Chronicles Of Narnia, Veggie Tales, And Teaching Children

For those of you who are new to Putting Out The Fire, I have, for some time now, taken questions sent in via email. The following query showed up in the inbox;

Frank,

Just out of curiosity - I know you like the "Chronicles of Narnia" SNL skit, but what is your take on the comparing and contrasting of Christ's sacrifice and the life of the Church with the Chronicles? I have an issue with it because I don't want my kids to see a lion in a movie and think "Gee, he's like Jesus!" Same thing with "Veggie Tales" - I don't want them to think a piece of asparagus died on the cross for them. A cartoon/fictional movie should be just that and shouldn't involve elements of our Faith because that's just like the Churches that lower themselves by bending with society for the sake of attracting the unchurched. I'm not a big CS Lewis fan to begin with, but I'd love to hear your opinion. I have relatives who are die-hard Veggie Tales fans and I think it's disgusting - hence my post about people who will try to influence my child's spirituality. These are the same people who have a problem with Harry Potter - although I see that as entertainment as I do Star Wars because it doesn't bring in Christianity at all. Let me know your take –

A.L.

Ok, where to begin? I guess I’ll start with the Chronicles of Narnia part of your question…

Yes, I do like that "Chronicles of Narnia" SNL skit, probably a lot more than I should I guess. Your question however was about the series of books by C.S. Lewis and not about my questionable taste in pop culture late night comedy skits.

I think the Chronicles of Narnia books are just fine for your child(ren). The seven book series is a brilliantly written body of work that is tailor made for kids. If I had kids reading the series, or if I was reading it to them, I would clearly explain to them that the series means to put in plain words churchly things though the use of metaphor and fantasy. I would tell the little crumb crunchers that C.S. Lewis is using his stories, much like Jesus uses parables, to explain Christ and His Church. I would also tell them that this is sometimes a technique that pastors can use in sermons or that I sometimes do the same when writing posts for my blog.

Furthermore, I would also explain to them that while Lewis, and Mom and Dad (or Uncle Frank in my case as I have no kids), use metaphors to explain a point of Scripture, the Narnia tales are still just fiction. I would make the distinction that Scripture is God’s Word and is true and inerrant because it comes from God and not metaphor or hyperbole as some would suppose. As long as you properly explain this to them they shouldn’t get confused and think Jesus is an imaginary characters like Aslan.

While the Chronicles of Narnia books aren’t exactly my cup of tea, I do like Lewis’s writing. I think Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and The Great Divorce should be read by all Christians with the latter being my favorite of all of Lewis’s works. Lewis, while only a layman, has a much better understanding of what Scripture says and lays out for the Church than many who claim to be church leaders in Americanized Christianity today.

I think if you give Lewis another chance you might just be surprised. Lewis’ use of symbolism and metaphor puts more Christ in his one of his novels than Joel Osteen managed to do in two of his non-fiction bestsellers. Lewis’s stuff isn’t the blending of culture and church that so many these days try to do to reach the “unchurched,” rather; it is the elevation of fiction in order to explain something that is a mystery without comprising the message.

Lewis’s gift as a writer is that he doesn’t need water things down to the point where the message is unrecognizable to a Christian. Contrast that with what passes for missions and outreach in my denomination, the LCMS, and I think you’ll appreciate the Chronicles of Narnia maybe a little bit more.

A.L., I’ll answer the Veggie Tales part of your question in the next post.

Levels Of Hell

Today I'm going to answer an email question that Tishale had a few weeks back. I was ready to post this last week when I was asked by more than one person to tackle the "lost tomb of Jesus" garbage. Now that that's over...

Tishale, concerning your question “Can we talk about different places or punishment in hell for different levels of sin?” we read in Matthew 11:20-24:

Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”


Christ Jesus in Matthew chapter 11 is condemning all the cities where He has preached and been rejected. He says in these very cities where He has performed great miracles, His word has fallen on deaf ears. Just as Pharaoh hardened his heart when Moses spoke on behalf of the great I Am, the people of Korazin, Bethsadia, and Capernaum have hardened to their promised Messiah. What makes this worse for these cities is that they know the scriptures and they still reject Christ. The citizens of Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom were all wicked cities destroyed by God and will certainly suffer in Hell. Jesus tells the Jews they have no excuse as they have seen the David’s greater, anointed Son before them performing miracles. Whole cities have rejected him, and whole cities will suffer a greater punishment because of it.

Later in Matthew chapter 23 verses 13-15, we read:

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."

Here Jesus focuses on the religious leaders, the rabbis, Pharisees and such. By poor and outright false teaching they lead God’s people astray. And by this poor and false teaching, the people become twice the hypocrites as those teaching them and earn twice their reward in Hell.

Finally, we read in Luke 12:47, 48:

"And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."


These verses are directed at the apostles of Christ since these two verses are part of a longer answer to Peter’s question “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?” Here just as before, because the apostles are entrusted with the keys of kingdom, Jesus is saying they have a greater responsibility. Should they be poor stewards of the His kingdom, the Church, they will be punished more severely.

I remember a conversation I had with someone a while back on this exact topic who thought I was just making stuff up. Because of the strong themes of different levels of Hell in fictional literature, the person I was talking to thought all ideas of this nature were made up. No, the argument I’m making is right out of Scripture. No “wouldn’t it be cool if” about it. While not everything we would like to know is explained to us this side of eternity, some things are revealed.

So what does this mean for us? Well, according to Jesus, there are different punishments in Hell or as some would say there are different “levels” of Hell. Should we start obsessing about these different levels of Hell? Hell no! As faithful Christians we recognize that God’s judgment is just and to that we say amen.

Does that answer your question?

Email Request

I just got an email from Tishale who wrote; "We need more stuff to read." Yes, Tishale, I know it seems that I've been slacking off. But my computer had a hard crash two weeks ago and the majority of my time has been getting all my work "stuff" back up and running. It seems Windows lost some of it's protocols and wouldn't boot up at all. It's strange, this kind of thing never seems to happen to that "other" operating software I run at home. Hmm. Fortunately, most of my stuff was backed up and I expect to get caught up by the middle of next week.
As soon as I'm caught back up I'll start posting more. Is there any topic in particular you want me to address?