The Last Battle

last battleThe Last Battle: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good Quote: Possibly the greatest picture of Heaven outside of the Bible is given in the last chapter of this book. I won’t put all that here, but just the end of the end. Which is, I think, the best kids book ending ever written.

“”Have you not guessed?” … “There was a real railway accident,” said Aslan softly. “Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadowlands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.” …

 All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

The Bad: This is CS Lewis. He doesn’t write bad. Period.

The Ugly: Off all the Narnia stories, this is the saddest. You can feel the frustration and disappointment of the characters – until the final chapter. I love it.

 

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The Nones Have It

Will the Nones really have it? I love the Lewis quote in here about translation. I never thought of his writing that way, but his writings were a translator of sorts for me. Makes me realize the importance of my translation for others.

Mere Inkling Press

noneThe arrival of the “post-Christian” Western world is ahead of schedule. Great Britain just passed the point where those with “no religious preference” actually outnumber those who profess to be Christians.

With Europe leading the way, can North America be far behind?

You know what makes this even more shocking? The results come from a survey where all the people claiming to be disciples of Jesus needed to do, was simply check a box. One wonders how many among that 48% would still claim to be Christians if they lived in Iraq.

Ponder for a moment the sobering title of an article in London’s The Spectator.

“Britain Really is Ceasing to be a Christian Country.”

The secularization of the United Kingdom was a matter of great concern to C.S. Lewis. And this erosion was well underway during his lifetime.

The truth is that although Lewis excelled as a Christian apologist (defender of the faith)…

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The Silver Chair

silver-chair-theThe Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The Good Quote: I asked my Dad once if he ever wondered if the Bible was fake. His answer went something like this, “Yes. But whenever I have I look back at my life, I have absolutely no regrets for where I have followed the Bible, and seem to always regret where I have wandered away from it. So, I would live by that book even if I thought it was all made up. But, that of course keeps me from believing it is all made up.”

In The Silver Chair, the Green Witch had convinced the kids that what they remembered of Aslan and Narnia was all a dream, that her underworld was all that was real. So similar to living here, where any mention of Heaven seems to be an escape from reality, where our world seems to be all there is. Puddleglum’s answer to the Green Witch was similar to my dad’s response to me.

“One word. All you’ve been saying is quite right, I shouldn’t wonder. . . But there is one more thing to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all these things—trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of your is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it.”

The Bad: This is CS Lewis. He doesn’t write bad. But could he dance like John Belushi? I hope not. A man shouldn’t be good at everything.

The Ugly: Puddleglum. The way Lewis describes him, he is super cool, but flat ugly.