THE CANCER OF
PANTHEISM
By Dr. M. R. Dowler
C S Lewis was one of the ten most
influential Christians of the twentieth century. As a popular radio
broadcaster, Christian apologist and author, Lewis’ is best known for his
seven-volume Christian anthology The
Chronicles of Narnia series, as well as the theological classic Mere Christianity. Over 100 million
copies of the Narnia books have been published since 1956. But C S Lewis came to
Christianity late in life; he was in his mid-thirties when he accepted Christ
after initially rejecting God at age fifteen because of the death of his
beloved mother of cancer.
Calvin Staples Lewis spent many
years on a spiritual journey back to God; as an academic rationalist, an evolutionary
pantheist and then a full-fledged atheist. It was through his many
conversations with fellow Oxford University
The word pantheism comes from two
Greek words, pan, meaning all, and theos, meaning God. It is the
ancient belief that everything, seen or unseen is a god. Many in the modern New
Age movement have adopted this strange idolatry. But pantheism has a big
problem explaining evil and suffering in the world. Strange as it may sound, to the pantheist,
all sickness, suffering, disease, and evil are also a “god.” Ironically, the
cancer Mrs Lewis suffered from was in essence a god to her then grossly-misguided
teenage son.
Theologically, God is omnipresent,
meaning He is all-encompassing and in every place (Psa 139:7-10; Jer 23:23 -24), but the Creator separates Himself
from His creation. The God who created the trees is not a tree (Heb 11:3). The
universe is not God, but rather the works of His hand (Psa 8:3). Polytheism and
pantheism is similar; polytheism believes there are many gods; pantheism believes
everything is a god. Both are extremely dangerous, as C S Lewis came to
realize. Think about it.
Good read Mark
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