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#Post#: 9--------------------------------------------------
does the Christian message of Narnia bother you?
DIR By: silverchair
Date: August 18, 2013, 5:41 pm
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My favorite books as a child were NARNIA. As an adult, I'm an
atheist, and people sometimes ask me for my opinion on the
religious aspect of it.
Personally, although i don't believe the New Testament is real,
I think the story of Jesus is a touching story with a positive
moral. I think Jesus is a good role model .... provided you
actually genuinely consider what Jesus (who preached
forgiveness) would have done in the here and now, rather than
projecting your own issues onto him!!
So, even though i don't believe Jesus (or Aslan) actually
existed, it doesn't bother me that CS Lewis thought they did,
because the end result is stil a positive story with a positive
message.
What do you think?
#Post#: 10--------------------------------------------------
Re: does the Christian message of Narnia bother you?
DIR By: ginger
Date: August 19, 2013, 1:36 pm
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To me it's a non-issue, I just enjoy them as stories. I think
they're good stories,whatever inspired them and whatever the
author thought about them. By the same token, I can watch and
enjoy a production of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, and the fact
that Marlowe might have believed in devils/damnation doesn't
bother me. In fact, while the play's on I believe in them
myself, because I'm suspending my disbelief like I do for all
fiction :)
#Post#: 14--------------------------------------------------
Re: does the Christian message of Narnia bother you?
DIR By: Mr Twisty
Date: August 20, 2013, 12:36 pm
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The one that bugs me is when people accuse Narnia of being
sexist.
A complaint I sometimes hear is that the two girls are excluded
from the fighting in The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. Well
it's 2013, and that's the policy we still go by in real life (in
modern day Britain, women in the military are excluded from
positions where the primary role is to "close with and kill the
enemy"). Given that this series started 63 years ago, it seems
remarkably harsh to criticise Narnia for being exactly as sexist
as our current 21st Century society is in real life!
A lot is made of the fate of Susan Pevensie. Detractors like to
put a sensationalist spin on it, like they say she "gets sent to
hell for becoming interested in sex" or something. Well, that's
one interpretation - but the key word really is
"interpretation"! What's actually written on the page is far
milder. She loses interest in Narnia by herself, because "she's
interested in nothing now-a-days except nylons and lipstick and
invitations". A more modern paraphrase might be "she's too busy
going to nightclubs and shopping for Jimmy Choos."
Lewis himself said there was no reason why she couldn't make it
back to Narnia if she stopped being a conceited young lady. It's
certainly not my favourite part of the series (it seems like a
completely unnecessary buzz-kill - although maybe Lewis's faith
made him think it was necessary to include a note of
warning...?) but it certainly seems a bit ungenerous to read so
much into it.
#Post#: 15--------------------------------------------------
Re: does the Christian message of Narnia bother you?
DIR By: jmc
Date: August 20, 2013, 1:04 pm
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[quote="Mr Twisty"]Detractors like to put a sensationalist spin
on it, like they say she "gets sent to hell for becoming
interested in sex" or something. Well, that's one
interpretation...[/quote]
Agree totally with your sentiments, but are you misrepresenting
them in the same way they misrepresent the source material?
What I mean is, I don't think I've ever heard one of Lewis's
detractors say anything as extreme as "she gets sent to hell for
becoming interested in sex"!!
As for the Christian angle - to use an analogy, I don't believe
in Zeus, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy Percy Jackson 8)
#Post#: 26--------------------------------------------------
Re: does the Christian message of Narnia bother you?
DIR By: Mr Twisty
Date: August 20, 2013, 2:20 pm
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[quote="jmc"]Agree totally with your sentiments, but are you
misrepresenting them in the same way they misrepresent the
source material? What I mean is, I don't think I've ever heard
one of Lewis's detractors say anything as extreme as "she gets
sent to hell for becoming interested in sex"!![/quote]
Philip Pullman: "One girl was sent to hell because she was
getting interested in clothes and boys."
J K Rowling: "There comes a point where Susan, who was the older
girl, is lost to Narnia because she becomes interested in
lipstick. She's become irreligious basically because she found
sex. I have a big problem with that."
I seem to have conflated elements of the two in my head and made
the result a bit more concise, but I don't think I was a million
miles off...
#Post#: 27--------------------------------------------------
Re: does the Christian message of Narnia bother you?
DIR By: silverchair
Date: August 20, 2013, 2:27 pm
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jmc: "As for the Christian angle - to use an analogy, I don't
believe in Zeus, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy Percy
Jackson 8)"
lol, i like that .... but the Quote button doesn't seem to work
so I had to copy and paste your words???
#Post#: 40--------------------------------------------------
Re: does the Christian message of Narnia bother you?
DIR By: angel
Date: February 26, 2014, 11:25 am
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Believe it or not, I have to be the only one in the world who
hasn't read this series. But, I have heard about it having a
Christian theological theme to it. It doesn't bother me. As for
the whole "discovering boys" with the girl character, trying to
quash teenage hormones in this day and age is a whole new sport,
so if I could get one child to read something that's a moral
eye-opener, then I'd do it in a New York minute.
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