The Chronicles of Narnia / The Hidden Gospel

“The Chronicles of Narnia” is a seven-volume novel series for children by British writer C. S. Lewis. Published from 1950 to 1956. Set in the fictional world “Narnia” created by the Creator Lion, Aslan, a 20th century English boys and girls travel back and forth to another world “Narnia” to fulfill their mission. I think that the major feature of the story is developed based on the Bible. The order of publication and the order of the stories are slightly different, but I think it is easier to understand if you read them in chronological order. Attempts were made to make it into a movie, but unfortunately only three were completed, and not all could be made into a movie. Introduced in chronological order.

The first book, “The Magician,” is the story of Narnia’s heaven and earth by Aslan’s creation. The motif is the Book of Genesis of the Bible. Through the eyes of the two children, it depicts the creation of Narnia’s heavens and earth and creatures, and how sin and evil entered.

I think the second book, “Lion and Witch,” is the most famous and most evangelical content in the Narnia story. It was this book that was first made into a movie (2005). The location is the same New Zealand as “The Lord of the Rings”.

Now, as for the content of the story, during the war, the four brothers and sisters of the Pevensey family, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, who evacuated from London to the countryside during the war, are different from the costume chest in the empty room of the old house of the evacuated destination. They are drawn into the country “Narnia”. This “Narnia” is a world created by Aslan. So, in other words, it’s like “the kingdom of God.” It is written in the Bible like this. ” If you are not a child who accepts the kingdom of God, you can never enter it. ” (Mark 10:15) Narnia cannot enter after a certain age. .. Narnia is a fantasy world, but in a sense, it can be thought of as being connected to our world. It can be said that Haruki Murakami also uses this method when writing novels. Various places are the gateways to the real world where we live and the different world. I feel that the theme of “The Chronicles of Narnia” is a battle between believing and not believing.

Lucy, the youngest and second daughter, first went to Narnia through clothes chest. But no matter how much she talked, the other three didn’t believe it. “That is not possible.” However, the professors of the four who heard it questioned the common sense that there is no other world and encouraged them to ask themselves, saying this. It goes without saying that this is C. S. Lewis’s claim.

The professor told three people who were suspicious of Lucy who had gone to another world, “Narnia.” “It’s logic! Let’s make a line and think about it. I wonder if you were not taught the logic at school these days. There are three possible things. Whether your sister is lying or feeling like it, is it true? I know she is not lying, and it’s clear that she is not crazy. Then I get other evidence and I can’t even turn it over. For the time being, I have to infer that your sister is telling the truth. “

This was the reasoning that CS Lewis, a professor at the University of Cambridge, also used to defend Christianity. He writes about Jesus Christ like this: ” I say this because I want anyone to stop saying ridiculous things about Christ. What is ridiculous is nothing else, the next thing people often say: The line is, “I would be happy to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I cannot accept his claim that I am God.” If a human being says what Jesus said, he is not a great moral teacher. He is either a mentally handicapped person or a devil of hell. Now you have to decide which one to take. Think that this man was and still is the Son of God, or else he is a madman or more vicious. Do you think it is a thing? “

Lewis goes on like this. ” Whether he should be imprisoned as an intellectually inferior, spit on it and killed as a demon, or prostrate before him and call it the Lord or God. It is your choice, but let’s stop the nonsense of thinking of him as a great teacher, he doesn’t give us the freedom to think that way. That way of thinking was originally in him. It was not included in the intention of. “(From the essence of Christianity)

Guided by Aslan, the children struggle to rescue the inhabitants from the white witch who controls Narnia. The lion has become a metaphor for Jesus Christ. Aslan represents Jesus Christ. It says in Revelation 5: 5 of the Bible: ” Don’t cry. Look. Now that the roots of David, the lion from the tribe of Judah, have won, you can open the roll and break the seven seals. ” Jesus Christ is expressed. as the lion.

