Lessons from an Inconsolable Soul. It Seems I Shouldnt Find Lewis So Helpful. My approach in this talk is personal. I am going to talk about what has meant the most to me in C. S. Lewis how he has helped me the most. And as I raise this question, as I have many times over the years, the backdrop of the question becomes increasingly urgent Why has he been so significant for me, even though he is not Reformed in his doctrine, and could barely be called an evangelical by typical American uses of that wordHe doesnt believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, Lewis, as we have seen in the scope of this study, stands in sharp contrast to evangelical fundamentalism. His example proves that one can be a dedicated evangelical, accept the full authority of Scripture, yet disbelieve in inerrancy. Michael J. Christensen, C. S. Lewis on Scripture Waco, Texas Word Books, 1. Soul 4 Real For Life Rarely Provides Closure' title='Soul 4 Real For Life Rarely Provides Closure' />Lewis speaks of the predictions of the Second Coming in one generation as error in The Worlds Last Night in C. S. Lewis Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces London Harper Collins, 2. He doesnt treat the Reformation with respect, but thinks it could have been avoided, and calls aspects of it farcical. The process whereby Faith and Works became a stock gag in the commercial theater is characteristic of that whole tragic farce which we call the history of the Reformation. The theological questions really at issue have no significance except on a certain level, a high level, of the spiritual life they could have been fruitfully debated only between mature and saintly disputants in close privacy and at boundless leisure. Under those conditions formulae might possibly have been found which did justice to the Protestant. Christian faith. In fact, however, these questions were raised at a moment when they immediately became embittered and entangled with a whole complex of matters theologically irrelevant, and therefore attracted the fatal attention both of government and the mob. When once this has happened, Europes chance to come through unscathed was lost. C. S. Lewis, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama Oxford Oxford University Press, 1. He steadfastly refused in public or in letters to explain why he was not a Roman Catholic but remained in the Church of England. C. S. Lewis, Letters of C. S. Lewis, ed. W. H. Lewis and Walter Hooper New York Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1. He makes room for at least some people to be saved through imperfect representations of Christ in other religions. After visiting Greece with his dying wife, he wrote, At Daphne it was hard not to pray to Apollo the Healer. But somehow one didnt feel it would have been very wrong would only have been addressing Christ sub specie Apollinis. Letters of C. Youre fat, in debt, bite your nails, live in a filthy hovel you call an apartment, cant find a decent job, and your life sucks. Well, maybe it isnt that. February 2, 2010 Lessons from an Inconsolable Soul Learning from the Mind and Heart of C. S. Lewis Desiring God 2010 Conference for Pastors. Thank you for this article very informative and wonderful. Provides so much encouragement. Do You Believe in Past Lives 7 Benefits of Past Life Regression. Christiane Northrup, M. D. A researcher describes five years worth of ethnographic studies of the real vampires living in New Orleans and Buffalo. All you wanted to know about death and the life beyond. Hell and the Lake of Fire, What is Hell Is Hell Real Heaven, Hell and the Afterlife, Facts. Name and place of hell. Hell infernus in theological usage is a place. Inside your body breathes a persona soul. Inside the body of Jewish practice breathes an inner wisdomthe soul of Judaism. We often call it Kabbalah. Reincarnation is the philosophical or religious concept that an aspect of a living being starts a new life in a different physical body or form after each biological. S. Lewis, ed. W. H. Lewis and Walter Hooper, revised edition New York Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1. In this way of talking about possibly praying to Christ through Apollo, he is doing what he told a mother in a letter about her son who feared he loved Aslan more than Jesus But Laurence cant really love Aslan more than Jesus, even if he feels thats what hes doing. For the things he loves Aslan for doing or saying are simply the things Jesus really did and said. So that when Laurence thinks he is loving Aslan, he is really loving Jesus and perhaps loving him more than he ever did before. C. S. Lewis, Letters to Children, ed. Lyle W. Dorsett and Marjorie Lamp Mead New York Macmillian, 1. Most familiar is the conversion of Emeth Hebrew for faithful or true, the sincere seeker in another religion. C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle New York The Macmillan Company, 1. He made a strong logical, but I think unbiblical, case for free will to explain why there is suffering in the world. C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain New York The Macmillan Company, 1. But Lewiss view is not simple or completely transparent. He could say, You will certainly carry out Gods purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John. The Problem of Pain, p. And one wonders if by free will Lewis sometimes only means voluntary rather than having ultimate self determination. For example he writes, After all, when we are most free, it is only with freedom God has given us and when our will is most influenced by Grace, it is still our will. And if what our will does is not voluntary, and if voluntary does not mean free, what are we talking about Letters of C. S. Lewis, 1. 