Spurgeon and Lewis

Spurgeon said of himself:

I cannot understand the reason why I am saved, except upon the ground that God would have it so. I cannot, if I look ever so earnestly, discover any kind of reason in myself why I should be a partaker of Divine grace. If I am not at this moment without Christ, it is only because Christ Jesus would have His will with me, and that will was that I should be with Him where He is, and should share His glory. I can put the crown nowhere but upon the head of Him whose mighty grace has saved me from going down into the pit. Looking back on my past life, I can see that the dawning of it all was of God; of God effectively. I took no torch with which to light the sun, but the sun enlightened me. I did not commence my spiritual life—no, I rather kicked, and struggled against the things of the Spirit: when He drew me, for a time I did not run after Him: there was a natural hatred in my soul of everything holy and good.

Spurgeon said this in giving a defense of Calvinism. I've been pushing, a little, against the philosophy that man has free will in my Church. Spurgeon did not believe it, Calvin did not believe, and Augustine did not believe it. In fact Augustine had quite a debate with a British Monk named Pelagius over this very issue. Oh, and I don't believe it either.

Most of those I talk to today blindly side with Pelagius and are not interested in discussing the subject. Others are of the mindset that, "all I know is what I learned as a child, I'm not going to argue about it because nothing is really settled that way." "I know I was lost, and I know I chose to get saved, and that's it."

When confronting these kinds of people I'm always stunned at the lackidaisical attitude with which they dismiss something on which eternity hinges. Do we choose God, or does He choose us?

I don't have the mental prowess to figure out the underlying processes that would make a human so unconcerned about eternity but there are those who do, that is why I read books.

C.S. Lewis figured out what is going on in this instance. He wrote a book it. The name of the book is The Screwtape Letters. It is about a head Demon, Screwtape, teaching a protege, Wormwood, how to neutralize people who might be tempted to consider the Church as a way of life. Here is what he told him:

Your man has been accustomed, ever since he was a boy, to have a dozen incompatible philosophies dancing about together inside his head. He doesn’t think of doctrines as primarily “true” or “false,” but as “academic” or “practical,” “outworn” or “contemporary,” “conventional”or “ruthless.” Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church. Don’t waste time trying to make him think materialism is true! Make him think it is strong, stark, or courageous—that it is the philosophy of the future. That is the sort of thing he cares about.

Lewis was almost prophetic with that one. Look where are today. We have Churches that don't talk of hell because it is unpleasant, and a President who can't decide if he is Muslim, Buddhist, or Christian.

One thing is certain Jargon will contiue to be used as the backbone of too many ministries just as it is the mainstay of our National life. Wormwood appears to have learned his lessons well.