Friday, January 4, 2019

Did C.S. Lewis believe in Universal Salvation?

The answer is, probably not.  But I'm far from an expert on Lewis as my recent Prince Caspian post makes clear.

What I do know is that he clearly didn't consider George MacDonald a heretic and therefore would not consider belief in Universal Salvation inherently heretical.  And I know that attempts to label Lewis a Calvinist require ignoring The Great Divorce where it's clearly the sinners own Free Will keeping them in Hell.

I don't think the after life works how it's presented in The Great Divorce.  But I consider that cosmology to be perhaps a descent allegory for how I view the New Heaven and New Earth, where there are people outside New Jerusalem, but the Gates are always open.

I read this article attempting to show how Lewis couldn't possibly be an ally of Universal Salvation, but in so doing strawmans the doctrine.
https://www.equip.org/article/c-s-lewis-hell/
Now, if Emeth had politely asked Aslan to direct him to the Tash part of heaven, and if Aslan had sent him on his way to spend eternity with his god, then critics of Lewis would be justified in accusing him of teaching universal salvation. But that is not at all what happens! As Emeth stands before Aslan, he realizes that Tash and Aslan are not two different names for the same God, but that they are complete opposites. Rather than learn that all religions are the same, Emeth learns that Aslan alone is the true end of his pagan longings. “Beloved,” Aslan explains, “unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.”
Evangelical Universalists, like Robin Parry, Peter Hiett and myself do NOT teach that all religions are equally true.  I don't think all religions lead to God because in my view NO religion leads to God, only Jesus leads to God.  In The New Testament "religion" is the greatest obstacle to finding God.

This article admits that Lewis was open to post-mortem Salvation.  But the thing is Universal Salvation is kind of inevitable once you allow that.

Frankly what I disapprove of about the situation with Emeth is how much Lewis makes it about good works.

So Lewis does not seem like someone who's Soterology was the same as mine, but he doesn't line up perfectly with traditional Calvanism or Arminianism either.

Here is a Universalist Forum discussing Lewis.
https://forum.evangelicaluniversalist.com/t/why-wasnt-c-s-lewis-a-universalist-how-close-did-he-get/1183/12

And indeed here I learned Lewis was of the opinion that Paul taught Universal Salvation but Jesus did not.  Well I've already demonstrated that Jesus and Paul are in fact consistent on this issue.

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