Final Thoughts - The Great Divorce

I've been meaning to read this for awhile, but had not actually got around to purchasing it myself. However on Monday night, while over for dinner at Alex and Dana's house, I noted that they had a copy and asked to borrow it. I've got a ton of stuff I want to read, so I was not expecting to get through it anytime soon but I started flipping through it yesterday and ended up reading the whole thing last night. It helps that the book is relatively short, the font is fairly large and it is C.S. Lewis with his typically engaging fiction.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and it provides some interesting food for thought regarding heaven and hell. The basic plot follows the narrator as he and several others take a bus from a dreary town (hell) to a vibrant new landscape (heaven). The majority of the book is spent with the narrator observing the conversations between his fellow Ghosts and the Spirits who try to convince them to stay in this new land. Many of the Ghosts end up returning to the bus to go back to the town instead of continuing on.

I found the book to be convicting as I read the different reasons that the Ghosts gave up on pursuing the newfound beauty and embracing the joy that was set before them. There were those that turned back because the journey was hard and they did not believe even when the Spirits told them that help would be provided. One rejects heaven based upon his view that he merited being there and some of those who were already there did not. Another left because he would not submit ultimately to accepting one real truth. In another case, an obsessive mother is resistant because she demands that she see her son immediately and is unwilling to see that her ultimate treasure should not be her son, but God.

One thing that really stuck out from this reading of the book is the opportunity we have to prepare ourselves in this life for the next life. I understand that Lewis is using an allegory to provoke thought, so obviously, as he admits, heaven will not be exactly like he describes. However, we do know that in heaven, our ultimate joy will be in God himself. We can live our lives now in anticipation of that and seeking the joy in fellowship with God that Christ restored when he died on the cross for our sins. By God’s grace, we can seek to avoid the idols that trapped so many of these Ghosts.

Overall, I recommend this fairly quick and thought provoking read. There are definitely many more aspects that I didn’t take the time to dig into.