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C.S. Lewis - Heretic?


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This is concerning a sermon from a speaker (Scott A. Johnson) who is an Independent Fundamental Baptist and a KJVO advocate. His sermon is on exposing C.S. Lewis' true colors. Some of the things the speaker said about C.S. Lewis were that C.S. Lewis believed that there were "good" pagans, had admitted to being a Catholic, believed in purgatory, that parts of the bible were myths and contained errors, believed that salvation can be achieved by works, in prayers for the dead, that Christ had fulfilled both paganism and Judaism, got drunk with his students, that we are to become gods on this earth in this lifetime, the book of JOB is unhistorical, did not believe in a literal hell, etc. The speaker had also stated that C.S. Lewis' teachings were from the pit of hell, and that he was a devil from the pit of hell, was a tool of the devil, demon possessed, a heretic, a wolf in sheep clothing, and there was no way in the world that he was saved and is in hell. He also stated that C.S. Lewis has inspired J.K Rowling of the Harry Potter series. His sermon on C.S Lewis can be found here. C.S. Lewis - Heretic

I was wondering if these are facts about C.S Lewis, or slander.

Love,
Madeline

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That about sums up C.S. Lewis in a nutshell! He joined the Catholic church before dying, believed in universalism - even his Narnia series teaches that you can willingly serve Satan your whole life and have it accepted by God as service to Him. He was a mess - and yes, the Narnia books (and some of his other books) were just thinly (very thinly) veiled paganism and occultism - AND the only difference between him, his Catholic friend Tolkien, and the Potter books is the DEGREE of magic and occultism in them. In the Bible, magic and the occult is ALWAYS clearly shown as wrong.

If you do a search on http://wayoflife.org you can quickly find some of the specifics of his doctrinal quirks. In Mere Christianity, he taught that it did not matter whether you were a Catholic, Protestant or Charismatic - they were all just simply doors to enter salvation by.

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Have any of you actually read some of his writings? I have and some of it is pretty good. The Screwtape Letters is one of them. I've never heard that he converted to Catholicism. He just had some Catholic friends like I do. He taught "universal morality" (which the Bible does, Rms. 2:14,15) not "universalism salvation".

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Yes, I have read some of his books. Lewis was getting the last rites just before he died. He does teach Universalism - which is why so many Mormons promote him. Also, his fictional books promote paganism and magic. The Screwtape Letters may be interesting, but there are things in there that contradict the Bible - yet, that is where some get their beliefs from about spiritual warfare and how the Devil works.

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Amazing to me at the number of Christians who will support such a man as Lewis who plainly walks on both sides of the fence, his writing about witchcraft ought to be enough for any student of the Bible to stay away from ALL if his stuff.

1Sa 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Ga 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Ga 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Ga 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

We should never play nor dabble with anything that is a sin against God, witchcraft is sin.

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Of course, it is judgemental - judgment based upon the Word of God. The man believed in Universalism, that Jesus wasn't the only way, that Hell was not literal fire, that you can serve the Devil your whole life and have that credited as serving God. His Narnia books teach magic and the occult, are filled with paganism and mythological characters, such as Bacchus (the god of drunken revelry) and satyrs (which are demons, but he promotes them as something good), tree and river gods (and yes, he actually calls them "gods" in his books). The Bible teaches the believer that is spiritual JUDGES ALL THINGS. Are you spiritual and willing to judge all things in your life, to be discerning of all doctrine you encounter - whether presented in a novel or a Bible study?

1 Corinthians 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

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This is concerning a sermon from a speaker (Scott A. Johnson) who is an Independent Fundamental Baptist and a KJVO advocate. His sermon is on exposing C.S. Lewis' true colors. Some of the things the speaker said about C.S. Lewis were that C.S. Lewis believed that there were "good" pagans, had admitted to being a Catholic, believed in purgatory, that parts of the bible were myths and contained errors, believed that salvation can be achieved by works, in prayers for the dead, that Christ had fulfilled both paganism and Judaism, got drunk with his students, that we are to become gods on this earth in this lifetime, the book of JOB is unhistorical, did not believe in a literal hell, etc. The speaker had also stated that C.S. Lewis' teachings were from the pit of hell, and that he was a devil from the pit of hell, was a tool of the devil, demon possessed, a heretic, a wolf in sheep clothing, and there was no way in the world that he was saved and is in hell. He also stated that C.S. Lewis has inspired J.K Rowling of the Harry Potter series. His sermon on C.S Lewis can be found here. C.S. Lewis - Heretic

I was wondering if these are facts about C.S Lewis, or slander.

Love,
Madeline


Madeline, the only way for you to find the answer to your question is to read C.S. Lewis's writings, and judge for yourself. What you've got on this thread are just more people's opinions, to add to this preacher's opinion.

I used to hear a lot of things about the Harry Potter series, but it wasn't until I took the time to read the books that I was able to form my own opinion about them. Same with anything else. Next on my list is The Shack. (I must say I'm not too excited about reading that one, but I must do so before I can comment responsibly when people ask me about it.)

So, start reading! :thumb: You could go straight to Surprised by Joy (his autOBiography) and Mere Christianity (apologetic book), as well as his shorter works and essays, such as The Abolition of Man, The Four Loves, God in the Dock, Till We Have Faces, The Business of Heaven, and A Grief OBserved...or you could take the long way 'round and start with his more fanciful works: The Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, and The Space Trilogy.

I will only add that if you have more listening time than reading time, I'd recommend getting the Focus on the Family Radio Series CD's of the Chronicles, which IMO do an excellent jOB of dramatizing the stories (and I'm a stickler for accuracy, too...That's why I can't recommend all of the recently produced movies of the series).
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An informed opinion would also involve reading critiques and reviews of his material, ones that list page numbers for quotes - and see if what has been said about this author and his beliefs is true - and then compare what the author has said with the Bible itself. If the quotes are taken in context, and this writer has made statements that are teaching doctrine or promoting philosophies, activities, etc. that are contrary to God's Word (hm, such as promoting magic and paganism, and teaching Universalism and that hell fire is not literal or eternal), then you can make an informed opinion on whether it would be spiritually edifying to keep reading his writings and whether you should take a stand against any false teachings you may find. While you are at it, check out this link:

No Wonder The Mormons Like C.S. Lewis!!

Of course, that is just my informed opinion.

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An informed opinion would also involve reading critiques and reviews of his material, ones that list page numbers for quotes - and see if what has been said about this author and his beliefs is true - and then compare what the author has said with the Bible itself. If the quotes are taken in context, and this writer has made statements that are teaching doctrine or promoting philosophies, activities, etc. that are contrary to God's Word (hm, such as promoting magic and paganism, and teaching Universalism and that hell fire is not literal or eternal), then you can make an informed opinion on whether it would be spiritually edifying to keep reading his writings and whether you should take a stand against any false teachings you may find. While you are at it, check out this link:

No Wonder The Mormons Like C.S. Lewis!!

Of course, that is just my informed opinion.

This is good advice, Jerry. I'll add that it would be wise to consider the source of various quotations. For example, I noticed that in the sermon (see link above), the speaker quoted heavily from Christianity Today, a magazine which is not IMO a reliable source. IOW, the speaker took interpretations of C.S. Lewis's writings from Christianity Today (which IMO were not correct interpretations), and proceeded to refute C.S. Lewis's writings based on that faulty interpretation of it. That's why I say the best thing someone can do is read C.S. Lewis for himself/herself, not just rely on others' interpretations of his work.
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