Unfair to C.S. Lewis?

Hi,

I wondered if you could give me a contact email or forward this on to the person that does your book reviews.

I was given your company's name by two different homeschool families that we truly respect and who homeschool and train their children in a like manner to our's. We are a very conservative Christian family and believe this to be God's plan for our home. A great deal of what your company believes and acts upon, we agree 100%.

However, I have found your book reviews to be (at least the 2 I've read) :-) on Little House on the Prairie and C.S. Lewis very skewed, pious, and misinforming. One of the families that we know are now not allowing their children anything to do with C.S. Lewis simply b/c of your reviews.

This means that your company has a great deal of influence. For this reason, it's a bit sad that you would review and judge C.S. Lewis's Christianity in a 2 page review with inaccurate or incomplete information. Do you know that as with many other Christians of that day, C.S. Lewis also somewhat believed in evolution (Which at first glance may make him seem "worse" but continue on)? Do you know that he did this because that is what the church told him to believe. People of the church of that day, along with Charlotte Mason and others, knew only to listen to the church. It is only closer to this present day that people started realizing that we can have a complete relationship with the Lord free from the dictates of the church. I believe before casting judgement on one's belief system, the time period needs to be accounted for.

Anyway, I say all this to say, your company has sat in judgement of a man who has made significant contributions to the Christian faith, as well as mine personally, simply b/c he did not quite seem to have the personal relationship with Jesus that you do or some of your friends do. That doesn't make sense.

The whole purpose of the book Mere Christianity, which you give negative accolades to, was to order Christianity for C.S. Lewis' colleagues (obviously college professors endowed with a great deal of academic knowledge. This is was why he wrote it the way he did). Do you not believe that God created us all unique? Does it not make sense that he would then reveal himself to others in different ways? It doesn't seem kind nor gentle to judge someone's faith simply because he does not witness to others in the way that you would. The book Mere Christianity, because it took the "feeling" out of Christianity and explained the backgrounds of it, "sealed the deal" for me and added to my faith dramatically. After reading it, I understood that in all facets Christianity and our relationship with the Lord, there was a complete correlation which created a whole. Most human creations, such as his book, only make sense to one degree. God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit fit together so competely and can be understood through science, philosophy, math, english, etc. But, because they are divinely ordered, are the only ones who can create "whole" beings, or creations.

To judge C.S. Lewis because his book only reached an academic status in his book is like judging him because he did not write the Bible. It doesn't make sense. He is a human and because of this none of us can write a complete heart, soul, and mind perfect book. That is why the Bible is the only true and whole work. Again, it wouldn't be Divinely Inspired if any other book reached it's level.

Anyway, I am now moving into diatribe level, and I apologize. I just realize that the devil can be divisive in many ways, and I am greatly burdened for such a wonderful company as your's to turn others away from things that are good and wholesome 90% of the time simply because they are not 100% perfect (which is never possible when it is a fallible person which creates them). I feel strongly, as in the case with what you cited in the Laura Ingalls books, that reading or experiencing things as a family and then explaining the inaccuracies to our children is a much healthier way to develop their discernment as future-adults and warriors for the Lord than to hide them away from all that has small flaws.

I realize that in your book reviews you technically leave it up to the person's choice on whether to read it or not, but your company's opionion hold so much clout with many families that you have to be aware that people are going to latch on to those ideas and run with them. Maybe offering the innacuracies of an author as a discussion point for families would be a better option rather than using such strong language as to turn a family off completely.

I'm going to be honest (as if I haven't been already), but at first glance, and with the book reviews that I have read being the first experience with your company's website, I am of the mindset that your company is pious, ignorant, and harsh. (None of which, were attributes of our Lord when he walked on Earth). I do however, know from other good attributes of your company that this is not the case. So, I draw your attention to my concerns not to berate you, but to give you feedback.

