| Narnia: Prince Caspian |
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The Question: Where does this movie (or book) tie in spiritually?
Answer: Careful, you vigorous evangelist or curious disciple!
C.S. Lewis was great at capturing people's hearts through stories! He allows your imagination to take hold and capture the meaning of each character's role in the story. Be cautious when you are trying to seperate spiritual matters from physical matters, because when you do this, believe it or not, you are flirting with gnosticism.
One of the basic beliefs of gnosticism is that everything spiritual is good, and everything physical is evil. Therefore, for Jesus Christ to be the Holy Son of God, then he could only have been spiritual. So although the disciples and many others saw him, what they saw was not physical, rather only the appearance (or image) of being physical.
So what!?
When we separate the spiritual from the physcial, when we read scripture (or watch Prince Caspian) only to take the theological concepts ("spiritual" concepts) out of the story, we are in danger of missing the whole point!
What difference does a purely spiritual and non-physical Jesus Christ make on humanity? It changes EVERYTHING! Just think of all the lies that would appear in the Bible then. Mary couldn't have birthed Christ, every time Jesus healed someone by touching them (such as Matt 9:29) could not have happened, Jesus could not possibly have been hammered to the cross and expected to stay there, and his resurrection would be useless if there was no body to raise up!
Now I presume most of us don't consider ourselves gnostics and therefore are still scratching your heads at how this applies to Prince Caspian.
There are ALWAYS "spiritual tie-ins" to life. You cannot change that. It is a part of this world that we live in. So as you analyze, keep in mind that your own observations and interpretations of how Prince Caspian portrays Biblical themes is all useless chatter unless you apply it to your life physically. For we are not made as flesh alone, but also with a spirit (1 Cor. 2:11). There is an "outer self" and an "inner self". A spiritual self and a physcial self that always coexist together in humans. Take a look at Matthew 7:15-20, for instance. 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. 7:16 By their fruits ye shall know them. Do `men' gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 7:20 Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them. So in answer to the question: Where does this movie (or book) tie in spiritually?
Who cares unless all of our observervations and interpretations are put to use in application!
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