Narnia & the Bible

When I was a child, I was read picture books (in Cantonese? Mum particularly liked fables or stories with morals). When I was a teen I read paperbacks (Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High... then I got a toothache and switched to fantasy and darker stuff). When I became a Christian, I read theology. My reading repertoire has always been genre specific.

So I completely missed the classics and children's novels, including The Chronicles of Narnia. Happily, that was remedied this month.

Everyone seems to know the Narnia series so I've love to hear how you read it. I've noted a few parallels between the books and the Bible (with Wiki's help!).


The Magician's Nephew

Aslan is God, through whom all things are created.

Its an allegory on the creation narrative in Genesis. The other world represent the reality of the Spiritual world which parallels our world, where time corresponds inexactly.

The White Witch is sin, evil, the Devil. She can't actually make anything herself, but just steals (jewelery, food), kills (by turning others into stone by the Deplorable word) and destroys things (the carriage, the lamppost) that others make and offer. She has a reign of some sort but her powers are limited. She and lusts after power, being completely self-centred and only acknowledges people who may be of use to her. Some see her for what she is, while others are entranced and attracted by her.

King Frank and Queen Helen (a Cabbie and a maid in London) may be pre-fall Adam and Eve or the ideal Christian leaders. Frank loved listening to Aslan. They demonstrate the inverted values of Narnia, where personal attributes, rather than education or class, determine one's suitability for office.


The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe

Aslan is revealed to be Jesus, who dies in the place of Edmund.

The-Emperor-Over-the-Sea is Father God.

Deep Magic is Scripture, binding and lasting.

The long winter is the deadening force which sin brings.

The Turkish Delight represents the worthless idols we pursue, and for which we willingly betray people and good pursuits. It's not at all substantial and a poor substitute for real food (ask SJ about the ingredients!), so consuming it is not satisfying, but only makes you crave more.

Edmund is Peter (the Apostle), whose initial betrayal and unfaithfulness is inverted.


The Horse And His Boy

Perhaps this book represents the Exodus.

Shasta, the exiled Narnian (who is revealed to be Prince Cor) is Moses. He's found in floating as a baby and adopted by a person of a hostile nation. But he's really a leader of God's people, and more ready to lead than his brother.

Calormen is Egypt, and with Telmar (Babylon?), it represents the other nations which are characterised by hardship and tyranny. They must cross a desert to return to. (Babylon is actually NE of Israel, but since a desert lies between them. Babylonians must come across the top and down to attack Israel. Therefore, they are a known as the force "from the North")

Bree represents the faithful whose character has been shaped (for the worse) by the enslavement of other nations, who then experiences difficulties returning to their own land.

The Wizard who looks into the pool to view action remotely represents the Old Testament Prophets.

There is a theodicy / explanation for suffering and trials (meetings with wild lions). They are all unhappily endured, but inflicted by Aslan and in the end, shown to be valuable and character building experiences that led them on the right path.


Prince Caspian

Maybe the Exile? Where the leader of God's people need to reclaim the land rightfully from powers that do not acknowledge Aslan.

The Narnians are scattered and in hiding, thought to be extinct as a people group.

Dr Cornelius represents God's people who have assimilated with the culture of foreign nations, but who remained true to Aslan. His knowledge and teaching about Narnia's history and the stars (prophecy) make him subversive and dangerous. But it is with knowledge that Prince Caspian defies the corrupt powers that have established themselves over the Narnians. I'm not sure about this... what part of the Bible does this resonates with?


The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader

I wonder if this is Acts or the Epistles, because they go out to different countries. (Or maybe it's the seven churches in Revelation?)

Eustace is Paul. Initially an enthusiastic persecutor of God's people, he soon is constrained by scales / dragon exterior. Stuck as a dragon, Eustace mourns his behaviour and attitudes. The gold bracelet which bites into his dragon arm may represent a thorn in his flesh. Only with God's help is he freed from them. While he is humbled (in dragon skin), he is helpful more than anyone else (flying over vast territories) but he also finds himself doing things he hates doing (he finds his eating habits shameful). He occasionally tussles with Edmund (Paul and Peter?). Eustace is transformed and becomes considerate and courageous, suffering many injuries. The adventures of Narnia continue with him rather than the Pevensie children, like how Paul dominates most of the New Testament.


The Silver Chair

May describe the Christian experience.

Jill may represent those who are converted without a Christian upbringing, because she is not acquainted with Narnia's history, which is a detriment. She is slow to keep God's words.

Rilian represents the elect who are in enslaved to sin, who need to be freed by God's people. When he is under the spell, he inadvertently plots and strives to conquer a land which he rightfully has already. (Doesn't this sound like the silly striving of non-Christians for paradise, when God offers to give it to them anyway?) Once freed, Rilian must destroy the chair that kept him in bondage (Romans 6 style). Even then, it is easy for him to be ensnared again by the Green White.

Puddleglum represents the Anglicans (kidding!)

The Green Witch is the White Witch in another guise, but is still playing the same power game. Harfang is the new deception and lure away from the walk of faith. Like the long winter, the underworld is another place of anti-life and hardship imposed by sin.


