Anonymous,

You may not want to judge others beliefs but you should at least admit that Paul was right when he wrote,

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Gal 1:8-9)

You’d better believe Paul because he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these words.

Quite an interesting reply as i was hardly expecting my comment to be published. Actually, I have no children and nor do I plan on it. I am 17, I am in high school. I HAVE read Harry Potter, yes, many people–adults and children–here in the US have. I find it humorous that you quoted me, and even in the proper context. Bully for you, friend.

Now, about Mr. Lewis believing in purgatory. Everyone who reads the Bible–or any holy book, for that matter–takes with them their own interpretation of the written word. I personally do not believe in purgatory, however I am not one to judge others beliefs, and neither are you.

So after that little rebuttal, I am just happy to see you stand up for what you believe, so few Christians do that nowadays. I hope you understand where I am coming from, I do not intend to make enemies as I do realize that this site is from a more strict country than my own.

Thank you for your concern and God bless.

Anonymous,

God’s truth has nothing to do with mythology. So why mix religion and mythology to teach wholesome lessons to children? You are not teaching the children anything wholesome but deception that’s very dangerous.

And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. (March 9:42)

Even Dave Hunt who quoted Lewis favorably in some of his news letters had to admit that something was drastically wrong with Lewis.

Question: Why do you quote C. S. Lewis favorably? Aren’t you aware of his many unbiblical beliefs, especially the things he says in Letters to Malcolm?
Hunt, Dave

Feb 1 1993
Question: Why do you quote C. S. Lewis favorably? Aren’t you aware of his many unbiblical beliefs, especially the things he says in Letters to Malcolm ?

Response: I was not aware of Letters to Malcolm by Lewis. It is quite distressing. Could that be something he wrote shortly before his death when he was turning toward the Catholic Church? His prayers for the dead, belief in purgatory, and rejection of the literal resurrection of the body are serious deviations from biblical Christianity. His contention that some pagans may “belong to Christ without knowing it” is heresy. I never read all of Mere Christianity (and that would be more than 30 years ago) and don’t remember seeing the errors you have pointed out.

In everything I’ve read of Lewis there have always been parts that bothered me (that we’re to become “gods,” the apparent affirmation of theistic evolution, the Tao, Merlin the Magician being God’s servant, neglect of Rapture, etc.) but I overlooked them because he had so many excellent insights. I’m puzzled how so much light can dwell with such darkness! With the liberals, modernists, the positive-confession heretics, et al., I rarely find any valuable insights to make them worth reading, but I do find much in Lewis. It is perplexing. I could never recommend Schuller, Peale, Hagin, or Copeland in any degree. They have almost nothing to commend them. Lewis, however, seemed to have so much to offer. Can I recommend him with specific warnings about his errors?

You’ve given me much to ponder. I’ll have to go back and read more critically The Abolition of Man, The Problem of Pain, Miracles, The Great Divorce, God in the Dock , and many others that I felt had so many excellent insights. Thank you for calling this to my attention.

This is what Lewis wrote:

I BELIEVE IN PURGATORY…

“Of course I pray for the dead. The action is so spontaneous, so all but inevitable, that only the most compulsive theological case against it would deter me. And I hardly know how the rest of my prayers would survive if those for the dead were forbidden. At our age, the majority of those we love best are dead. What sort of intercourse with God could I have if what I love best were unmentionable to him?

I believe in Purgatory.

Mind you, the Reformers had good reasons for throwing doubt on the ‘Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory’ as that Romish doctrine had then become…..

The right view returns magnificently in Newman’s DREAM. There, if I remember it rightly, the saved soul, at the very foot of the throne, begs to be taken away and cleansed. It cannot bear for a moment longer ‘With its darkness to affront that light’. Religion has claimed Purgatory.

Our souls demand Purgatory, don’t they? Would it not break the heart if God said to us, ‘It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy’? Should we not reply, ‘With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I’d rather be cleaned first.’ ‘It may hurt, you know’ – ‘Even so, sir.’

I assume that the process of purification will normally involve suffering. Partly from tradition; partly because most real good that has been done me in this life has involved it. But I don’t think the suffering is the purpose of the purgation. I can well believe that people neither much worse nor much better than I will suffer less than I or more. . . . The treatment given will be the one required, whether it hurts little or much.

My favourite image on this matter comes from the dentist’s chair. I hope that when the tooth of life is drawn and I am ‘coming round’,’ a voice will say, ‘Rinse your mouth out with this.’ This will be Purgatory. The rinsing may take longer than I can now imagine. The taste of this may be more fiery and astringent than my present sensibility could endure. But . . . it will [not] be disgusting and unhallowed.”

– C.S. Lewis, Letters To Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, chapter 20, paragraphs 7-10, pages 108-109

In his book, C. S. Lewis: A Biography (Harcourt Inc., 1974), Roger Lancelyn Green, a researcher on the life and writings of Lewis, said Lewis believed that “Christianity fulfilled paganism” and “paganism prefigured Christianity” (pages 274, 30).

