A couple of years ago, I posted the article Always Winter But Never Christmas by Dr. Jerry Newcombe. With Easter now fast approaching, I thought this was a great reminder to share with you again.

It was a wonderfully written article relating The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis to Christ’s birth. After all, in the novel, the Pevensies are told it’s always winter, but never Christmas under the White Witch’s reign. Dr. Newcombe made the point that Christ came into our world to undo the work of the Devil – giving us hope. If He had never come, then for us too, it would always be winter, and never Christmas. With Easter approaching, I thought this was a great reminder.

However, one of my readers quoted “Ultimately, C.S. Lewis’s novel is a beautiful Christian allegory” and told me that I should read some “eye opening” posts that he had written regarding C.S. Lewis’ beliefs. So I did.

I wrote the reader a brief response, but in this article, I’ll dive in a bit further. Now, I am not trying to pick a fight or be a stumbling block. I just want to briefly explain my position on this reader’s claim. I will only be addressing part 1 of what he wrote (as this would be way too long if I did both parts). And, again, as I’m not trying to pick a fight, this will be the only part I will be addressing, unless there is enough interest. With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s dive in.

In Part 1 of this series the reader wrote, he quoted C.S. Lewis’ The Problem of Pain, where C.S. Lewis states:

“I have the deepest respect even for Pagan myths, still more for myths in Holy Scripture”.

And thus, the reader came to the conclusion: “C.S. Lewis believes that the Bible contains myths.” Yikes, that doesn’t look too good. His ending paragraph in part 1:

“Calling certain parts of the Scriptures [myths] is very problematic, especially when it is coming from a so-called Christian. If you are a Christian who reads his books, alarms should be ringing in your head. C.S. Lewis is very popular for a reason. In part 2, we will continue to look at Lewis’ other quotes that are even worse.”

The rest of his article described how the Bible is true and contains allegories (for example, Revelations), where things may not be specifically spelled out, but do, in fact, have a literal meaning. I have no disagreements with that, which is why it is not quoted here.

The author has come to a few conclusions:

• C.S. Lewis is a “so-called Christian”…meaning, therefore that he must not be one.
• C.S. Lewis thinks that the Bible contains myths.
• Any Christian who reads C.S. Lewis’ books should automatically scrutinize them.
• C.S. Lewis is popular “for a reason”…meaning the Devil is promoting him?

Let’s address the first bullet point – C.S. Lewis being a “so-called Christian”.

The evidence for this comes from the reader making an informal logical fallacy – the slippery slope argument. If C.S. Lewis believes the Bible contains myths then he must not be Christian. I cannot tell you if anyone other than myself is a Christian. That is between you and God. However, Matthew 7:15-20 gives us an idea of how we can know:

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”

We can observe a person’s fruit, and see the intent of their heart. C.S. Lewis was only a man, who was an Atheist and set out to disprove the Bible. In the process, he realized some of the pieces of what he believed (or rather, didn’t believe) weren’t exactly fitting together. Given the works I have read of his, I would say that his fruit would indicate that he was a Christian. But again, no one can know for sure anyone’s salvation (other than their own) – we can just evaluate their life and “fruits”.

Next point: C.S. Lewis thinks the Bible contains myths.

That was definitely a pretty condemning quote the reader used, I can’t argue with that. But, you know me. Context is key.

Let’s take a brief detour and take a look at the Second Amendment.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you’ll know that people use the word militia to prove that it means military, not civilian. However, context is key. In those times, the word militia meant composed of the citizen. The Founding Fathers did not want to give all the control to the government. Don’t believe me? Below encompasses what the many drafts of the 2nd Amendment stated…and some sections were removed due to them being common knowledge:

“A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the People, being the best security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed, but no one religiously scrupulous of bearing arms, shall be compelled to render military service in person.”

Now that I’ve demonstrated a very well known issue of a word evolving and changing meaning with culture (i.e. militia now vs. the 1700s), let’s get back to C.S. Lewis’ use of the word, myth. C.S. Lewis is a literature professor, and the amount of literature he read probably exceeds us all.

In fact, in Miracles, C.S. Lewis wrote (emphasis mine):

“No philosophical theory which I have yet come across is a radical improvement on the words of Genesis, that ‘In the beginning God made Heaven and Earth.’ I say ‘radical’ improvement, because the story in Genesis—as St. Jerome said long ago—is told in the manner ‘of a popular poet,’ or as we should say, in the form of a folk tale. But if you compare it with the creation legends of other peoples—with all these delightful absurdities in which giants to be cut up and floods to be dried up are made to exist before creation—the depth and originality of this Hebrew folk tale will soon be apparent. The idea of creation in the rigorous sense of the word is there fully grasped.”

Did you see what I bolded?

For C.S. Lewis, myth doesn’t mean false. He lived and breathed literature. He was talking about the style in which it was written.

In Myth Became Fact, C.S. Lewis states:

“In the enjoyment of a great myth, we come nearest to experiencing as a concrete what can otherwise be understood only as an abstraction.”

“Human intellect is incurably abstract. Pure mathematics is the type of successful thought. Yet the only realities we experience are concrete–this pain, this pleasure, this dog, this man. While we are loving the man, bearing the pain, enjoying the pleasure, we are not intellectually apprehending Pleasure, Pain, or Personality. When we begin to do so, on the other hand, the concrete realities sink to the level of mere instances or examples: we are no longer dealing with them, but with that which they exemplify. This is our dilemma–either to taste and not to know or to know and not to taste–or, more strictly, to lack one kind of knowledge because we are in an experience or to lack another kind because we are outside it.”

-C.S. Lewis, Myth Became Fact

C.S. Lewis says that myths are able to put abstract truths into concrete terms. It is a method of writing and knowledge transfer that makes more sense for us to understand.

Lastly, C.S. Lewis claims in Myth Became Fact:

 “Even assuming (which I most constantly deny) that the doctrines of historic Christianity are merely mythical, it is the myth which is the vital and nourishing element in the whole concern.”

C.S. Lewis is merely using the word myth to describe a type of writing, just as the Bible also contains poems, chronicles, psalms, proverbs, apocalyptic foretelling, histories, epistles, and many, many more types of writing. Context is key.

Third point, Christians should scrutinize C.S. Lewis’ works. Now, while that’s not explicitly what the reader said, but rather what he implied by his comment. I wholeheartedly agree. We should judge everything we read and see and learn against God’s truth. There are people who are going to lead you astray, and we need to be vigilant. But we also need to have some common sense and look at things in context.

Lastly, the reader claimed that C.S. Lewis is popular for a reason. I also agree, but not for the reason it seems the reader believes that. C.S. Lewis was a lot like J.R.R. Tolkien. They’re both well known for their series (with Narnia being exceedingly allegorical to Christianity), and for their other works. Christians read their works and study how they saw the world and learn from it.

All of this to say, I am not lifting up C.S. Lewis…I am lifting up Jesus. I do happen to be a fan of C.S. Lewis’ works, and I will always think it is unfair to come to an erroneous conclusion based on a sentence someone wrote taken out of context. I know this post got a bit long, and I could’ve gone into more detail (maybe I’ll write my PhD dissertation on this topic), but again, I am not trying to pick a fight with the reader who left that comment. I did link to their post so that you can see what they wrote and can read their post in context with this one. Because as I’ve stated a few times…context is key.

Feel free to leave any questions/comments below, or you can reach me here!

If you are not 100% sure that you’ll go to Heaven when you die, now is the time to repent and put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you have any questions or doubts about your salvation, click here to learn how you can be saved!

Sources:

Second Amendment draft: https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt2-2/ALDE_00013262/

All Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version