We Desire a Senile Benevolent God!- A Quote by CS Lewis on Man’s Understanding of God’s Goodness

August 1, 2008

One of the largest issues I see driving movements such as the Emergent church and liberal Christianity in general is a confusion on what exactly it means to say that “God is love” (1 John 4.8)? These types of people are faced with the dilemma of serving a God who uses horrific images such as crucifixion, hell, sacrifice and war all centered around the punishment of sin while simultaneously engaging a world which largely denies he even exists. It moves them (as it should us) that many people around them who they would consider to be “good” people, maybe even people they love such as a parent or spouse, do not having a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord (Romans 10.9). However, instead of confronting that person with the offense of the Cross (Galatians 5.11) concerning the coming wrath due for unbelief (John 3.36), they try and wipe away God’s judgment by appealing to his love, desiring for a god which bases his forgiveness on some sort of moralism or universal mercy and not on “grace by faith” (Ephesians 2.8).

Yet what they consider to be love is not the same thing which God expresses to us. To this point I want to turn to the words of CS Lewis in his book The Problem of Pain:

By the goodness of God we mean nowadays almost exclusively His lovingness; and in this we may be right. And by Love, in this context, most of us mean kindness- the desire to see others than the self happy; not happy in this way or in that, but just happy. What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, ‘What does it matter so long as they are contented?’ We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven- a senile benevolence who, as they say, liked to see young people enjoying themselves’, and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, ‘a good time was had by all’. . . . I should very much like to live in a universe which was governed on such lines. But since it is abundantly clear that I don’t, and since I have reason to believe, nevertheless, that God is Love, I conclude that my conception of love needs correction. (pp.31-32)

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I Choose Hell- CS Lewis and God’s Role in Condemning

March 11, 2008

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.” -CS Lewis, The Great Divorce

So often people ask of the doctrine of predestination, “Well, if you believe that God chose those whom will be saved before time began, then doesn’t that necessarily mean that God chose everyone else to go to Hell?” My unwavering answer to that question is “No.” No, I do not believe that God “chose” those who are condemned to Hell, and the reason why is what is expressed above: the choice to go to Hell is a self-choice of the individual, one which chooses to deny service to God and thus is condemned in its own sinfulness.

This is one of the major issues which is at stake in the argument between the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. Without spending too much time myself in explicating my position here, I will tell you minimally where I stand and then point you to a (highly academic) source for further detail on what I fully believe.

When it comes to the issue of predestination and the condemnation of souls to Hell, I believe that we are all, from birth, totally depraved, wholly incapable of choosing God (i.e. choosing to do that which is righteous); not because God has made us this way but because we have inherited the original sin of Adam. Because of this we are all deserving of Hell. This is our own choice, at no point has God forced our hand and made us choose to sin, but instead it is ingrained in every bit of our human nature to do that which is opposed to God’s will. Moreover, the only way to avoid Hell is to be counted among the elect of God, those whom He has predestined for eternal life in Heaven. Therefore, the act of predestination is an act of God to save those whom He desires from the natural result of their sins and setting them apart to be glorified alongside Christ in Heaven. However, at no point has God played a part in the condemnation of a soul to Hell. One ends up in Hell because out of their depraved nature they chose to sin, and God’s electing grace simply passed over them.

I know this is a hard doctrine to deal with, either because it seems too complicated or just plain unloving, but I encourage you that if you seriously put the time into searching out God’s will and His character in election then you will be rewarded with a peace about what He says. As well, it is important to keep in mind this other quotation of Lewis from the same book:

“Ye cannot fully understand the relations of choice and Time till you are beyond both…. What concerns you is the nature of the choice itself: and that ye can watch them making.”

If you find all of the talk of predestination and free will to be a stumbling block just keep this quote in mind. It is wonderfully and greatly rewarding to study the deeper aspects of God’s character in theology, but remember that Christ’s call for us is to simply “go” and “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19-20) and if you are faithful to do this you will certainly not be disappointed!

Grace be with you.

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Posted by Todd Burus

I’ve Got Nothing I Hadn’t Bargained For- C.S. Lewis on Suffering

January 22, 2008

“From the rational point of view, what new factor has H.’s death introduced into the problem of the universe? What grounds has it given me for doubting all that I believe? I knew already that these things, and worse, happened daily… We were even promised sufferings. They were part of the programme. We were even told, ‘Blessed are they that mourn,’ and I accepted it. I’ve got nothing that I hadn’t bargained for. Of course it is different when the thing happens to oneself, not to others, and in reality, not in imagination.”

“But of course one must take ’sent to try us’ the right way. God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn’t… He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.”

- C.S Lewis, “A Grief Observed”

The above are two excerpts from an amazing, compact novella by C.S. Lewis entitled A Grief Observed. In reading it I can honestly say that I felt both the pain that Lewis went through when his wife passed away, as well as the fear that I have inside myself about facing true sufferings.

As well, I believe that the observations which C.S. made concerning God’s trials are so right on. God already knows how weak and miserable our faith is. His trials come not to make sure Himself that we will persevere but instead to make us ourselves aware of the dire need we have to trust more fully in Him. As the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:9, “Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” How awesome!

