Aslan as an Allegory for Christ

I once read an article that God’s love was conditional. It was shortly before my mission, and it really concerned me. I had been talking with one of my friends who left The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when I told her that God’s love was unconditional. She said it wasn’t and I researched it on the Church’s website. After reading the article I found, I decided to talk with my bishop. He had also come across the same article and it troubled him at first, but then he used the last book in the series of “The Chronicles of Narnia” to explain it to me. He told me about three groups that enter the same shed, but find very different things there. It was then that I understood God’s love is always there, but we will not always feel it.

            Religious allegories make eternal truths accessible. C.S. Lewis’s “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” uses fantasy to appeal to children and makes the biblical story of Christ interesting and understandable. With these affordances, however, there are also limitations to further appreciation and interpretation.

            “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” holds a comparison similar to the one used by my former bishop. When Aslan’s name is mentioned for the first time, “everyone felt quite different…. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realise that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer” (p. 67). They each felt something different because of their poor or proper behavior. In LDS doctrine, we talk of feeling comfortable in the presence of God. We can only feel comfortable in His presence because of Christ’s sacrifice, but our actions will have an effect on our guilt. Edmund had been deliberately deceitful to his siblings and, as such, could not feel good about the prospect of meeting the King.  Peter, Susan, and Lucy were delighted because they were not weighed with guilt. In the end, we are all unworthy to be in God’s presence of our own accord, which is why they tremble when the opportunity to meet Aslan finally comes. The allegory is very didactic, telling children they must be good to be happy with God. While this is true in part, it forgets that the Atonement is not only for obvious sins, but for everything. “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” states that Aslan died for Edmund, but children may not expand that understanding to realize that Christ died for everyone.

            “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” is a good beginning, but it does not allow for a full comprehension. I am grateful for the metaphor my bishop used to help me understand an eternal principle that was hard to grasp, but I know there are nuances that I do not understand. The same will be for children who read the story of Aslan and these children, and they will need to look to other books to learn beyond the allegory.

Side note: I never understood the reference of this song by one of my favorite bands in high school. Now I do :)