The Lion of Judah and the King of Pride Rock An overview of Christian Principles in Disney's 'The Lion King' By Tim Stoffel Abstract The Walt Disney company has been openly criticized in recent times by Christians who claim that much of their entertainment material contains objectionable anti-Christian material. While there may be merit to this claim, it is not the purpose of this paper to discuss this issue. Instead, this paper will look at the substantial amount of Christian principles and symbols that appear in one of Disney's most sucessful films, 'The Lion King'. This paper will also look at the importance of lions as symbols in the bible and in our mainstream culture. It will also explore the significance of 'the circle of life'. Contents 1. Introduction. 2. Lions as symbols. A. Lions as symbols in mainstream culture. B. Lions in the bible. 3. The Circle of Life. A. The circle of life as a scientific principle. B. Does the circle of life convey a Christian message? 4. Christian Principles in 'The Lion King'. A. What 'The Lion King' is not. B. Rafiki C. The presentation of Simba D. Scar E. The great kings of the past... F. 'Hakuna Matata' G. Simba encounters Mufasa's ghost. 1. Simba and Rafiki. 2. Symbiology in the encounter. 3. What Simba learns afterwards. H. Good vs. Evil: The final battle. I. The presentation of Kiara. 5. Conclusion 1. Introduction Since the earliest times of Man's existence, we have revered lions as symbols of power, courage, strength and majesty. Why is this? I propose a number of reasons: 1. Lions have a regal appearence. The majestic mane of the male lion suggests strength and authority. The large teeth suggest a decisive finality in whatever action he chooses to take. The rest of the animal is also large and powerfully built, further reinforcing the 'strength and authority' message. 2. Lions are predators. They eat other aminals. In order to to this, the animal they eat must die. Killing another organism is a very final act, especially if it is a higher animal, like the large mammals lions prefer as food. The eating process is also quite gruesome, and it reminds us how frail we really are. Another aspect of lions as predators is that of judgement and justice. Since lions kill their food, they can be seen as having capital authority over other animals. Combine this with their regal appearance, and you have an animal that exudes authority and can execute capital justice. Indeed, mankind has used lions to execute criminals for centuries. 3. Lions are strong. A lion can easily drag an animal much heavier than themselves. They have been reported to be able to break a zebra's back with a carefully-placed swat of their paw. Few animals have the strength or bulk to stop a lion's charge. This goes along with their appearance, and reinforces the air of authority they carry. 4. Lions are vulnerable. Although this was not so much the case in antiquity, today we know how easy it is to wipe out the top predator of an ecosystem. Simply disrupt a lower level of the system, and it will affect the top predator more than any other animal. Lions are the top predator in much of Africa, and they are protected in most places. However, man's disruption of habitat is rapidly destroying much of the remaining 'lion country' that is not part of a park or game reserve. Indeed, we will have to take care of what remaining habitat there is if our kids want to be able to see lions in the wild. Although not to the same extent as tigers, lions are symbols of vanishing wildlife. Let's now look at how these qualities affect how we see lions as symbols. 2. Lions as symbols In antiquity as well as today, lions held a special significance as animals. Let's look at some of these instances. We will first look at the significance of lions in mainstream culture. Then we will look at the very special case of the bible. 2.A. Lions as symbols in mainstream culture In ancient Egypt, there was a city, located in the Nile delta area, called Leontopolis. The name literally means 'City of the lions'. It was said that Leontopolis was home to a cult of lion worshippers. There were reports of elaborate funerals held for dead lions. Yet, I am not aware of any lions having been sacrificed. Perhaps their regal nature made them sacred. Kings and other authorities have long recognized the authority coveyed by the symbol of the lion. It often appears on royal seals or coats of arms. Some kings raised lions because of their regal nature. Others used them to dispatch their enemies or criminals. They were also often the only people who could afford the significant cost of their upkeep! There is also one story of a great warrior who had a lion run with his horse in battle. To say the least, the lion was very effective! We have named two constellations after lions, namely Leo and Leo Minor. Leo is one of the most easily recognized of the constellations, just behind Orion. This is because it is one of the few constellations that actually looks like what it's named after. Most cultures have always considered this star pattern to be a lion. Leo Minor, which is betwwen Leo and Ursa Major, is difficult to spot, and even more difficult to recognize as a lion. Lion parts are often held to have special meanings above and beyond their practical value. Some African tribes beleive that eating a lion's heart will impart strength. (It is interesting to note that a lion's heart is rather small for it's body size.) The Egyptians belived lion fat would make hair grow, especially on bald people. Adornments made from lion parts are popular, again due to the strength/majesty/predatory nature of the animal. You don't see this sort of thing much anymore, as lions are protected from hunting in most places. Interestingly enough, lions are now farmed for food in a couple of places. However most lion meat raised this way is used for (legitimate) medicinal or gourmet purposes. (This also provides a small, but renewable source for other lion parts, such as skin, claws, teeth, etc. that are used for adornment and decoration.) There are no spiritual motives I know of that drive consumption of lion meat. In a few places yet in Africa, lions are still occasionally hunted for food. However, no significance is attached to having lion for dinner then over any other meat. It's simply what was caught that day. Lions play an important part in architectual decoration. They are frequently seen as motifs on large and imposing buildings. Stone lions grace the entryways of public facilities, as well as many homes. Some architectual lions have become very famous, like the ones on the steps of the New York Public Library. The corporate world uses lions as symbols of strength. