Remember the Signs… This is a line from C. S. Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles story The Silver Chair. The lion Aslan gives Jill Pole four vital signs to remember in order to complete a quest of finding Narnian Prince Rilian, who had disappeared many years earlier.
Just before Aslan (a Christ figure) sends Jill off to Narnia, he counsels her to,
…remember, remember the Signs. Say them to yourself when you wake up in the morning, and when you lay down at night, and when you wake up in the middle of the night. And whatever strange things may happen to you, let nothing turn your mind from following the Signs…Remember the Signs and believe the Signs. Nothing else matters.
Aslan warns Jill that these Signs will be lucid while in the clear air of the mountain where they are currently standing. But after she travels to Narnia, the air will thicken, and the Signs will look different then. Jill had to remember the Signs and keep reciting them. All future incidents in her quest had to be weighed against these Four Signs.
In a previous article I mentioned K. Scott Oliphint’s book The Battle Belongs to the Lord. Oliphint includes the Aslan-Jill interlude in his book, and in context to Scripture and this world. His points are well worth citing here:
We are to read Scripture, to remember it, to say it to ourselves when we “wake in the morning and when we lie down at night, and when we wake in the middle of the night.” We are to let nothing turn our minds from following what God has said, from viewing the world in the way he has described it to us. Things do, often, appear differently “in the world” from the way that they are presented to us in Scripture. We must remember the Scriptures. (Page 86)
Later on in The Silver Chair, Jill Pole, Eustace Scrubb and Puddleglum the Marshwiggle succeed in finding Prince Rilian. The prince utters the final Sign – “…in the name of Aslan.” While they’d mucked up all the previous Signs, they finally recognize this one.
Unfortunately, soon after, the Witch who had enchanted the prince arrives and proceeds to seduce them all with her magic. What follows is a monumental struggle of minds in which the two children and two Narnians begin to doubt everything they’d previously knew about the world, Narnia and Aslan. This scene is one of my favorites in the book. It evokes the Christian Pilgrim’s constant battle for faith and truth in this world.
And a favorite moment within that exchange is when staunch Puddleglum tells the Witch that, even if her subterranean world happened to be true, he’d rather believe in the Narnian imaginary one and in Aslan. Even Jill – who has only met Aslan once – weakly struggles out of her enchantment long enough to say, “There is Aslan.”
Once you’ve met the real Aslan, you can never forget him. Once you’ve met the real Christ, you cannot forget Him.
“I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it [Narnia]. I’m going to live like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia.” ~ Puddleglum
Recently, there have been highly publicized media instances of well-known Christians renouncing their faith, or casting doubt upon it. Mind you, this has happened from the beginning (1 John 2:19). It’s natural that at these times many questions arise, and debates often follow on from that. I’m not going to go into it here except to say that prayer for these men is in order.
But one thing that struck me with these examples was the apparent lack of biblical grounding. There also seemed to be no mention of Christ – where was Aslan in all this?
One person’s gripe appeared to be the attitude of the church over LGBTQ issues. Another person (Marty Sampson) spoke of his concerns. For example:
You cannot have well-educated opinions without educating yourself well… This is a window into my thought processes at the present time… I’m genuinely losing my faith, and it doesn’t bother me. Like, what bothers me now is nothing. I am so happy now, so at peace with the world. It’s crazy… Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send four billion people to a place, all ‘coz they don’t believe? No one talks about it. All I know is what’s true to me right now, and Christianity just seems to me like another religion at this point. (Emphases mine)
These issues aren’t new. Whenever I read this sort of thing I think of progressive Christian Rachel Held Evens. Mind you I don’t mean to dismiss or disparage these concerns. The problem of pain and hell are certainly difficult ones, but not biblically insurmountable. These issues haven’t been swept under some rug either. See links below.
The contradictions have been addressed as well. See Jimmy Li’s, The Domain for Truth for regular blog posts on so-called Bible problems. See also Michael Brown’s response to Sampson HERE.
Much like in The Silver Chair’s Witch’s case, we live in a seductive world. It’s a world where God’s word is mocked, ignored or trivialized, even in churches. The ELCA is a classic example. It’s a world where we see a same-sex-married politician’s lifestyle approved by a Unitarian Universalist minister; where a Methodist School hires a Muslim Chaplain, and where a Lutheran (ELCA) Bishop praises polyamory. It’s a world where feelings trump Scripture and obeying God’s Word.
Has the church ever experienced such things on this scale? We were warned by Paul…
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 2 Tim 4:1-4
We must always remember that the battle is the Lord’s and that He is sovereign. It is fought utilizing the promises found in His Word. Failing to believe His Word, and failing to look to Him, is what The Adversary wants.
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8
Remember the Lord. And remember, remember the Signs.
Maranatha!
Further reading:
Scripture Contains God’s Word?
The Power of De-conversion Stories
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