The Real Thing vs the Fake Thing

Well I have completed what I set out to do. I have finished the Chronicles of Narnia. It was an interesting journey which resulted in having a deeper appreciation for C.S. Lewis. I will most likely amend this blog site to include other writings of C.S. Lewis too.

The Last Battle was finished today, as I waited for my son. He was getting a root canal done, so I had much time to read. What did I think about this, the final installment of the series? What relation can we find to our life today?

As you can see by the title of this post, the real verse the fake seem to stand out to me. You see, what has happened is that there is a false Narnia that has been created. Complete with a false Aslan. How did this happen? Surly not in Narnia! But alas it does. So here is my question for you, the reader. How can we know if we are living in a false Christian world or not? How do we know that we are not following a false god?

I heard a report once about counterfeit money. The question posed to these workers, whose job it was to identify the fake money, how do you do it? You would think that maybe they would find and examine the fake money. That way they would know what they are looking for. The answer however was that they study the real money for hours and hours. They get to know everything about the real money. How it looks, how it feels, how it smells, and how it folds.  In fact they never even study the fake money at all. They study the real thing.

Likewise, we need to study God and God alone. When we spend hours and hours with God we will know when we are serving false gods. It is all too easy to slide and find ourselves thinking we are serving God when in reality were are serving ourselves.

So the people (or should I say, subjects) of Narnia are fooled. In the end though the real Aslan appears and destroys the fake Narnia. It is at the end where C.S. Lewis mentions the word Shadowlands. This is another word for our world. It is a beautiful descriptive word. Shadows can only happen where darkness is. In the world to come there will be no darkness, and therefor no shadows.

Thanks for those who read my thoughts as I read through these books.

Till next.

Doug Conrad

Lewis and I: How much dark is darkness?

Lewis and I: How much dark is darkness?: Reading through the Silver Chair was interesting. I figured out why it was called Silver Chair. Not much is mentioned of this actually, but ...

How much dark is darkness?

Reading through the Silver Chair was interesting. I figured out why it was called Silver Chair. Not much is mentioned of this actually, but Prince Rilian is captured and tied down to this silver chair. Alsan breaks the spell and the prince is free. That is when we find out who the prince really is, he is the son of King Caspian. The children and the prince are trying to get out from the Underworld. This is the part of the story that made me want to put down the book actually.

Now let me explain. I wanted to put the book down because I don't like tight spaces. The idea of total darkness and being trapped underground was enough to make we want to get out quickly. I know it is just a story but it got to me. I sure they don't make a movie of it.

It got me thinking though. We talk much about Jesus being the Light of the World. We think of John chapter 1:7-9. Light is good, darkness is bad. This is the simple way of thinking about this subject. How much dark is darkness? How much light does it take to have light?

Do we really think about a world without Jesus as darkness. When reading the end of the Silver Chair, I thought about darkness. I don't like when things are pitch black. Is that how we see the world? Or do we see that everything is okay but would be better with Jesus? The Bible is clear that every human has sinned, and therefor is in darkness. Pitch black darkness. We are under the spell of the wicked witch. Without Jesus there is no light. The Bible says we were dead in our sins. It doesn't say we were half alive. It doesn't say we were okay, we just need Jesus.

So darkness is total blackness. No light anywhere.

How about light? Is it the lack of darkness? I think light shines on our darkness. It doesn't take much light to get rid of darkness. A small light or candle can do the trick.

Here is a story I heard from "Sticky Church" arthur Larry Osborne:
They were on a cave tour. The guide assured Larry that it will never get pitch black on the tour. So he convinced his wife(who doesn't like the dark) to go. Sure enough at one point the guide turns off the lights, so people can get a feel for total darkness. Larry pleads with the guide to turn the lights on as his wife is getting very nervous. With no luck there, he turns to his son and tells him to turn on his light for his watch. He turns on the light, and the darkness is gone. Larry' wife can relax. All is well, except for the other tour mates.

Why tell this story? A little light in darkness is powerful. A little light in light not so much.
When you read the Silver Chair remember the darkness that is life without Jesus.

Lewis and I: Growing faith with breakfast

Lewis and I: Growing faith with breakfast: At the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader  we come across an interesting scene. It reminds me of the end of the Gospel of John. In John&#...

Growing faith with breakfast

At the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader we come across an interesting scene. It reminds me of the end of the Gospel of John. In John's Gospel the scene is Jesus sharing breakfast with the disciples. The Disciples had been fishing and had not caught any fish. They had spent the whole night out on the water. As the sun is coming up they spot Jesus, (although they aren't sure it is him at first) and are invited to have breakfast. Jesus had already had a fire going and they fish were ready! Where did he get the fish from? Don't know. Why was Jesus there? But let's get back to Lewis's story.

So the Dawn Treader is heading to the very end of the world. They come across this land and get off the boat.  The Lamb ( as Lewis calls him) is standing on the shore ready to serve breakfast. What happens next is interesting. Lucy and Edmund are asking about the Land of Aslan. Aslan tells them that as they are now growing up they won't be able to enter Narnia like they used to. They will have to find a different way.

" You must learn to know me by that (another) name. For this was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there."

Our faith must grow as we get older. We still need child like faith, but if still understand God the same way today as we did when we first believed, we are in trouble. I think this is the point that Lewis is getting at. Lucy and Edmund have seen Aslan as kids. Now they are growing up and need to see Aslan as adults.

We grow as we experience more of God in this life. I trusted in Jesus as my personal savior when I was four years old. My understanding of God has changed since then. My faith in God has grown since then.

So when Lewis says, "You must learn to know me by another name." I believe he is encouraging us to grow in our faith.  Jesus is more then just saving us from hell, as important as that is.

Question:  How have you grown since you first met Jesus?

In John's Gospel, Jesus encourages the disciples after giving them breakfast. This is the great passage of restoring Peter. Jesus encourages Peter to be the leader he goes on to be in Acts.

Our faith can never be idle, it must be growing.

Lewis and I: "Do you feel sufficient...?"

Lewis and I: "Do you feel sufficient...?": I am back to reading the Chronicles of Narnia. I took a long break, but am now back to trying to finish my goal of reading through all the b...

"Do you feel sufficient...?"

I am back to reading the Chronicles of Narnia. I took a long break, but am now back to trying to finish my goal of reading through all the books before the end of the year. I think my last entry was when I finished The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Well I did read through The Horse and His Boy and didn't find much there. Prince Caspian got interesting again. Towards the end of the book Aslan asks Prince Caspian a question, which is the main point of this entry.

Here is the question: "Do you feel yourself sufficient to take up the Kingship of Narnia?" The question is posed by Aslan to Prince Caspian. What follows is that Caspian says no, and is praised by Aslan for that answer. Aslan responds, "If you had felt yourself sufficient, it would have been proof that you were not."

So here is my question: Are we as followers of Christ ever to feel sufficient? Where is the line between taking pride in our ability and relying on God for our abilities? How much of the time do we think about God working through us? Must we always feel insufficient? How much is our own learning, our own skill gaining, and our own experience?

I am a songwriter. I write songs. I make up a melody, come up with chords, and think up some lyrics. Not always in that order. Now when the song is done, was it my work? Sure I was inspired by God in some fashion, but was it my work or God's work? I have heard songs written by people that use the line, "God gave me this song" and to be honest the song is not that good. So by giving credit to God for a song that is not that good in the first place, are we insulting God?

Back to Caspian. He had just won the battle. He was about to be King. It was his leadership and determination that lead the way. Yet he knew that unless Aslan was with him, he couldn't succeed.

So how do we balance these two aspects in our lives. How do we give glory to God through what we do on a daily basis?