So who does the white witch represent? It’s a devil. Edmund, the second son who betrays his brothers and sisters and tries to hand Aslan (Jesus) into the hands of a witch (devil), represents Judas, one of the 12 disciples who betrayed Jesus. In the story, “prophecy” plays a big role. Prophecies of conditions under which the rule of the witch will be broken, prophecies of the liberation of Narnia and the arrival of Aslan, the Savior. This stands for “Bible Prophecy.” The Old Testament prophesied 700 years before Jesus was born, including the birth and arrival of the Savior Jesus Christ, how to die, and how to achieve salvation.

What happened to the dead Aslan? It looked like he was defeated by the witch. However, Aslan defeats death and rises, destroying the White Witch and his evil army. The four children then reach the throne of kings and queens in Narnia. It can be said that CS Lewis imitates what is also written in the Revelation of the Bible. Jesus crucified for us in place of our sins and seemed defeated by the devil, but he defeated death, was resurrected, and defeated the devil.

The third book, “The Horse and the Boy,” is about a while after “The Lion and the Witch,” when the four brothers and sisters of the Pevensey family were on the throne of Narnia. And the fourth book “Prince Caspian”, which was made into a movie in 2008, has passed more than 1000 years in Narnia. Narnia was desolate and Prince Caspian was in dire straits in a battle for succession. Prince Caspian blows a horn to call for help. This meant that no matter where you were, you would get some help. Just as the prince blew the whistle, the four Pevensey brothers and sisters at the platform of a rural station in England were drawn to Narnia by some invisible force. When they come to Narnia, they help Prince Caspian and save Narnia’s crisis.

The fifth book, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” which was made into a movie in 2010, is a story of the early Caspian era. Lucy and Edmund, along with their cousin Eustis, are one day sucked into the sea where a picturesque Narnia-style sailing ship hangs on the wall (because the eldest son Peter and the eldest daughter Susan were young people instead of boys and girls. They couldn’t go to Narnia). Rescued by a sailing ship, they reunited with King Caspian, whom they met in their previous adventure. It is a story of three people sailing toward the eastern sea with King Caspian.

The sixth book, “Silver Chair,” is the story of the end of the Caspian era. Prince Lillian, the son of King Caspian, was seduced by a witch when he was young and was kidnapped and missing. Suddenly in the last years of King Caspian, two human children came from another world (UK) at the behest of Aslan (all four brothers and sisters of the Pevensey family were unable to come due to age). The two are Eustis (who came last time as Lucy’s cousin) and Jill set out on a journey to find the missing prince with King Caspian. The three defeat the witch and rescue the prince.

The final seventh book, “The last battle,” is a story about the disappearance of the Narnia world. With the motif of the Christian “Last Judgment”, the “Battle of Armageddon” that appears in the Bible occupies a large weight in the story. Peter, Edmund, and Lucy from the Pevensey family also appear. But Susan, who was away from her belief in Aslan, could not come. Throughout the final battle, Narnia end. However, the last Tirian king of Narnia realize that the world so far is a “shadow country”, that is, a phantom Narnia, and there is another “true Narnia”.

The children go deeper and deeper with King Tirian and the Narnias and finally reach the Golden Gate. There, they are greeted by the successive people and creatures of Narnia. Aslan tells the children that they no longer need to return to their original world. It can be said that it is similar to the last time the main character Frodo headed to the elf country (heaven) in “The Lord of the Rings”.

CS Lewis writes and concludes at the end of “The Last Battle” to express the eternal world. ” So let us conclude this story here, but we can truly say that they all lived in happiness forever, but for them. From here, the true story was about to begin. The life of the world and all the adventures in Narnia were just the covers and doors. From now on, they are about to begin the first chapter of a great story in a book they had never read on earth. The story continued forever, and each chapter was getting better than the previous chapter. It will be something like that. “

CS Lewis wrote this story for children, but I think it’s also useful for adults. The question is whether we can believe in the existence of another world created by God like children.