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer uses the lion as a symbol at the beginning of each of their films. Their casino in Las Vegas also features a large lion's head that was recently reconstructed. Konica Corporation is widely known to use lions to promote it's office machinery product line. Southco corporation, a major manufacturer of mechanical fasteners, started out with a strong, easy to operate fastener they called the lion fastener. A car dealer in Northeast Wisconsin used a large lion's head in a message to prospective customers that they were sincere in their statement that they want to give you good value and service. Sports teams at all levels often use the lion as their mascot or team name. Probably the best known example of this is the Detroit lions football team. Lions are often used as characters in stories, especially stories that convey a strong moral message. Examples of this are Aesops Fables, 'The Chronicles of Narnia' by C.S. Lewis, and even 'The Lion King', which we are looking at here. In most of these stories, lions convey strong positive moral qualities, such as courage, strength, endurance, etc. Only occasionally are they are used to convey negative moral messages, such as greed, etc. Lions appear frequently in art of all kinds, where they serve as symbols of strength, courage, dignity, judgement, etc. Sometimes, they also symbolize peace. Indeed, one popular art symbol that shows up time and time again is that of the lion and the lamb. This symbolizes the lion-lamb duality of Jesus (Rev. 5:5-6), as well as a symbol of peace between adversaries (Isa 11:6-9, 65:25). If you survey young childern as to what their favorite animal is, a very significant percentage will choose the lion. I suspect more of them will choose the lion than any of the well-publicized endangered species, such as the tiger. This shows that our reverence of the lion goes back to some of our most foundational values. If you see a depiction of Noah's ark, there is a very good chance that one of the pairs of animals pictured will be lions. 9 out of 10 such depictions I have seen contain lions! 2.B. Lions in the Bible We will begin this examination by looking at a passage near the end of the bible. In this, we will begin to see the real reason why lions are given the respect that they enjoy. In Revelation 4:6-7, it states: 'and before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.' Rev. 4:6-7 NAS We see here that one of the creatures before God's throne was like a lion. We also see this description in the book of Ezekiel, where the throne of God is again seen: 'Each of them had four faces and four wings...As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man, all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle.' Eze. 1:6,10 NAS The beings were a bit different here, but they still had lion's faces. It is also interesting to note the lion's face was on the right side. The right side of anything in scripture is associated with authority and power. We again return to the book of revelation. There we find a most important passage in chapter 5 concerning Jesus: 'and one of the elders said to me, 'stop weping; behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and it's seven seals.' ' Rev 5:5 NAS In the very next verse, Jesus makes his appearence, not as a lion, but as a lamb. This is the likeness he assumed when He died for our sins. Jesus the lion operates in strength, majesty and power. This is the Jesus who will judge the world. Jesus the lamb operates in weakness and submission. This is the Jesus who died as a sacrifice for our sins, and rose again for our redemption. Lions are important to God. All in all, the word lion or it's derivitives are used 154 times in the bible. The lion is the most frequently mentioned non-domestic animal in the bible. My suspicion is that God chose the likeness of the lion to convey to us a bit of His character. This is the real reason we have always seen power and authority in this animal. There is even an African tribal proverb which states: 'Lions contain a piece of God'! One of the good things I see in this is that we will have lions in heaven! God uses lions in a lot of ways. One way He uses lions is to indicate power and strength in a person or people. In the blessing Jacob gives to his son Judah, God says this: 'Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.' Gen 49:9-10 NAS This passage clearly establishes a link between the strength and bearing of a lion, with the leadership and authority Judah was to carry. Indeed, 'Shiloh' in this passage is a refrence to Jesus-- the Lion of the tribe of Judah! In Numbers, God speaks the following about the then-righteous nation of Israel through the prophet Baalim: 'He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him? Blessed is everyone who blesses you, And cursed is everyone who curses you.' Num 24:9 NAS Note the similarity of this passage to the blessing on Judah in Genisis. God also uses lions to convey judgement. We will examine two passages that use lions this way. The first way is a rather pasive use: 'For I will be like a lion to Epharim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away, I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver.' Hos 5:14 NAS Here, God likens himself to a lion to punish the sins of now-sinful Ephariam and Judah. Now, let's look at a more active use of lions by God to judge sin: In 1 Kings 13, a prophet visits the altar the childern of Israel had erected in Samaria, against God's command. There he pronounces a curse upon the altar. The Lord tells him to leave Samaria, and not stop for any reason. However, an old prophet talks him into stopping for a while, and he does. While they were eating, the old prophet delivers the word of the Lord to the disobedient young prophet: '...'Thus says the Lord, Because you have disobeyed the command of the Lord, and have not observed the commandment that the Lord your God commanded you, but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you 'Eat no bread and drink no water'; your body will not come to the grave of your fathers.' ..... Now, when he had gone, a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body ws thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion ws also standing beside the body.' i Kings 13:22,24 NAS This lion was obviously obedient to the Lord, as the story goes on to describe how the lion waited patiently by with the slain prophet, and neither ate him or the donkey. The old prophet recovered the body and buried it in his own grave. God also stopped the mouths of lions. Daniel 6 records the well-known story of Daniel in the lions' den. It is too lengthy to quote here, but briefly it goes like this: Daniel was a faithful servant to the