C.S. Lewis

[wackzingo]

Jim,

The article you linked to by Mary Ann Collins regarding C.S. Lewis was interesting. However, having been a long time fan of C.S. Lewis myself it is obvious that Mary Ann Collins is not being objective and quotes things out of context. Since I moved last October I can't find most of my books or I would quote the passages in context. But, even in her article she writes very poorly to support her position. One example is that she says,

" Many Christians are treating the Narnia books as being an allegory, with Aslan representing Jesus and the children representing Christians. If you do this with “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” then you portray Jesus as being pleased when Christians do magic and work spells. And you support the idea that that there are “good” spells and “good” magic. That belief is the basis for modern “white” witchcraft. However, the Bible clearly forbids any form of witchcraft:

The first problem is she says Aslan represents Jesus and the children represent Christians but she fails to say what the spells represent. Instead she conveniently leave the spells in there to support her position. You can't take an allegory and translate only half the allegory of you will end up with very strange connections.

The second problem is she says that during the time of C.S. Lewis, spells and which craft didn't exist so it wouldn't have been a problem. My question is, if spells didn't exists then he must have made that up as an allegory to something that did exist, right?

The last problem I find for now is her use of quoting his struggles. She takes what he said were his struggles and tries to portray it as being the same as if he were giving into them. There is nothing unbiblical or wrong about a Christian struggling with sin. Who cares if it was a huge temptation for C.S. Lewis and his wife to give into and pray to some other god while traveling. All that matters is, did he give in? As a guy there are times when I struggle with things like lust and it is a huge temptation to give in. Wow, now that I've said that does that mean I'm supporting lust? God forbid!

Sure people could take C.S. Lewis' books and use them to support magic but that doesn't mean that was his intent and it doesn't make them bad. If we use that reasoning then we must conclude that sex is bad even if God's original intentions were good. Is that the case? My parents and other happily married Christians who have sex inside of marriage have told me otherwise. You can't say something is wrong just because it can be misused or misunderstood. C.S. Lewis would never support magic whether good or bad. Just as God isn't the problem or sex, it is people who choose to misuse it that is.

[jimbaum]

Zach,

I understand your appreciation of C.S Lewis and your points about Mary Ann Collins' article have validity.

When I first became a follower of Jesus, "Mere Christianity" really impressed me. I remember thinking that this book proves that you can be a Christian and an intellectual at the same time.

I eventually read the Chronicles of Narnia and really enjoyed them. My whole family, almost, has read them.

Also, early on as a Christian, I realized that C.S. Lewis, though dead, had a top level celebrity icon status among Evangelical Christians.

Eventually, though, I came to be concerned about a few things. For example, the fact the Chronicles of Narnia is of the Occult Fantasy genre. The fact that he does portray something as good (even though allegory) that the Bible teaches is evil. A common theme in Occult Fantasy is that there is white magic and black magic, where white magic is good. But the Bible teaches that all magic/sorcery/witchcraft is evil.

The Bible teaches that fornication is evil and I cannot imagine that a mature believer in Christ would want to write a fictional story in which fornication is portrayed as good.

Also, it now seems blasphemous to me, to ascribe the "Deeper Magic" to the "Emperor across the sea".

But, as always, brother, I appreciate being able to bat these things around in our discussion!

Jim

[wackzingo]

I agree completely. But, rather than warning people to take his stories a just an allegory and to be careful not to support the occult; it seems as though Mary Ann Collins has gone too far and tried to convince people that C.S. Lewis was somehow not a true Christian and supported the occult. I don't think that is the case. I think C.S. Lewis was a brilliant man intellectually and a true Christian. Although I think there possibly could have been other things he could have used as allegories. But then again I have never written a book.

Also, I think that the celebrity status is such a big deal. Even Paul had celebrity status. I think it's more important how they deal with it; Paul dealt with it in the right way guided by the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

I do see how non-Christian people could possibly be led to think that he was supporting white magic.

Zach

[jimbaum]

Zach,

I agree that just being known my many people is not, in itself bad. Like you say, what matters is how a person with celebrity deals with it. Does he gather around himself a following rather than simply being a brother who points to Jesus and builds up the brethren?

Also, what matters, is how the rest of us look to celebrities. Many, tragically, look to celebrities as gurus that cannot be criticized. And we allow our hearts to be emotionally attached to our favorite celebrities.

It's important to realize that there are those who have great power who would like to choose our celebrities and leaders for us in order to lead us down their path of control and deception.

The New Testament teaches us everything we need to realize who should be our examples and how to recognize false teachers and false christs.

Jim B.

[wackzingo]

Its so hard for people to see that they are looking up to Christian celebrities because its so common and it such a subtle problem that most don't see anything wrong with what they are doing. The only way they will see when they are looking to others for answers rather than the Word of God is by spending time in the Word. Its hard to explain to people in many churches that they are putting their leaders and pastors to high because its something that is really a mater of whats in their heart and isn't always so black and white; its not something we can prove. Its much like hate in our heart is the same as murder, its a hidden thing that only the believer and Christ knows.

zach

[jimbaum]

Amen, Zach. We are all guilty to varying degrees of following gurus instead of the Lord Jesus. We are all susceptible to having our hearts drawn away to idolatrous attachments to men or movements or crusades or organizations or many other things in life.

Following gurus is one the the concerns I discuss in "FOUR WAYS CHRISTIANS ARE BEING DECEIVED".

Jim