Logical Communication

When I was a youngster, my dad introduced me to the Chronicles of Narnia series of books. Even as young as five years old, I would love to read, which in my opinion, is the key to all intellectual growth, whether we are speaking of general cognitive health or revelatory spiritual wisdom. The first book I ever remember reading was the Bible… ironic how it is my supreme favorite even to this day.

My dad’s incentive was likely connected to his awareness that it was necessary to keep my voracious knowledge appetite restrained by healthy digestive choices. I was presented with a well-worn copy of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe which was the first book in that series written by C.S. Lewis and published in the 1950’s. In my humble opinion, this series of books was (is) the most impactful and influential of all the writings of Mr. Lewis, and he has some of the most powerful books ever penned by human hand. His eloquence of language expression and his articulation of apologetic reason propels his work to a place akin to the diadem of jewels in the crowning of Christian literature. This is especially unique given he became an atheist at age 15 after finding the Christianity he was subjected to was like a dreadful chore or cumbersome duty. However, he later described his young self as being paradoxically, “very angry with God for not existing,” and simultaneously, “angry with him for creating a world.”

The books The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity are enshrined as literal works of art that carry divine wisdom and rare divulgation of intimate truths that are inconvenient for the ungodly world to consider. These words and concepts were a tangible part of my psychological development when I was little and impressionable. Thank God I was raised in a Godly home with parents who knew what was truly important for my future. The Screwtape Letters was written in the narrative of a demon assigned to destroy a man’s life and the process was hauntingly outlined in a way that brought the story into my life. This would become uniquely beneficial to me later in life when I found myself in the process of being self destructed. I became my own demon… how embaressing.

In the Chronicles series, we are introduced to a world that was intended to parallel the Biblical Kingdom of God in imagery and allegory. After devouring the content of the first book (multiple times), I greatly desired to have the whole set (all seven books) which was shown to be a sincere desire through the willingness to spend my own, hard-earned and difficult to obtain, tiny cash stash. As Jesus declared, “Where a man’s treasure is, there will his heart be also,” (Matthew 6:21).

I was enraptured by following the journey of the ‘kings and queens’ (some British kids) of this supernatural world in the land of Narnia where evil reigned through a wicked witch but righteousness eventually prevailed through the self-sacrifice and immortal courage of the Great Lion, Aslan. Each book and adventure was captivating to me, and my imagination was electrified through creatively envisioning each character and scenario expounded by thought. I was so captivated by the story-telling that when the movie(s) finally came out in my adult years, I was a bit put off by the characters and activities because they were so unlike my memories which were established through my creative meditation. One of his literary creations wrapped in expressive words was The Last Battle which chronicled the end of the world of Narnia. Approximately two hundred Narnia years (which are different than human years) after the events of The Silver Chair, Jill and Eustace (what a goofy British name) return to save Narnia from the ape Shift, who tricks Puzzle the donkey into impersonating the lion Aslan which causes the end of the land of Narnia. I know… too many details to follow if you do not know the story or characters… but what I want you to see is that the world of Narnia, the parallel for humanity’s journey, was destroyed by deception. A talking ape who tricked a stupid donkey (I resisted using the other term…) destroyed a world.

The story centers around the destruction of Narnia through an extended plan that threaded through the whole series. The plan was built around corruption. The corruption begins not with a battle but with the subtle twisting of language. That sneaky Ape (capitalized by Lewis) named Shift has successfully returned evil to Narnia. This takes the form of corrupting language and using it to confuse rather than reveal the truth.

Lewis’ account of creation in previous Narnia books was projecting this end. Aslan, the lion, who represents Christ, says this to the higher creatures of Narnia when it is created: “Narnia. Narnia. Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak.” It is to the Talking Beasts that Aslan entrusts the world. “Creatures,” says Aslan, “I give you yourselves … I give you the woods, the fruits, the rivers. I give you the stars and I give you myself.” Lastly, Aslan gives them the care of the “Dumb Beasts.” “Treat them gently,” he warns, “and cherish them, but do not go back to their ways lest you cease to be Talking Beasts. For out of them you were taken and into them, you can return. Do not do so.”

Here is an excerpt from Anthony Pagliarini. Pagliarini, a professor of literature at Notre Dame, is one of the contributors to the recently published book The Chronicles of Transformation: A Spiritual Journey with C.S. Lewis.

Speech is also, fittingly, mankind’s first act in the pages of Scripture. We are the image of a God who speaks a world into being and who asks us to speak so that we might draw that world into right relation and into rest. No matter that Adam, in that first moment of speaking, doesn’t find a helpmate among all the livestock, the birds in the sky, and all the wild animals (Genesis 2:20). By naming them, he sets all things in right relation; he ‘orders all things well’ (Wisdom 8:1) and so exercises that dominion, which is nothing other than an extension of the divine work of naming things into existence.