king of Media. However, some of Daniel's enemies got the king to pass a law that Daniel couldn't obey for religious reasons. In any case, because of the way that Medio-Persian law worked, Daniel had to be thrown to the lions even though the king knew no wrong had been done. Daniel was thrown into the lions' den. God sent an angel to stop the lions from harming Daniel. Afterwards, Daniel's accusers were thrown in to the lions' den and were instantly devoured. Lions were used to decorate various things in the bible. One of the most notable things was the throne of Solomon, the greatest king of Israel: 'Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold.There were six steps to the throne and a round top to the throne at its rear, and arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms. And twelve lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom.' 1 Kings 10:18-20 NAS Lions have been used in extrabiblical Chrisian literature, as well. The most notable example of this is 'The Chronicles of Narnia'. This 7 volume set, written by the well-known theologian C.S. Lewis, features a lion named Aslan as it's central character. Aslan is a type of Christ, and functions as Jesus in many of the stories. All of the books are loose paralells of biblical accounts. The most important one is in the second (originally the first) book of the series, 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'. In this book, Aslan must freely give his life in exchange for forgiveness of a disobedient child. In the end, he rose from the dead to take vengence on the forces of evil at work in the land of Narnia. Of course, this paralells the death and ressurection of Jesus. Although these books are written for childern, much of the detail in the story can only be appreciated by an adult reader. 3. The Circle of Life Central to the story of 'the Lion King' is the concept of the 'circle of life'. We will take a brief look at this concept to see what it is really about. 3.A. The Circle of Life as a Scientific priciple The circle of life is not a wild, new age idea dreamt up for 'the lion king'. It is a valid scientific principle. In fact there are several closed or semi-closed cycles that make life on earth go on. Let's look at these. The first cycle, an open one, is the energy cycle. If you look at it from a broad perspective, one of the functions of life on our planet is to make use of all the energy the sun radiates onto the surface of this planet. Plants absorb this sunlight, and convert sone of it into chemical energy in the form of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Plants are not 100 percent efficient, and some of the solar energy input to the palnt is reradiated as heat. Now, an animal eats the plants. It's body extracts chemical energy from the plant, and this energy operates it's body. In the process, the animal's body stores some of this energy as fat, protein and carbohydrates. The remainder of the energy is radiated as heat. Now, this animal is eaten by another animal. The energy stored in the first animal's body now provides energy to operate the second animal's body. Some of this enegrgy is stored for lean times, the rest is also radiated as heat. At each step along this path, energy is obtained from the level of life below that of the organism being considered. Less and less energy is available the higher you go. This is why plants are everywhere, many animals feed on these plants, and relatively few animals feed on the first group of animals. This relationship is called a food chain. It is uncommon to go much beyond two levels in the food chain. Ultimately, all of the sunlight energy orignally captured by the plants is reradiated as heat. This heat is eventually lost into space. The second cycle we will look at is more closed than the energy cycle. It is the carbon cycle. All life is possible on this planet because of unique properties of the element carbon. Cabon is capable of covalently bonding with itself or practically any other element in a nearly limitless number of ways. It is this divesity which makes living organisms possible, thus the chemistry of carbon is called organic chemistry. The cycle starts assuming that there is a certain amount of a gas called carbon dioxide in the air. Plants take in this gas, and use the sun's energy to split it into carbon and oxygen. Most of the oxygen is released back into the enviroment. Meanwhile, the plant is also using the sun's energy to split water (dihydrogen monoxide) into oxygen and hydrogen. Most of the oxygen is released into the enviroment. So, you now have carbon, hydrogen and oxygen available to make carbohydrates and fats. Add some nitrogen (more on this later), and you can make protein as well. Now, an animal comes along and eats the plant. The animal's body will now take oxygen from the air and combine it with hydrogen atoms stripped from carbohydrates and fats. This process produces energy-- lots of it. (and water!) The animal's body runs on this energy. Some of the excess carbon from this process is combined with oxygen to create more energy. This is dumped into the enviroment as carbon dioxide. A good deal of the carbon stays for a while in the animal's body, performing non-energy-production-related tasks. Most of it is eventually recycled, and is eliminated as carbon dioxide. When the animal dies, all the carbon in it's body is released back to the enviroment in various forms as the animal decomposes or is consumed by scavengers. If the animal is eaten, the carbon structures that made up it's metabolic machinery are no longer needed in their intact form. Instead, they are broken down for energy or to build new structures in the predator or scavenger's body. Ultimately, most carbon makes it back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, which is used by the plants. The most closed cycle, and the one that can honestly be considered as a 'Circle of life' is the nitrogen cycle. Carbon might be the key element to life, but nitrogen is the element that makes most of the chemical reactions that constitute life possible. There are two important classes of nitrogen containing organic chemicals. The first is nucleic acids. These substances carry the genetic information that describes the organism. In modified forms, they are also the substances that transport energy around in the cell. Because of their extreme importance, all living cells can synthesize all the nucleic acids they need to survive. They will no longer be considered here. The other class of nitrogen-containing organic substances is amino acids. There are 21 of these amino acids. They are building blocks for the most important class of organic compounds, the proteins. Under the control of