The Chronicles of Narnia and the Christian Life

I know it has been a long time since I have posted, but I wanted to write a post about one of my convictions. I think it is good to write convictions down not just for the encouragement of others, but for your own benefit as well. To help solidify them in your mind and heart.

So I am writing my thoughts on The Chronicles of Narnia.

Everyone in our house loves the Narnia books and movies. Lately, though, I have been having questions in my mind such as "Should we really be watching these because of the magic? Has the devil really won a great victory by convincing Christians that they are really OK when it really displeases God?"

Let's examine the situation:

According to the Companion to Narnia (Written by a student of C.S. Lewis), the Narnia books were not written to be an allegory. Rather they were written as a suppository. Suppose Jesus Christ was incarnate as a lion in a world like Narnia, what would He say and do? So, any 'magic' of Aslan's really is the omnipotence of God.

All of the black magic (the White Witch, the Witch in the Silver Chair, etc.) is all portrayed as bad and to be avoided, just like the instances of magic in the Bible (Saul seeking a medium to call Samuel from the dead, Pharoah's magicians, etc.)



What about the items in Narnia said to be magical (Susan's horn, Lucy's cordial, etc.)? Since Narnia is a totally different world from our own, the science of Narnia is different from ours. Narnia's science is placed under the guise of 'magic'.

Also, no one in Narnia has magic in and of themselves. For example, Coriakin of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader had a book of spells. But since we have just proven that Narnia's science is under the guise of magic, the book of spells could be the equivalent of a science book from our world.

Saying all this, I am not condoning all movies with magic such as Harry Potter. I am adamantly against the Harry Potter movies. From what I gather, the kids in those movies are training to be witches and are learning practices that are used by real witches. The Bible clearly condemns witches and witchcraft, and Christians should not be entertained by movies where a witch is the hero.

Since the Bible doesn't give direct commands about movies (Thou shall not watch Harry Potter or Narnia), we need to follow biblical principles when choosing our movies. Here are a couple of verses to think about:

Philippians 4:8- Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Psalm 101:3- I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not fasten its grip on me.


Katherine