There's been a lot written lately about today's release of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." The best endorsement of the film I've read thus far is by Polly Toynbe of The Guardian. The lead line for her article is "Narnia represents everything that is most hateful about religion."
Toynbe rips the film up one side and down the other. She can't say enough bad things about it and the way C.S. Lewis tries to share the gospel message through his writings. She writes,
"The story makes sense. The lion exchanging his life for Edmund's is the sort of thing Arthurian legends are made of. Parfait knights and heroes in prisoner-of-war camps do it all the time. But what's this? After a long, dark night of the soul and women's weeping, the lion is suddenly alive again. Why? How?, my children used to ask. Well, it is hard to say why. It does not make any more sense in CS Lewis's tale than in the gospels. Ah, Aslan explains, it is the "deep magic", where pure sacrifice alone vanquishes death. Of all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls."
Isn't that great?!? If the film can get an unbeliever like Toynbe this worked up, there must be something there. Remember what St. Paul wrote, "We preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."
Is that way cool or what? It's like seeing the words of scripture come to life right before your eyes. God is going to do some great things because of this film. Aren't you glad you're alive to see it?
Well put. You are known by your enemies.
Posted by: John | December 12, 2005 at 07:29 AM