I wouldn’t be surprised if you allowed your children to read the Harry Potter series of books. If so, goody for you because “these books will corrupt a child about as much as a ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’, so why make such a big deal out of it?”

Firstly, the man could not have been genuinely saved considering that he held to Roman Catholic beliefs and the account of his “conversion” is far removed from biblical truth.

You show your ignorance of biblical truth when you Christianize a work of Satan in the Harry Potter books.

Astounding, absolutely astounding. You sound like a sincere person and I hope and pray that you come out of your fog and grasp the truth and come to understand who the Holy Spirit is and the truth that He illuminates.

Hannah

>> Deborah, I’m a little puzzled that I don’t know what it is about a saving relationship with Christ that is so ‘strict’??

Comment #42

>> Does everyone have to think exactly the same – I thought God has made us all different and enables us to express ourselves in different ways…

Really? I only find ONE Bible with 1 Gospel Message detailing 1 strict Christian way of living and obedience to God through His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ.

What are you reading?

Strict was the wrong choice of word to use, and it’s been something that I’ve wanted to come and edit for a while now, but you picked up on it now. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple, salvation is simple, being led by the Holy Spirit is wonderful and being chastised by Him is welcome because it brings you to repentance and a close loving relationship with Jesus Christ. The Bible however gives us ‘strict’ guide lines on how a Christian is to behave. And I mean ‘strict’ as in something we ‘adhere to closely’. The Bible is not something to be taken lightly as a Christian, and it’s rules can’t be bent. When God says do not follow after false gods, He means in. When He says you are not to delve into wickedness He means it.

But to some supposed Christians they say that the Bible is too strict and they don’t want to be obedient to God, the then bend the Word of God to suit themselves…and make excuses as to why they should not be living a holy life as the Bible commands. But living this life can ONLY come with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and by no other means.

As it happens, I am a Harry Potter fan as well, and again, even though I was at this point an adult reading the books, the day I realised that the Harry Potter story was another allegory for the story of Jesus and the Cross was a joyous day for me! And the best thing about the movies for me was the moving depiction of how true brothers and sisters in a cause act towards each other. For example they could be challenged by each other without resorting to cold and dismissive put-downs as an insecure unloving self-defence.

What? You can’t do that. Please find scripture FROM THE BIBLE where the Bible (WORD OF GOD) says you can do what you did? So you just applied a Biblical message to a satanic story. Why don’t you just call Satan, Jesus and get it over and done with. The Bible says, Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

The Bible says… 1 Corinthians 10:31 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. How do you give God glory when you read Harry Potter books? Instead you do the opposite, you blaspheme God by making a satanic story Christian. How on earth do you think Jesus must feel about this? Satan who is a roaring lion out to deceive, kill, murder Christians and you shake his hand and Christianize him. I’ve never in my life read anything so shocking.

Take people who teach things like, for example, that if you say the magic words “In Jesus’ Name” at the end of every prayer request, then you have somehow transformed what is your own will into being the will of God, which then means you are guaranteed to get what you want. Well to my mind, THAT is the sort of witchcraft that is most threatening to our personal walk with Christ.

This is not magic, when we pray, we can pray to God our Heavenly Father – Psalm 5:2 “Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray”. To the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray as to the Father because they are equal. Or you can pray to our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ – it does not matter, what ever makes you happy. Prayer to one member of the Trinity is prayer to all, because all three are One. Stephen, when he was being martyred, prayed – Acts 7:59 “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” . We are also to pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Paul said, that we are always give – Ephesians 5:20 “thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” . There is no fixed rule, to add a rule on how to address God is wrong.
If you do not come to God THROUGH Jesus Christ then which God do you pray too?

So God in His mighty wisdom has not left us with a single complete and perfect book. Thankfully! As that would invite us to forsake our worship of and interaction with a living being Who is seen with the heart and mind in endless colours and depth, for idolatry of something that is only seen with the outer eye and merely in black and white. (Although my observation is that most religious Christians have still gone this way, seeking to be redeemed by laws and not by grace.

Really? The bible is not complete? I have news for you – it is perfect and complete and the biblical Holy Spirit (who CAN NOT be seen, let alone in endless colours, or black and white) illuminates (the biblical way) the PERFECT AND COMPLETE BIBLE for the genuine Christian. The Holy Spirit will only speak what IS IN the Bible and … Revelation 22:18-19
18 I testify to the one who hears the words of the prophecy contained in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
19 And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.

Proverbs 30:6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

Matthew 15:6-9
6 …. You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition.
7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,
8 ​​​​​​​‘This people honors me with their lips, ​​​​​​but their heart is far from me,
9 ​​​​​​​and they worship me in vain, ​​​​​​teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

1 Corinthians 4:6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written….

The Bible is complete because The Bible says so.

