The silence is deafening (rather like the Trees in Narnia)

Posted on December 10, 2008
Filed Under All Things Narnian, My Paper Jesus | 2 Comments

I don’t think I have had quite the non-response to an article as I have received with My Paper Jesus. It could be that some of my readers are just not into allegories. It may be that some readers are a little concerned for me. But are they only concerned for me or…. maybe down deep are they a bit anxious over their own relationship with Christ? maybe. Or it could be that my over abundance of words finally did some of my readers in. Ah, that must be it.

Whatever the case, the silence has been deafening.

All speculation aside, it’s a scary thing to realize that a faith founded primarily upon head-knowledge just won’t cut it anymore. It tends to rock one’s boat. It’s rocking mine, that’s for sure.

Take the other day. While looking through some applets posted on the “gadget” page of a very popular search site, I came across one generates a daily devotional thought. I was inspired! That is, until I read several of the comments left by visitors of this very popular search site.

Wow! Talk about venomous! Talk about hostile!

“Stupid! Ignorant! Backwords fools! God-people, go to H*ll!” and on and on the various comments went.

It was as if someone walked up to me, saw my Paper Jesus and decided to smash it head in.

My Paper Jesus cannot stand up to challenges like that. It just can’t. I have tried to bolster My Paper Jesus with tools like “Evidence that Demands a stronger Paper Jesus” or “The Case for a Resilient Paper Jesus” and all that. Mind you, those are great books! But I don’t think I was using them as the authors intended. It’s not their fault, but I don’t need to schlock more glue on My Paper Jesus or reinforce it with cardboard, etc.

My Paper Jesus can’t withstand the onslaughts of our culture, but my REAL Jesus can. And that’s the whole point. Doctrinal beliefs should introduce us to Jesus, but we must go the next step. We need to receive a real, viable relationship with Jesus. Intellectual assent can only bring us to the door.

In the past one could get by rather well using “head-faith.” For one thing, everyone around you pretty much believed the same thing, even if they didn’t actively participate in said beliefs. But gone are the days when society itself bolsters one’s concepts about Jesus. And that’s actually a good thing! But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Today things are different. And bringing up the fact that today there are many ways in which one’s belief system is threatened seems to evoke varied reactions amongst Christians, the main one being silence.

BUT there is another time when the silence gets really deafening!

Many a Christian that I have come in contact with can be rather vocal when it comes to societal issues. They can rather loudly stress our need to return to the “good old days” when we were “a Christian nation”. In other words, there is a strong urge in some to get back to the days when society did not threaten their Paper Jesus; where society even helped hold their head-faith together.

But ask some Christians “how are you doing with loving those around you and rescuing them with the love of Jesus?” Silence…… (insert crick chirp sound effect).

Silence, like the trees in Narnia when Prince Caspian shows up. The book Prince Caspian (unlike the movie) is actually a very sophisticated story. To the point: when the main characters from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe show up again in Narnia, they find that much of the wonder and awe they knew is gone. What’s worse, the Golden Era of Narnia that they (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) brought in is nowhere to be found. Everything is run down, drab, oppressed. Lucy notices that even the trees, the trees that she used to dance with, were silent.

But–and here is where the movie fails terribly–Aslan did not bring the Pevensie children back to Narnia to restore it to the “golden age.” Rather, his assignment to them was to assist the new king, Caspian, as Caspian rescues the Narnians from their oppressor, the Telmorines.

Allow me to say it again,they were not– I repeat NOT–brought to Narnia by Aslan to restore Narnia to its Golden Era. They were brought there to assist in a “search and rescue mission.”

You and I, if you call yourself a Christian, are *not* on this planet to try to bring about a John Calvin style Kingdom of God on Earth. We are here to participate in God’s great Search & Rescue Mission.

So I plead with you dear Christian reader: can we please become less vocal about our supposed need to be a nation of Christian values—and get much more involved and effective in rescuing a lost society, one person at a time?

“So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”     Acts 1:6-8

Jesus’ followers, even after He was resurrected, still were pre-occupied with returning Israel to it’s former glory. But what did Jesus do? He told them not to concern themselves with that, but rather to go on a world wide Search & Rescue Mission. The guideline that we have today for Christians is still Acts 1:8!

Do you think that C.S. Lewis had this scripture in mind when he wrote Prince Caspian? It’s possible. Narnia scholars have noticed that each book of the Chronicles of Narnia (when read in the order Lewis had them published) follows a Seven Step path of spiritual growth that was well known to Lewis.

Isn’t it interesting that Step 2, as it were, is to look at the world around you and seek to rescue it?

If you’re an older Christian like me, maybe it’s time to look around for the Caspians in the world (younger Christians who are stepping up into leadership) and support them as God leads them in their missions.

Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy had a very big challenge on their hands when they returned to Narnia. For one thing, the very first person they met was an atheist. Trumkin the Dwarf, didn’t believe in Aslan, the White Witch, or any of those old stories. He didn’t even believe in the Pevensies, and when he saw them, he was greatly dissapointed in what he was looking at.

Trumkin was anything but a bad person. He just openly stated what most Narnians felt. How could there be an Aslan when Narnia is in such a terrible condition?

Pevensies’ challenge, however, was much deeper than a largely agnostic, downtrodden Narnia. Their challenge was to avoid trying to restore what they so loved about “their” Narnia and instead humbly serve Caspian as Caspian restored all things. Restore Narnia, yes. Return it to its glory days? no. There is a very big difference between the two goals.

What silences some Christians, like the Narnian trees before Caspian rescued them? The thought of reaching out to a hurting world can do it. What say we all make strides to “wake up” our spirits, love whoever God puts in our path and focus on our Search & Rescue mission!

Comments

Copyright © 2007 Thru The Spectacles • Using Modernpaper theme created by Performancing