Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Final Judgement of Narnia (Part 2)

In our last post we quoted the mishna in Rosh HaShana as a parallel to Aslan's judgment of the creatures of the Narnian world by the stable door:

On Rosh HaShana (the Jewish New Year with a date of the first of the month of Tishrei), all creatures pass before Him like sheep [benei maron], as it is stated: “He Who fashions their hearts alike; Who considers all their deeds. (Psalms 33:15)”

As in Lewis' depiction, each creature passes individually and alone before God as He sits in judgment. 

Our open question was the prooftext from Psalms. What does it mean that, "God fashions their hearts alike"? Does that not contradict the individuality of the final judgment?

Perhaps one can answer that the prooftext is necessary to demonstrate that the judgment is fair in the first place. All humans are created on equal footing. No one is born good or bad and therefore all can be judged on the same scale. Those who hate God and violate his commands will be punished, while those who love Him and keep his laws will be rewarded. No one can excuse themselves because their heart leans towards evil - for God has fashioned their hearts alike. Together they are born, but because humans have the free will to act in ways that are good or evil, their paths will diverge as they live their lives. 

And so too in Narnia. The Talking Beasts are awakened as one and all can choose whether to adhere to Aslan's will or return to the ways of the Dumb Beasts. Thus, judgment is passed, individually, on them all. 

Following in this theme would then read the second part of the prooftext as follows: from that level starting point for all humans God considers their deeds and that is what determines (and makes fair) their final judgment. 

However, there is a Narnian (and realistic) challenge to this reading. Are deeds the only metric God uses to make His judgment? 

In the final chapter of Narnia, we find that one of those judged favorably by Aslan was one of those Dwarfs who had helped to shoot the Talking Horses. We remember what eventually happened to those dwarfs, they decided that the "dwarfs were for the dwarfs" and attacked the Calormen as well. Some (though perhaps not this one) were eventually thrown into the stable and were last seen there thinking it was a stable despite the kindness that Aslan himself attempted to bestow upon them. They had not realized that the door they were thrown through was the one to the Land of Eternal Life.

How was such a character found worthy? Aslan himself seemed to regard their cause as lost... 



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