i like how people tell you how to get to the heaven they dont believe in. "just be good, live with integrity, love your neighbour ra ra ra"
If Christ came to set us free from the sin we can get ourselves out of He wasted His time.

But as we have seen from many of these posts, "men are willfully ignorant"

"they love the darkness rather than the light"

As for science. these poor guys are running all over the place trying to come up with as many ridiculas scenarios possible to explain why so much of the discoveries made point 'to' God rather than away.
Get informed guys stop writing the rubbish you hardly know. stop being "willfully ignorant" and open the eyes you were created with.

God is going to love you all the days of your life, you have no excuse, you have now been informed the rest is up to you. but in the end you need to know that its not going to be God who rejects you, it'll be you who regect Him.

Jesus didn't come into this world to make bad men good... but to give dead men life.
You can pick on all the 'Christians' you want. in the end (Which is probably closer than you think) its your call. Obvously this world is doing really really well by ignoring and detesting God.

Guess what.. the trees have wood in them...you've got as long as you live to find that out.

As for Aslan and Christ, i think you missed the point Mark, i dont think its meant to reflect the Bible perfectly nor Christ perfectly, sure there are parallels but dont get too picky about it.

As an atheist I'm starting from a position of neutrality on the issue of Aslan versus Jesus.

One is a fictional character intended to symbolise or allegorise God - this is very clear by the time one has read all seven Narnia books, and after all, Lewis was a keen Christian. The other is a major historical figure inevitably overlain by two millennia of glosses, legends, myths and, no doubt, occasional fabrication.

I found Aslan frustrating, never around when you need him until the Big Crunch. (But the Narnia books would have been a short story had he behaved otherwise.) He also develops, not in the Wardrobe book but later, an air of patronising sanctimony which irritated me no end. By book seven he's little more than Lewis' God in a lion suit.

Notwithstanding inevitable overlays in Jesus' story, which make it hard to ascertain the truth about him (fundamentalists will say, read the Bible; I have, but am not credulous enough to believe every word), it seems clear that he was a unique individual with a real message. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is a pretty reasonable recipe, if only people would act on it. Certainly one does not need to be Christian to recognise its worth.

Actually, two relatively recent figures remind me of the "core" Jesus message. One was Mahatma Gandhi, who accomplished extraordinary things with his message of nonviolence before being murdered by a fanatic nominally of his own faith. The other is Nelson Mandela, who after 27 years in the hellhole at Robbin Island was able to come out and wreak, not vengeance, but the best healing his country could have hoped for. Imagine South Africa if he had called for vengeance against the racist oppressors; or the subcontinent if Gandhi had whipped up sectarianism to even worse levels instead of trying to hose it down in the face of the mulish obstinacy of both Muhammed Ali Jinnah and the Hindu extremists.

So, this may sound odd coming from an atheist, but JC beats Aslan, paws down.

Irony abounds in this post. Mark seems to put Jesus in a box based on only reading parts of the bible. As others have commented, Jesus is not a pacifist (e.g. clearing out the temple using a whip, coming in the last days to fight), nor is God (check the old testament some time).

Equating of violence with evil is the authors problem. It is a less biblical idea than anything in Narnia.

FYI, in the Lion, the witch and the wardrobe, Aslan does conquer by being the lamb (for edmund) and also fights in the last battle. Ultimately this is far more in line with Jesus' death on the cross and the 2nd coming than the authors shallow understanding.

Hi Alchemist,

“F.H. what would your opinion be of where unbelievers go after death, from your understanding”.

Belief and disbelief is a choice. It is not my concern who will end up where. In the Holy Quran God reserves the judgement right to Him alone ‘is judging on intent, hearts and deeds’.

I liked the movie by the way, I didn’t bother with the symbolism in it so it was easy to enjoy.

Peace,

I've read both of the books I like the Chronicles of Narnia it is more believable.
I mean a talking lion is one thing….

Numbat – Mel Gibson is devout practicing Catholic. He pushed Passion to be showed and displayed gory truths that not many people knew. We visit church and wear crosses around our necks with a man being tortured – slain as it were as BOTH lion and lamb.

Not sure about Lewis though so I’ll take your word. Although I dare say it probably helps – to an extent – to be Christian so to write about Christ in such vivid detail. Or at very least be intrigued by Christian ideals.

As for films as marketing ploys – I think these days it’s possible to market anything. Altruism/kindness are being tapped into by businesses with cunning, selfish expectation of return. Multinationals are the worst – look at MacDonalds cleverly tapping into family values, looking charitable with one thing in mind – money.

Churches risk following the same path although I’m not sure exactly what motive might be. Money? Maybe. Spreading the word of Christ? Perhaps. Doubtful Jesus would’ve approved of methods being used in any case.

Coach – I believe we live in a self-oriented society as opposed to an others-oriented one. The world today only turns to Jesus when they want something for themselves while ignoring the most important point of all – Jesus lived for others – without expectation of return.

Understand where you’re coming from with non-Christians but my opinion extends beyond. I’m equally saddened by Christians who self-righteously believe they’re somehow acting in the name of Jesus. It horrifies me when I see world leaders from any persuasion claiming guidance from above while calling for the invasion of another country. If one sees the necessity for violence then one must act alone.

Ted – it’s possible to see stories simply as that – stories. When parents read the three bears to kids they don’t expect them to believe there’s porridge-eating carnivores running around the forest terrorising little girls. But the story’s still valuable. It reflects a certain truth while at the same time serves an entertainment purpose. Most importantly it holds morals we may assimilate into life.