A wise advice from the great C.S. Lewis

After discussing the death of Jesus and how it affected mankind, C.S. Lewis concluded his chapter “The Obstinate Toy Soldiers” of his book “Mere Christianity” with these words:

Of course, you can express this in all sorts of different ways. You can say that Christ died for our sins. You may say that the Father has forgiven us because Christ has done for us what we ought to have done. You may say that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb. You may say that Christ has defeated death. They are all true. If any of them do not appeal to you, leave it alone and get on withthe formula that does. And, whatever you do, do not start quarrelling with other people because they use a different formula from yours.

And by the way, in this chapter he insinuates that he believes in universal justification (what? 1,2,3 and 4). But I’m not going to quarrel about it :D.

Your Choice Will Be Honored

We don’t like to talk about hell, do we? In intellectual circles the topic of hell is regarded as primitive and foolish. It’s not logical. “A loving God wouldn’t send people to hell.” So we dismiss it.

But to dismiss it is to dismiss a core teaching of Jesus. The doctrine of hell is not one developed by Paul, Peter, or John. It is taught by Jesus himself.

We are free either to love God or not. He invites us to love him. He urges us to love him. He came that we might love him. But, in the end, the choice is yours and mine. To take that choice from each of us, for him to force us to love him, would be less than love.

God explains the benefits, outlines the promises, and articulates very clearly the consequences. And then, in the end, he leaves the choice to us.

Hell was not prepared for people. Hell “was prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41) For a person to go to hell, then, is for a person to go against God’s intended destiny. Hell is man’s choice, not God’s choice.

Consider, then, this explanation of hell: Hell is the chosen place of the person who loves self more than God, who loves sin more than his Savior, who loves this world more than God’s world. Judgment is that moment when God looks at the rebellious and says, “Your choice will be honored.”

To say there is no hell is to say God condones the rebellious, unrepentant heart. To say there is no hell is to portray God with eyes blind to the hunger and evil in the world. To say there is no hell is to say that God doesn’t care that people are beaten and massacred, that he doesn’t care that women are raped or families wrecked. To say there is no hell is to say God has no justice, no
sense of right and wrong, and eventually to say God has no love. For true love hates what is evil.

Hell is the ultimate expression of a just Creator.

Max Lucado
And the Angels Were Silent

The way you think affects the way you live

… or as Rick Warren says:

“In order to help people change, you have to change their beliefs first. You don’t work on their behavior; you work on their beliefs because it always starts in their mind. That is why Jesus says you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

Legalist defined

“Legalists don’t dismiss Christ. They trust in Christ a lot. But they don’t trust in Christ alone.”
– Max Lucado, It’s not about me, p. 114

Incidentally, while browsing a second-hand bookstore at Glorietta, I found a really cool commentary on the book of Romans, “How to become a Christian without being religious”.

Open View Theism won the debate over Classical Theism (Calvinism)?

Theology Online recently ended a 10-round debate entitled Openness Theology – Does God Know Your Entire Future? between Bob Enyard (OVT), pastor of Denver Bible Church and Professor Samuel Lamerson (CT), Bob Jones University, B.A.; Knox Theological Seminary, M.Div., magnacumlaude; Trinity International University, Ph.D.

Of course, we all know that winning in a debate doesn’t make your view correct. But from the looks of it, the kind of arguments and evidences that were presented, Open View Theism has its place in Christian theology and a need to carefully reconsider our theological standing is in place.

Try to read the debate. It will take you days, but if you like investigating and reading theology, you’ll enjoy it, I can assure you. It’s worth it.