C.S. Lewis unbeliever?

[Mike McK]

Originally posted by natters:
St. Peter tells him, "Well the Baptists are in room 8, and they think they're the only ones here."

You mean we're not?

I'm looking forward to shaking Lewis' hand in heaven!

So am I. Maybe God will recreate the Eagle and Child and we can meet old Jack for a pint.

 

[padredurand]

Mere Christianity has two Chapter 10s. Do you know from which? The book is an expanded transcript of broadcast made during WW II, first issued as three pamphlets and then comprised in book form.

Most of my Lewis books are still packed due to a recent move. If the citation is the one that comes to mind, Lewis is making a strong argument for the singular nature of Jesus Christ through a metaphor of mathematics. If that is the case, then the OP's use of this brief quote is out of context.

Now if you don't like Lewis because of his writing that is one thing, but to hastily call him a heretic because of a few out of context words...would be quite another matter.

 

[Eliyahu]

Everyone must have a sound conviction for the salvation and the doctrine is very clear since there is no other name under the heaven and on the earth other than Jesus Christ by which we can be saved and by which we must be saved. There is no way other than Jesus to go to Father. The people who died without having a chance to hear about the Gospel, shall be beaten with few stripes (Luke 12:48).

But the judgment of individual without speaking with and hearing from the person in person should be extremely cautious.

After I was born again I was misjudged by others as unbeliever even after I made the testimony, and I noticed two men were argueing, then called each other a heretic and false believer, but in my view after I spoke to them in person,both of them were born-again believers.

But as far as the salvation is concerned, one can express the discerning, as it is different from criticism.

 

[Deacon]

Originally posted by Mark Osgatharp:
The question at hand is [that] C.S. Lewis said that a man could be saved without believing and Christ and the Bible still says that any man who does not believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will burn in hell!

Mark Osgatharp

I presume the proper question would be: "Was C.S. Lewis saved without believing Christ?"

The answer is: "NO!"

Sure Mark, I agree with you that man is lost without Christ.

I disagree that various aberrant doctrinal beliefs that someone may ponder would exclude one from His eternal grace.

Praise God for His amazing grace.

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! Romans 11:33 NAS

Rob

 

[mioque]

Well let's face it as long as padredurand's last question isn't answered this discussion is going nowhere significant.
Sadly enough I never got around to buying a copy of 'Mere Christianity' for the churchlibrary, so I can't answer the question.

 

[Brice]

Mark,

You my friend are sadly mistaken. You pick a few sentences out of thousands Lewis wrote and then pin him as unsaved. Thank the almighty God that you my friend are not the judge. If you used even the slightest sense of discernment you could easily see that from Lewis’ words he is merely pointing out, what he feels to be a simple truth. You are making a rash generalization without regard to culture or the human condition. Lewis simply says that there are people who struggle with doctrine, but still be saved in God’s eyes. Whether you agree with that or not is for another discussion, but this in NO way reflects Lewis’ personal relationship with Christ. Once again if doctrinal error condemned man to Hell then Heaven would be empty. You take a few sentences and send Lewis to Hell, I will take the mans life and presume he is in Heaven, for I have every reason to assume this to be true. Why not give the benefit of the doubt to a man that clearly focused his life on the cause of Christianity. Let God be the judge of this mans soul.

 

[KenH]

Excellent post, Brice. I am afraid that Mark has fallen into the error of hastily judging another person by not taking in account everything that brother Lewis said and wrote during his entire lifetime.

Not that Mark's judgment matters in the big scheme of things.

 

[Mark Osgatharp]

Originally posted by KenH:
Not that Mark's judgment matters in the big scheme of things.

Now you got that right. It is not my judgment, nor your's nor C.S. Lewis' that counts. It's the Lord's judgment that counts. And the Lord has judged thusly:

"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine."

By contrast, Mr. Lewis said,

"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."

On which statement I observe:

A. It is a flat contradiction of Jesus' words quoted above.

B. The very idea of God's "secret influence" in non-Christian religions is a fabrication and absurd in light of the Bible.

C. The Bible flatly asserts that there is no agreement whatsoever between Christianity and "other religions" for Paul asked,

"What agreement has the temple of God with idols?"

Mark Osgatharp

 

[Brice]

Mark,

You have obviously disregarded the posts in this thread. If you would like to see my response to your post, please see the other thread on this subject. God bless and I hope we all benefit from this conversation.

 

[Brice]

Thanks Ken I can always appreciate a good compliment.

 

[hillclimber]

If you don't "judge" your Jewish associate, your catholic neighbor, your 7th day Adventist bowling partner, your Morman dentist, etc. you're consenting to their death, and Christ is not pre-eminent in your life.

This almost universal misrendering of "not being judgemental", is a great tool in satan's inventory and has/will keep many souls from redemption.

 

[Chemnitz]

How about if we are going to quote somebody as saying something we cite the quote so that others can find it and judge if the selected quote and accompianing critique are accurate.

 

[KenH]

Originally posted by hillclimber:
If you don't "judge" your Jewish associate, your catholic neighbor, your 7th day Adventist bowling partner, your Morman dentist, etc. you're consenting to their death, and Christ is not pre-eminent in your life.

But in C.S. Lewis's case some people are judging a fellow Christian who has been saved by the blood of Christ, not an unbeliever.

You know as well as I do that there are Christians who make the entrance into Heaven so narrow in their own minds that it's a wonder that they believe that even they themselves will be saved.

 

[tinytim]

Originally posted by Doubting Thomas:
C.S. Lewis never denied that Jesus was the only way to heaven. He was just optimistic that by God's grace there could be some "saved" who may have never had a chance to hear the name of Christ. (A universalist he was not.) God in His mercy would presumably judge them based on their response to the revelation that they did receive. (cf Romans 1:20, 2:5-16)

This is how I see it.
Mark what do you think about infants that die, or people with mental illness that will not allow them to understand the Gospel.
Will we see them in Heaven?
This sorta falls into that category.

What about the African tribesman, or the native American before Columbus that never heard of Jesus. What are your views on them. Could God have saved them?

 

[Mark Osgatharp]

TinyTim,

Infants (and perhaps mentally retarded people) are not cognizant of sin and therefore not accountable for it. As for those who live in countries where the gospel was presumably not preached, if they had sought God he could have gotten the gospel to them, just like he got the gospel to Cornelius when he sought God.

Mark Osgatharp

 

[hillclimber]

I certainly hope Lewis was saved, and I agree with Mark's viewpoint on this matter.