The Soul of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Essay Example For Students

The Soul of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Essay How many of us at one point have tried to convince somebody of something way out there? Whether it be the boogieman, that monster in your closet, Easter bunny, Santa Claus, or even God, it boils down to I swear I saw it! I swear! Thats how Lucy from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe felt as she stepped out of the wardrobe and tried to explain to her siblings what had just happened. We have all found ourselves in this predicament, special recognition to theists. Somebody who believes in God often finds themselves in this situation, trying to explain spirituality to somebody who has never experienced it is like explaining color to a blind person, its impossible. The modernists, heirs to the Age of Reason, they refuse to accept anything if it cannot be proven logically. They live with a complete lack of faith. To them, Christianity is nothing more then irrational superstition, a matter of inner, subjective feelings rather than any kind of truth about what exists in the real world (p g 196-197, The Soul of the Lion). This is nothing new to the world, masses of people have always thought If I cant see it, its not there and many theists have gotten stuck on this answer. They have come up with you cant see the wind, but you can feel it and see the effects of it, but with molecular research this has gone back to square one. So how can theists have any standing ground in the matter?There is one category of mysticism that everybody can relate to, story-telling. This is the one area that Christianity shines. The Bible is full of allegory, parables, love, death, salvation, you name it, it goes there. For thousands of years men and women have lived and died for this book and what it stands for. However with the Age of Reason it was left behind and labeled as creative story-telling. A man by the name of C.S Lewis published a book called The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in 1950. Since then it has been acclaimed as one of the greatest childrens books of all times, boas ting a total of 7 books in the collection, a cartoon series, and even a newly screened movie. This story has become popular with people from all walks of life, especially the Christian community, but why? Arent Christians bent against fairy-tales and mysticism? In most cases (Harry Potter) yes, they are. However this one is special. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe goes where few have. Its a giant tear jerking, edge of your seat, nail biting allegorical rendition of the ever so popular Christian Bible. Whether it was intended to be written as that is disputed. However it is a well known fact that C.S. Lewis was a born again Christian himself, so its argued in favor of it being written as interpreted by the Christian community. The story begins with four brothers and sisters, Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan. It takes place during World War II, in which the children have been relocated to an old mansion in refuge of the London bombings. During the course of which a wardrobe is found, not just any wardrobe, but one to another world all in its own, stumbled upon by the youngest, Lucy. When she tries to explain what amazing things she saw through the wardrobe she is labeled as just an imaginative child and her thought are dismissed (sound familiar?). She then gets Edmund, the mischievous brother, to go through with her. He meets the White Witch, who we will get to later. After they come back Lucy tells Edmund to tell the others of what they both saw. When attention turns towards him, he blatantly lies and denies it all. Saying that they were just playing, pretending there was a Narnia is all. The older siblings, Peter and Susan, worried about Lucy and her insisting that there is a Narnia; go to the professor for help. When they inquire to the professor about their sister Lucy, they are taken aback when he asks them how they know that what she has been saying isnt true. They have been assuming that a story about a world in the wardrobe just cant be true. They have been operating out of what their worldview allows them to believe, not out of any evidence or logical train of reasoning (pg 50). He mentions three possibilities: either Lucy is lying, or she is insane, or she is telling the truth. In his book Mere Christianity, Lewis applies this same logic to the claims of Christ. Either He is a liar, a lunatic, or the Son of God. Not that Lucy is a stand-in for Christ, or Narnia for heaven. But both in his nonfiction apologetics and in his radically fictional fantasy novels, Lewis is demonstrating how to think. Eventually all of the children make it through the wardrobe, where a series of dramatic events ensues. Narnia is consumed by winter; they are told it is because of the reign of the White Witch, the character Edmund met on his first visit to Narnia. They are told Aslan, the king of Narnia, is gone and the White Witch has taken rule over the land transforming it into a place of perpetual winter. The struggle between good and evil in this story is obvious, which makes it easy to relate it to the struggle between sin and virtue in the Bible. The White Witch needs the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve (an obvious biblical reference) for her reign, and Aslan is there to free them. The White Witch is the ruler of Narnia as Satan is the ruler of earth, by conquest not by right. She is the beautiful queen of Narnia, and just as the devil Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). Business ethics EssayAnd that is precisely what Christianity is about. This is a great sculptors shop. We are the statues and there is a rumor going round the shop that some of us are some day going to come to lifeOne of the revived citizens of Narnia is a giant with a rather large club proceeds to smash the walls of the castle and devastate the place. This whole scenario is a representation of the breathe of God being the breath of life (just as he breathed into Adam) and the smashing down of the barriers of sin. It can also be said that it is turning a hard, stone-like, sinful heart and replacing it as new. And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezek. 11:19-20)With the newly revitalized troupes, Aslan and the girls head to the battle. Upon their arrival they find a fierce find underway. During the course of the battle many soldiers are turned to stone, and Edmund injured badly. Earlier in the story they met a figure who, rather closely, depicted Santa Claus. He gave them all gifts, Peter a sword, Susan a bow, and Lucy an elixir. This elixir has more to it then just being magical healing water. After the battle Lucy goes up to the soldiers who have befallen the witches curse. As she pours the elixir onto them, they are revitalized. And like before, Aslan does his thing with the breath. But the elixir has tradition behind it. The device recalls the ancien t Christian practice of anointing with oil, which was done for the sick and sometimes accompaniment to baptism. This was considered symbolic of the anointing of the Holy Spirit (pg.110). After the battle we are then taken to the castle of Cair Paravel, where the four thrones reside. Aslan crowns them, and they take their places on the thrones. The sons and Daughters of Adam and Eve take their rightful places as sovereigns over the world of animals. More than that, they symbolize the Christians status as a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), saints who will judge the world (1 Cor. 6:2), who will receive the crown of life (James 1:12). Aslan slips away, as Mr. Beaver explains he has other countries to attend to, he will often drop in, but he cannot be controlled. He is wild. He is not a tame lion. Lucy inquires to Mr. Beaver is he safe? and receives a reply of he is not safe, but he is good. This is one of the things modern day Christianity seems to have lost. As mentioned before, we have dumbed down God. When we think of God, we think of Jesus meek and mild. We forget that God is not just a humble servant, but a God of power and love. A God that can destroy the universe with a snap of his finger, who can cause plagues with a wave of his hand, and worldwide floods with a blink of an eye. However if we do as He says we need not worry about such things, for he is not tamed, oh no, but surely, He is good. The children spend years ruling over Narnia, and one day stumble across and old familiar lamppost, and some coats. As they pass back through the wardrobe the end up back in the professors house, seconds after they had left, with the housekeeper still storming after them for making a ruckus(why they hid in the first place). When they tell the professor about their adventure, they are excited to one day go back. But the professor also tells the children not to try to get back into Narnia. It will happen, he tells them, when they are not looking for it. That is to say, it is not a matter of works but of grace (pg 119) once a king in Narnia, always a king in Narnia, Just as your name shall never be erased from the lambs book of life. (To note, every cite was taken from The soul of the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe by Gene Edward Veith.)