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

2 Timothy 3:16–17 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

Psalm 119:89 Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
—–

I’m interested to know how you got saved, and how you did receive this (all colourfull) holy spirit What did you do exactly to open your 3rd Eye?

I believe that God desires that we respect and appreciate our own and each other’s unique set of giftings. We do not need to all think exactly the same, in fact that would be terrible! What matters is that we do not compromise the one unifying trait that bonds us as brothers and sisters in Christ, which is personally knowing and as a consequence expressing the love and character of Jesus from within us.

I’m saddened at the lack of verification by regulars of this site of the condemning statements about C.S. Lewis in the article above. As they are either untrue or totally misleading, and the quotes used, are misrepresented or taken out of context. For example Lewis was clear in explaining his use of the term ‘myth’, he did not think of a myth as being an untrue story like we do now, particularly when it came to the Bible. The word is poorly understood today, as it actually refers to a story from long ago that may or may not be true. So it is not actually an insult to the integrity of the Bible to say it contains myths.

I have read a number of Lewis’ books and been profoundly blessed by them from a young age. I like many, found that as a child, identifying with the children in the Narnia books, and reading about the love and sacrifice of Aslan for them and for Narnia, and then realising Who it represented, helped me to connect better with and appreciate more the sheer awesomeness and magnitude of the message of the Cross. And having read his non-fiction works since then too, I am as certain of Lewis’ residency in heaven as I am of that of any of the Saints.

As it happens, I am a Harry Potter fan as well, and again, even though I was at this point an adult reading the books, the day I realised that the Harry Potter story was another allegory for the story of Jesus and the Cross was a joyous day for me! And the best thing about the movies for me was the moving depiction of how true brothers and sisters in a cause act towards each other. For example they could be challenged by each other without resorting to cold and dismissive put-downs as an insecure unloving self-defence.

Also, a rather desirable and unexpected side-effect of reading about basic methods of a fictional witchcraft for me has been that it helped me to become aware of the presence and domination in much of mainstream Christianity of real (although subversive) witchcraft.
Take people who teach things like, for example, that if you say the magic words “In Jesus’ Name” at the end of every prayer request, then you have somehow transformed what is your own will into being the will of God, which then means you are guaranteed to get what you want. Well to my mind, THAT is the sort of witchcraft that is most threatening to our personal walk with Christ. And it’s the learning of that NON-fictional spell-casting that we need to be protecting our children from! (In addition to teaching them an understanding of what fiction is, obviously!)

The vast majority of Jesus’ public teachings were through parables or allegory. So if that is ‘just entertainment’ should we erase all of His stories from the pages of our Bibles in order to ‘conform not to the world’?
BurningLamp, using the ‘good fruit from a diseased tree’ allegory before dismissing any use of allegories in teaching is a little ironic!? And if you want to apply that to any specific human, then it is only fair to apply it to all of us. And since ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ surely that means we are all ‘diseased trees’?
Thank God for Jesus then; the one human in history who, being sinless, was not a ‘diseased tree’! (For it was Himself and His own fruit that He was referring to in response to accusations of working with Beelzebub.)

Also, Deborah, I’m a little puzzled that I don’t know what it is about a saving relationship with Christ that is so ‘strict’?? Because the more I experience His love and guidance in my life the more set free I become, no longer chained or burdened with imagined self-justifying duties and obligations and trying to meet the controlling expectations of others. But instead filled with peace, awe, love and trust in Him as He teaches me more each day.

Finally, I am sorry if this post all sounds very disagreeable, as I really do appreciate and respect the purposes and intentions of this site. But I would say that there is most certainly more than ‘one Bible’. Since it’s been such a long time that the original languages of the Bible have been in common usage, they cannot be completely and fully reliably translated. So the best we can do as a society is interpret what we have with the best of the knowledge and resources available to us. As this has been done by so many different groups over the years, the result is varying translations.
So God in His mighty wisdom has not left us with a single complete and perfect book. Thankfully! As that would invite us to forsake our worship of and interaction with a living being Who is seen with the heart and mind in endless colours and depth, for idolatry of something that is only seen with the outer eye and merely in black and white. (Although my observation is that most religious Christians have still gone this way, seeking to be redeemed by laws and not by grace.)

I believe that it is Jesus Who is the inerrant Word Of God, which is alive today. That He sent the Holy Spirit as His messenger, to dwell with and within all who earnestly desire it, and Who remains ready and eager to answer or address all of our questions, in the here and now, guiding each one of us as He did each of the first disciples. They set a good example by using the Scriptures of their day as a secondary aid in their preaching of the Gospel, but it is clear that the heart of their message was given to each one primarily through their own relationship with Jesus, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to each person individually as he or she sought it.

I hope you find my comments acceptable as opposed to delete-able! I also hope it’s clear that no offense is intended. 🙂