Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was a novelist, academic, medievalist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist who held academic positions at both Oxford University and Cambridge University. He wrote many other books, such as&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Mere-Christianity/dp/B002YCORRE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Mere Christianity</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Miracles/dp/B001E1XTQ6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Miracles</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Screwtape-Letters/dp/B000IY1X36/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Screwtape Letters</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-World-s-Last-Night/dp/B000GSNRFG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The World's Last Night</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Abolition-of-Man/dp/B0043P0E3G/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Abolition of Man</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Great-Divorce/dp/B005836RJM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Great Divorce</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/God-in-the-Dock/dp/B000O2UEIM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">God in the Dock</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Christian-Reflections/dp/B007HTC3X4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Christian Reflections</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Weight-of-Glory/dp/0802811167/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Weight of Glory</a>, etc. [NOTE: page numbers refer to the 160-page paperback edition.]

He wrote in the Preface to this 1940 book, "When Mr. Ashley Sampson suggested to me the writing of this book, I asked leave to be allowed to write it anonymously, since... I should be forced to make statements of such apparent fortitude that they would become ridulous if anyone knew who made them. Anonymity was rejected... but Mr. Sampson pointed out that I could write a preface explaining that I did not live up to my own principles! This exhilirating programme I am now carrying out... the only purpose of the book is to solve the intellectual problem raised by suffering; for the far higher task of teaching fortitude and patience I was never fool enough to suppose myself qualified..."

He suggests, "the possibility of pain is inherent in the very existence of a world where souls can meet. When souls become wicked they will certainly use this possibility to hurt one another; and this, perhaps, accounts for four-fifths of the sufferings of men. It is men, not God, who have produced racks, whips, prisons, slavery, guns, bayonets, and bombs; it is by human avarice or human stupidity, not by the churlishness of nature, that we have poverty and overwork. But there remains, nonetheless, much suffering which cannot be traced to ourselves. Even if all suffering were man-made, we should like to know the reason for the enormous permission to torture their fellows which God gives to the worst of men." (Pg. 89)

He observes, "It has sometimes been asked whether God commands certain things because they are right, or whether certain things are right because God commands them... I emphatically embrace the first alternative. The second might lead to the abominable conclusion... that charity is good only because God arbitrarily commanded it---that He might equally well have commanded us to hate Him and one another and that hatred would then have been right... But ... we must add that one of the things intrinsically good is that rational creatures should freely surrender themselves to their Creator in obedience." (Pg. 100)

He admits, "I am a great coward... If I knew any way of escape I would crawl through sewers to find it... I am not arguing that pain is not painful. Pain hurts... I am only trying to show that the old Christian doctrine of being made 'perfect through suffering' is not incredible. To prove it palatable is beyond my design." (Pg. 105) [It is interesting to read Lewis's later reactions to his beloved wife's death, in&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/A-Grief-Observed/dp/B008YXCE8G/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">A Grief Observed</a>.]

More controversially, he says about the doctrine of Hell, "There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specially, of Our Lord's own words; it has always been held by Christendom, and it has the support of reason. If a game is played, it must be possible to lose it." (Pg. 118) He adds, "I am not going to try to prove the doctrine tolerable. Let us make no mistake; it is NOT tolerable. But I think the doctrine can be shown to be moral by a critique of the objections ordinarily made, or felt, against it." (Pg. 120)

He proposes, "What is cast (or casts itself) into hell is not a man: it is 'remains'... It is... impossible to imagine what the consciousness of such a creature---already a loose congeries of mutually antagonistic sins rather than a sinner---would be like." (Pg. 125-126) He adds, "I notice that Our Lord, while stressing the terror of hell with unsparing severity, usually emphasizes the idea, not of duration but of FINALITY. Consignment to the destroying fire is usually treated as the end of the story---not the beginning of a new story. That the lost soul is eternally fixed in its diabolical attitude we cannot doubt: but whether this eternal fixity implies endless duration---or duration at all---we cannot say I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are LOCKED ON THE INSIDE In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell is itself a question: What are you asking God to do? To wipe out their past sins and give them a fresh start? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does." (Pg. 126-128)

