Into the Wardrobe

I just reread The Great Divorce . I like the book and I feel that I learn something everytime I read it. But there's one part that always bothers me.

One of the redeemed, heavenly beings tells a ghost that although he (the heavenly being) committed murder, that wasn't the worst thing he did. It was "the work of a moment." But he murdered someone else (the ghost, in fact) "in my heart, deliberately, for years."

All I can think when I read this passage is: Is Lewis serious? He seems to be saying that an actual murder committed in a moment of rage isn't nearly so bad as thinking about murdering someone for years but not ever doing it.



Um, if I found out that someone hated me so much that they were murdering me in their heart, I'd be weirded out by it. And I'd be distressed and uncomfortable. But better that than someone shooting me in the head after one heated argument.

I can't imagine having the energy to hate someone that much. If I did, I'd consider it a terrible thing and I'd certainly ask God to help rid me of the hatred. But there's no way I'd consider it comparable to actually committing murder.

At least the hatred I felt would only be poisoning me--not ending someone else's life.

And Lewis himself doesn't always put such an importance on emotion. For example, he doesn't seem to think it matters, when you're praying, if you feel sublime or not. That might depend on your overall state of mind and what you had for breakfast, after all. The important thing is that you pray, not how you feel while your praying.

So, is it just me? Or does anyone else have a problem with this passage? Or am I misreading the passage to begin with?

Good question. I don't know that Lewis thought that murdering someone was actually worse than thinking bad thoughts about them. I think the point he's trying to get across is the contrast between "the work of a moment" and the deliberate thinking of evil thoughts about someone "for years". A murder may be an act of passion, horrible of course, but not necessarily the result of cold, premeditated calculation. Whereas to hold evil thoughts about someone for a long time is a deliberate act of the will, a constant turning of ones thoughts away from God and towards one's own base desires. Murder is of course worse for the victim, but if it truly is "of a moment", perhaps less destructive to the murderer's soul than a lifetime spent turned away from God?

Yes, I see what you're saying. But I if you hold hatred in your heart against someone for your whole life, and *don't* reconcile with them, perhaps spiritually that is on a par with murder? It brings to mind this:

Matt 5:27-28 You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Of course from our standpoint the actual adultery is worse, but Jesus seems to be saying that on some level the thought and the deed are equal.