Hell’s doors: locked on the inside
I’ve noticed that a lot of discussions tend to talk about “the damned” (for lack of a better phrase) without actually talking about them. That is to say that on the one hand, we argue over the existence of Hell, and if it does exist, what kind of God would possibly create such a place. On the other hand, when we talk about the souls of those who will populate Hell we make a particular assumption: they don’t want to be there. I think the reasoning is something like this: “Every knee will bow and confess Jesus as Lord. Therefore, all will want to be with Jesus, especially those going to Hell, who will be filled with regret”. I’m not entirely sure I believe this. In fact, I’m fairly certain I don’t. I’m not even sure why the alternative has been long ignored. That upon seeing Jesus, those who rejected … (Read more)
Apologist’s Evening Prayer
I just finished Peter Kreeft’s Heaven and Hell, and he closes the book with a piece of poetry written by C.S. Lewis. I’m surprised I haven’t come across this before, the admirer of Lewis that I am (I’m told its from his book Reflections on the Psalms). He seems to be saying that there is a certain danger in intellectual arguments and logical proofs for God’s existence. Namely, that such things may very well deaden one’s faith, turning it into an intellectual exercise, rather than a matter of the heart (if one’s not careful). (Unfortunately) from experience, I can attest to this.
From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seem to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity
Thou, who wouldst give no other sign, … (Read more)
Agape: An Unearned Love
C.S. Lewis regarded agape love as the greatest of the four loves1. It is the kind of love Christ exemplified in his life and teaching. Author Richard L. Strauss notes that, “it is a love which keeps loving when its object is unresponsive, unkind, unlovable, or completely unworthy… it gives one hundred percent and expects nothing in return!“2 It is a seemingly impossible love, yet a reflection of God’s love for us. It is a kind of love, as Peter Kreeft notes, that “goes beyond worth, beyond justice, beyond reason“3 . In the words of C.S. Lewis, it is a gift-love from God to us:
God, who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that He may love and perfect them. He creates the universe, already foreseeing — of should we say ‘seeing’? there are no tenses in God — the bussing cloud of … (Read more)
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