"...the
children discover a charming, peaceful land inhabited by talking beasts,
dwarfs, fauns, centaurs and giants that has become a world cursed to eternal
winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis. Under the guidance of a noble and
mystical ruler, the lion Aslan, the children fight to overcome the White
Witch's powerful hold over Narnia in a
spectacular, climactic battle that will free Narnia from Jadis' icy spell
forever."
[1]
"C.S. Lewis is someone who paints
a picture and lets you imagine the rest. To me it's about making a movie
which lives up to my memory of my book rather than specifically the book
itself. And it needs to live up to everyone else's memories and that is
what my challenge is - to make it accessible and real.... I want it to
feel real...."[2] Director Andrew Adamson
"There is a prophecy that two sons of Adam and daughters of Eve will
appear and defeat the white witch and put an end to this 100 year winter."[3] Talking
Beaver in Full-Length Trailer
| Resources to aid your Understanding |
| |
The movie opens with a glimpse
of the cruel, violent world of reality. Air raid sirens shriek through
the night as Nazi bombers drone overhead, dropping their deadly bombs. The
Pevensie family heads for the bomb shelter, well aware of the ongoing dangers
that threaten in war-torn London. Soon afterwards the four children board
a train and head for safety at a country mansion owned by a mysterious old
professor. They are about to discover the thrilling world of fantasy.
As most of us read long ago in
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, the four children
explore their new home and grope their way through a magical
wardrobe into the cold, wintery world of Narnia. Here -- as in the ancient
myths that had captivated Lewis' heart -- animals talk, witches bewitch, curses
turn flesh into stone, and the veil between physical reality and spiritual
fantasies fade away. Myth and truth merge into more compelling illlusions,
while good and evil are redefined to fit the new story.
"The book is about imagination," says Roger Ford, the production designer
of Disney's version of Narnia. "So the imagery is provided by the child's and
the reader's imagination." But, unlike books, movies implant ready-made
images. "The challenge of a film-maker is to live up to and exceed the
people's imagination," continues Ford, "and really transport them to another
time and place."[4]
Today's digital magic fulfills
that function all too well! But where does this movie transport the minds of
our children? What kinds of enticements does it feed to their human nature and
emotional appetites? What suggestions will leave lasting imprints in their
memory? Those are the question that Christian parents need to ask. And one
word answers all three: the world of the occult.
The enticing pagan worlds
nurtured by C.S. Lewis and his myth-making friends were not inspired by God's
Word or Spirit. Their stories grew out of lifelong immersion in the beliefs,
values, rituals, languages and lifestyles of former pagan cultures.
The white witch, Jadis -- the
self-professed Queen of Narnia -- emerged from that pagan worldview, not from
a Biblical frame of reference. Her ritual sacrifice of Aslan has more in
common with the ancient blood sacrifices to cultural gods (whether Hindu,
Mayan, Inca or Babylonian) than with the crucifixion of our Lord. Small wonder
the movie director chose a sacrificial setting for Aslan that looks strangely
like the ancient ritual stones and pillars at Stonehenge, now a gathering
place for the world's fast-growing networks of neopagans. 
"Earlier in his life, Lewis
visited the ruins at Stonehenge, a mysterious circle of giant prehistoric
stones in Southern England. In her book, Journey into Narnia, Kathryn
Lindskoog notes, 'The stone that is lowest at Stonehenge is called the stone
of sacrifice because people suspect that humans were bound and stabbed there
in evil ceremonies thousands of years ago.... It's almost certain that
Stonehenge gave Lewis the idea of the Stone Table."
[5]
Unlike Jesus, our Lord, Aslan
negotiates the terms of the "ancient magic" with the white witch. And unlike
God, Aslan attributes the ultimate victory to the humans, not to his own plan
and power.
"The future of Narnia rests on your courage," the lion told Peter before
his sad departure. Soon afterwards, this commissioned knight in shining
armor would ride into the fierce battle on a snowy white unicorn, wielding a
glimmering sword.
Does this picture remind you
of the Armor
of God (Ephesians 6:10-17) or the Sword of the Spirit? If so, it's a misleading
match. That victorious Sword is the eternal, unchanging Word of God. It has
no place in the myth of Narnia.
To illustrate this discrepancy
between Biblical truth and Narnian fantasy, we will use God's armor as an
outline. It disproves the modern assumption that Narnia is a Christian allegory
-- a notion Lewis himself denied. According to Christianity
Today, "not only was Lewis hesitant to call his books Christian allegory,
but the stories borrow just as much from pagan mythology as they do the Bible."[6]
In fact, those who want to see
Aslan as Jesus Christ would have to do some mental gymnastics. The two
opposites simply will not match unless God's truth is conformed to the human
imagination. Sad to say, such spiritual compromise is happening every day. And
the better the counterfeit, the more deceptive is its power.
God's Armor
-- a summary of the true Gospel -- is made up of six parts.
1. The
Belt of Truth -- The vital truth about God and His plan for
redemption
2. The
Breastplate of Righteousness -- The truth about our need for the cross
and God's righteousness
3. The
Sandals of Peace -- The gracious gift of the Prince of Peace to those
who walk in His Truth and Righteousness
4. The
Shield of Faith -- Putting all our trust in the sovereign power and
love of our King and His Word.
5. The
Helmet of Salvation -- Keeping our eyes fixed on the hope of His
victory today and forever.
6. The
Sword of the Spirit -- His Word, hidden in our hearts, and wielded
against any enemy to peace that might come against us.
