arch4 - The Presbyterian Church of Plumville

The Great Divisions

C.S. Lewis wrote The Great Divorce in response to many authors like Blake who had been trying to describe the "marriage of Heaven and Hell." Lewis is his inimitably humble fashion would not deign to compare his writing to that of the great William Blake or John Milton. In fact Lewis' character in the story is tutored in the ways of Heaven by the revered Scottish author George MacDonald, whose works I understand Lewis had absorbed and committed to his near photographic memory.

MacDonald helps the dreaming Lewis navigate the difficult and confusing interface of Heaven and Hell, which turns out to be no interface at all, rather it turns out to be a chasm that transcends physical and even spiritual being. The Great Divorce turns out to be a rift in the fundamental mode of being, Hell is nothing, or nearly nothing. Hell in its entirety is atomic in size compared to the reality of Heaven, to enter Heaven is simply to become big enough to exist in a realm that is almost infinitely bigger than the entire confines of Hell.

Lewis addresses the assumption, which is held by a great many people and which seems to be gaining adherents by the minute, that the loss of a single human soul is too much of a price to pay for God to provide a joy filled realm of the redeemed. Lewis does not attempt to make the jump to eschatology, one suspects that since MacDonald and, according to Lewis, the Apostle Paul were universalists of a sort, meaning that they believe in the end "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." (Philippians 2: 10-11)

Eschatological considerations are put aside, as they should be in this argument. The final Judgment of humanity must be left to God. Lewis' argument here is that Hell is a self inflicted sentence. The damned are kept from attaining Heaven only by their unwillingness to give up something, the particular thing differs from person to person, and focus on God and dwelling in his presence. It is not our place to be the arbiter of salvation but neither is it okay for us to stand by and allow people, whom God cares for and whom Jesus died for, to continue on in unrepentant sin. It is not for us to determine that God does not mean what is written in the Scriptures, or that because our society permits certain behavior God will smile permissively on those who violate His will. In the end every knee will bow and every tongue will confess but that does not alleviate our Christian responsibility to share the complete and perfect revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

Many in the Church today cling to a misconception, that because judgment of souls is not our province that we cannot excercise any judgment on behavior or morality. Large parts of the Church of Christ, I think especially of the Episcopalian Church and of my own denomination at the national level, have allowed themselves to be blackmailed by the loveless and the self imprisoned. We have been cowed by the charge of intolerance, we have been led down a primrose path of permissiveness, we have been logjammed by the legal squawking of an immoral minority. Our place is not to pass judgment but our place is to stand up for the Gospel.

We must realize that in the end all that matters is the quest for God. Lewis' vision of Heaven is one in which the self absorbed obsessions of the damned are pathetic and laughable to the redeemed. I only wish that I could laugh about the great divisions in the Church these days. I feel more like crying when I hear the body of Christ divided over things that should be obvious, when a pastor from my own denomination asks, "what's the big deal about Jesus?" It is not trivial, it is not funny. Human sinfulness is nothing new or unique. Liberals and conservatives alike do their share of hammering on the nails in Christ's hands and feet. Whether you believe the Bible is the Word of God or simply a nice collection of moral tales and instructive storytelling we have all taken up the scourge to add a stripe or to across our Savior's back. I would ask only that those who are at war among the denomination take seriously the damage they are doing to the Christian fellowship. We have less and less credibility as faithful witnesses every day. No matter whether we are permissive and accomodating to the ethos of the world or whether we rage against the compromise of holiness we are losing our ability to witness to the truth of Jesus Christ.

I am encouraged by the fact that the Church is never stronger than it is in the face of persecution. Kierkegaard said that the greatest problem with modern Christians is that no one is trying to kill us anymore. I think Satan has figured that out and has altered his game plan. The Church is now under attack from within. We have been infiltrated on so many levels that it is often difficult to determine where the most tragic breach has occurred.

If, through the wonders of modern technology, Christian brothers and sisters from the world outside the United States and Europe read this, please pray for us. I have been privileged to know several of our African, South American and Asian followers of Jesus Christ who have faced and will face persecution and violence for the sake of their faith, their faith and their resolve to remain firm in Christ, even at the cost of their life inspires me. It reminds me that we need not be victims of infiltration, it reminds me that we must stand up for Jesus, we must find our way across the great divide and through the Great Divorce.