New here, with Chronicles question.

I would agree with Gina, I now have girls in their senior years, and we have read all of C.S.Lewis’ books, every one of them including the Narnia series and all his adult books, it is intelligent and wonderful writing – and I highly recommend the books, and anything C.S. Lewis has written.  We do not steer away from magic and things, we agree with Gina – we want our girls to learn their worldview in our home environment, we want them prepared for all they will face in the grown up world away from home. 

We avoid all books that contain the occult.

I like to refer the Keeper’s of the Faith’s statement about what books are edifying for our children to hear/read. They also have a review on CS Lewis, his life and his books he wrote for children. Here is a summary of what they say about his books:

“We can never recommend these books for young people. Some people insist that they are simply entertainment, but entertainment at what price? Shall we give the minds of our children to C. S. Lewis because he makes some compelling arguments for Christianity as an earthly value system? His Christianity is one of behavior. It is one in which the Bible is not the final authority. It is one that makes no mention of repentance. It is one that does not need the blood of Christ. It is one that embraces people of all faiths, whether or not they know Christ, as long as they have acceptable works. It is one that denies the reality of occult influences such as witches. Is this the kind of mentor that we want for our children?”

Here is an excerpt from the review on the last book in the Narnia series, The Last Battle:

“In the book, the children actually do die and enter heaven. Of course, as we can see from the quoted passage, all sorts of creatures, both good and evil, do the same. Some people praise this book as an allegory of the gospel, but upon a closer look, it is not intended to bring one to Christ at all. It is simply a very misleading occult, New Age, fantasy tale, replete with supernaturally-powered animals, and the evil philosophy that regardless of how evil we are, we all have that spark of goodness in us for which God will surely take us to heaven.

“Besides all the very apparent evil in the book—witches, magic, spells, demons, and more, there are several serious problems which can and will cause damage to our children.

“A child reading the book, is, as advertised, “stepping into another world”—a world of fantasy. Lewis, like Disney, was a New Ager. He built entire surrealistic worlds for our children to escape into—escape from reality and from real life. These worlds invariably contain creatures of every sort endearing our children, performing heroic feats, and displaying often greater powers than our Savior displayed when He was on earth. Who will our children most readily identify as having awesome power—Lewis characters, Disney characters, some time-space traveling hero, or the almighty Jesus? Is it any wonder that we have a very difficult time convincing our children to give their all to Someone so far down the totem pole of their experience? Why should we cloud our children’s minds with meaningless fantasies which can, at their very best, only result in doubts and confusions about real spiritual things, and more seriously, open the floodgates of their minds to the advancing waves of captivating fantasies designed to introduce them to the world of Satan and the occult.”

http://www.keepersofthefaith.com/category/CSLewisWhoHeWasWhatHeWrote.html

Here is the clincher for me about C.S. Lewis according to KoftheFaith:

“It is truly baffling that any real Christian should think that Lewis was a Christian. It seems that most have only heard the advertising rhetoric, but few have taken the time to read the works that expose his personal views or biographical works chronicling his habits. Lewis did not consider all of the Bible the inerrant Word of God (Reflections on the Psalms). He did not believe that faith in Jesus Christ was all that was necessary for salvation (Screwtape Letters). He believed that one could lose one’s faith in a moment through commission of a mortal sin (Screwtape Letters). He believed in Limbo as a place (neither heaven nor hell) of temporary punishment (Screwtape Letters). He believed that church sacraments are part of salvation (Mere Christianity, Screwtape Letters). He believed that pagans may belong to Christ without knowing it (Mere Christianity). He had a participating interest in the occult (The Inklings Handbook). And, regardless of his reputation and his “great swelling words,” his outlook on death was not that of a Christian. This from C. S. Lewis, A Biography: “Like many (most?) religious people, Lewis was profoundly afraid of death. His dread of it, when in the midst of life, had been almost pathological and obsessive. Physical extinction was a perpetual nightmare to him and, whatever his theological convictions and hopes, he was unable, before his wife’s death, to reconcile himself to the transition which death must inevitably entail.”‘

Tara

I also do not wish to offend as this is a touchy subject for some and one has to respect all views.  However, I have read all of C.S. Lewis books and biographies, I have read all of JR Tolkien’s books – as have my daughters.  These books have not caused us any loss of faith or any of the things that have been mentioned.  C.S. Lewis was a Godly man, a member of the Anglican Church, as was Tolkien who was Roman Cstholic.  Some of the denominations may disagree with the Roman Catholic and Anglican view of Christianity, but in my view this does not make them bad men or non Christians, there are many differing views in the various denominations, I was raised in an Anglican church in the UK and so in some cirlces I must be considered non Christian, I do not think we should be judging each other in this way, it is not for us to judge, and I am a great believer in tolerance for all.  Each person and family must decide whether to read these books – however in my humble view, if you do choose to read Tolkien or Lewis, you will not be harming your children, you will be enriching them.

This post is very thought provoking…I just discussed with my dd (age 9) why I did not feel comfortable with her reading Harry Potter. I plan to dig deeper into this subject of fantasy/magical literature myself and get some answers. I just keep going back to Philippians 4:8 and try to use that verse to decide whether or not a fictional story is going to build my children up or cloud their minds with junk.

Amanda

http://www.ucanbsure.org

Another related question…..the books like Among the Forrest People, The Fairy-Land of Science, and The Story Book of Science, do they not take away from God being the Creator? I have not read these books and am just wondering how my children would react. For example: if the books paint a picture of a “fairy” making flowers bloom, would my children then see flowers every spring and think of fairies instead of God?

Again, I have not read these so I am asking if that is how the books make nature appear. I would like to get opinions before I purchase these, if I do.

Thanks,

Amanda

Amanda~

I have The Story Book of Science, and it does not take away from God, in my opinion.  I have not read the other two, but you can check them all out here:

http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=fabre&book=science&story=_contents

http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=buckley&book=fairyland&story=_contents

http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=pierson&book=forest&story=_contents

Heather

I guess I haven’t had to deal with this topic very much or I’ve just been ignoring it.

My oldest has never asked to read Narnia he has only seen the movie once. My 7yo tried to watch it awhile ago because we have the talking books and he wanted to *see* it again, but thought it was too long.  They have never read the Harry Potter books and can barely make it through the movies as well.  Can you say *Boring*?  Lord of the Rings, same thing, they just aren’t interested and neither are my husband or myself.  We can watch it once but that’s it.  I usually can’t make it through those types of movies anyway. 

I just asked my 7 yo if he liked those movies and he said they talk funny.  Not for him. 

Now, when I was a kid my parents let us watch Bewitched, Gilligan’s Island, Dukes of Hazard, etc., and we were Christians then, too.  We went to ps and I suppose had to read whatever was expected of us and do a report on it:) Both my husband and I led some crazy early adult lives, but didn’t stay there the roots were planted at an early age.  We are doing some things differently with our kids (for one thing, we’re still married) and I can see that my kids are relatively well adjusted, Christ-centered boys, but only God knows the future.  I can’t see them *straying* in their beliefs due to some fairy tales, though.  My kids will stray because they will chose to or like some they will use the (supposed) hypocrisy of other Christians as their excuse, just like my husband and I did when we were young.

 I am a firm believer in true conviction.  If it is not sitting right with your spirit then just leave it at the door.