Are The Gates of Hell Locked From The Inside?

[Andrewn]

C.S. Lewis famously declared that "the gates of hell are locked from the inside" in his wonderful book "The Great Divorce." In your opinion:

Is this view Biblical?

Is this view logical?

 

[dqhall]

C.S. Lewis famously declared that "the gates of hell are locked from the inside" in his wonderful book "The Great Divorce." In your opinion:

Is this view Biblical?

Is this view logical?

Gates and doors are usually locked or unlocked from the inside. A jail cell is locked from the outside.

I have not read “The Great Divorce,” thus I can not know the context.

Intense suffering, disability, weakness and loss of hope are things that I associate with hell. My theory is that hell in this life does not continue forever, because God helps people.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

C.S. Lewis famously declared that "the gates of hell are locked from the inside" in his wonderful book "The Great Divorce." In your opinion:

Is this view Biblical?

Is this view logical?

Assuming the " abyss /bottomless pit" is hell, it is not possible for the lock to be on the inside.
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. Revelation 20:1-3

Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Revelation 9:1-2

 

[Andrewn]

Assuming the " abyss /bottomless pit" is hell, it is not possible for the lock to be on the inside.

I tend to agree with you. In addition to the verses you quoted, we read:

Heb 10:29 How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.”And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

It sounds very much like the lock of the jail cell is from outside.

Some people may not want to go to heaven initially because God and Jesus are there. But I imagine they would change their mind quickly after a few minutes in hell.

I wonder how CS Lewis and other advocates of his statement would answer these problems?

 

[Maria Billingsley]

I tend to agree with you. In addition to the verses you quoted, we read:

Heb 10:29 How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.”And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

It sounds very much like the lock of the jail cell is from outside.

Some people may not want to go to heaven initially because God and Jesus are there. But I imagine they would change their mind quickly after a few minutes in hell.

I wonder how CS Lewis and other advocates of his statement would answer these problems?

He may be a closet Universalist.
Reason, Imagination, and Universalism in C. S. Lewis

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

In fact, Jesus Christ gave the keys to both Heaven and Hell to the Church, so both are indeed locked from the outside, or one might conclude that hell is locked from the outside, and heaven from the inside.

 

[The Liturgist]

C.S. Lewis famously declared that "the gates of hell are locked from the inside" in his wonderful book "The Great Divorce." In your opinion:

Is this view Biblical?

Is this view logical?

Yes and yes.

 

[The Liturgist]

He may be a closet Universalist.
Reason, Imagination, and Universalism in C. S. Lewis

That’s simply not the case. There is no logically consistent reading of The Great Divorce which supports Universalism.

 

[The Liturgist]

In fact, Jesus Christ gave the keys to both Heaven and Hell to the Church, so both are indeed locked from the outside, or one might conclude that hell is locked from the outside, and heaven from the inside.

Indeed, but I would argue that in the process of retaining sins, which is anathematization, anathema literally means “delivered up to God” which means the Church has exhausted the means at its disposal to assist the persons and has delivered them to God, who alone has the power to intervene.

We also have to consider the case where what we might call the “key of retention” is used improperly in the case of a schism or theological dispute or ecclesiastical controversy, against the wrong person or persons. For example, the Roman Catholic anathematization of the Eastern Orthodox, the misdirected anathema against the Oriental Orthodox on the basis that they adhered to Eutychianism, when in fact they did not, and hitting more close to home for many of us, the anathemas that Pope Leo X and his successors pronounced on Lutherans and other Protestants.

Thus it is necessary to first of all consider where ecclesiastical power is being misused based either on a misunderstanding, which is inappropriate use acting upon incorrect conclusions derived from incomplete information. We also have to consider that, unless we accept Calvinism, the people who are damned have in effect chosen to be damned, which is kind of the point of CS Lewis.

This ties into the ancient Patristic construct, as understood by the eastern churches, wherein even damnation was considered to be in some respects a mercy, in that the extreme close proximity to God we are promised in the Apocalypse of St. John the Divine (Revelations) and elsewhere in Scripture is believed to be an intolerable torture to those who oppose Him, for if we are not aligned with God, we experience His consuming fire not as the infinite love which burns away our sorrow and replaces it with joy, but rather as His wrath burning away iniquity and evil for the sake of justice. God is not destructive however, and thus we reject annhilationism; God understood as being infinitely loving must therefore act in the most merciful manner even to those who reject Him and who cannot enter into the World to Come. Thus we have St. John Chrysostom* remarking that the worst aspect of damnation is missing out on the joy of salvation, through the ages of ages as it were.

*He was very much not a Universalist, but rather a man fundamentally opposed to Universalism and other departures from beyond the pale of the orthodox faith of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church as it existed around the year 400, surrounded by heresies like Gnosticism and Arianism, and also contending with a decadent Byzantine emperor who would later send St. Chrysostom into exile for criticizing his wife for purchasing a solid gold commode, which even the wealthiest people in a society should be scandalized by, vs. donating the funds used on the aforesaid water closet to the relief of the poor.

 

[Bob Crowley]

The gates of Hell are locked on both sides. The inhabitants would get out today if they could. Nobody would prefer the eternal tortures of Hell to the eternal pleasures of Heaven.

Satan and his demons make sure nobody escapes, not even their own kind. If we use the parable of Dives and Lazarus as having a basis in reality, there is a huge chasm such that they cannot cross over to heaven, and the inhabitants of heaven cannot cross over to help them, even if they want to. Dives asked for Lazarus to help him with a touch of cool water, but Abraham said it was impossible.

