In the last blog, we discussed Orual’s complaint against her gods in C. S. Lewis’ novel, Till We Have Faces. We noted that her complaint very accurately described the problem all of us face. That problem is God only provides us with hints and does not give us certainty about his existence. God made us finite but yet he expects us to believe in something that occurred 2,000 years ago. And what he wants us to believe is something extraordinary that only occurred once in human history—Jesus dying and being resurrected for our sins. And if we do not believe, he will punish us for eternity.
Now Greg Koul, an adjunct professor in Christian apologetics at Biola University, makes a valid point that no one goes to hell because they do not believe in Jesus; people will be sent to hell because they break God’s law. [1] However, Christianity teaches the only way to receive forgiveness for breaking God’s law is to believe in Jesus and his work for our sins; Jesus is the only way of salvation. So while what Mr. Koul says might be true, in reality, it is just semantics. Regardless of how you look at it, according to Christian doctrine we must believe in Jesus and his death for our sins to be saved and go to heaven.
C. S. Lewis’ resolves Orual’s complaints against her gods by concluding we must develop into beings to which the gods can relate. The gods cannot speak openly to us because we babble. We must learn to speak intelligibly. Until we have faces, how can the gods face us? [2]
Is C. S. Lewis’ resolution of Orual’s complaints so far from what we have discussed in this blog? How can we relate to God if we have little in common with him? God will not change. If we want a relationship with God, it is we who must change; our soul must become like him.
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[1] Greg Koul, “What about Those Who Have Never Heard the Gospel?”, CD, Christian Apologetics Program, LaMirada, CA: Biola University.
[2] C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces (San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1956), p. 294.
