Jerry Walls and Scott Burson shed some light here:
...[O]ne of the factors that contributed to [Lewis'] adolescent apostasy was his inability to reconcile the truth of Christianity with the falsehood of every other religion and philosophy. With the help of colleagues J. R. R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson a few nights prior to his conversion, Lewis came to see the overarching hand of God in not only the history of Christianity but other belief systems as well. The myth of the dying and rising corn gods in pagan religions did not nullify the claim that Jesus Christ died and rose again. On the contrary, these pagan myths unwittingly worked to reinforce the truth of the Christian account. According to Tolkien and Dyson, a loving God has been working diligently to prepare each and every culture for the gospel of his son. In so doing, mythical stories have been given to anticipate or preconfigure a factual, historical outworking. Christianity is not only the fulfillment of Judaism, it is also the fulfillment of all other religious and philosophical systems.If Lewis could come to see other traditions and philosophies so charitably, then maybe we Christians might do likewise in our conversations with each other.This new angle of vision on the problem of exclusivity made sense to Lewis. Christianity is indeed true, but that does not mean all other worldviews are entirely false. All God's creation has been given some measure of insight, however limited or opaque, for the purpose of pointing to the fullest expression of divinity in the person of Jesus Christ.
As Lewis realized how Christianity and other belief systems could harmoniously dovetail at certain points, the lifelong tension between reason and imagination began to subside as well. Under the Christian rubric, both hemispheres of the brain could harmoniously coexist. And, most important, Lewis came to realize that Joy is not an end unto itself but merely a pointer to guide us further up and further in. Lewis was eager to communicate this epiphany to any who would listen. [p. 30]
And you are so right — "You don't have to be identical to love and respect someone." If our love and respect extended toward others depends on their agreeing with us 100%, then probably we will be unable to love anybody; and perhaps we will consequently die both unloved and unrespected by anybody ourselves....
Just a thought. Thank you so very much for writing, dear brother in Christ!
AMEN! AMEN!
THX THX.
C.s. Lewis is one of my favorite authors so this post certainly works for me....but I do rather look at the church ‘family’ as that...family. We squabble and fight and don’t always get along perhaps as we should...but we do have a bloodline in Christ.
Truly, even the most primitive man will be held to account to notice that God IS.