The problem of Hell
C. S. Lewis addressed the topic of hell in his book The Problem of Pain. He said that the Christian doctrine that he'd rather remove is the doctrine of Hell. He talked about many aspects of Hell, mainly the size of Hell, free will and choice. According to him the size of Hell is very small, it is the product of the infinite love of God and the freewill bestowed upon Man.
Size of Hell
Lewis believes in Hell however he doesn't believe in a very big Hell. He quoted Dame Edith Sitwell: "Hell is no vastness; it has naught to keep but little rotting souls."
To him Hell is the result of closing oneself up away from God, which results in a small place, almost none existing. He sees Hell as smaller than one pebble of the earthly world and as smaller than one atom of the Real World. Furthermore a soul in Hell is nearly nothing, it is enclosed on itself.
Free Will
C.S. Lewis affirms our active role in our own sentence. God’s direct intervention or not, in the condemnation to hell, is another argument in the freewill vs. predestination debate. In the scriptures there is definitely a “handing over” of the damned to Satan as a divine punishment (Mark 9:45-48; Luke 12:5). However our concept of an infinitely loving God demands love even for those who have sinned. God gave mankind freewill. Example of this is the free willed …show more content…
The people who willingly choose to go to hell are allowed to. These rebels, who according to the freewill given by God chose to not accept God’s mercy, as Lewis said In The Problem of Pain, the doors of Hell are locked on the inside. This means that God isn’t some tyrant waiting for people to sin and then throw them in a lake of fire while locking the doors from the outsides. It means, God gave a choice to people to go to Hell if they chose not to believe in him, the locks on the inside also means that the damned can leave at any time, they have to ask for forgiveness and God will forgive
C. S. Lewis addressed the topic of hell in his book The Problem of Pain. He said that the Christian doctrine that he'd rather remove is the doctrine of Hell. He talked about many aspects of Hell, mainly the size of Hell, free will and choice. According to him the size of Hell is very small, it is the product of the infinite love of God and the freewill bestowed upon Man.
Size of Hell
Lewis believes in Hell however he doesn't believe in a very big Hell. He quoted Dame Edith Sitwell: "Hell is no vastness; it has naught to keep but little rotting souls."
To him Hell is the result of closing oneself up away from God, which results in a small place, almost none existing. He sees Hell as smaller than one pebble of the earthly world and as smaller than one atom of the Real World. Furthermore a soul in Hell is nearly nothing, it is enclosed on itself.
Free Will
C.S. Lewis affirms our active role in our own sentence. God’s direct intervention or not, in the condemnation to hell, is another argument in the freewill vs. predestination debate. In the scriptures there is definitely a “handing over” of the damned to Satan as a divine punishment (Mark 9:45-48; Luke 12:5). However our concept of an infinitely loving God demands love even for those who have sinned. God gave mankind freewill. Example of this is the free willed …show more content…
The people who willingly choose to go to hell are allowed to. These rebels, who according to the freewill given by God chose to not accept God’s mercy, as Lewis said In The Problem of Pain, the doors of Hell are locked on the inside. This means that God isn’t some tyrant waiting for people to sin and then throw them in a lake of fire while locking the doors from the outsides. It means, God gave a choice to people to go to Hell if they chose not to believe in him, the locks on the inside also means that the damned can leave at any time, they have to ask for forgiveness and God will forgive