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A Child’s Gift to Their Father- An Illustration of Faith by CS Lewis

January 15, 2008

In the previous post I noted, towards the end, that even the faith with which we, as regenerate spirits, believe and are justified through, is given to us by God. In reading through the book Mere Christianity by CS Lewis I came across this same idea presented in a very insightful illustration which I want to share with you:

“So that when we talk of a man doing anything for God or giving anything to God, I will tell you what it is really like. It is like a small child going to its father and saying, ‘Daddy, give me sixpence to buy you a birthday present.’ Of course, the father does, and he is pleased with the child’s present. It is all very nice and proper, but only an idiot would think that the father is sixpence to the good on the transaction.”

Thus, the question is, why does God even bother to grant us the faith if it is solely His work in the first place? And the answer, I feel, we can see in this illustration of the father, who could easily have bought for himself whatever present the child has purchased using the father’s money, but because it was the child who presented this gift to him it bore a more pleasing nature. Similarly, the Father could just present us to Himself without going through the trouble of granting us faith to believe, but in granting us such faith He is able to be glorified all the more when we do (as we must!) use it to believe in Him!

It is a very humbling knowledge to know that we are so completely depraved that even the faith to believe must come from God’s own mercy, and yet it is so much more praiseworthy that He had such a mercy on us at all. This is truly a wonderful act of love by the Father!

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The Danger of “Small” Sins- Reflections on “The Screwtape Letters”

January 5, 2008

As you may have noticed through some of my recent posts, I have been in the process of reading C.S. Lewis’ classic The Screwtape Letters over the past week or so. On Thursday I finished the book, and as is my custom, I shut the book and stopped to ponder what the overarching, take home theme I got from the text was. On this, it immediately popped up as to how much reference Lewis made of the necessity for the demons to exploit the subtle sins and idleness of the patient’s life (Again, if you don’t know, the book is written from the perspective of a supervisor demon corresponding with a subservient demon as to how best lead a human “patient” towards an eternity in Hell). As such, I have been thinking about the validity of such an idea.

The immediate scripture that came to mind was Revelation 3:15-16: I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. In this verse, Christ is talking to a church, and so believers, and is warning them that they need make their works bold and strong, and not just marginal for lack of trying. I believe that this relates to the idea in the fact that as a Christian, the desire for idleness is a strong temptation which Satan can level in order to keep us from doing good works. This serves to make us as an unrefreshing yet uncleansing, stale, lukewarm water, which the drinker would rather spit out than bring into himself. However, I don’t feel this is the whole story.

The thrust of what I feel Lewis is getting at with this theme of “casual” sinfulness is more in order that a fallen man who has no reason to call upon God won’t. John Piper said this in one of his sermons when he gave the illustration that if a man is drowning and you throw a buoy to him, he won’t get mad if the buoy hits him in the face, but, if a man is just standing around and you hit him in the face with a buoy he will curse you. It is the same with Jesus. If a man sees that he needs a savior then the offense of the cross won’t affect him, but to the person who doesn’t see his need of a savior, the cross is just an offense. So, in terms of Lewis’ point, a man will find no need in God if his sins are “small” and he sees no roadsigns on the path to Hell. However, if a man sees that he is surely headed in the wrong direction he will immediately want to find out how he can turn around.

That is the burden on Christians. First, to show others the roadsigns of their destination without the knowledge of Christ as their savior. Second, and sometimes more difficultly, to find the roadsigns when ourselves or the church begin to head down the wrong avenue. This second point, I belive, is why the call for sound doctrine is so important to the community of believers. It is truly amazing how much damage the human mind can do to the smallest exceptions we make to the will of God.

I am certainly not done looking at this topic, as the idea has really hit home with a lot of issues that I feel passionately about, but I wish to leave for now with this one final scripture which details for us the need of God’s opening our eyes to the utter depravity of even the “smallest” of our sins:

There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death. - Proverbs 16:25

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C.S. Lewis and the Road to Hell

January 3, 2008

“It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one- the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” - C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Ponder today what this quote brings to your mind. I know that personally it made me seriously consider the ways in which I use my time and whether or not that is glorifying to God. Enjoy.

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Reflections on Undulation with C.S. Lewis

December 30, 2007

To me a very important part of the Christian life is recognizing the weakness and utter depravity of the human condition. It is so easy to assume, and even taught among some of the branches of “Christianity”, that there exists some sort of “sinless perfectionism” among those who have truly been saved; the thought that once one becomes a “true” Christian that they will no longer sin or have desires for the evil things in the world. However, there could be nothing further from the truth (see Romans 7:13-25, 2 Corinthians 12, and Galatians 2:11-14), and this doctrine is surely a road that will lead to much stress in the life of a believer.

C.S. Lewis addressed this reality as well in his book The Screwtape Letters. This book is a continuing correspondance between two demons as they work on how to lead a new believer in the Enemy (aka God) down to a life serving “Our Father Below.” In chapter 9 (attached below) we see a letter going out about how to handle a Christian who is going through a down-time in their spiritual walk. I believe that texts like this can be of great comfort to a believer because they show us that the thoughts which Satan uses to attack our minds and make us doubt God’s presence in our lives are not a unique failing of our own, but are a systemic issue that all Christians must deal with at some point or another. Or, in short, when it comes to feelings of spiritual doubt, you are not alone.

The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 9

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Interesting Quote

December 28, 2007

I heard this quote today and found interesting. I think I will put it up without any discussion and just let you chew on it for a while. It is by C.S. Lewis and says:

“We all serve God inevitably, but it makes a great difference whether you serve like Judas or serve like John.”

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Posted by Todd Burus