long-chain nucleic acids, such as DNA, amino acids are connected in long chains to form protein molecules. Proteins can either be structural such as keratin (fingernails and hair) or catalytic enzymes (hemeglobin in blood, myosin in muscle). There are two problems with amino acids: 1.) Only plants can make most of the amino acids, and 2.)The nitrogen to make them is in short supply. Nitrogen makes up 78 percent of the air we breathe. It exists in it's datomic state, each atom bonded to it's mate with an otherwise-very-rare-in-nature triple bond. This bond is so hard to break that there are only a few bacteria that can do it. Some plants, such as the soybean, has these bacteria living in their roots. This is why soybeans are so rich in protein. Most plants need nitrogen that has been already split up supplied to them. (Lightning is one of the few natural forces that also splits nitrogen molecules. You can often smell the nitric acid in the air after a thunderstorm. That's why plants love thunderstorms!) For the moment, let's assume nitrogen is available to a grass plant in a suitable form. It takes it in, and makes amino acids from nitrogen, carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. (Sulfur is required, too, but it's role is not important to the topic of this paper.) Now, we'll assume, for the instant topic of this story, an antelope comes along and eats the grass. Animals are mainly made of protein, whereas plants are mainly made of carbohydrates. The amino acids from the plant are incorporated into the antelope's body to make new protein. The antelope's body can synthesize the few amino acids it needs, that the plants it eats cannot supply. However, many amino acids needed by the antelope can only be made by a plant. Therefore, an antelope's life depends on it's vegetarian diet. A hungry lion sees the antelope, catches it and eats it. Lions and other predators have even more severe protein requirements than their prey, as their body is adapted to getting all of it's amino acids from it's food. (Remember the Lysine Contingency from 'Jurassic Park'? Without the amino acid Lysine, all the dinosaurs would die. Guess what? Humans (and all other mammals) are Lysine-dependent as well. Luckily, Lysine is widely avilable from both plant and animal sources. The dinosaurs would have survived just fine without Lysine supplements!) Although the lion can synthesize some amino acids in it's body, it's less than what their prey can synthesize. In any case, the nitrogen originally picked up by the plants is now safely stored in the lion's body in the form of protein. The lion's life depends on it's diet of other animals. A week later, the lion drops dead for some reason in the middle of a grassy field. Although scavengers come along and eat most of his body, some of it is left behind. It decomposes. In the process, the nitrogen in his remains is released, and the rain washes it into the soil. This nitrogen is in a form easily useable by the grass plants around him, and is used to make all new amino acids. The nitrogen from the parts of his body eaten by scavengers is eventually returned to the enviroment by urine and feces. (Urination is the primary way your body gets rid of unneeded or waste nitrogen. Predator feces, especially lion feces are so rich in protein that vultures seek them out and eat them!) This helps plants nearby to obtain more nitrogen. What has happened here is that the body of the dead lion has literally become the grass! An antelope comes along and eats the grass, and the circle of life continues..... 3.B. Does the circle of life convey a Christian message? The answer to this is yes and no. There is no overt principle at work here, as there are in other parts of the story. If you think about it though, there are some edifying ideas surrounding the circle of life. First of all, the complex systems that make up life as we know it are a witness of God. The more we understand life at the molecular level, the more we realize God had to be involved. 'For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.' Rom 1:20 NAS The more we dig into God's creation, the more we see His handiwork! Another principle derived from the circle of life is how much we need each other. Although we don't need to be eating each other, we all need each other to grow spiritually in the Lord. Indeed, this quickly ceases to be a circle, but it grows into a network: 'but spspeaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.' Eph. 4:15-16 NAS The other question is: Does the circle of life communicate an anti-Christian message? Not really. It can be argued that the circle of life is a purely physical process, without spiritual signifance. But, it is significant, as we are just as dependent on it's proper functioning as the animals are. This means we need to practice enviromental responsibility as part of fufilling the charge God gave us in Genisis to 'subdue the earth and rule over it'. 4. Christian principles in'The Lion King' With some of this background material out of the way, let's take a closer look at 'The Lion King' and see what we can learn from it. Most of the material here concerns itself with the animated feature film. However, there is also some material here that covers events in the Broadway Musical version of 'The Lion King'. Although this play closely paralells the film, more time is taken to develop the characters and explore their inner workings. I also have a few notes in here relating to 'Simba's Pride', the sequal to 'The Lion King'. I have seen it only once, and need to see it a few more times before I can fully elucidate the principles that are at work in it. 4.A. What 'The Lion King' is not The first fact that must be established is that 'The Lion King' is NOT a Christian film. It never was one, and it will never will be one. 