Loving Aslan More Than Jesus?
By Bob Kellemen | Founder and CEO, RPM Ministries
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Posted 9:28 pm on December 12, 2010
Tyler Kenny of Desiring God raised a fascinating issue this week about Aslan and Jesus. “If after watching The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (which released in US theaters this weekend), you find yourself or your kids feeling drawn to Aslan with alarming emotion, don’t assume it’s just the result of some cinematic spell. Aslan had that effect even back when he was knowable only through words on a page.”
Kenny went on to share how a concerned mother wrote C.S. Lewis about her son, Laurence, who, having read The Chronicles of Narnia became concerned that he loved Aslan more than Jesus. In his response, Lewis offered this relief:
“Laurence can’t really love Aslan more than Jesus, even if he feels that’s what he is doing. For the things he loves Aslan for doing or saying are simply the things Jesus really did and said. So that when Laurence thinks he is loving Aslan, he is really loving Jesus: and perhaps loving Him more than he ever did before.”
Lewis gave this recommendation for a prayer:
“If I were Laurence I’d just say in my prayers something like this: ‘Dear God, if the things I’ve been thinking and feeling about those books are things You don’t like and are bad for me, please take away those feelings and thoughts. But if they are not bad, then please stop me from worrying about them. . . . And if Mr. Lewis has worried any other children by his books or done them any harm, then please forgive him and help him never to do it again.’” (quotes from C. S. Lewis: Letters to Children.
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What do you think of Lewis’ counsel?
Tags: Aslan, C. S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia, Dawn Treader, movies
Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC, served for over a dozen years as Chairman of the Master of Arts in Christian Counseling and Discipleship Department at Capital Bible Seminary. He is now Professor-at-Large in that Department. In his three pastoral ministries, Bob has equipped 100s of lay people as biblical counselors and spiritual friends. In his role as Founder and CEO of RPM Ministries (http://www.rpmministries.org), Bob is known for his Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed approach to equipping local churches for biblical counseling and spiritual formation. Bob is the Executive Director of the Association of Biblical Counselors’ Center for Church Equipping. He also serves as the Launch Director for the Biblical Counseling Coalition. Bob is the author of Soul Physicians, Spiritual Friends, Beyond the Suffering, Sacred Friendships, and God’s Healing for Life’s Losses.
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