Narnia and Watchful Dragons

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2005)

I saw the Chronicles of Narnia today with my 2 nephews and a couple of friends. Wow! It is as good as the hype makes it out to be. If you haven't seen it yet, I encourage you to do so.
When he wrote Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis wanted the story to get past the "watchful dragons" of young minds trained by an increasingly secular British culture to help the readers understand the good news of Jesus Christ. In this well told story, he does so. In a letter written to a child in March, 1961, C. S. Lewis said,
"The whole Narnian story is about Christ. That is to say, I asked myself 'Supposing that there really was a world like Narnia and supposing it had (like our world) gone wrong and supposing Christ wanted to go into that world and save it (as He did ours) what might have happened?' The stories are my answers. Since Narnia is a world of Talking Beasts, I thought He would become a Talking Beast there, as He became a man here."
I had a great time talking with my junior high age nephews after the movie, slipping by the watchful dragons that often guard our hearts, protecting them from "truth". We chatted about the meaning of the movie and the symbolism of Aslan and the witch. Then came a harder question, whom did Edmund symbolize? Unless one can look in a mirror and say, I ... I am Edmund, one will never be able to grasp the true meaning of Narnia, Aslan, and His redemptive work on the stone table. Are the dragons still guarding your heart?