ryan.the.calvinist

This continuing series is a look at C.S. Lewis’s views on Predestination and Free Will… Lewis’ Liberty Over Election Turning now to the famed Oxford and Cambridge scholar, what exactly were Lewis’ positions on these highly controversial topics of predestination and free will, Calvinism and Arminianism? While no professional theologian, [1] Lewis was most decidedly an Arminian, though he asserted he held to Anglican theology. [2] In writing Mere Christianity , arguably his most theological work, it was Lewis’ goal to bring out the essentials of the Christian faith – essentials which spanned geographical and denominational boundaries, creating a kind of Christianity 101 . Yet rather than keeping the hallway of his mere Christianity wide enough to include both Calvinistic and Arminian understandings of free will and predestination, the hallway seems to not be big enough for both perspectives. In Book 2: What Christians Believe , specifically Ch. 3: The Shocking Alternative, Lewis begi...

This continuing series is a look at C.S. Lewis’s views on Predestination and Free Will… Consulting the New Testament The New Testament is by no means silent on such matters, either. Though the command had repeatedly gone out, to everyone, to repent of sin and believe the gospel, [1] individuals do not, of their own decision, have the ability to obey this command. Jesus had claimed to be that which truly gives life and satisfaction – the bread of life from Heaven. The Jews then began to grumble about this – as they understood him to be the child of Joseph and an earthly mother. Jesus, however, assures them it is not worth grumbling about, because it is impossible for any person to come to Jesus, by repentance and faith, unless the Father draws him, and that person will be raised up on the last day. [2] This drawing is not a kind wooing or enticing attraction, but rather a dragging by the Father. [3] Furthermore, Jesus does not say, “No one may come to me unless the Father who sent...