96. 6, p. And perhaps most significantly, after saying that a fallen soul could still turn back to God, he adds this footnote Theologians will note that I am not here intending to make any contribution to the Pelagian Augustinian controversy. I mean only that such a return to God was not, even now, an impossibility. Where the initiative lies in any instance of such return is a question on which I am saying nothing. The Problem of Pain, p. He speaks of the atonement with reverence, but puts little significance on any of the explanations for how it actually saves sinners. To a Roman Catholic he wrote in 1. Yes I think I gave the impression of going further than I intended in saying that all theories of the atonement were to be rejected if we dont find them helpful. What I meant was need not be used a very different thing. Is there, on your view, any real difference here that the Divinity of Our Lord has to be believed whether you find it helpful or a scandal otherwise you are not a Christian at all but the Anselmic theory of Atonement is not in that position. Would you admit that a man was a Christian and could be a member of your church who said I believe that Christs death redeemed man from sin, but I can make nothing of the theories as to how You see, what I wanted to do in these talks was simply to give what is common to us all, and Ive been trying to get a nihil obstat from friends in various communions. It therefore doesnt much matter how you think of my own theory, because it is advanced only as my own. Letters of C. S. Lewis, 1. In other words, Lewis is not a writer to which we should turn for growth in a careful biblical understanding of Christian doctrine. There is almost no passage of Scripture on which I would turn to Lewis for exegetical illumination. A few, but not many. He doesnt deal with many. If we follow him in the kinds of mistakes that he made the ones listed above, it will hurt the church and dishonor Christ. His value is not in his biblical exegesis. Lewis is not the kind of writer who provides substance for a pastors sermons. If a pastor treats Lewis as a resource for doctrinal substance, he will find his messages growing thin, interesting perhaps, but not with much rich biblical content. The Ironic Effect of Reading Lewis. So you see the kind of backdrop there is for this message. How and why has C. S. Lewis been so helpful to me when I think he is so wrong on some very important matters Why dont I put Lewis in the same category as the so called emergent writers At one level, the mistakes seem similar. But when I pose the question that way, it starts to become pretty clear to me why Lewis keeps being useful, while I think the emergent voices will fade away fairly quickly. In fact, I think posing the question this way not only explains why he has been so helpful to me, but also goes right to the heart of what the life and work of C. S. Lewis were about. Hell is Real, Afterlife, Lake of Fire, Heaven or Hell Video Screams. Hell and the Lake of Fire, What is HellIs Hell Real Heaven, Hell and the Afterlife, Facts. Name and place of hell. Hell infernus in theological usage is. Theologians distinguish four. Fathers limbus. patrum, in which the souls of the just who died before Christ. Adam purgatory, where the just, who die. The Latin infernus inferum. Greek Hades, and the Hebrew sheol. Infernus is derived from. Haides, formed from the root fid, to see, and a. The derivation of sheol is doubtful. It is generally supposed to come from the Hebrew root meaning, to. In the Old Testament Septuagint hades. Vulgate infernus sheol is used quite in general to designate the. Genesis 3. 7 3. 5 as. Numbers 1. 6 3. 0 it means hell in. Fathers. But, as the limbo of the Fathers ended at the time of Christs. Ascension, hades Vulgate infernus in the New Testament always. Since Christs Ascension the just. Corinthians 5 1. However, in the New Testament the term. Gehenna is used more frequently in preference to hades, as a. Gehenna is the Hebrew. Nehemiah 1. 1 3. Joshua 1. Kings 2. 3 1. 0 valley of the sons of Hinnom. Besides Hades and Gehenna, we find in the New Testament many other. It is called lower hell. Vulgate tartarus 2 Peter 2 4, abyss. Luke 8 3. 1 and elsewhere, place of torments. Luke 1. 6 2. 8, pool of fire. Revelation 1. 9 2. Matthew 1. 3 4. 2, 5. Matthew 3 1. 2, and elsewhere. Matthew 1. 8 8 2. Jude 7, exterior. Matthew 7 1. 2 2. Peter 2 1. 7 Jude. The state of the damned is called destruction. Philippians 3 1. Timothy 6 9, eternal. Thessalonians 1 9. Galatians 6 8. death Romans 6 2. Revelation 2 1. 1 and elsewhere. Where is hell Some were of opinion. The adherents of this doctrine were called Ubiquists, or. Ubiquitarians among them were, e. Johann Brenz, a Swabian, a. Netscape Navigator Source Code. Protestant theologian of the sixteenth century. However, that opinion. Moreover, if hell is a. The. Bible seems to indicate that hell is within the earth, for it. We even read. of the earth opening and of the wicked sinking down into hell. Numbers 1. 6 3. 