'The Lion King' does not communicate the gospel! It was written mainly by nonbelivers, and it's worldview reflects to a large extent the prevalent average nonchristian worldview that existed in the mid 1990's. The producers of the film, as is the case for most Disney features, wanted the film to be neutral from a spiritual standpoint. They did not succeed, because the beliver can discern spiritual things the nonbeliver will never see. However, what they did succeed in doing was including a bigger dose of Christian truth than is usual for this type of film. Indeed, we will see that one of the central themes in the story is something that every Christian needs to stop and remember from time to time! The producers do freely admit,however, that they borrowed heavily from Jewish and Christian classic stories when putting material together for the story. Indeed, the story reflects a 'coming of age' (less the evil uncle!) development path that would be reasonably normal in any culture that is predominately Judeo-Christian. Like nearly everything else that has been produced by Hollywood for the past decade or so, a strong new age presence can be sensed in 'The Lion King'. Indeed, many Christians I have discussed the film with indicate that 'The Lion King' represents the limit of new age contamination that they will accept. They also indicate that Disney features produced after 'The Lion King' have crossed the threshold of acceptability and that they will not be added to their collections. I have seen exactly one post Lion King feature, and that was 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'. I was quite disappointed from a Christian perspective, as parts of the film were downright satanic. (Read the original Victor Hugo book sometime. It's even worse. It shows how corrupt the church can become if there aren't proper checks and balances.) We will examine the new age influence as we encounter it in our survey of the film. As a final note, I ran across a Lion King fan club that calls themselves 'The First Church of Simba'. They even have a statement of doctrine, a statement of sin, and a '10 suggestions'. When I checked this out, I found that most everything was actually a farce of genuine 'religion', and not intended to be taken seriously. (And parts of it are quite humorous!) They have just one thing in their 'beleif system' that is worth noting. They refer to it as 'TLKiaWOL' principle (The Lion King is a Way Of Life). Although this starts to sound like a lifestyle principle, it is really something quite different. The following quote is the central principle of TLKiaWOL: 'My view of 'The Lion King' is that it is an annointed message, if not prophecy, in parable form for those who have ears to listen.' This quote is from an unknown Lion King fan. As we shall see, there is definitely an 'annointed message' in some parts of the story! There are also those who have claimed that 'The Lion King' has changed their lives. I read one of these testimonies (Thankfully, there are not many!), and I din't see in it a life-changing event anywhere near that of becoming a Christian. Instead, I suspect the film brought on a strong realization of the roles we need to play in adult society, and that we do indeed have to embrace this. It is simply the 'coming of age' that the story of 'The Lion King' is all about. In any case, it is easy to see that 'The Lion King's spiritual and/or intellectual impact is not trivial. This may be part of the reason it became the mega-hit that it did. 4.B. Rafiki In the course of examining the story, a couple of the film's characters deserve a closer look. The most notable of these is Rafiki. Rafiki in the film is a Mandrill (A type of Baboon). He is identified as a Shaman in Disney's writings about 'The Lion King'. A shaman is defined in the dictonary as a priest who practices Shamanism or a magician. It also applies to a North American Indian Medicine Man. Shaminism is a very loose definition for a religion where the Shaman is the connection between the spirit world and the physical world, and spirits work only through the Shaman. Another definition, perhaps the popular definition of a Shaman is simply a Priest. A Priest is simply someone who mediates between God and Man. We also need to remember that as Christians, God works through all of us, not just the Clergy. (Clergy is a loose definition here for leaders of a religious sect.) Christianity is definitely not Shaminism by any measure! (An overreliance on the Clergy system is the principal sin of the Nicolaiatins mentioned in Revelation 2:6.) We will also see this point brought out later in the development of the story. Although Rafiki is generally not doing anything spiritually objectionable from a Christian standpoint, there are a couple of things he does that deserve a closer look. (Rememebr, this is NOT a Chirstian film!) The first of these, which is not covered in the story anaylisis, is the detection of Simba by Rafiki. As we recall from the story, Simba is brought into a situation where he remembers what happened in the canyon with his father. Totally frustrated, he flops down in some leaf litter. The wind carries this litter to Rafiki, who catches it. From this litter, he deduces that Simba is alive and well. At the first, you might think Rafiki is practicing divination with the tortise shell. Instead, if you watch closely, he is using all physical processes to deduce Simba is still alive. Rafiki apparently spends a great deal of time studying what blows around in the wind. He grabs a handful of the litter and throws it in a tortise shell. He then shakes the shell around. This process would tend to seperate the components of the litter by their density. People panning for gold do this all the time. He sees something, and then sticks his nose into the shell. When he pulls it out, he says 'Simba?' Rafiki obviously found some lion hairs in the litter. He smelled them, and they smell like Simba. (Wild lions have quite a strong smell!) So, he used physical processes and natural senses to discover Simba is still alive. No divination was practiced. The 'Litter in the wind' thing appears again in the opening scene of the sequal to 'The Lion King', 'Simba's Pride'. Here, the dedication of Kiara (Which closed the first film) is revisited. If it has a significance here, it may be like that of the Holy Spirit. The litter is seen blowing around all of the characters, animals, etc. Indeed, the opening music is 'He lives in you', borrowed from the Broadway Show version of 'The Lion King'. The second item we will discuss when we get to the part of the story where Simba encounters his father. 4.C. the presentation of Simba This is the monumental and memorable scene with which the movie opens. The animals gather at pride rock. Baby Simba is annoited by Rafiki, and presented to the assembled menagerie. The animals respond in a manner that is both solemn and joyus. Many people consider this scene riddled with new age symbolism. In fact, what is symbolic in this scene is deeply scriptural. First of all, we see Rafiki shaking his passion fruits over Simba's head. He isn't saying anything when doing this. Simba responds like any other feline; he tries to play with them. This is not a spell or a blessing; Rafiki is only trying to 'play with the baby'. Next, Rafiki cracks open one of his passion fruits, and smears some of the liquid on Simba's forehead. He then smears sand on top of this. This process is nothing else than annointing Simba as a future king. We see this happen several times in in the bible: 1 Sam 10:1, 16:12-13, 1 Kings 1:38-39, 19:15-16, 2 Kings 9:1-3, 11:12, 23:30. David was even annointed as a child, many years before he actually took the throne. I have not identified any symbolism in the use of both passion fruit juice and sand as annointing materials. When Simba is presented to the assembled animals, their response is first one of obscience. We do this today with heads of state. The next reaction of the animals is one of celebration. Even though this new king is expected to eat many of his subjects, they are nevertheless happy he will be the next king. Incidently, the chant 'Ingonyama 'engwe namabala' sang over and over in the music means literally: 'Here is a lion and a tiger'. 