Are C.S.Lewis books good??

Like anyone elses books, you must discern the good from the bad in them. If parts are good then keep them, and if parts are bad, then ignore those parts.

 

No, rsr, I haven't painted with too broad a brush. Even in the words of a fellow liberal who did a CS Lewis page, Lewis would have been chagrined to be considered a defender of the Christian faith.
There is ample evidence of what I've said.
Sadly CS Lewis is a "sacred cow" in Christendom. Because he said some of the "right words" people hail him as a great Christian. They prefer to ignore all of the rest of what he said.
In Mere Christianity, did he not say,
"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." (p.176, 177) In other words, you don't necessarily need Jesus and His atoning sacrifice to be saved!
And also,
"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" (pp.62,63) Or, salvation comes to us through faith + works. (Being familiar with reformed & Episcopalian doctrine, their own confessions & articles admit that is what they believe, though their teachers may try to deny it.)
Also there,
"When we come to man, the highest of the animals, we get the completest resemblance to God which we know of." (p.139) We are animals? No, we are special creations, made separately from all other creation; made "in the image of God."
In Letters to Malcom--Chiefly on Prayer:
"To be born again is still in the future; it is a continuing process not yet completed. ...'ye must be born again.' till then, we have duty, morality, the Law...A schoolmaster, as St. Paul says....But the schooldays, please God are numbered." (p.115) We cannot know that we are born again yet? Hmmm. That's not what the Bible teaches!
To Malcom he acknowledged his belief in evolution:"All my past; my ancestral past; perhaps my pre-human past." (p.79)
In his book, Miracles, Lewis wrote:
"He made an earth at first 'without form and void' and brought it by degrees to its perfection" (p.125) Evolution; not Biblical creation.
In the Great Divorce, Lewis defined his version of hell:
"...every shutting-up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind is, in the end, Hell" (p. 65)
More evolution in The Problem of Pain:
"For long centuries God perfected the animal form which was to become the vehicle of humanity and the image of Himself" (p.177).
In Reflection on the Psalms,
"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." (p.110) A denial of the inerrancy of Scripture; as well as embracing evolution.
In that book he also wrote,
"...as I believe, Christ,...fulfills both Paganism and Judaism..." (p. 129) So pagan myths are of value also? This is because Lewis believed the Bible was a combination of pagan and Jewish myths.
In CS Lewis, A Biography, Lewis is quoted in a letter he wrote to a friend regarding his concern over his wife in illness. It said,
"I had some ado to prevent Joy and myself from relapsing 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 Apollinis." Hard not to pray to a false god, who is no god at all; hard not to pray to a demon?!
Surely, if you love the Christ of the Scriptures, and you love the Scriptures, you will realize this man was an apostate. His books should not be in church libraries, nor in the bookshelves of Christians (unless they are used to open the eyes of the ignorant & rebellious who love Lewis).

 

Lil Sister, many of the faults you find with Lewis are in fact great virtues.

As a Baptist, I cannot condone his acceptance of the sacraments as assisting somehow in salvation.

But his acceptance of the science of evolution is one of his strengths, as is the recognition that although we are all saved by the power of Jesus' atoning work on the cross, it is possible to find that salvation without conciously knowing the name of Jesus.

 

Yes, he did, but he also amplified exactly what he meant.

I am not unbiased on the subject of C.S. Lewis, as he is perhaps my favorite author. Many consider him to be the greatest Christian apologist of all time. I have a book entitled A Year with C.S. Lewis that is an anthology of sorts, highlighting some of his best thoughts. It's in my desk at work, and I start the day by reading a excerpt from his works.

One of my favorites [about his wife, Joy]:

-from A Grief Observed

I would have been honored to have had the priviledge to study under him at Oxford, and cannot wait to run into him in Heaven!

[Note to Moderator: According to the book in hand, I am allowed to reproduce "brief quotations." I have given full credit to the author, and note that C.S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. has full copyright on this brief excerpt.]

Hope this post finds you well,

BiR

 

You are entitled to your opinion. A point worth noting is that many Believers hold a differing opinion.

Please provide a link to the "fellow liberal who did a CS Lewis page," as I would really like to see it.

 

I really enjoyed the The Abolition of Man, especially the chapter "Men Without Chests". Awesome.

 

Hey Lil' Sister,

I agree with you there!! I used to watch his movies & the one where he got married!! I forget the name of it though. But I remember alot of what went on there, as I was trying to figure out if he was a Christian man, or not.

I do not believe him to be a Christian man @ all!!

BeeKreative

 

An excellent article that deals with this subject very well:
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=103

 

I'm sorry... while i do agree that Mr. Lewis was misled in some of his beliefs, I do not consider his body of work to be "off-limits" or even questionable. I was raised and taught to read using the Chronicles of Narnia, and have many of his books in my personal library today.

I have gleaned many good insights about my Christian faith from Mr. Lewis' writings. Thanks for your opinion. This is mine.

In His Grip,
joshua

 

I said it before, and I'll say it again. The Chronicles of Narnia are awesome reading.

 

Personally, I like Calvin Miller better. His Singer Trilogy is one of my favorite books.

Joseph Botwinick

 

Haven't really seen him do apolegetics before. His focus is mainly on evangelism, church growth, and writing novels. Have you ever read his Singer Trilogy? It is very good. I think you would like it.

Joseph Botwinick

 

Here is a very interesting article on these two men -
www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/134/52.0.html .

I finished The Hobbit about a month ago and am now reading The Lord of the Rings. They are wonderful, wonderful books. I have not read any of C.S. Lewis's books but I highly recommend these books of J.R.R. Tolkien that I am reading.

 

Here's some more about Tolkien and Lewis -

www.ctlibrary.com/ch/2003/78/11.36.html