[intricatic]

Originally Posted by Jenniewren

Thank you for the warning. It is a minefield being a parent today and deciding what films/books are suitable. My daughter came home from school one day and told me her friends were saying "Harry Potter" was the new Jesus because people had been talking about the similarities between Harry and Jesus. I said yes, there are similarities, simply because the author decided to write it that way to make a moral point. I had to explain that there was and only ever could be one Jesus, so it was a helpful discussion in the end for us, but how many parents would just laugh or ignore a statement like that?

What do people think about the Narnia series by C.S.Lewis? Despite what we are told, the books are not really Christian, and I wonder how many parents who rave about them have actually thought about the theology of the series? Yes, I know Aslan is killed and is raised from the dead, like Jesus, but in the book he is also surrounded by characters such as Bacchus with his merry girls and many other mythological creatures, magicians etc. In the ending of the seventh book "The Last Battle" the sincere and good soldier of the bad god Tash sees Aslan and is accepted as his follower because all good followers of Tash are really following Aslan and all bad followers of Aslan are really following Tash the bad god. A very convincing argument that all roads lead to God. Read the last few chapters if you do not believe me. Someone once argued with me that Tash was meant to be the devil, but would a open follower of the devil be acceptable to God? No, there is only one way, through Jesus Christ.
I don't hate the books, I love them, but make sure you know the full story and exactly what your children are reading. The Christian message in them is not really any better than that of Harry Potter, so never just assume a book is "good or bad" read it yourself.

I just hope I do not get into trouble saying this about Narnia because they are wonderful fantasy books. It is just that some Christain parents have just about raised them to the level of theology. They are not and I do not think the author ever intended them to be.

Actually, the Tash / Aslan argument is more about God being able to reach people regardless of what they're raised to believe than "All roads lead to God". The book doesn't state that Aslan is Tash, but that the people who were raised believing in Tash, but did Aslan's will were really following Aslan, not Tash.