God is responsible for that. It's His quarantine measure. He doesn't want Hell infiltrating and contaminating Heaven. Nothing gets into Heaven unless it is perfect.

On the other hand the inmates chose to reject Christ for whatever reason, and we have to assume they would go on rejecting Him even if again offered the opportunity. In that sense the gates are locked from the inside.

"The Great Divorce" is an allegorical work and brilliant in its imagery. Secondly the miserable town where it was always raining and the roofs leaked was, in my opinion, a reference to Purgatory rather than Hell. What's mising in Lewis's allegorical work is the full blown horror of Hell.

But I don't think CS Lewis meant to use it as the final word on the tension between God's grace and our choices.

 

[Andrewn]

The inhabitants would get out today if they could. Nobody would prefer the eternal tortures of Hell to the eternal pleasures of Heaven.

Yes, this is my point.

Satan and his demons make sure nobody escapes, not even their own kind.

I don't think Satan and his demons are in control any longer. After Christ's crucifixion, He harrowed hell and He has the keys of Death and Hades (Rev 1:18).

God is responsible for that. It's His quarantine measure. He doesn't want Hell infiltrating and contaminating Heaven. Nothing gets into Heaven unless it is perfect.

Thus Hell is locked from the outside.

and we have to assume they would go on rejecting Him even if again offered the opportunity. In that sense the gates are locked from the inside.

But the conclusion that the gates are locked from the inside is based on the assumption that they would go on rejecting Christ, which may not be true in all cases. The opposite assumption is that, in Hell, those who initially rejected Jesus would come to accept Him based on more information that prompts them to accept his love and sacrifice.

the miserable town where it was always raining and the roofs leaked was, in my opinion, a reference to Purgatory rather than Hell.

This is an interesting observation and it supports the view that CS Lewis is describing a temporary condition in which the condemned can be provided more information, can come to faith, and can be saved. ?

 

[2PhiloVoid]

He may be a closet Universalist.
Reason, Imagination, and Universalism in C. S. Lewis

Nah. The author of that article stretches his inferences a little too far, especially as seen on page 55.

However, I think it is safe to say that C.S. Lewis verbally demonstrated that he subscribed to Inclusivism. But implying that he was a Universalist is a bit too much, really.

 

[Hmm]

C.S. Lewis famously declared that "the gates of hell are locked from the inside" in his wonderful book "The Great Divorce." In your opinion:

Is this view Biblical?

Is this view logical?

Interesting question. I'd like to offer a universalist perspective on this but I understand it's against the rules of this site to talk about universal salvation in a positive way outside of the Controversial Sub-Forum (!!!) so I can't!

 

[chilehed]

C.S. Lewis famously declared that "the gates of hell are locked from the inside" in his wonderful book "The Great Divorce." In your opinion:

Is this view Biblical?

Is this view logical?

In the sense that he meant, absolutely.

 

[BobRyan]

C.S. Lewis famously declared that "the gates of hell are locked from the inside" in his wonderful book "The Great Divorce." In your opinion:

Is this view Biblical?

Is this view logical?

"Gates of hell" is a purely figurative term as used by Christ in the gospels -- and it refers to the kingdom of evil in this world - it is Satan's domain and it is at war against the church according to Christ. It is a figure of speech like shepherd and sheep and sheepfold.

 

[fhansen]

C.S. Lewis famously declared that "the gates of hell are locked from the inside" in his wonderful book "The Great Divorce." In your opinion:

Is this view Biblical?

Is this view logical?

I know people like that, prideful, obstinate, refusing to love. We all know people like that; we all have elements of it ourselves. We're born halfway betwen heaven and hell already. We just choose, at the end of the day, by what/Who we value, how we love, how we live our lives.

 

[Andrewn]

I know people like that, prideful, obstinate, refusing to love. We all know people like that; we all have elements of it ourselves. We're born halfway betwen heaven and hell already. We just choose, at the end of the day, by what/Who we value, how we love, how we live our lives.

Yes, but saying that the gates are locked from the inside implies that they could change their mind/repent and get out, unless one believes in annihilationism, no?

 

[fhansen]

Yes, but saying that the gates are locked from the inside implies that they could change their mind/repent and get out, unless one believes in annihilationism, no?

or a means that their decision to keep them locked is final

 

[Tigger45]

C.S. Lewis famously declared that "the gates of hell are locked from the inside" in his wonderful book "The Great Divorce." In your opinion:

Is this view Biblical?

Is this view logical?

This icon is a great depiction of the gates of Hell and I would agree they are unlocked from the outside as others have stated per scripture. Although when locked either way the occupants are not able to free themselves.

 

[The Liturgist]

Yes, but saying that the gates are locked from the inside implies that they could change their mind/repent and get out, unless one believes in annihilationism, no?

If you read The Great Divorce, people from Hell are taken via a splendid bus adorned in chivalric red and blue colors to what I can only describe as the heavenly hills surrounding paradise, where, despite encountering encouraging saints, for various reasons, they generally decide to return.

Now, regarding the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, we can say based on the experience of the Church that that is primarily applicable after the last judgement, but the soteriological status of persons awaiting the last judgement has not been definitely decided. Thus, we have the doctrine of the Harrowing of Hell, in which our Lord successfully persuaded at least some of those imprisoned in Hades to follow Him into paradise.