Books and War: The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

A Tour Bus Ride from Hell to Heaven

War gave me faith in 1973 when I was blinded by shrapnel in a missile explosion. War almost took my faith away in 2009 when I saw the people we had invaded in Iraq trying to live in the wake of all we had done through misguided policy. Were the wretched people a thousand feet below our helicopters going to Hell because they did not believe the way a 300-pound millionaire preacher on TV said they should?  If rich televangelists were right, God was unjust.

In Iraq, I re-read The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. Lewis says the doors of Hell are locked from the inside. He says in many of his works that Pride is the worst sin, a thousand times worse than Lust.  The proud will lock the doors of Hell from the inside rather than admit they are wrong.

The central story in the Great Divorce is a tour bus ride that takes residents of Hell to visit Heaven.  All but one of the tourists decides to return to Hell.  They could all stay, but it would mean asking forgiveness and admitting they were wrong.  Their punishment is not the exquisite torment in Dante or the flames licking the pews in Hellfire preaching.  The only punishment is separation from God forever. 

The problem with most visions of Hell is that they are radically unjust.  How could someone who murders another man and is then executed for his crime get the same punishment as Hitler or Stalin or Pol Pot? Could Jerry Falwell Jr. really be going to Heaven after selling out his faith for access to the most corrupt Presidential candidate ever? 

If the price of admission to Heaven begins with saying, “I was wrong, forgive me” then Heaven is open to everyone, and Hell is home to everyone who insists they are right.  As Lewis noted elsewhere, that means Hell is disproportionally home to the rich, the old and the opinionated. So I am properly worried about my own soul. 

I can’t say that this insight from the Great Divorce made the life of faith easy. But it keeps me from being distracted by the claims and counter claims of faith leaders and followers who are absolutely sure they are doing God’s will. In this context I know all defenders of God are wrong. 

Whenever someone makes punishing the sins of others their purpose in life, they are always wrong. Always. Jihad claims to be defense of God. Racism exalts one group over another and uses God as their excuse. All defenders of God from every faith will lock Hell’s doors behind them: whether they wave a bloody sword or preach from a plush pulpit for millions of donated dollars.

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