4.D. Scar Scar is the most evil villian that has appeared in a Disney feature up to 'The Lion King', and perhaps the most evil villan ever. His twisted character displays just about every kind of reprobate behavior there is. Luckily, we don't see any overtly satanic activity from Scar. We didn't see any sexual behavior, either, but this was introduced in the Broadway play. (Scar triesto seduce, and failing that, force Nala to be his queen. She dosen't let him do it, and instead flees the pridelands. This is how she got looking for help outside the pridelands.) Scar performs easily recognized acts of greed, rebellion, murder, lying, hate, treason, sedition, deception, mercilesness, arrogance and pride. He sides with the lion's mortal enemies, the hyenas. (Hyenas and lions really do have a deep seated hatred for each other, and will not pass up an opportunity to kill each other.) He twists even the truth to his own ends. He thinks nothing of killing even other family members. Scar does not have a single redeeming quality. (He probably didn't even taste good to the hyenas, who normally relish lion meat!) This is one bad actor! Sadly, however, Scar is one of the most popular characters among 'Lion King' fans. There are more fan groups for Scar than there is for any other character. On the flipside, however, when you find 'Lion King' merchandise at closeout stores, it isn't usually Simba, Nala, Mufasa, etc., but rather Scar. I guess his reputation follows him. As we will see later on, Simba functionally forgives Scar, and gives him ample opportunity to repent, which he nearly accepts. But, just like Pharoh of Egypt, Scar's heart is hardened one last time, and it costs him his life. 4.E. The great kings of the past.... If there is a place where there is a noticeable new-age presence in 'The Lion King', this is it. We learn form Mufasa that the great kings of the past live in the stars (i.e., they are spirits) and they will be there to guide you when you need them. This, of course, is similar to the new-age concept of spirit-guides. Although we see this principle stated, it dosen't work out quite that way in practice. When we finally do see a 'great king of the past' in the sky, it is Mufasa after he is murderd by Scar. No previous kings appear or are mentioned. This applies also to the sequal, 'Simba's Pride', where only Mufasa appears a couple of times. On only one of these instances in 'Simba's Pride' does he communicate with those in the land of the living. We'll skip ahead for a moment, to the scene where Simba longs for his father. His longing comes forth as sort of a prayer, even though Simba certainly isn't praying. Sometimes, we as Christians pray when we don't realize it when we yearn for a godly thing or condition. Romans 8 tells us; 'And in the same way the Spirit helps our weakness; for we don't know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;' Rom 8:26 NAS It is very true that even those who are prayer-warriors don't know everything there is to know about prayer. Notice how the passage says 'for we don't know how to pray...', not 'for when we don't know how to pray...' .We always need the operation of the Holy Spirit to pray properly. There is a place in 'Simba's Pride' where Rafiki is trying to understand what must happen between Simba's daughter Kiara, and the outcast lion, Kovu. Mufasa communicates this to Rafiki not with a voice, not with divination, but with little suggestive physical actions that happen around him. This scene reminded me strongly of how God can communicate with us through little things, and a still, small voice. Despite it's roots in new-age, we see Mufasa develop into a personage that is a bit like God the Father, as well as the Holy Spirit. We will see this soon come to fruition when Simba encounters Mufasa in the sky. (I have the promotional poster from 'The Lion King' hanging over my computer. If you look carefully, wou can see Mufasa's face looking straight at you. When I see this, it reminds me of God the Father!) Incidentially, the name 'Mufasa' is a made-up name that has, as far as I have been able to research, no official meaning. I will propose here that the name 'Mufasa' means 'Father'. In the Broadway version of 'The Lion King', we see all of the principal characters developed more than we did in the film. We are reminded of Mufasa's 'humanity' (felinity?) at a point just before he is killed. Mufasa has just lectured young Simba after his adventure in the elephant graveyard. Mufasa and Zazu have a very touching conversation where Zazu reminds Mufasa how naughty he was as a cub. This helps establish Mufasa, even though he is king, as a very normal lion and not some sort of god. (This memorable scene, incidently, was a lucky afterthought. It is performed out front with the curtain closed. It was added at the last moment to give stagehands more time to set up the massive wildebeest stampede set!) 4.F. Hakuna Matata 'Hakuna Matata', of course means 'no worries' and is the care-free philosophy that Timon and Puumba live under in their jungle home. At first, it strikes one that this in not a particularly responsible way to live. And, the way that these two go about things, it certainly isn't. 'When the world turns it's back on you, turn your back on the world' says Puumba (I think) at one point in this mid-movie scene. Our responsibility as humans under God says that we need to be responsive to the situations around us. We also cannot just do what we want to do, and leave what we should be doing undone. This violates not only good principles of Godly living, but common decency as well. We probably all know unresponsible people who are like this. They are not pleasant people to be around. On the other hand, maybe there is some truth to 'Hakuna Matata'. That truth is this: God dosen't want us to worry! 'Humble yourselfs, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.' 1Pet 5:6-7 NAS This is a promise that all Christians struggle with to one degree or another. If we are truly trusting God, we will truly be in the state of 'Hakuna Matata'! 