Though, not exhaustive I found this quote quite pertinent...
"It is a very interesting point to notice about The Screwtape Letters that C.S. Lewis does not deal with this question of not reading the Word. That is a significant point which reveals a real defect in his teaching. The chief of the evil spirits of whom Lewis writes does not give any instruction to his underlings to prevent the believers from reading the Bible. But this is one of our main weapons."
Martyn Lloyd Jones, The Christian Warfare, pg.152
Hmmm....
First, let me address the method, or rationale of Lloyd-Jones' criticism:
Let me make sure I understand that correctly. Loyd-Jones' argument is that because Lewis did not mention X there is a defect in Lewis' teaching? At best that is "because something is incomplete it is defective, no matter how accurate what exists maybe," and at worst that is a fallacious argument from silence. Perhaps Lewis did not mention many things a Christians does or should be doing. A simple retort to Lloyd-Jones' indictment is that Lewis is writing about the demons' understanding of how to corrupt the Christian life and perhaps the importance of scripture reading does not occur to the demons. We might also respond by stating Lewis addressed the necessity and power of reading the word in his books, "
X," "
Y," and "
Z," so it is therefore incorrect to cite a defect in Lewis' view of "
Christian warfare." especially since Lloyd-Jones book is specifically a commentary on Ephesians 6's armor of God and Lewis' book is not,
and Lewis' book is satire and Lloyd-Jones' book is not. Fundamentally, if we take those two sentences by themselves then what that does is set up a scapegoat and then knocked it down.
Second, I will address the actual content of Lloyd-Jones' criticism:
Lloyd-Jones is factually incorrect and egregiously so because the facts are easily, readily, and objectively verifiable. In the 9th letter between the demons the following is stated, "
You have only got to keep him out of the way of experienced Christians.... to direct his attention to the appropriate passages in scripture, and then to set him to work on the desperate design of recovering his old feelings by sheer will-power, and the game is ours." In the 16th letter we also read that the demon, while indicting the Vicar's leadership of the congregation, "
We are safe from the danger that any truth not already familiar to him and to his flock should ever reach them through Scripture." So, while Lewis may not have addressed the importance of Bible-reading as thoroughly as Lloyd-Jones thinks he should have, it is incorrect to say Lewis does not deal with it at all.
Lastly,
The accusation is somewhat ironic because scripture calls those who divide the body of Christ unjustly, "
devils." It is a peculiar practice to indict a fellow believer with factual error and fallacious reasoning when writing about Christian warfare because the Holy Spirit does not employ such practices. Sound Christian warfare does neither. Lloyd-Jones' point about the importance of reading scripture and caution with others' teachings (including his own) could have been made without ever mentioning Lewis (or anyone else). I say that simultaneously holding both authors with some esteem and both authors as imperfect. Some, like John Stott, took issue with Lloyd-Jones' views. It's fairly easy to find both valid and invalid critiques of both men's writings with a simple Goole search.
See also the C. S. Lewis Institute's many articles on "warfare" HERE, and Ephesians 6's armor of God HERE.
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