CS Lewis on... PURGATORY
"Of course I pray for the dead. The action is so spontaneous, so all but inevitable, that only the most compulsive theological case against it would deter me. And I hardly know how the rest of my prayers would survive if those for the dead were forbidden. At our age, the majority of those we love best are dead. What sort of intercourse with God could I have if what I love best were unmentionable to him?
I believe in Purgatory.
Mind you, the Reformers had good reasons for throwing doubt on the 'Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory' as that Romish doctrine had then become.....
The right view returns magnificently in Newman's DREAM. There, if I remember it rightly, the saved soul, at the very foot of the throne, begs to be taken away and cleansed. It cannot bear for a moment longer 'With its darkness to affront that light'. Religion has claimed Purgatory.
Our souls demand Purgatory, don't they? Would in not break the heart if God said to us, 'It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy'? Should we not reply, 'With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I'd rather be cleaned first.' 'It may hurt, you know' - 'Even so, sir.'
I assume that the process of purification will normally involve suffering. Partly from tradition; partly because most real good that has been done me in this life has involved it. But I don't think the suffering is the purpose of the purgation. I can well believe that people neither much worse nor much better than I will suffer less than I or more. . . . The treatment given will be the one required, whether it hurts little or much.
My favorite image on this matter comes from the dentist's chair. I hope that when the tooth of life is drawn and I am 'coming round',' a voice will say, 'Rinse your mouth out with this.' This will be Purgatory. The rinsing may take longer than I can now imagine. The taste of this may be more fiery and astringent than my present sensibility could endure. But . . . it will [not] be disgusting and unhallowed."
- C.S.Lewis, Letters To Malcom: Chiefly on Prayer, chapter 20, paragraphs 7-10, pages 108-109
posted by Michael Krahn @ 7:05 AM
2 Comments:
Isn't that interesting...
Well, as much as we like to quote CS Lewis on matters of official Christian belief, I believe here that he was not correct.
Our purification is to happen here on this Earth, and yes it hurts, and yes it produces suffering, as he well expressed.
Where did he ever get the idea that we would enter heaven dirty? The Bible speaks of fires of purification that we will encounter to burn away the "wood, hay and stubble", but to leave standing the "gold, silver and precious stones".
Clive Staples :) must not have believed, I suppose, that there were rewards in Heaven. Then since all people had to be made equal, they needed to be cleansed and purified to become worthy of that same level. Sounds logical. But I still think he was wrong.
On what do you, Shona, base your statement "our purification is to happen here on this Earth"? Just curious...
The idea of entering heaven dirty? I think it comes from the phrase, attributed to Luther (though I don't have a direct source for you) that men are like "snow covered dung heaps". Luther and other reformers took a stance that the grace of God covers our sins, but does not actually CHANGE the individual. Grace is then a forensic entity, useful for arguing justification from a legal standpoint but not actually effective. Therefore, we are still sh*ty underneath the white covering Christ's sacrifice bought for us. This is what Lewis is talking about, I think, when he talks about entering heaven dirty.
You write very clearly that: The Bible speaks of fires of purification that we will encounter to burn away the "wood, hay and stubble", but to leave standing the "gold, silver and precious stones".
This doesn't contradict the Catholic teaching on purgatory, it amplifies it. That we would be made pure, all the dung removed - not just covered - prior to standing in the full presence of a Holy and Righteous God...
Finally, why would CS "not have believed...that there were rewards in Heaven"? He's only talking here about the time of purgation, so that the rewards (namely, standing in the presence of God) can be enjoyed...I think he believed fully in the coming rewards, just questioned the process of getting there.
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