A company such as your's is filling a huge need in the Christian community, and I thank you for the stands you take in elevating once again the honor of being a woman or man in our traditional roles that were and are divinely bestowed upon us. There is no greater joy on earth than fulfillling God's plan for our lives, and I believe it starts with finding out God's original plan for us (which comes down to being a Godly woman or man). Thank you for sharing that with others.

I hope this email does not offend but offer insight into what one of your potential customers might have felt upon seeing or reading this section of your website. I wish your company the best and pray God's blessing upon you all.

Hi Trisha,

Thank you for taking the time to read the reviews. The C. S. Lewis review has turned up a wealth of opinion. I wish that we could publish and answer all of them. Your reaction is not a surprise. Many people, when they first read some of the reviews, feel some dislike. I think this is because a number of things in them run across the grain of accepted tradition. However, many discerning parents change that opinion over time, not only as their children grow, but as they realize the purpose for which these reviews are written.

Because I can see in the light of your comments that the “why” of these articles is not clear to you, let me put that in perspective. The first reviews were written about fifteen years ago in a newsletter that we then published. People noticed that we simply did not carry many of the “good Christian” books available. In lieu of our policy that we do not sell anything that we could not sell to Jesus, it was obvious there must be some reason that we were not willing to make any profits from all these “wonderful” titles. We received many inquiries about authors, titles, and reading in general.

These requests came primarily from concerned parents who wanted to protect their children from picking up unhealthy habits and ideas from the books that they read. As children grow, those who become serious readers obviously no longer wait for Dad and Mom to read a book to them and discuss with them its bad features. Dad and Mom need to know what to expect from books so that they know which to avoid. That is where these reviews come in. There are plenty of people saying, “Give your children this book,” or, “Have them read that title,” even though many of them contain genuine harm.

You see, our reviews are written to help parents, and will one day soon be judged by a holy God. The goal is not to be as favorable as we can to C. S. Lewis at the expense of what damage he might do to the souls of children. After all, you, yourself, described him as blindly believing unenlightened church doctrine. This is how we look at it. We have been given a trust. People have asked us for a truthful opinion on how many books and authors might affect the souls of their children. We have also received many expressions of gratitude from folks for exposing things that they knew in their spirit were simply wrong but could not explain exactly why. So, as you stated, people who read what we review may act on what they read. Even if Lewis’ works contained what might appear as only ten percent error (my estimate would be far higher), how much error shall we risk giving a soul? Would we feed our children’s bodies with ninety-percent wholesome milk mixed with only ten percent used motor oil? How much more careful should we be with an immortal soul?

Before I actually delve into the topic of Lewis himself, I hope that you did not get the idea that this issue is frivolous or cursory for me. C. S. Lewis is not a new subject for me. I read my first books written by Lewis over thirty years ago. I have read books written by him and those written about him. The article is not an unresearched opinion. I supplied plenty of factual data from his own life, from his own writings, and from his own statements about his life and his writings. The review was actually eight pages, and I am sure that there are at least four pages of additional facts and explanations on the FAQ pages following the article.

When we discuss C. S. Lewis, we can only do so fairly if we are consistent. He is most often hailed as an unequaled paragon of Christian thinking or a world-class Christian apologete. However, he cannot be so if we excuse his continual breaking with biblical explanations of faith in Jesus Christ by saying that he did not understand Christianity because he learned erroneous doctrine from his church. I will wholeheartedly agree that he did so, and that is the doctrine which he espoused.

However, does this not answer the question of our children? Are we to hand the minds of our children over to someone who indeed claims no biblical relationship with the Redeemer, understands not the doctrine of salvation, and furthermore claims that in a religion like Christianity doctrine is unimportant? II John 1:10-11 says, “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” Whatever C. S. Lewis says, God says that His doctrine is what is important.

