Why do so many Christians critisize other books and try to excuse Narnia as being an allegory?

Question

Narnia is primarily paganism with a little Christian terminology thrown in. Doesn't your religion teach you not to mix even a little false religion. Imagine if Narnia had used adultery or murder as an allegory instead of paganism. There is very little parallel between Narnia and the Gospels, since in Narnia, the humans rather than God are getting the glory for saving everyone. And contrary to what many Christians think, C.S. Lewis wasn't a Christian but merely a theist who accepted Christianity intellectually but not spiritually, at least according to what he said openly.

Answer 1

here is what Mr. Lewis wrote

In the book Mere Christianity, Lewis famously criticized the idea that Jesus was merely a human being, albeit a great moral teacher:

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." (Lewis 1952, pp. 43)

this does not sound that is paying lip service to Jesus.

this is from wipadiea

Conversion to Christianity
Although raised in a church-going family in the Church of Ireland, Lewis became an atheist at the age of 13, and remained as such until he was 31 years old. His separation from Christianity began when he started to view his religion as a chore and as a duty; around this time he also gained an interest in the occult as his studies expanded to include such topics. Lewis quoted Lucretius as having one of the strongest arguments for atheism:

Nequaquam nobis divinitus esse paratam
Naturam rerum; tanta stat praedita culpa (Lucretius)
"Had God designed the world, it would not be
A world so frail and faulty as we see."
Though an atheist at the time, Lewis later described his young self (in Surprised by Joy) as being paradoxically "very angry with God for not existing".

Lewis's interest in fantasy and mythology, seen as contradictory to his professed atheism, especially in relation to the works of George MacDonald, helped to lead him from atheism. In fact MacDonald's position as a Christian fantasy writer was very influential on Lewis. This can be seen particularly well through this passage in 'The Great Divorce,' chapter nine, when the semi-autobiographical main character meets MacDonald in Heaven:

"...I tried, trembling, to tell this man all that his writings had done for me. I tried to tell how a certain frosty afternoon at Leatherhead Station when I had first bought a copy of Phantastes (being then about sixteen years old) had been to me what the first sight of Beatrice had been to Dante: Here begins the new life. I started to confess how long that Life had delayed in the region of imagination merely: how slowly and reluctantly I had come to admit that his Christendom had more than an accidental connexion with it, how hard I had tried not to see the true name of the quality which first met me in his books is Holiness."(Lewis 1946, pp. 66–67)
Influenced by arguments with his Oxford colleague and friend J. R. R. Tolkien, and by the book The Everlasting Man by Roman Catholic convert G. K. Chesterton, he slowly rediscovered Christianity. He fought greatly up to the moment of his conversion noting, "I came into Christianity kicking and screaming." He described his last struggle in Surprised by Joy:

"You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England." (Lewis 1966)
After his conversion to theism in 1929, Lewis converted to Christianity in 1931. Following a long discussion and late-night walk with his close friends Tolkien and Hugo Dyson, he records making a specific commitment to Christian belief while on his way to the zoo with his brother. He became a member of the Church of England — somewhat to the disappointment of the devout Catholic Tolkien, who had hoped he would convert to Roman Catholicism. (Carpenter 2006)

Although a committed Anglican, Lewis's beliefs were eclectic. In much of his writing he works to uphold an entirely orthodox theology (most notably in The Problem of Pain and Mere Christianity). In his later letters and essays, however, he proposes ideas such as salvation after death and purgatory (The Great Divorce) and mortal sin (The Screwtape Letters). It also should be remembered that the Calvinist view of eternal salvation is not a core belief in the Church of England, much less among all Protestants.

Nevertheless, he considered himself an entirely orthodox Anglican to the end of his life, reflecting that he had initially attended church only to take communion and had been repelled by the hymns and the poor quality of the sermons. He later came to consider himself honoured by worshipping with men of faith who came in shabby clothes and work boots and who sang all the verses to all the hymns.

Answer 2

Many Christians like to draw in what they can to coincide with what they believe...but if you really check back into C.S.Lewis and his life, you'll discover that before the Narnia series, he was not a christian; The Narnia series, I believe, are his simplifiying what he learned from becoming (which he did--there's alot more to him than just the Chronicles)christian. Have you read more than just The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe? Read all seven books, you'll see that he encompasses all religious aspects--from christianity, to paganism, to Muslim--and on and on. He was delivering the Bible to those who didn't get it or even a different aspect to those who did, combining what he was learning by practicing what he believed in. I think you need to learn more about what your asking--not all christian(or pagans) are the same{I'm a christian witch}.
Yeah, Christians(alot anyways) take things one extreme to the other. Like if they can accept The Hobbit etc, why not Harry Potter? It's just another tool, everyone uses their own way...
And, what a person gets from their "religion" should be personal...who's to say what is "false religion" except man?
I'm babbling....

