It’s a classic and packed with treasure. But I just came across this little gem today in Lewis’ great Mere Christianity, having never picked up on it before. Trenchant but constructive, direct but hilarious. Fantastic.

There is no need to be worried by facetious people who try to make the Christian hope of ‘Heaven’ ridiculous by saying they do not want ‘to spend eternity playing harps’. The answer to such people is that if they cannot understand books written for grown-ups, they should not talk about them. All the scriptural imagery (harps, crowns, gold, etc.) is, of course, a merely symbolic attempt to express the inexpressible. Musical instruments are mentioned because for many people (not all) music is the thing known in the present life which most strongly suggests ecstasy and infinity. Crowns are mentioned to suggest the fact that those who are united with God in eternity share His splendour and power and joy. Gold is mentioned to suggest the timelessness of Heaven (gold does not rust) and the preciousness of it. People who take these symbols literally might as well think that when Christ told us to be like doves, He meant that we were to lay eggs.

Mere Christianity (Fount 1994 edition) p119

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This Post Has One Comment

  1. dave bish

    Brilliant as always. And a real challenge to write/speak imaginatively and engagingly.

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