C. S. Lewis had a great logical mind. He tried to frame Christianity with it. However, the substance of Christianity is the Atonement. It is the salvation provided to undeserving sinners by an all-loving God. It is received of those who wish to belong to their Redeemer for this life and throughout eternity. Salvation is not a logical issue. It is a purely theological one. It belongs to those who abide in Christ and walk according to the indwelling Holy Spirit. Lewis made no such profession and did not claim such a Christian walk. His logical thinking was indeed limited to inaccurate church doctrines.

However, such doctrines were not his influences because of when he lived. Sometimes, we tend to think that we live in an enlightened generation regarding the things of God just as the Laodiceans did. Yet, there was every bit as much enlightenment in Lewis’ day, and long, long before. That enlightenment was available to Lewis. We are excited to be bringing out a whole series of books by another English author whose pen name was ALOE (a lady of England). She was a wonderful Christian author. Her books consistently hone right in on the relationship between a real believer and one’s God. In her allegorical stories and in her non-allegorical stories, each story depicts more real faith than what can be claimed to be found in the whole Narnia series. And why not? The Narnia series was built on Lewis’ lifelong fascination with pagan lore. ALOE’s books are obviously built upon a fascination with the Word of God. Would we recommend all ALOE books? No. No author is perfect. They all face a challenge between trying to craft stories and being wholly true to true wisdom. Sometimes, one blurs the other and vice versa, however an ALOE book or an Isabella Alden book will not be worlds apart, but universes apart from a C. S. Lewis book.

I hope that I am making sense here. How much pagan lore do we need to impart Christian principles? Would the milk not be much better without any motor oil? We must also be very careful about thinking that we can just separate the oil out. We can read with our children and warn them that certain things are wrong or bad, but we must understand the process that we are trying to thwart. An author who writes for children becomes popular because he or she is very good at it. When we wish to address wrong ideas communicated by that author, we must realize that we cannot do so until those ideas have been communicated. The author has had first access to the child’s mind, and has made the first impression which is always, far and away, the most powerful. That is just the way we are built.

Let’s take an example like Little House on the Prairie. A good author, and Mrs. Wilder was in this respect, knows that to hook the young reader, she needs to early on “unite” the reader with the main character. The author who cannot do this will soon look for another line of work. The main character, of course, Laura, is a delightfully presented tomboy, who detests being a girl. Many a reader (nearly all) have delightfully united with her in spirit. We, as parents, can warn against such a philosophy, and while our children are under our rule they may act as we insist. Yet the Bible teaches us that when seeds are sown, though they lie dormant for many a year, they will one day bear fruit.

Discernment is a tricky issue. Sometimes adults master it, but even many adults never do. It should be remembered that children operate almost entirely on emotion as compared to reason. Good authors know this, and armed with this knowledge they emotionally “unite” with readers, especially young readers. Also, we need to always bear in mind that the philosophy being taught nowadays that we must guardedly introduce our children to the evils of the world is not biblical. Discernment is not by the wisdom of men, but by the Word. The Bible teaches that discernment comes not from introduction to and identification of evil, but from an intimate knowledge of the Word of God. “For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” —Hebrews 5:13-14. Though it is the proverb of the day, we dare not seek discernment in some direction other than that which the Word of God teaches.

So, if we are to offer advice, how much better to offer the safest advice? This is what we seek to do in our reviews. It matters not to us if there is some good in a book. I think all the ungodly books that I know of contain some good. It is required to hook readers. Mrs. Wilder was head of the Eastern Star, an occult organization. Would such an intelligent author not wrap her philosophies in innocence? The Bible teaches us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Why give the minds of our children to such people? And how can I advise people to do so?

I hope that you can see why, by purpose, these reviews cannot be other than what they are. They are simply not about being nice to authors. They are about helping parents to protect children. Have they pricked some people’s favorites? Yes. But I thank God that they have pricked some thinking processes also. Yes, we know that often our reviews alienate some potential customers. Our policies also eliminate many books that we could offer for sale, but what shall a man profit if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? And who wants to be responsible for the lost soul of another?