Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Wonderments-- Strange Situations in
the
http://gloriousriches.blogspot.com/2010/01/wonderments-strange-situations-in.html
Some questions continually perplex me about the modern
church.
There is as much warfare going on
today as when the Church in the early 1900s broke up into liberalism and
conservatism, turning many of the major denominations into shrinking
mausoleums. Yet it seems like the vast majority of today’s leadership in
evangelical and Reformed churches is blind to or unconcerned with some of the
basic issues radically shaping our culture, Christian adults, and especially
our children.
It's vitally important that the
leadership in evangelical and Reformed circles face the spiritual situation and
repent of the compromising spirit that has prevailed. If the leadership approves,
the people follow.
Questions
1. Why is it that every church we
encounter has some strong connection with or promotion of the works of C. S.
Lewis? We've run into this phenomenon in numerous churches, new and old,
contemporary and traditional, Reform and liberal, in a wide variety of
denominations across the
2. Hardly any evangelical Christian
nowadays seems to question the benefit of indulging in mythological/fantasy
thinking. Why? Fifty or sixty years ago, this type of thinking would have been
anathema to most biblical churches.
3. Why are so many children raised
in Christian families given, or are read to from, The Lord of the Rings and The
Narnia Stories without any precautions or preparation for the very vivid
paganism and occultism in them?
4. Why are Christian schools and
universities promoting these works? Even very conservative
schools.
5. While there are parts in Lewis's
work that are totally pagan, such as the Great Dance that features Bacchus, Silenus, and other grossly pagan characters, there is never
a word of warning to children, or adults, that there might be something
wrong--and even dangerous--going on here. There seems to be an assumption that
pagan mythology is totally harmless to modern children. Some Christians even
argue that Harry Potter is harmless and actually beneficial for teaching
Christian doctrine to children.
6. Why have I seen no concern about
the lengthy passage in Lewis's book, Surprised by Joy,
which many people have read, where he defends pedophilia? I quote: "If
those of us who have known a school like Wyvern [which he attended as a youth]
dare to speak the truth, we would have to say that pederasty, however great and
evil in itself, was in that time and place the only foothold and cranny left
for certain good things" (p. 105).
7. Why do Christians seem to
overlook Lewis's promotion of Bacchus, Silenus and
bacchanalian feasts? Bacchus was the mythological god of drunkenness and
orgies. Berit Kjos has written an excellent in-depth article about this called
"Narnia - Part 4 - A book review of Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis 'Awakening Narnia with
Bacchanalian Feasts" (May 11, 2008). See also "Blending Truth and
Myth" by Berit Kjos (the other 3 parts of the series).
8. There is a strong connection
between embracing Lewis's works and a lot of modern cultural thinking by
Christians who want to embrace the culture, such as psychology, literature,
cinematography, the emergent church movement, etc. Lewis was an artistic and
literary intellectual. Why are evangelicals so enamored of this type of
lifestyle? What makes many of them blind to the bad aspects of these cultural
phenomena?
9. Why is it so
widely assumed
that C. S. Lewis was such a wonderful Christian when he actually promoted
paganism? It's never questioned. (Or, if it is questioned, it's rationalized
away: See http://thehogshead.org/bacchus-worship-and-the-chronicles-of-narnia-43/
It's kind of like, if C. S. Lewis does it, it can't be
wrong. And even if he does it excess, it still can't be wrong.
10. Why do some staunch Calvinists
view G. K. Chesterton as a wise man? He had nothing but contempt for Calvinists
and thought of Reformed life and theology as a perversion of a "healthy
medieval" (i.e., Roman Catholic) way of life.
Why do so few seem to be
noticing--or caring about--these issues?
Partial Answers
Anglicanism. A tremendous influence by the
Inklings comes through Anglicanism, as well as such well-known, highly
respected Anglican intellectuals as:
* Os Guinness, a founder of the Veritas Forum, which features a combination of biblical and
anti-biblical teachers, united only by their respect for academia;
* John Stott, probably the major
figure leading the worldwide ecumenical movement that is trying to combine all
sorts of contrary theological viewpoints in a syncretistic manner;
* J. I. Packer, a man known for
endorsing almost anything, who combines a strange mixture of solid biblical
theology with an openness to very weird, anti-biblical teachings and
lifestyles;
* James Huston, founder of
* Chuck Colson (who claims his conversion
came after reading Mere Christianity). Many of Colson's teachings are laced
with Lewis's influence and modeled after Lewis's apologetics and ecumenicalism,
which attempts to dismiss the importance of the Reformation and blur its lines
with Roman Catholicism. Some of Colson's associates also manifest these
qualities.
* Nancy Pearcey
is one of those associates. (See earlier blog entry on Colson and Pearcey.)
<!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportLists]-->
<!--[endif]-->
Schools and ministries
Just about every major Christian
college, seminary or graduate school, as well as many major Christian
ministries, are drenched with Lewis. To mention a few: Wheaton College, Regent
College in Vancouver, B.C., Fuller Theological Seminary, Westminster Seminary
in California. Other groups include the Association of Confessing Evangelicals
(ACE), The White Horse Inn, the Christian Research Institute (Walter Martin,
founder) and especially Gretchen Passantino, the
Spiritual Counterfeits Project, World Magazine, etc. All of these are connected
with John Warwick Montgomery, who is probably the A, No. 1 living Lewis
apologist. The original Bob Jones of the extremely fundamentalist
The hard thing is
finding a Christian institution or ministry that isn’t in favor of Lewis. The
fundamentalist Baptists seem to be the only major group I know of who aren’t
enraptured with this image of Lewis. If you search the Internet, you will find
just about only one or two apologetics ministries that don’t favor Lewis.
Neo-evangelicalism
All of the above
is intimately connected with what is called Neo-evangelicalism, a great
sea-change in traditional evangelicalism that occurred around 1950, though the
roots of the change existed before then. Neo-evangelicalism has so transformed
the face of traditional evangelicalism that it’s hardly recognizable today.
Traditional evangelicals: Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones,
Charles Spurgeon, and Dwight Moody.
Neo-evangelicals: Billy Graham, John Stott, J.I. Packer, John Warwick
Montgomery, Robert Schuller
Heirs of neo-evangelicals (basically those with the market-driven church /
emergent church philosophies): Brian MacLaren, Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne, Rob Bell, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels.
Only two major
figures among 20th century traditional evangelicals were critical of C. S.
Lewis. Those were Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Dr.
Cornelius Van Til.
In conclusion,
there is still a lot of mystery about the enormous, uncritical acceptance of
the works of C. S. Lewis and the other Inklings by Christians.
There’s no doubt
that C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were world-class writers, but why should
the content of their writings be so uncritically accepted when they have so
much in them that should disturb a discerning Christian? Even secular people
can see it, while many Christians are blind to it.
Why?