I have been seeing a lot about C.S. Lewis lately and I want to warn against following any of his spiritual philosophy. In my opinion, he was heavily interested in the occult and not actually a Christian. I’ve linked a paper below that goes into this, but I first want to detail why I came to question his faith.
I was reading the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and found this quote describing the Witch as odd:
> “She comes of your father Adam's" -here mr Beaver bowed- "your father Adam's first wife, her they called Lilith. And she was one of the Jinn. That's what she comes from on one side. And on the other she comes of the giants. No, no, there isn't a drop of real human blood in the Witch."
I thought this was odd. And then later he mentions Bacchus (Dionysus), a major figure in occult theology.
I then looked up C.S. Lewis and the occult and found this quote from him (post conversion to Christianity) regarding Apollo:
>At Daphne it was hard not to pray to Apollo the Healer. But somehow one didn't feel it would have been very wrong — would only have been addressing Christ sub specie Apollinis.
Very strange to call a false god or demon a sub specie of Christ.
I delved into it more and found this paper that outlines the problems with Lewis’ theology:
https://www.scionofzion.com/csl.html
While I like his writings, we should beware that the man was not a Christian. In fact, I have seen it argued that Aslan was a symbol of Lucifer and solar worship, since lions are associated with the Sun and his arrival marks the end of the Witch’s winter. Very insidious, if true, since the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is such a beloved children’s book.
Furthermore, Christ, when he came to earth, performed specific miracles to show not just jews but pagans that he was the most powerful God and had all the powers of any of the other gods.
If you go further, you'll end up studying angels and find that angels would've been considered as gods outright by polytheists. Thus, it is not necessarily so that Apollo, for instance, is anything other than an angel that serves under Jesus.
Imagine I was a Christian in the first century, and I went into a town where they worshiped some of the "good" gods, and I told them about Jesus. They would immediately think, "Oh, he is telling us about another god, maybe even another instance where one of our gods showed up." Then I describe the miracles Jesus performed, they would get confused because one God performing all those miracles would defy all understanding of how gods work.
Then I would either have to tell them "You're gods are totally fake, and all those experiences you had with the gods was just fantasy, never happened."
Or, I could tell them, "Apollo et al are just angels, and Jesus is the real God, the God of gods, so to speak, and Apollo serves under him. The "evil" gods are opposed to Jesus but Apollo was merely his messenger."
Which do you think early Christian apostles and ministers were saying?
Why do you think it is significant that Christian churches were built on top of ancient holy sites dedicated to "false" gods, and why do you think it is that so many pagans converted to Christianity so rapidly?
If you get rid of the narrow-minded view that modern protestants and oftentimes, by infection, Roman Catholics have, you'll see that Christianity is way more interesting than you were told.
Read the Bible closely, and think very carefully about what is actually being said and who is saying it and who they are speaking to. They are NOT writing to a modern audience who has been raised in a strictly monotheistic culture where there is only one God and all the other "gods" are just imaginary.
I probably should get a few of his books and start reading. To be honest, I don't like going too academic on things.
>If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, 3And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; 4And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: 5Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.
This is angels, saints, spirits, etc.
Does that mean God can command men to worship something in heaven other than himself? I think he can. To wit -- John 20:17/
Jesus says to Mary in John 20:17: "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." So, if Jesus is God, then there are at least 2 Gods. If we can worship Jesus, and we can worship Jesus' God, then we are worshiping 2 Gods. Should we have taken Jesus to the gates and tried to stone him for such heresy?
If you read this passage super-literally, then Jesus may be talking about THREE Gods: Jesus (himself), Jesus' God, and Mary's God (distinct from Jesus' God.) I don't subscribe to this interpretation, but it is the most literal interpretation.
I know that you probably subscribe to Trinitarian ideas of "three persons one substance" or whatever, but the truth is that idea is utter nonsense, as in, it makes no sense. Plus, such an idea, that God is one substance but three persons, is not found anywhere in the Bible. ALL the passages that talk about the "one"-ness of God are in fact referring to something OTHER than substance. Go ahead, look them up and tell me with a straight face that the authors of those passages was thinking about "one substance". In fact, the earliest Christian writers were more than happy to accept the fact that there were at least 2 separate and distinct Gods -- Jesus and his Father.
Assuming you are referring ONLY AND SINGLY to the Christ as being one other to worship then you are not immediately blaspheming. The host of Heaven is subservient to the King of Heaven, the Christ. Worshipping any other is death.
>Mary's God (distinct from Jesus' God.)
Now this is ridiculous blasphemy and frankly a stretch.
>I ascend unto my Father, and your Father;
i.e. The SAME FATHER.
>and to my God, and your God.
i.e. the SAME GOD.
He is not saying she is of different birth, as being a derivative of the seed of Adam is the entire point to God's incarnation as Jesus. Both being of man, they both return to the same beginning and father, which is GOD.
If you want to search out heathen prophecies to collaborate, Zoroaster prophesized the coming of God's incarnation. The Magi from the east following the star were probably Zoroastrian Magi from Persia. The Greeks were also receiving interesting oracles concerning the birth of God, however many are somewhat far fetched..
Anyway, yes there is one GOD. The human being speaks of this, being divided into three parts: heart, body and soul.
Historical Christianity is *so* much more complex than what we hear from either side, and diving into basically any unbiased academic writings of it cracks that egg wide open.
Why?
Because they are evil. The Angels will not have you worship them. The Saints (souls who have gone to Heaven) will only appear in visions. The spirits are metaphysical and only manifest themselves through the soul.
The Sumerian and Babylonian mythology is the devil's perspective of creation (the primordial Ocean, man of clay, the deluge. This is also where Lillith comes from.) While GOD was creating the elements, these foolish entities were bickering amongst themselves the most unintelligible stupidities. These gods do possess retarded abilities. The ancients did not consult oracles for thousands of years because oracles were unreliable, they did it because they were reliable. But, where the evil will speak truth, they will poison it with their lies.
The worship of lesser gods leads only to one thing. Nearly EVERY SINGLE pagan religion has done this.. Human sacrifice, mainly the divination of children. The Persians, the Greeks, the Germans, the Babylonians, the Carthaginians were particularly egregious butchers, the Iberians.
It is okay to Exalt the Angels and Ancestors. EXALT. You can command the seven spirits of God. He will send these Spirits when you request and they will exhibit their characteristics in your soul. You can burn incense to the God of Creation. You can offer him meat sacrifices on the fire, though he responds most favorably to spiritual sacrifices such as charity, and almsgiving. What does the God of all care for incense and meat? Nothing, really, but He appreciates the effort and will send the Spirit among you. Build him a shrine, but realize that nothing you make of your hands is a manifestation of God. God does not live in statues.
When you say "THE devil" I think you are obscuring a fact that there isn't just one devil but a very large number. I think in Greek the word you use for devil would be translated as demon. Jesus cast out literal evil gods from people, thousands at a time in one instance.
The trick with Christianity isn't just recognizing Jesus as THE God, but distinguishing good angels from evil beings. It's not a simple task, and people get confused.
GOD is not HIS name, it is an underwhelming description of a piece of his nature.
Do you have any reading you recommend that dives more into how much more interesting Christianity is?
The Bible itself is extraordinarily interesting. Even if you don't believe it is supernatural in origin, it still beats that pants off of every other piece of literature ever created.
I also feel like you didn’t read the article. Lewis does not believe in the redemption of Christ and Biblical inerrancy along with other tenets of the Christian faith.