When I read C.S. Lewis paper on "Man or Rabbit?" The thing that I was most struck by was when Lewis spoke about Confucius, Socrates, and J. S. Mill. Lewis seems to talk about hoping that God will find mercy for these men because they were in an honest state of ignorance, or in J. S. Mill's case, he was in an honest state of error. I have always really struggled with the idea of eternal damnation that is given to those who do not follow God. I have always had a hard time with this because God is a loving God. I understand that He is also a just God and therefore we need to face our sentence. But it still confuses me many times when I think about God sending people to an eternity in Hell. I think when I become most confused is in the two examples that Lewis talks about between Socrates and Confucius as well as J. S. Mill's.
Socrates and Confucius were great human beings who worked for the betterment of men. But they did not know God, because Jesus and his message had not reached them. They were ignorant of God's existence. It seems harsh that God could damn them when it was completely outside of their control whether or not they had heard of him. They were members of honest ignorance. It seems like Lewis' says that he hopes that God finds a way to have mercy on them, and I agree with him. "I hope and believe that the skill and mercy of God will remedy the evils which their ignorance, left to itself, would naturally produce both for them and for those whom they influenced."
On an even grander scale is J. S. Mill. He was not ignorant of God's existence, but he could not come to terms with it. But from what I understood from Lewis, Mill tried as hard as he could to understand Christianity and he could not believe it. Lewis describes this as an honest error. I often wonder about people of other religions and what their fate in eternity will be. I really cringe at the idea that people who are searching for truth, who want to serve God, but maybe have grown up in a different religion, will be damned. I think this idea is scary to me because I think had I been raised in a different religion I would be that religion. I grew up in a Christian household, and although I have chosen this faith for myself now, I do think that it is really tough to abandon what you have been taught by your family and friends. Religion is a huge part of culture and so it defines a lot of how we are raised and what we believe. Certainly we have time to grow and change, but if we are being honest we know that it is difficult. The Bible even says for parents to teach their children in the faith. I do not like the idea that God will save only those who will have been exposed to his teachings in the right atmosphere. In my opinion it doesn't seem loving or just to create human beings if they have no purpose other than to live and then go to Hell. I know it is not my place to question God, and there really is no way for us to know if those people go to Heaven or Hell. I liked that Lewis left this question open ended. But this question has always been a difficult struggle in my faith. And I certainly hope that God finds a way in His mercy to redeem us. Because we all make mistakes, and we are all ignorant.
I want you to know that this is something I have struggled with too. It's hard to imagine that God sends people to hell that have lead a good life and helped many people. He is a just God though, he's perfect and that means he can't just make exceptions to the rules that he has made for us. Nonetheless, it makes it even more confusing when you throw in the concept of honest error as opposed to ignorance. I guess the only the to do is to trust God in those situations, because it's something that is almost, if not completely beyond what we can understand. I'm right there with you though!
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