King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.
Shedrach, Meshach and Abednego, 6th c. BC
Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things - trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia.
Puddleglum to the White Witch, Narnia: The Silver Chair
I would call such zeal a farce if it were misdirected and insisted on something like "I believe shoes are living organisms". I would also not quote from a random piece of fiction except that C.S. Lewis intended Narnia to be an allegory of Christ, people and the Kingdom of God. But I am convinced that God exists and has reached down to us. I want to be able to bank everything on him - him or nothing...to have a faith in him that is courageous and big enough to trust in his infinitely bigger being. And to live my short time here according to what I know he wants me to do.