These parts become all the more
significant in light of the fact that Jesus, at various times, identified
Himself before His disciples as Truth, Righteousness, (Prince of) Peace, our
Salvation and the living Word.
[7] When
you put on God's armor, you "clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ."
(Romans 13:12-14) He becomes your hiding place and your shelter
in the storm. Hidden
in Him, you can count on His victory, for He not only covers you as a
shield, He also fills you with His life.
1.God's
TRUTH
“The movie... is a great tool for the Church to help people understand
the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ," wrote Ted Baehr, founder of
MovieGuide. "Very, very few people will see the slight divergences that
the movie takes from the novel."[8]
The last statement may be true. Caught up in the thrilling high tech
fantasy, few are likely to notice the changes in the script. But the first
sentence should raise concern. How will this movie help people understand
the truth of the Gospel? What is actually true in this
so-called "Christian allegory?"
Dr. Baehr gives a partial answer in the following summary. What gross
distortions of the supposed "truth" do you see here?
"A prophecy says that four
sons and daughters of Adam and Eve will come to Narnia and help
Aslan... free Narnia from the White Witch. To thwart the
prophecy, the White Witch has told everyone that, if they see a son or
daughter of Adam and Eve, they should kidnap and bring them to her....
“...the resurrection romp with Aslan, Lucy and Susan has also been
eliminated, and the movie focuses more on the children being the solution
to the evil in Narnia when, in fact, the victory is Aslan’s.... [The
children] are heirs to the victory that Aslan wins on the stone
table, and Jesus Christ won on the cross....
“In fact, the movie is a very clear Christological allusion, or imagining,
of the story of Jesus Christ. The minor changes do not take away from that
meaning in the book...
"Andrew Adamson ... understands the element of sacrifice and redemption, but
his concern was for the empowering of the children. ...his love for
the original source ultimately keeps the movie on target.”
[8]
Since Adamson's focus was on
"empowering... the children," it makes sense to give them (rather than
Aslan) credit for the ultimate victory. It also helps explain Aslan's twisted
message:
"The future of Narnia rests
on your courage."
[3]
While that
statement should disturb those who love the Gospel, it matches Narnia's
ancient prophecy very well. To us, the word "prophesy" implies God's
omniscient (foreknowledge of future events) revelation of what lies
ahead. Because we know Him and trust His Word, we take seriously the precious
Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah. Everything God has told us will or has already
come true! Jesus came and gave His life for us! He will come again for
His people! But Narnia's prophecy promises no such Savior. In stark contrast,
it promises that four humans will come and save the land. What a sham to call
this deceptive story a picture of truth!
If that appalling lie colors our understanding of the Gospel, we
will see ourselves as co-saviors. We will pat ourselves on the back, rather
than humbly and joyfully praise our God for His amazing grace in our
weakness! Translated into the language of the gospel, this view implies
that Jesus' death and resurrection was not sufficient to save His people.
Instead, God depends on us to accomplish His salvation. That untruth has
already become a vital marketing ploy in today's man-centered Church Growth
Movement.
The following comment by Joseph
Pearce (Tolkien's biographer and author of a new
book about C. S. Lewis) illustrates the persuasiveness of these myths.
It applied to Lewis as well as Tolkien:
"... the power of Tolkien lies in the way that he
succeeds, through myth, in making the unseen hand of providence felt
by the reader.
“In his
mythical creations, or sub-creations as he would call them, he shows how the
unseen hand of God is felt far more forcefully in myth than it is
ever felt in fiction. Paradoxically, fiction works with facts, albeit
invented facts, whereas myth works with truth, albeit truth
dressed in fancy disguises.”[9]
Do you see the strange reasoning? If the mythical realm of
magic "makes the unseen hand of providence felt by the reader," what message
does it actually teach? What new "truths," feelings and perceptions do people
"take home" when they leave the theater?
Our wise God has
a far different view of the human imagination than either Tolkien or Lewis, and He is
well aware of the its power to inflate lies and distort truth. Therefore,
He warns us repeatedly that "the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his
youth."
[Genesis 8:21]
To better understand the twisted
Gospel taught through this mythical series,
Part
2 of this Narnia series
will look at the strange creation story told in The
Magician's Nephew, the book that precedes The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe in the 5-set Chronicles of Narnia.
"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God,
a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth." 2 Timothy 2:15
Endnotes:
1. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch
and The Wardrobe (2005) Video Clips & Multimedia
2. Director Andrew Adamson talks at http://dvddungeon.com/news/news.php?id=4207
3. Full-Length Trailer at http://movies.aol.com/movie_exclusive_the_chronicles_of_narnia
4. http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/narnia/behind_the_magic.html?movie=chapter4&size=WMlarge&clip_title=Chapter
4, The Story
5. http://www.roarofnarnia.com/ask_the_professor.aspx (link not
working on 12-6-05)
6. Josh Hurst, "Into the Wardrobe and Straight to Hollywood,"
Christianity Today (11/07/05), www.christianitytoday.com/movies/special/narnia-news.html
7.
A Wardrobe from the King - Chapter 2
at
8.
‘Absolutely Thrilling! Disney's Chronicles of
Narnia at
www.assistnews.net/Stories/s05110091.htm
9. The Letters of J. R. R Tolkien, Humphrey Carpenter,
editor (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981, page
201.
Provided by
Berit Kjos
See our selection
of wonderful
books by Berit Kjos
If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your
personal Savior, but have been very lukewarm in your spiritual walk with
Him, you need to immediately ask Him for forgiveness and for renewal. He
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Study.
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