Answer 3

Ok, first of all, I have been reading what everyone else put and I agree with most. At first I never tied this movie (should of read the book first) as anything but a Science Fiction movie, that happened to be really good. However, now upon reading the question and what everyone else has reported, I am now able to give my honest answer.

CS Lewis is a writer. He takes what he reads and believes and applies it to his writings. So, with that said. That doesnt mean everything he takes should be implied as EXACTLY TRUE or EXACTLY FALSE. You take his stories as you take the bible or whatever you read.

God puts into your hearts what is reality and what is fiction. It is up to you to determine what your reading. We have men who wrote the bible so their interpretertations are that of what God had told them to write. BUT who knows if they wrote WORD FOR WORD???? SO C.S. Lewis is bringing only a FRACTION of the whole bible. We have a million of other stories he could of added. Like maybe the Iions birth under a bright star sky, with the other creatures coming to see him. I mean, I can see how pagans believed in creatures that we know nothing about.. BUT the bible has talk of mytical creatures and lots of people thing of unicorns (i dont remember if those are particularly mentioned or not)

Anyways, my rant is over. So interpert the bible how God wishes you to, or C.S. Lewis' works as you wish. He is just an artist with ways to make what he knows in his heart to be true, real on paper so that some of us can but a face to a name, so to speak.

Thanks for reading, hope this helps!!!

Answer 4

Isn't it sad how bad things can happen to good questions? Isn't it also funny that people can ask otherwise intelligent sounding questions, but still sound like they haven't even read the Chronicles of Narnia? Don't you get all the parallels? Aslan is the figure of God in the books. Narnia is supposed to be Heaven. The kids are humans trying to survive through their human frailties. When Aslan is killed by the White Witch he RISES AGAIN. Ring a bell?

Answer 5

THANK YOU! If I could type that in larger, bolder letters, I would have! You just said everything I've been thinking. I used to go to the Christian store and then stopped because they had an entire wall devoted to bashing my denomination (I'm Mormon, and yes, we're Christians, whether people believe it or not--we believe in Jesus Christ just the same as all other Christians do), including books like How to Talk to Your Mormon Friend (and most of them say we believe stuff that we absolutely do not believe)...yet they have an entire section devoted to Narnia, which has absolutely nothing to do with Christianity. It's not even anything religious. It's about these kids that go into a wardrobe and fight against a witch.
I don't get it. It all seems rather ridiculous to me. THANK YOU again for pointing this out to everyone.

Answer 6

I guess all of the parables told by Jesus were wrong too.

Stories, poetry, songs, allegorical works, etc. have always been used in Christianity and Judaism to demonstrate a point.

Besides, I think that your characterization of how widespread the problem is has not been based upon any reliable study or poll.

God bless you my friend. Try to focus more on the Lord than the distractions and stumbling blocks people try to put up.

Answer 7

CS Lewis did become a Christian later in life...try reading his books Mere Christianity or Surprised by Joy. Narnia does parallel the gospels....We were traitors to God's law just like we are.....Aslant died like Jesus in a traitor's place....And death worked backwards....Aslan came back to life like Jesus did. In Voyage of the Dawn Treader...Aslan appears to the children as a Lamb (like Jesus) and tells they can find Him in their world by a different name.

Answer 8

You oviosuly don't get it, the lion's main was shaved off, like Jesus beard was torn, The lion was a sacrifice, like jesus was a sacrifice, the kid that betrayed the other kids was like Judas who betrayed Jesus. Aslam comes back to life, like Jesus does, and you don't get it??? 2 Corinthians 4:3And even the Gospel is veiled, it is veiled from who are pershing. 4. The god of this age (satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Answer 9

The e book Of Revelations Is A Prophecy e book specifically with regard to the Roman Empire.... Its a warning e book, Condeming Catholicism & The Prostastant church homes... The Catholic Church Being the mum of Harlots, and The Prostant church homes Being Her infants.. Christianity is a Religon Of Deception & Lies... From devil Himself... study The Bible For your self.. in no way bypass to Church!

Answer 10

Well, the books parallel what happens in the BIble, especially in the first and last book
(a traitor-dies for a traitor-ressurection)
(Last Battle-Aslan coming and saving everyone)

Answer 11

Christian references from the Bible showing which religion the Antichrist will be from.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pink/antichrist.chap03.i.html


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