The Last Battle

The darkest book in the series is probably Revelation, where many of God's people are deceived by the Anti-Christ. There is a climatic battle, Armageddon, of both physical and spiritual forces, where God's people are few and heavily persecuted. It is a battle for truth.

Shift, the Ginger Cat, Rishda Takaan represent the string of people who lead God's people astray from within with increasing cleverness and success.

It's very hard to escape the thought that Calormens represent Muslims, and Tash is Allah (a mask for evil). While both Tash and Aslan are powerful and inspire fear, Tash's fearfulness is untempered by loveliness and mercy.

At the end of time the creatures walk before Aslan, who judge and separates them to his left (to destruction) and right (to glory and real life). Not much allegory here.

The final reunion of all the main characters is the resurrection of the dead.

Aslan's mountain is heaven, after the world is remade new, where they will all dwell without sin.

Earth has nothing I desire besides You

We chatted with Catholic women, asking what she believes and what her big questions are. She said she felt the injustice of her protracted pain and suffering (from an accident which left her with broken legs, a damaged spinal column and a brain injury), while others have an easy, trouble free life.

Having done months of thinking about Job, I found myself uselessly dumb stuck. What on earth do I say?! My friend pointed her to Psalm 73, where the despairing Asaph voiced those sentiments exactly. Why do the wicked prosper? The woman nodded and "hmmm"ed the Psalm unfolded. Asaph's turning point came when he saw God in his sanctuary, and realised the destiny of the wicked. And then he turned his eyes on God again and realised that he already has the most precious thing of all.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

Everything fades into the background. Asaph no longer longed for comfort, wealth and health. These goals are not worth comparing to being with God.

It's a very unconventional way of addressing questions of suffering. God comforts us in this: having God's nearness and favor trumps everything else. He has sent Jesus as a permanent reminder of this ~ his name is Immanuel, God with us. Even if God's people suffer from pain and poverty, we are infinitely better off than rich scoffers whose "bodies are fat and sleek" who will face God's judgment.

We thanked God that "... afterward you will take [us] into glory" (v.24) where there is no more pain, broken legs, but our bodies made new. And we will see Jesus in the flesh.

The Ultimate Horror of God's Universe

Certainly, hell is the ultimate horror of God’s universe. The other difficulties of the Bible and of Providence are real enough, but however appalling they may be, their seeming harshnesses and injustices are only temporary, cut short at death. The terrors of hell, on the other hand, belong to the world which lies beyond death.

Wenham’s quote [1] captures how the notions of hell and eternal punishment are the ultimate case study in the goodness of God in light of human suffering. For some, if God “satisfied his thirst for revenge so implacably” as to punish the unsaved eternally, he would be “insatiably cruel” and a “bloodthirsty monster”. This an idea is “morally repugnant” they claim. [2]

This abhorrence of the horrors of hell betrays the degree of distortion in our views on anthropology. We live in an age where human rights are paramount. Societies claim humans have a right to life, free from suffering. We may not explicitly state that God is obligated to show us kindness and mercy, but tacitly humans generally expect to be comfortable and often blame God when we are not. Our rights to comfort has eclipsed God's right to judge.

However, Scripture critiques our views and shows us the reverse is true. The offense of sin deserves the penalty of death (Roman 6:23). We all sin. And our sinfulness earns us a place in hell. We are on death row. As those deserving of the ultimate penalty, we have no rights to life, comfort or blessing. We have no claims! And God is not bound to show mercy.

Scripture asserts God’s right to judge, vindicate his name, to seek retribution for sins committed against him. He is just in bringing humanity under condemnation. God is exercising his right as the just judge by sending sinful humans to hell.

Since God is under no obligation to give blessings, we ought to be stunned that he restrains his wrath, choosing instead to bestow kindness on us. Prisoners on God's death row may live a luxurious life on earth, enjoying good health and relationship. And to some, God even extends a pardon from condemnation, eternal life and a place in his family! In doing all this, God shows himself to be lavishly gracious and unspeakably merciful.

It is preposterous and obtuse then to accuse God of being unjust or lacking mercy when he has already granted condemned sinners earthly life and delayed punishment. It shows the depths of human ingratitude, especially in the light of the fact that God has sent his Jesus Christ to take the punishment in our place, gives us repeated warnings of the impending judgment and grants extra time to turn back to him.

The accusation that God is unfair in sending people to hell reveals how warped our thinking is. We cannot see what is really detestable. What's worse: the murder or the life sentence? What does God find abhorrent? It is sin, not hell, that is the ultimate horror of God’s universe. [3] The severity of the penalty ought to impress upon us the severity of the offense.

[1] John W Wenham, The Enigma of Evil, Surrey: Eagle, 1994, p 68.
[2] Clark H. Pinnock, 'The Nature of Hell', Ex Audity 20 (2004), 55.
[3] Christopher W. Morgan, 'Annihilationism: Will the Unsaved be Punished Forever', in Hell Under Fire, eds. C.W. Morgan and R.A. Peterson. Michigan: Grand Rapids, 2004, p 210.