4.G Simba encounters Mufasa's ghost We have now reached the climax of the film in terms of the message it has to communicate. Everything following this powerful scene is simply a practical working out of what happens here. 4.G. 1. Simba and Rafiki I have previously mentioned the scene where Simba longs for his father. This comes across as sort of a prayer. In the Broadway version of 'The Lion King', there is a song here that really sums this up. It is written much like some of David's psalms, and the ending almost sounds like a verse straight out of Malachi! Here are a few verses of the song: Where has the Starlight Gone/Dark is the Day/How can I find my way home? Home is an empty Dream/Lost to the Night/Father, I feel so alone. REFRAIN: You've Promised you'd be there/Whenever I needed you/Whenever I call your name /You're not anywhere. I'm trying to hold on/Just waiting to hear your voice/One word, just a word will do/To end this nightmare. When will the dawning break/Oh endless night/Sleepless I dream of the day When you were by my side/Guiding my path/Father, I can't find the way. REFRAIN I know that the night must end/And that the sun will rise/And that the sun will rise. I know that the clouds must clear/And that the sun must shine/And that the sun must shine. These last lines are repeated over and over, in various forms. In any case, this is a beautiful prayer, and a beautiful assurance of hope. We have all cried out to God like this. We know God's sun will rise on us. The passage in Malachi I alluded to earlier is: 'But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip like calves in the stall.' Mal 4:2 NAS The 'sun of righteousness' here can be freely interpeted as 'the son of righteousness' as well. This passage was written at a very dark time in the history of Israel. They were about to start a 400 year period where the voice of God would not speak forth. Indeed, it was at the end of this time that 'son of righteousness' did rise, and He certainly had 'healing in his wings'! This song here, by using almost the same words, conveys the same hope when looked at from a Christian perspective. Incidently, this song was written by Julie Taymour, the woman who masterminded the Broadway version of 'The Lion King'. Of all the additions made to the original story, this is one of the best! In any case, we have arrived at the point in the story when Rafiki knows Simba is alive, and comes to find him. Simba at first dosen't want to be bothered by a wierd monkey singing an equally wierd song, but Rafiki says some things to change Simba's mind. (Incidently, the little song Rafiki sings: 'Asante sana squash bananna We we nugu Mi mi apana' is Swahili, and translates: 'Thank you very much for squashing my bananna. You're a Baboon and I am not'.) Rafiki now tells Simba (Assuming the lotus position) that he knows his father. This is pure new-age in the way it is presented, and is the most uncomfortable scene in the movie for me. Indeed, calling out spirits of the dead is witchcraft, and we all know what happened to Saul when he asked the Witch at En-Dor to call up the spirit of Samuel! (1 Sam 28:3ff) However, if we think of Mufasa as God the Father for the next few scenes, we can see some incredible truth in this encounter. First of all, Rafiki has Simba look at his reflection in a pool of water. At first, all he see is himself. But, after he really looks hard, he sees his father. This is an important thing we as Christians need to try to do every day: If someone looks at us, will they see us? Or, will they see Jesus, or the Father, or the Spirit? If they can see God in us, then our walk with God is having an impact on their life! 4.G.2. Symbiology in the encounter Now, we finally reach the dramatic scene where Mufasa appears in the sky to Simba. When we first start to be able to make him out, the image is negative, and almost ghastly. But, as the encounter continues, the image becomes positive, and soon fills in with color. At the end, Mufasa's image quickly fades, and the clouds build down to nothingness. Doring this time, Simba recieves a stern, but encouraging lecture about his place and responsibility: 'Look inside yourself, Simba.You are more than you have become', 'You are my son and the one true king','You must take your place in the circle of life', 'Remember who you are!' (Pharaphrased) Each of these statements is loaded with truth!! An important message from our loving Father in Heaven!! 'Look inside yourself...' One idea that prevades our society today, and one that is at the cornerstone of secular humanism, is the concept of 'beleiving in ourselves'. Of course, if we beleive in ourselves, this is self-worship, and is abomidable to God. However, we can also look inside ourselves and see the potential we have when God is in control. Indeed, I think that every Christian needs to see this potential in God, and know that we can be more than we have become! 'You are my son, and the one true king.' First, we need to filter out 'one true' out of this statement. We are all kings in Christ. And priests. And Sons! 'But you are A CHOSEN RACE, a royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, a PEOPLE FOR GOD's OWN POSESSION, that you may proclaim the excelliencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light:' 1 Pet 2:9 NAS 'And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals therof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.' Rev. 5:9-10 KJV 'But when the fulness of time came, God sent forth His Son, Born of a woman, born under the law, in order that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might recieve the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father!' Gal 4:4-6 NAS We see from the passage in 1 Peter, that we are to be, above all, priests- connecting between God and man as we pointed out in section 4.B. But more than priests-- royal priests. This implies we are kings! This is made very clear in the passage from Revelation. We are not only kings, we are expected to rule. But, we are kings under the authority of the King of Kings and rule only in His authority! In the Galatians passage, we find that we are also sons of the King, just as Simba was. However, we were adopted, not born into the royal family by the atoning work of Jesus on the cross! We must never forget these truths. As kings, we have authority to conquer principalities, move ahead the will of God, and use His power to His ends. When we forget we have this power, we let the 'scars' come in and diminish our effectiveness as Christians. As priests, we have the ability to intercede for others in prayer. We also have the ability to show God to others by way of a godly life. Finally, as sons, we have rights and priveliges to be in the royal palace-- the palace of God's will. There we find strength, protection, guidance, and companionship. What more could we ask? All Christians have these rights and responsibilities, not just a chosen few leaders. Our Father speaks this clearly to each of us. We don't need to contact God through others (As traditional Shaminism suggests, and this eliminates Rafiki from being a true Shaman.), but we can have direct contact with our Father, just as Simba does here with his. 