voice exists (which you simply must hear) they are all wonderful....and worth your time.
Note carefully – Lewis is saying that the God of Christianity is not even a person, but a pulsating drama.
He contends that the Father and the Son dance together and that this dance is such a tangible entity in itself that it produces a third person: “The union between the Father and the Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person.”
(p.175) Anyone familiar with oriental philosophy and eastern mysticism will immediately recognise the pagan origin of Lewis’s completely non-Biblical definition of the Holy Trinity. All of these ideas – Zoe, spiritual light and heat, the divine cosmic dance, pulsating union, evolution and projection – are fundamental to occult philosophy and pervade both New Age thinking and Gnosticism, as well as such paths as Theosophy, Anthroposophy and the higher degrees of Freemasonry.
Lewis develops the cosmic dance idea even further when he says: “The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us: or (putting it the other way round) each one of us has got to enter that pattern, take his place in that dance.” (p.176) There is hardly a Hindu, a Buddhist or a Wiccan anywhere who would not be in complete agreement with this.
He goes on: “There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made…If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire…If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them…They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very centre of reality.” (p.176) This is precisely the kind of statement one would expect from Deepak Chopra or Shirley MacLaine. It is New Age to the core.
The ‘good infection’
How does Lewis get away with this? Simple – he turns Christ into the match that sets you on fire: “He [Christ] came into this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has – by what I call ‘good infection’. Every Christian is to become a little Christ.” (p.177)
This is such a gross distortion of Christianity that it makes one wonder how any Baptist preacher or Presbyterian minister could ever recommend such heresy to his flock.
Lewis has turned Christ into a pagan deity like Apollo or the Hindu god, Krishna – both of whom are associated with music and dance.
In fact practitioners of high level witchcraft boast that the figure which Lewis is really depicting here is Lucifer, the Light Bringer (just like Aslan in the Narnia series).
” If you find this incredible, please persevere and we’ll examine even more evidence.”
You are entitled to your opinion, but not your facts.
Unless you have personally walked the walk, be careful advising others.
Even if you have walked the walk, the path is so humbling that you become an empty self. You gain compassion for all others, even those on a different path. As all paths eventually join as they narrow, the closer you get to God.
(continued)
” . . .Another key concept in paganism is that of the goddess. Even though he should have had no scope whatever to smuggle in this idea, he still managed to do so. Describing the Incarnation of Christ, he says: “The result of this was that you now had one man who really was what all men were intended to be: one man in whom the created life, derived from His Mother, allowed itself to be completely and perfectly turned into the begotten life.” (p.179) Notice the subtlety with which he does this. Christ’s earthly mother becomes “His Mother,” divine vessel of the perfect man.
The next New Age concept follows hot on the heels of these ‘cosmic’ images. A central idea in occult philosophy is that all is one, a grand unified ball of consciousness. Here is how Lewis defines it in his Christianized mythology: “If you could see humanity spread out in time, as God sees it, it would not look like a lot of separate things dotted about. It would look like one single growing thing – rather like a very complicated tree. Every individual would appear connected with every other. And not only that. Individuals are not really separate from God any more than from one another.” (p.180)
” . . .According to Lewis, Christ came along at a critical stage in this evolutionary process and set a new phase in motion: “…when Christ becomes man it is…as if something which is always affecting the human race begins, at one point, to affect the whole human mass in a new way. From that point [Christ] the effect spreads through all mankind.” (p.180-181)
In other words, Christ was a perfect individual who, by the process of “good infection” mentioned earlier (p.177), transmitted his Zoe to the rest of the human race. And this is possible because everything is connected.
Just in case we missed the “good infection” idea, he adds: “One of our own race has this new life: if we get close to Him we shall catch it from Him.” (p.181)
This is all so bizarre, so far removed from Biblical Christianity, that it beggars belief.
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