We are talking beasts, and our speech is not just a making audible of our intellect, not just a transmission in some medium or other. Speech is what renders truth in the service of love, and is what allows us to exercise our unique role of tending and keeping (cf. Genesis 1:26, 28; 2:8). The communion of this world, like the Trinitarian communion it images, is begotten and pre-served in speech, in the Word. And the failure of speech is the paradigmatic failure of humanity, and, for that matter, of all Talking Beasts.

There is a powerful and unique reason that our creation was crowned with the creative ability of speech.

John 1:1-3 BSB
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.”

I am quite certain you are familiar with this text due to its doctrinal familiarity in most believer’s matrix of ideas. Just as a quick review, it is incumbent to point out the interchangeability of the ‘Word’ and ‘Him’ in this text. The roots connected to the vast depths of theology based on the study of just the word, ‘Word,’ are too deep to swim. It would be the scholarly equivalent of the volume of Lake Michigan supplying hydration to a single oak tree. You likely already know that, ‘Word,’ is, ‘Logos,’ in Greek and is the objective of that Great Lake of thought.

Logos is the, ‘logic,’ of God. Note that the etymological roots of our English word, ‘logic,’ are derived from this term. In the context of biblical writers and readers, logos were often interpreted as the way to communicate the thoughts or ideas of the deepest places of a person’s psyche (soul, thoughts, personality, will). Greek philosopher Aristotle defined logos in his work Rhetoric, where he used logos to mean, “reasoned discourse,” specifically in the realm of public speaking. Jesus is the reasoned discourse or the expression of the logic of God. This is why the Christian tradition has placed near infinite value on The Word, but in an even greater application, the guarding of righteous and honest language.

Notice, the world around you has rejected logic and reasoned discourse in favor of propaganda, mass psychosis, fake news, and the redefinition of common language.

• Infanticide ≠ Health Care
• 2020 Elections ≠ Democratic Elections
• Selfishness ≠ Liberty
• Male ≠ Female
• Woke ≠ Awake
• News ≠ Real Information
• College Degree ≠ Intellectually Capable
• Progressive Morality ≠ True Morality
• Department of Justice ≠ Justice
• ‘Love is Love’ ≠ Love
• Contract ≠ Covenant
• Church-i-anity ≠ Christianity
• Feelings ≠ Truth

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The only way to access truth is through a worldview formed and undergirded by Biblical logos. This divine logos is the dictionary that defines what our Creator desires for the human experience to include and not include… and also how to navigate between the two.

1 Peter 1:20-21 ESV
Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God, Who is the Spirit of Prophecy was given to us so that we may know (experiential intimacy) the Truth by showing us the right interpretation. Mankind, through our individual will, is incapable of producing truth. The best we can do is ‘interpret’ the information around us and even that process requires divine assistance. The ‘woke’ world has found their version of ‘divine’ assistance through the father of lies.

“Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me!
John 8:43-45 BSB

The word ‘message’ that Jesus used above is logon. Jesus equated His message as the logos and the religious ‘woke’ of His day rejected His logic adamantly. Their understanding was hindered by their parental connection to the enemy of truth which connected them to lies by nature. Honestly, when I was younger there was an intellectual struggle within me regarding Jesus interchanging the devil as a liar and a murderer in the same statement. Do you see it?

When revelation dawned upon me it changed my logic. The reason murderer and liar are synonymous to Jesus is because a lie is the murdering of the truth, and murder is lying against the truth of life. When we, the children of the Father of righteousness, the Imagers of Jesus THE Truth, allow the Ape Shift to shift the language, the world no longer has access to the redemption because the truth has been changed into a lie. The laungauge around us matters. The langauge within us matters. The logos matters more today than ever before.

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.
Romans 1:25 BSB

We must resist the false prophets and their false prophecy that is going forth in persistence and repetition. The way you beat a persistent enemy is with persistent faith.

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Colossians 1:21-23 ESV

Stable and steadfast in faith. Faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, declared by true logos.

NIV – ‘established and firm’
KJV – ‘grounded and settled’
NASB – ‘established and steadfast’
GNT – ‘You must, of course, continue faithful on a firm and sure foundation, and must not allow yourselves to be shaken’

We must, of course, overcome. The Last Battle for Narnia and for Earth is being fought right now with words. Your words will empower darkness or light. Your fruit will promote truth or lies. Our culture will make each other faithful and persistent… or not.

Jesus wins the last battle in our book, and we are destined to win with Him. The Great Awakening is dawning and our victory is drawing nigh.

In Great Love and Courage,
Steve