"I had some ado to prevent Joy and myself from relapsing into Paganism in Attica! At Daphni it was hard not to pray to Appollo the Healer. But somehow one didn't feel it would have been very wrong - would have only been addressing Christ sub specie Apollinius. We witnessed a beautiful Christian village ceremony in Rhodes and hardly felt a discrepancy."
“Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place… certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible.The one exhibition of error and the one confession of ignorance grow side by side. That they stood thus in the mouth of Jesus himself and were not merely placed thus by the reporter, we surely need not doubt… The facts, then, are these: that Jesus professed himself (in some sense) ignorant, and within a moment showed that he really was so.”
"There are people in other religions who are being led by God's secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it ... For example a Buddhist of good will may be led to concentrate more and more on the Buddhist teaching about mercy and to leave in the background (though he might still say he believed) the Buddhist teaching on certain points. Many of the good Pagans long before Christ's birth may have been in this position"
Would a person who claims to be a born again Christian sit under the preaching of a man who said the above things? I would hope not. However, millions have no problem sitting for two hours watching a movie based upon a series of books written by this man. Who is this man? It is none other than C.S. Lewis. Lewis had a passion for the occult and was fascinated with mythology and paganism. To think that such a man's writings would not be influenced by his beliefs truly is fantasy. The Chronicles of Narnia, however, are not truly fantasy. Consider the following examples.
On the January 6, 2006 broadcast of Love Worth Finding (teaching/preaching ministry of the late Adrian Rogers) Rogers told of a god of the Greeks named Bacchus, who was the god of wine or drunkeness. In "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" one of the supposed good character's name is Bacchus. Did C.S. Lewis know this? For one so deeply invovled in pagan mythology it is most likely certain. The following is taken from Wikipedia: "Dionysus or Dionysos (also known as Bacchus in both Greek and Roman mythology and associated with the Italic Liber), the Thracian god of wine, represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its social and beneficent influences." This is one example of Lewis's blending of error with the truth.
Another example is found in the last book of the Narnia series. One of the servants of Tash (Satan figure) is told by Aslan (supposed Jesus Christ figure) that all his service done unto Tash would be counted as service done to Aslan. In other words you can serve Satan and it will be counted as service to the Lord Jesus Christ if you are sincere in that service. As much as I wish I was, I am not making this up. I believe the book is titled "The Last Battle". Go to a bookstore and look it up for yourself if you do not believe me.
Furthermore, C.S. Lewis said in his own words "Some people seem to think that I began by asking myself how I could say something about Christianity to children; then fixed on the fairy tale as an instrument; then collected information about child-psychology and decided what age group I'd write for; then drew up a list of basic Christian truths and hammered out 'allegories' to embody them. This is all pure moonshine. I couldn't write in that way at all. Everything began with images; a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion. At first there wasn't even anything Christian about them; that element pushed itself in of its own accord" (Of Other Worlds, p. 36). If Lewis himself said that "The Chronicles of Narnia" were not written as allegories, then why do Christians today insist that they are? Since they are not allegories then we must take them for what they are, without the presupposition of what or who the characters supposedly represent. If the Narnia books can be claimed as allegory, then why can a person not claim any book as an allegory and base it upon their own beliefs? In short, these books are not "Christian", even though they may possess elements of Christianity.
So, should a person read the books or watch the movies? That is up for each person to seek guidance from God. Keep this in mind, however. God says that "A little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump" (Galatians 5:9). This means that even just a little error or sin mixed in with the truth makes it all in error or sinful. You see, a partial truth, even if it is 99% true, is not the truth. If I gave you a plate of food and told you that I put just a tiny bit of poison in it, would you eat any of it? If not, then why are we willing to eat of the spiritual food of Narnia when it contains more than just a tiny bit of spiritual poison? Ask God in prayer if it is okay for you to watch this movie or read the Narnia books, even though they go against His word and His truth.
Finally, let me share one more thing. When this movie was first released to the theatres, I did not seek to find the evils in it. Honestly, I did not know much about "The Chronicles of Narnia" or about C.S. Lewis. In fact, I gave my brother-in-law some books written by Lewis as a gift for being in my wedding back in 1999. (Josh, forgive me. I should have examined things more closely.) However, when "the world" praised these movies just as much as "Christians", I knew in my heart that something was not right, so I had to search for myself. As I John 4:1 says "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Satan usually does not present things totally against God. By that I mean that he usually presents things as being good, but mixing error with them. Remember, he is an angel of light. He is very good at decieving people. Read Genesis 3 where he deceived Eve. He did it by mixing truth with error. I believe that this is what he has done with this movie. I wish everyone reading this could see inside my heart and how much I am pained that those who have put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ cannot or will not see Satan's hand on this movie.
Please check the following links for documentation and other information regarding C.S. Lewis and "The Chronicles of Narnia".
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/lewis/general.htm
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/narnia.htm
“Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place… certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible.The one exhibition of error and the one confession of ignorance grow side by side. That they stood thus in the mouth of Jesus himself and were not merely placed thus by the reporter, we surely need not doubt… The facts, then, are these: that Jesus professed himself (in some sense) ignorant, and within a moment showed that he really was so.”