This book is a true "classic" of modern apologetics, and more Christians should actually READ it, rather than just hear a few passages quoted or paraphrased.
Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was a novelist, academic, medievalist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist who held academic positions at both Oxford University and Cambridge University. He wrote many other books, such as&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Mere-Christianity/dp/B002YCORRE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt? ie=UTF8">Mere Christianity</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Miracles/dp/B001E1XTQ6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt? ie=UTF8">Miracles</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Screwtape-Letters/dp/B000IY1X36/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt? ie=UTF8">The Screwtape Letters</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-World-s-Last-Night/dp/B000GSNRFG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt? ie=UTF8">The World's Last Night</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Abolition-of-Man/dp/B0043P0E3G/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt? ie=UTF8">The Abolition of Man</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Great-Divorce/dp/B005836RJM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt? ie=UTF8">The Great Divorce</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/God-in-the-Dock/dp/B000O2UEIM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt? ie=UTF8">God in the Dock</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Christian-Reflections/dp/B007HTC3X4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt? ie=UTF8">Christian Reflections</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Weight-of-Glory/dp/0802811167/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt? ie=UTF8">The Weight of Glory</a>, etc. [NOTE: page numbers refer to the 160-page paperback edition. ]

He wrote in the Preface to this 1940 book, "When Mr. Ashley Sampson suggested to me the writing of this book, I asked leave to be allowed to write it anonymously, since... I should be forced to make statements of such apparent fortitude that they would become ridulous if anyone knew who made them. Anonymity was rejected... but Mr. Sampson pointed out that I could write a preface explaining that I did not live up to my own principles! This exhilirating programme I am now carrying out... the only purpose of the book is to solve the intellectual problem raised by suffering; for the far higher task of teaching fortitude and patience I was never fool enough to suppose myself qualified... "

He suggests, "the possibility of pain is inherent in the very existence of a world where souls can meet. When souls become wicked they will certainly use this possibility to hurt one another; and this, perhaps, accounts for four-fifths of the sufferings of men. It is men, not God, who have produced racks, whips, prisons, slavery, guns, bayonets, and bombs; it is by human avarice or human stupidity, not by the churlishness of nature, that we have poverty and overwork. But there remains, nonetheless, much suffering which cannot be traced to ourselves. Even if all suffering were man-made, we should like to know the reason for the enormous permission to torture their fellows which God gives to the worst of men. " (Pg. 89)

He observes, "It has sometimes been asked whether God commands certain things because they are right, or whether certain things are right because God commands them... I emphatically embrace the first alternative. The second might lead to the abominable conclusion... that charity is good only because God arbitrarily commanded it---that He might equally well have commanded us to hate Him and one another and that hatred would then have been right... But... we must add that one of the things intrinsically good is that rational creatures should freely surrender themselves to their Creator in obedience. " (Pg. 100)

He admits, "I am a great coward... If I knew any way of escape I would crawl through sewers to find it... I am not arguing that pain is not painful. Pain hurts... I am only trying to show that the old Christian doctrine of being made 'perfect through suffering' is not incredible. To prove it palatable is beyond my design. " (Pg. 105) [It is interesting to read Lewis's later reactions to his beloved wife's death, in&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/A-Grief-Observed/dp/B008YXCE8G/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt? ie=UTF8">A Grief Observed</a>. ]

More controversially, he says about the doctrine of Hell, "There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specially, of Our Lord's own words; it has always been held by Christendom, and it has the support of reason. If a game is played, it must be possible to lose it. " (Pg. 118) He adds, "I am not going to try to prove the doctrine tolerable. Let us make no mistake; it is NOT tolerable. But I think the doctrine can be shown to be moral by a critique of the objections ordinarily made, or felt, against it. " (Pg. 120)

He proposes, "What is cast (or casts itself) into hell is not a man: it is 'remains'... It is... impossible to imagine what the consciousness of such a creature---already a loose congeries of mutually antagonistic sins rather than a sinner---would be like. " (Pg. 125-126) He adds, "I notice that Our Lord, while stressing the terror of hell with unsparing severity, usually emphasizes the idea, not of duration but of FINALITY. Consignment to the destroying fire is usually treated as the end of the story---not the beginning of a new story. That the lost soul is eternally fixed in its diabolical attitude we cannot doubt: but whether this eternal fixity implies endless duration---or duration at all---we cannot say I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are LOCKED ON THE INSIDE In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell is itself a question: What are you asking God to do? To wipe out their past sins and give them a fresh start? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does. " (Pg. 126-128)

This book is a true "classic" of modern apologetics, and more Christians should actually READ it, rather than just hear a few passages quoted or paraphrased.