1 sqq. Psalm 5. Isaiah. 5 1. Ezekiel 2. Philippians 2 1. Is this merely a metaphor to illustrate the state of. God Although God is omnipresent, He is said to dwell. His infinite splendour. But the damned are utterly estranged from God hence their abode is. However, no cogent reason has been advanced for. Scripture. Hence theologians. The Church has decided nothing on this subject hence we may say hell. St. Chrysostom. reminds us We must not ask where hell is, but how we are to. In Rom., hom. xxxi, n. P. G., LX, 6. 74. St. Augustine says It is my opinion that the nature of. Holy Ghost made it known to him by a special revelation. City of God XX. 1. Elsewhere he expresses the opinion that hell is. Retract., II, xxiv, n. P. L., XXXII, 6. 40. St. Gregory the Great wrote I do not dare to decide this. Some thought hell is somewhere on earth others believe it. Dial., IV, xlii, in P. L., LXXVII, 4. 00. Patuzzi, De sede inferni, 1. Gretser, De. subterraneis animarum receptaculis, 1. Existence of hell. There is a hell, i. God, and unworthy of eternal. God after death. The existence of. God. or the immortality of the soul. Thus among the Jew the Sadducees. Gnostics, the Seleucians, and in our own time Materialists. Pantheists, etc., deny the existence of hell. But apart from these. The existence of hell. Bible. Wherever Christ and the. Apostles speak of hell they presuppose the knowledge of its existence. Matthew 5 2. 9 8 1. Thessalonians 1 8. Revelation 2. 1 8, etc. Also the Fathers, from the very earliest. And in proof of their doctrine they appeal both to. Scripture and to reason cf. Ignatius, Ad Eph., v, 1. Martyrium s. Polycarpi, ii, n, 3 xi, n. Justin. Apol., II, n. P. G., VI, 4. 58 Athenagoras, De. P. G., VI, 1. 01. Irenaeus, Against. Heresies V. 2. 7. Tertullian, Adv. Marc., I, c. P. L., IV, 2. 77. The Church professes her faith in the. Athanasian Creed They that have done good shall go into. Denzinger, Enchiridion, 1. The. Church has repeatedly defined this truth, e. Second Council of Lyons Denz., n. Decree of Union in the Council of Florence Denz., N. If we abstract from the eternity of its. In His sanctity and justice as well as in His. God must avenge the violation of the moral order in such wise. But it is evident from. God does not always do this on earth therefore He. Moreover, if all men were fully. This. however, Divine wisdom cannot permit. Again, if there were no. God extremely indifferent to good. His justice and. holiness. Nor can it be said the wicked will be punished, but not by. These are arbitrary and vain. Besides, due proportion between. And finally, if men. Furthermore, reason easily understands. But the punishment of evil is the natural counterpart. Hence, there will also be punishment for sin. Accordingly, we find among all nations the belief. This universal. conviction of mankind is an additional proof for the existence of. For it is impossible that, in regard to the fundamental. Creator. Eternity of hell. Many admit the existence of hell, but. Conditionalists hold only a. Among the Gnostics the Valentinians held this. Arnobius, the Socinians, many Protestants. The. Universalists teach that in the end all the damned, at least all. Origen. This was a tenet of the. Origenists and the Misericordes of whom St. Augustine speaks City of. God XXI. 1. 8. There were individual adherents of this opinion in every. Scotus Eriugena in particular, many rationalistic. Protestants of the last centuries defended this belief, e. England, Farrar, Eternal Hope. The Holy Bible is quite explicit in. The torments of the. Revelation 1. 4 1. They are everlasting just as are the joys of heaven. Matthew 2. 5 4. 6. Of Judas Christ says it were. Matthew. 2. 6 2. But this would not have been true if Judas was ever. Again. God says of the damned Their worm shall not die, and their. Isaiah 6. 6 2. 4 Mark 9 4. The fire of hell is repeatedly called eternal and. The wrath of God abideth on the damned John. Divine wrath Romans 9 2. Kingdom of God 1 Corinthians 6 1. Galatians 5 2. 1, etc. The objections adduced from Scripture. The teaching of the fathers is not less. Patavius, De Angelis, III, viii. We merely call to mind the testimony of the martyrs who often. Martyrium Polycarpi. Atzberger, Geschichte, II, 6. It is. true that Origen fell into error on this point but precisely for. Church Canones adv. Origenem ex. Justiniani libro adv. Origen., can. ix Hardouin, III, 2. E Denz. n. 2. 11. In vain attempts were made to undermine the authority of. Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise X64 Iso. Dickamp, Die origenistischen Streitigkeiten. Mnster, 1. 89. 9, 1. Besides even in Origen we find the orthodox. Christian was again and again victorious over the doubting. The Church professes her faith in the eternity of the. Athanasian Creed Denz., nn. Denz, nn. 2. 11, 4. Hence, beyond the possibility of doubt, the Church. But what is the attitude of mere reason. Just as God must appoint some fixed term for. For the malice of men cannot compel God to prolong the. Any. obligation to act in this manner would be unworthy of God, because it. Him dependent on the caprice of human malice, would rob. His threats in great part of their efficacy, and would offer the. God. has actually appointed the end of this present life, or the moment of. For in that moment there takes. No other. sharply defined instant of our life is of like importance.