12.18.2005

On Smuggling...

My stomach turned this morning as I read this article, a secular response to Lewis's "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". The film opens on Friday and already the secularists are having a field day. Polly Toynbee, the writer, waves an accusing finger at Mr. Lewis himself, for packaging his "repugnant" ideas about redemption and sacrifice in a clever children's story. Funny enough, her accusations are somewhat justified. It was Lewis's intent to "smuggle the gospel" into the hearts and minds of children, and he did do it with a skillful hand. But Toynbee is off in assuming that the redemption story at the heart of the film will be overlooked by unobservant children. Here the joke is on her. Lewis understood the power of a good story. He understood that the themes of sacrifice, redemption, and sanctification that lie at the heart of the gospel will resonate with people not because they are well-versed in Christian theology, but because they were created for those very things. Read the article here.

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