An Analogy from The Chronicles of Narnia

Anyone who knows me or has read many of my blogs knows how highly I regard C.S. Lewis and his writings. Although he is most famous for his children’s books, he actually wrote these much later in his life. Initially, he wrote several books for adults on the topic of Christianity, and while these books were brilliant and insightful, over time he came to the conclusion that certain truths were better understood if they were communicated more subtly, in the form of a story. This idea led him to write his famous series for children, The Chronicles of Narnia. 

The most famous book in the series is, of course, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Anyone who has read this book is aware of the similarities between Aslan and Jesus, particularly the fact that Aslan offers his life as a payment for Edmund’s transgressions. However, there are other portions of the book (and others in the series) that communicate other theological points that may initially be overlooked, since they are embedded so naturally in the story. I suspect this is exactly what Lewis intended! 

In this blog, I would like to discuss one such scene, which is one of my favorites in the entire series. Needless to say, if you haven’t read this book, there are some spoilers ahead! 

The main characters of the book are four siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, whose parents have gone away and so have found themselves staying in the home of a mysterious professor. One day Lucy enters a magical wardrobe that transports her to the land of Narnia in what must be an alternate dimension. When Lucy returns and tells the others of her discovery, no one believes her, and the credibility of her story is further harmed by the fact that when she tries to take them through the wardrobe itself, it doesn’t work (for reasons explained in the story). 

Soon after this, Edmund himself accidentally finds his way into Narnia, but when he returns, instead of corroborating Lucy’s story, he doesn’t want to admit that he had been wrong before and instead tells the others that he and Lucy had just been playing and it hadn’t really been real. Lucy is very upset by this. 

By this point, Peter and Susan (the two oldest) realize how serious Lucy is about this magical land and become concerned about her. In the scene I want to describe, they have gone to the wise professor for his advice. The professor listens patiently, then shocks them by asking how they know Lucy isn’t telling the truth. Of course she’s not telling the truth, they protest! She’s talking about magical lands in a wardrobe in which mythical creatures live. In other words, they just know it can’t be true. 

        But the professor, wondering whether logic was still taught in the schools, first asks them who, between Edmund and Lucy, is more likely to be lying. They quickly answer that Lucy has always been truthful, while Edmund has a history of being dishonest. Still, they appeal once again to the fantastic nature of her story and express concern that perhaps she does really believe it to be true, which must mean something is “wrong” in her head. The professor then points out that she has not been acting strangely; all signs point to her being perfectly healthy and rational.

        The professor then concludes that if she is not lying and not crazy, logically the only remaining conclusion is that she is telling the truth!

        Of course, they still have difficulty accepting this conclusion, until they themselves enter Narnia. The point, of course, is that their presuppositions prevented them from accepting the most logical conclusion. They had already determined, prior to evaluating the evidence, that what Lucy was telling them could not be true, that it was impossible that another world could be accessed through a wardrobe, and so no amount of logic could convince them otherwise. 

        No one can blame them, of course, because it does sound crazy. But the point Lewis is trying to make is that we cannot determine our beliefs primarily on whether something sounds unlikely or even impossible. He is referring to the fact that some people have an anti-supernatural bias that prevents them from even considering arguments for the truth of Christianity or the existence of God. Particularly, the whole scene is reminiscent of Lewis’s famous Trilemma argument: that since Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, the only possibilities are that He is lying, out of His mind, or actually is the Son of God.

        Ultimately, sometimes parts of Christianity can sound silly, and there will be times when we pause and consider them that they seem to be nothing more than children’s stories. But this is not enough to reject the claims of Christianity. Rather, we must consider the strength of the evidence and not allow our predetermined bias to rule out what may actually be the truth.