Narnia

Thought it might be a good idea to update this thing every year or so, in case by some miracle someone would happen to look at it :-)

Anyway, I have just finished The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis which as you may know is the first (or second depending on whose order you use) in the Chronicles of Narnia series. The book is the basis for a major movie that is scheduled to be released by Disney in December. Said movie is pumped up by major Christian companies and organizations (think the Passion) as a tool for outreach. While the book does contain clear imagery of the gospel message, why the intense effort on this particular movie? Other movies have themes that easily could lead into an explanation of the Gospel. In fact most any topic can lead to the gospel. If you have ever met an effective evangelist you know this to be true. The search for ultimate truth is universal.

The most effective single evangelistic outreach ever document occured in a time before movies, mass-marketing and mega-churches. The apostle Peter simply address a crowd with the gospel. Acts 2:41 records "Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day." Even for the people of that time, this was no fancy message. A simple man simply delivered a simple message of sin and salvation.

I think the hype around Narnia says much about the state of American Evangelicalism, when we have to wait for Hollywood to produce an overtly 'Christian' movie before we will engage in evangelism.