Question:
I would like to do a comic book of my own. But would it be possible to do a Christian
story in a fantasy or perhaps a science fiction world. I guess the better question (so
maybe you will understand what I am asking) is how do you feel about C.S. Lewis's
Chronicles of Narnia (that's the only one that comes to mind).
Ian, I appreciate you desire to serve God's
purposes, and I'm praying that God help me answer your question. I don't want to
discourage you, but I have been concerned about popular books that teach some Christian
truths in a fantasy context -- a setting that does not demonstrate God's reality.
Blending truth and myth (or fantasy) tends to water down and compromise the very truth
God calls us to communicate. I wonder if this blend hasn't contributed to the Biblical
illiteracy and unbiblical interpretations we see in today's churches.
If you would read Bewitched by Harry Potter
you will find (in points 1 and 2) a partial answer to your question about C. S. Lewis.
Since I haven't personally had time to research C.S. Lewis beliefs and loyalties, I
suggest you read this one by David Cloud:C.
S. LEWIS AND EVANGELICALS TODAY
Comment
on C.S. Lewis (Daniel Gregory compares a statement
Berit quoted from the first Harry Potter book with the Narnia Chronicles): The
centaur says, "We have sworn not to set ourselves against the heaven. Have
we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?" The first is in
the mouth of a centaur, a
beast famous in mythology for reading the stars.... I
could still defend this by pointing out that there are two strikingly
similar scenes in CS Lewis's Narnia Chronicles.
In one, Doctor Cornelius
tells Prince Caspian to meet him on a high tower one night, to witness a
conjunction of two planets. When they assemble to do it, the planets pass
so close together that Prince Caspian asks if they are "going to have a
collision", to which Doctor Cornelius replies, "Nay, dear Prince, the
great lords of the upper sky know the steps of their dance too well for
that. Look well upon them. Their meeting is fortunate and means some great
good for the sad realm of Narnia. Tarva, the Lord of Victory, salutes
Alambil, the Lady of Peace. They are just coming to their nearest."
In another place in the book, when Prince Caspian is assembling his army
of creatures, we are told of the Centaur
Glenstorm, "He was a prophet and a star-gazer and knew what they had come about." And no one, would,
I trust be so bold as to declare Lewis a
proponent of the occult.) But even if CS Lewis's evidence goes for nothing, and the quote from HP's Centaur is
seen as bad, you should, in quoting it, note
the context. The Centaur who said the first part of the quote is rebuked by a younger Centaur, who is
willing to "oppose the will of the stars", and it is he who says the
second part of the quote, "Or have the stars not let you in on the
secret?" Thus even in this passage, the moral is _not_ to let the stars
guide one's actions. Quite the contrary, in fact.
Daniel,
you make some excellent points, and I appreciate the references to the Narnia
series. I am not going to defend C. S. Lewis and his use of such symbols and
suggestions. In fact, your statements show some of my concerns about his
"Christian" message. Like Joanne Rowling, C.S. Lewis makes the reader
just a little more familiar with astrology -- one of several popular practices
God links to occultism in Deuteronomy 18 and elsewhere....
The
problem here has to do with the power of suggestion. In the context of
entertainment, children don't tend to analyze what they read. They usually
just experience the story vicariously-- through their imagination. So for
a moment, the reader listens in on a conversation between centaurs whose
conversation suggests that astrology is a normal part of their lives. As I said
in my introduction to those quotes, the readers "build memories based on
felt experiences in an occult virtual reality, and they are desensitized to the
danger. The talent and knowledge of the author makes this seductive world all
the more believable."
