The Problem of Pain
Lewis states that his writing is "not primarily arguing the truth of Christianity but describing its origin - a task ... necessary if we are to put the problem of pain in its right setting".1) An experience with the Numinous (a sort of awe, dread, and a general sense of experiencing something otherworldly "uncanny").He also introduces the concept of Free Will and how that further inhibits everyone being pain-free all the time, although he does allow and say miracles do exist.Lewis doesn’t know how to answer that type of question and says that that is not his objective, but only to conceive how goodness (assured on other grounds) and suffering are without contradiction.Lewis then summarizes all the different kinds of loves and analogies in scripture that describe God’s relation to humans.1) We are deceived by looking on the outside of things: we should not mistake our inevitably limited utterances for a full account of the worst that is inside.While it is not possible to follow the moral law perfectly, "the ultimate problem must not be used as one more means of evasion".He then reviews the story from Genesis 3 and follows it with an argument saying that we cannot call our early ancestors more ‘savage’ than we are today.Lewis says that his explanation is shallow for he has said nothing about the trees of life and knowledge of good and evil, and nothing about what the apostle Paul has said on the subject.He says that the proper aim of any creature is to self-surrender – to offer back the will which we claim as our own, and this necessity is a daily occurrence which is inherently painful.To underline his point he says probably the most famous line from this book: "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."He says that a recognition of this truth underlies the universal feeling that bad men ought to suffer – a sense of retribution.While some people want to do away with retribution, Lewis says that to do so would make all punishment unjust and any act to correct behavior would contradict itself.In this chapter Lewis discusses six propositions that are not connected but need saying for a complete view of human pain: 1) "There is a paradox about tribulation in Christianity."4) "We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy… Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns but will not encourage us to mistake them for home."5) "We must never make the problem of pain worse than it is by vague talk about ‘unimaginable sum of human misery’."Lewis restates that allowing free will means that some people will choose rebellion and not all will be saved.He asks the reader if they could really allow a wicked person to go forever into eternity happy and thinking they had the last laugh?3) A third objection is the "fruitful intensity of the pains of hell" as depicted famously in medieval art and passages of scripture.Lewis says destruction implies the creation of something else, like ashes, gases, and heat after burning a log, so what if Hell is the ‘remains’ of souls?4) The fourth objection he states is that no "charitable man" blessed in heaven could stay there while even one human soul was in hell, and if so would he be more merciful than God?Lewis says that this objection assumes that heaven and hell "co-exist in unilinear time" like the histories of two countries.Lewis calls this defeat a miracle, "for to make things which are not Itself and thus to become, in a sense, capable of being resisted by its own handiwork, is the most astonishing and unimaginable of all feats we attribute to a deity".Also, Lewis reminds the reader that in discussing Hell we should not keep our friends and enemies before our eyes since both obscure reason, but to think of ourselves.He says that if one wants to make room for animal immortality, although the scriptures are silent, then "a heaven for mosquitoes and a hell for men could very conveniently be combined".Lewis says that Christians hesitate to suppose animal immorality for two reasons: 1) it would obscure the spiritual difference between beast and man and 2) it would be a clumsy assertion of Divine goodness.That heaven is "doubtless the continually successful, yet never complete, attempt by each soul to communicate its unique vision to all others (and that by means whereof earthly art and philosophy are but clumsy imitations) is also among the ends for which the individual was created.Lewis shows how this is even demonstrated in the Trinity: "The Father eternally begets the Son and the Holy Ghost proceeds: deity introduces distinction within itself so that the union of reciprocal loves may transcend mere arithmetical unity or self-identity."Lewis takes this opportunity to color in some lines using some clinical experiences from a fellow Inkling – Dr. R. Havard.He points out the phenomenon that many recognize and answer the challenge of pain and preserve their serenity and selflessness and sometimes produce brilliant work and sharpen their characters into tempered steel.