Between Heaven and Hell...part 1

The book, "Between Heaven and Hell," written by Peter Kreeft, consists of a conversation between three prominent men in history, who all happened to die on November 22, 1963. These three men are C.S. Lewis, John F. Kennedy, and Aldous Huxley. There will most likely be a series of blog posts regarding the ideas discussed in this book, and this is the first!!

One concept that I believe is often never addressed is the idea of a "sage." A sage is sometimes referred to as a guru or a spiritual master. In this book, C.S. Lewis describes them as having three basic psychological characteristics:

1. Unusual wisdom or insight into the human heart and character.
2. Love, compassion and selflessness.
3. Creativity; can't be put into familiar categories.

People such as Jesus, Socrates, and Buddha are given as examples of sagacious men (men who have the qualities of a sage). Socrates and Buddha were men that were prominent figures during their lifetimes, but it doesn't seem as though our world today shares the same value of wisdom and intelligence. Our society has become much less dependent on intellect.

One of the main points of this book is that C.S. Lewis is trying to convince the other two men of the divinity of Christ. Lewis uses the premise of the aut deus aut homo malus proof, which is that Jesus is either God or a bad man. Jesus claimed to be God (because he is), so either he was telling the truth, and thus is in fact God, or he was telling a blasphemous lie, and is therefore a bad man.

Lewis later expands on this argument, and shows that there are four possibilities of who Jesus actually is:

1. God
2. A bad man (blasphemous or insane)
3. A good man (a mere sage)
4. An ordinary man

It was already known that Jesus could not simply be an ordinary man, and he was so much more than a good man like Socrates. That leaves only the first two possibilities, and since Jesus is not insane or blasphemous, then he must be God.

Since Lewis is the one who is trying to prove the divinity of Christ, it may surprise you that he is the man in this book that confesses that he once desired to be his own God. He explains that he hated the idea of a God who barges into our world and interferes with our lives and our values. Lewis hated the idea of anyone but himself being in control of his life. He stresses his belief that many people reject Christianity, because they do not want to believe in a God who is actively involved in our lives.

Lewis describes this concept as self-deception: rejecting something because you don't want it to be true, and not because the evidence proves it to be false. He then says that the first step toward being honest to yourself is just wanting to achieve honesty. "An honest will makes an honest mind."

There is surely more to come from this book, so stay tuned if you want to have your mind further enriched!