Life Without Aslan : Two Perspectives
In the Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan is the allegorical Jesus, who sacrifices his life to set Narnia and the sons of Adam free from the frozen, never-ending winter (sin) and the reign of the white witch (Satan). I recently read an article in British Newspaper, The Guardian, in which Polly Toynbee perfectly described why it is so important that God-the-Son, Jesus (Aslan), came to earth to sacrificially die. Speaking of Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls, she says:
Without an Aslan, there is no one here but ourselves to suffer for our sins, no one to redeem us but ourselves: We are obliged to settle our own disputes and do what we can.
Perfectly said. As I read that, I feel overcome with gratitude and awe at God's love for us and grace toward us. Without Christs death we are all left to fend for ourselves under the law. We have no mediator between us and God. 1 John 2:1 says that if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. As we stand condemned before the law, Jesus stands by our side before the throne saying, Father, forgive them, because under the law, I am blameless, righteous, and I paid for their sins. Count their sin to my account; you have punished me for it; and give them my righteousness.
What a hopeless position we would be in without Christ. As Toynbee so eloquently said, Without an Aslan [Christ], there is no one here but ourselves to suffer for our sins. As Paul writes to the Galatians (3:10), without a savior and relying on nothing but our upstandingness under the law, we are under a curse. Because we all have sinned, none of us can be justified before God by the law (Gal 3:11). But Christ became a curse on our behalf so that we could receive the blessing of Abraham (Gal 3:13-14), even being adopted by God as children (Gal 3:26, 4:4). What a glorious message of good news. That is the Gospel: My only hope and the message which I never tire of hearing. Praise God that I am not left to fend for myself, because before the Creator, who is my righteous judge, I would not stand a chance.
If you read Toynbees article however, you will find that, although her grasp of the material content of the Gospel is near perfect, her perception of it is 180-degrees opposite mine. How can she know of the Gospel and write the article that she does? The following is the context from which the quotes I cited above were taken:
Of all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls. Did we ask him to?...[Christ / Aslan] is an emblem for everything an atheist objects to in religion. His divine presence is a way to avoid humans taking responsibility for everything here and now on earth, where no one is watching, no one is guiding, no one is judging and there is no other place yet to come. Without an Aslan, there is no one here but ourselves to suffer for our sins, no one to redeem us but ourselves: we are obliged to settle our own disputes and do what we can .We can do well without an Aslan."
First Corinthians 1:18-31 is a better commentary on this than I could ever hope to write, for it is Gods inspired commentary on the world that we see:
18For the word of the cross is folly (foolishness) to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written,I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written, Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.
What graciousness on Gods behalf to not only die
my death but then to break through to my dark heart and enlighten me to the truth and power of the gospel.
Therefore, when I look at the cross, I see not just one great act of mercy, but
two:
- Gods great reversal, taking my sin and giving me His righteousness so that I can be with Him forever, and
- Changing my heart so that this message
that once sounded foolish to me became, for me, "The power of God." By grace, the truth was revealed to me.
Toynbee discovered the offense of the cross (Gal 5:11), and her
response is one that I am, in a sense, happy to see. It shows that she gets it.
It is a Biblical response to the cross. It would be my response to the cross if
it were not for grace. It is a response to the cross that we rarely see in
todays postmodern world. Far too many today are like the Areopagites (Acts 17:21-33);
they hear the message, add it to their knowledge bank of interesting things to
know, and are not challenged by what they hear. Toynbee, in hearing the Gospel,
has come face-to-face with the message of God the Judge; she has heard of her
falling short of the law; and she knows of the message of her utter dependence
on Christ to be saved. She finds that message repugnant because it takes her
off her throne and puts Christ there, and she has declared that she will not be
(voluntarily) dethroned. Her perception is that she will "do well without an Aslan."
I say this, not as a judge gloating over the
certain and just wrath that she will receive unless she repents.
Rather, when I read her
article, my first response is, Why not
me? Why was that not me writing?" Just as certainly as I can say that
it is
only by Gods grace that my sins of this morning shall not be counted
toward me
at the judgment (Hebrews 9:27-28), I say that it is only by Gods grace
that I perceive the
Gospel as good news and not folly. Pray with me for Polly Toynbee.
Lets make our first response
to opposition to the cross weeping, prayer, and thanksgiving and not
judgment or boasting. Let's make the Gospel the message of our lives:
We proclaim it with our mouths, and we live in response to it. And
please, if your perception is similar to Toynbee's, reconsider why you
would hate a God so much who would, unasked, suffer and die for a
creation that had rejected him (John 3:16). I beg that you would
embrace his sacrifice and embrace Him.
Soli Deo Gloria
[Thanks, Jeff McFadden & Challies for the link to this article. Because of a busy week with finals, I have been unable to comment until now]
update:
Technorati search: Toynbee and Narnia
12/11 Al Mohler comments on the same article in his Narnia review