"There are people in other religions who are being led by God's secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it ... For example a Buddhist of good will may be led to concentrate more and more on the Buddhist teaching about mercy and to leave in the background (though he might still say he believed) the Buddhist teaching on certain points. Many of the good Pagans long before Christ's birth may have been in this position"
Would a person who claims to be a born again Christian sit under the preaching of a man who said the above things? I would hope not. However, millions have no problem sitting for two hours watching a movie based upon a series of books written by this man. Who is this man? It is none other than C.S. Lewis. Lewis had a passion for the occult and was fascinated with mythology and paganism. To think that such a man's writings would not be influenced by his beliefs truly is fantasy. The Chronicles of Narnia, however, are not truly fantasy. Consider the following examples.
On the January 6, 2006 broadcast of Love Worth Finding (teaching/preaching ministry of the late Adrian Rogers) Rogers told of a god of the Greeks named Bacchus, who was the god of wine or drunkeness. In "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" one of the supposed good character's name is Bacchus. Did C.S. Lewis know this? For one so deeply invovled in pagan mythology it is most likely certain. The following is taken from Wikipedia: "Dionysus or Dionysos (also known as Bacchus in both Greek and Roman mythology and associated with the Italic Liber), the Thracian god of wine, represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its social and beneficent influences." This is one example of Lewis's blending of error with the truth.
Another example is found in the last book of the Narnia series. One of the servants of Tash (Satan figure) is told by Aslan (supposed Jesus Christ figure) that all his service done unto Tash would be counted as service done to Aslan. In other words you can serve Satan and it will be counted as service to the Lord Jesus Christ if you are sincere in that service. As much as I wish I was, I am not making this up. I believe the book is titled "The Last Battle". Go to a bookstore and look it up for yourself if you do not believe me.
Furthermore, C.S. Lewis said in his own words "Some people seem to think that I began by asking myself how I could say something about Christianity to children; then fixed on the fairy tale as an instrument; then collected information about child-psychology and decided what age group I'd write for; then drew up a list of basic Christian truths and hammered out 'allegories' to embody them. This is all pure moonshine. I couldn't write in that way at all. Everything began with images; a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion. At first there wasn't even anything Christian about them; that element pushed itself in of its own accord" (Of Other Worlds, p. 36). If Lewis himself said that "The Chronicles of Narnia" were not written as allegories, then why do Christians today insist that they are? Since they are not allegories then we must take them for what they are, without the presupposition of what or who the characters supposedly represent. If the Narnia books can be claimed as allegory, then why can a person not claim any book as an allegory and base it upon their own beliefs? In short, these books are not "Christian", even though they may possess elements of Christianity.
So, should a person read the books or watch the movies? That is up for each person to seek guidance from God. Keep this in mind, however. God says that "A little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump" (Galatians 5:9). This means that even just a little error or sin mixed in with the truth makes it all in error or sinful. You see, a partial truth, even if it is 99% true, is not the truth. If I gave you a plate of food and told you that I put just a tiny bit of poison in it, would you eat any of it? If not, then why are we willing to eat of the spiritual food of Narnia when it contains more than just a tiny bit of spiritual poison? Ask God in prayer if it is okay for you to watch this movie or read the Narnia books, even though they go against His word and His truth.
Finally, let me share one more thing. When this movie was first released to the theatres, I did not seek to find the evils in it. Honestly, I did not know much about "The Chronicles of Narnia" or about C.S. Lewis. In fact, I gave my brother-in-law some books written by Lewis as a gift for being in my wedding back in 1999. (Josh, forgive me. I should have examined things more closely.) However, when "the world" praised these movies just as much as "Christians", I knew in my heart that something was not right, so I had to search for myself. As I John 4:1 says "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Satan usually does not present things totally against God. By that I mean that he usually presents things as being good, but mixing error with them. Remember, he is an angel of light. He is very good at decieving people. Read Genesis 3 where he deceived Eve. He did it by mixing truth with error. I believe that this is what he has done with this movie. I wish everyone reading this could see inside my heart and how much I am pained that those who have put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ cannot or will not see Satan's hand on this movie.
Please check the following links for documentation and other information regarding C.S. Lewis and "The Chronicles of Narnia".
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/lewis/general.htm
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/narnia.htm
2 comments:
David,
It is true that Lewis had some pretty different views in his theology. I guess that's why when I watch the movie I didn't try to get my theology from it. But I wouldn't even try to get my theology from the Passion of the Christ, for even it had error.
You make some good point though. And we should always use discernment in all of these things.
Looking forward to more of your insight.
Sarah Uncle, (and I guess yours too)
Doug
P.S. Welcome to the Blogosphere. I will ad a link to your blog from mine when I get a chance.
www.Godwardthoughts.blogspot.com
I really enjoyed your write up here on Narnia, it had some very good points i would like to keep for referece. It was VERY hard to find a ani-Narnia article on Google. Keep writing!
God Bless
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