The Restored Gospel According to C. S. Lewis

I received a copy of The Restored Gospel According to C. S. Lewis by Nathan Jensen years ago, but I had only read excerpts up to this point. Finally I decided to read the entire book, and I'm glad I did. I have always greatly respected C. S. Lewis' writings, and this book just make me appreciate him even more. In this book, Jensen compares various statements from C. S. Lewis with general authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is remarkable how many of these coincide perfectly.

My only complaint with this book is that some of the Lewis quotes get repetitive. Each chapter is divided into different subjects, and often the author uses the same quote repeatedly because it fits each new subject matter. Doing so reduces the novelty of the quote and softens its impact. That being said, there were several quotes from this book that I really enjoyed. These are a few:

C. S. Lewis talks about God taking great pride in His creations, just as an artist takes great pride in his paintings. Unlike an artist's painting, however, we are sentient creatures and whenever the Grand Artist makes changes or enhances His creations (us) we complain and moan because we think we are fine as we are. We cannot yet see the grand masterpiece our Master has in mind for us to become.

I also loved C. S. Lewis' description of angels and devils. He said that they are as similar as good and bad people, meaning that they are the same kind of beings. Devils are not creatures with pointed tails and horns, nor are angels creatures with bird wings. In fact, Lewis' entire conception of Hell and the devil is extraordinary and very accurate compared to what I believe.

Another quote I want to touch on regarding this subject is actually by Brigham Young. He taught that music is a language from heaven and is a great gift to mankind. He followed that up by saying there is no music in Hell. I had never thought about this before, but I found that very interesting.

Last of all, I loved what Lewis had to say about religion and sacrifice. He was very against "soft religions" that did not take the Bible at face value and tried to diminish was Christianity is meant to be. He especially deplores those who twist the Bible to mean things it did not say. He emphatically declared that either Jesus is the Son of God and everything He said or did is true, or else He was an immoral liar or a madman. You cannot believe in Him without believing EVERYTHING.

These quotes and so many more reinforced my admiration for the great man that was C. S. Lewis.