'You must take your place in the circle of life.' As we saw in section 3, we are physically tied up in the circle of life, whether or not we want to be. This relates us to every other human being on the face of the planet. Since they are our brethern in blood, they have the right-- should they choose it-- to join us in salvation. One of our most important responsibilities as Christians is to be in the world enough to make a difference in the lives of others, a difference that will draw them to Jesus. If we keep the truth to ourselves, or withdraw from rubbing shoulders with our fellow man, we lose the ability to affect them in the way God wants to-- we've withdrawn from God's circle of life! 'The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance' 2 Pet 3:9 NAS 'Remember who you are!' We need to constantly remind ourselves who we are by staying in communion with God. This can be by prayer, by study, by meditating on God's truth, or by simply enjoying His presence. Here's where this great allegory breaks down. 'The Lion King' is only an animated movie. God is REAL and we can experience a REAL relationship with Him! 4.G.3. What Simba learns afterwards After encountering his father, Simba is almost convinced he needs to go back to Pride Rock and assume his place as king. One nagging problem still needs to be dealt with-- His precieved responsibility for Mufasa's death. Rafiki takes care of this in short order. Simba hung on to his past. He needed to let go of the past. Yet, the painful lessons of the past need to be remembered. 'Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.' 2 Cor 5:17 NAS When Jesus gives us forgiveness of our sins, we no longer have to hang on to our past and it's hurts. We can let them go to God, and in His mercy, He will make them go away. But, we have to make the choice to let them go. Mufasa wasn't mad at Simba for what happened in the gorge. Indeed, Simba had played just a small part. Although not stated, it can be implied that Simba was forgiven of any wrong that may have been done. Mufasa never mentioned anything about what happened in the gorge when he spoke to Simba. Nor was there any bitterness seen in Mufasa's dealings with Simba- only correction, exhortation and encouragement. Everything a good father would do! Often we need to forgive those who have wronged us. This is the only way that these hurts can ever be released to God. As long as we don't forgive, we will carry those hurts like so much baggage. 'Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven' Luke 6:37 KJV Rafiki then teaches Simba the other important part of this lesson-- learning from the past. He does this by hitting Simba over the head with his stick. The first time, Simba falls for it, and gets a bump to prove it. The second time, he sees the stick coming, and avoids it. He has learned from the past. He later applies this lesson as he goes to battle his uncle. Stephen, the first martyr, made a profound statement to the Jewish Council as part of his great testimony given in Acts 7. This is how he sums up his testimony: 'You men who are still-necked and uncircumsized in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteors one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become;' Acts 7:51-52 NAS Time and time again the Jewish leaders rejected what the prophets had to say. This was for various reasons, but most importantly, they didn't learn from their past. They kept doing the old, wrong things over and over, mainly due to sin in their lives. We as Christians need to learn from our past in order to break things that are detrimental to the propagation of the Kingdom of God. God can show us things we are blindly doing wrong. God's strnegth and grace are available to break old, destructive, sinful habits and traditions. With the help of God, our past can remind us not to go back the way we came! 4.H. Good Vs. Evil: The final battle We now come to the pivotal scene where Simba must fight Scar for the kingdom. This is a violent scene where great good and great evil collide. Some have criticized 'the Lion King' as being too violent. What we actually find in this scene is a great restraint from violence. It is Scar, in whom no good can be found at all, who is pushing for a fight. There isn't so much Christian truth here as there is a showing of Godly values. Just as an interesting note, real lions often fight to the death for control of a pride. Scar is so badly deluded by his power trip that he lives in fear. When Simba first announces his presence, Scar thinks it's Mufasa back from the dead! (Sarabi, Mufasa's former mate beleives this, too.) Scar has probably been expecting something like that to happen. In the Broadway Musical, there is an extension of the scene where Scar is in the cave with Zazu and the Hyenas. We get a sense here of how strong Scar's fear of Mufasa is. When Mufasa's name comes up in the course of conversation, Scar is so stricken that he starts to have visions of his brother. Zazu has to calm him down before he gets 'Another one of his splitting headaces'. 'A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him.' Prov 28:17 KJV Indeed we see here that a murderer will drive himself insane. Scar certainly does this to himself! Unfortunately, Scar figures out that it is not Mufasa who is approaching, but only Simba. Therefore, there is a good chance Simba can be defeated. Scar at first asks Simba who is responsible for Mufasa's death. Even though he only played a small part in it, Simba takes full responsibility. (I don't think Simba realizes yet that Scar killed his father.) In any case, Simba has been healed of his past! Scar tries to use this against this against him, but it dosen't work. Instead, Scar is slowly backing Simba into a place where he has no chance in a fight. In any case, it is Scar who makes Simba fall off the ledge. Scar then digs his claws into Simba's forepaws and prepares to pull him off, just like he did to Mufasa. It is now, with Simba at his mercy, that Scar tells him the awful truth about what happened in the gorge. Simba, who was not completely winded like his father was under these circumstances, is greatly angered by this truth. Summoning every ounce of strength that he has, Simba manages to spring free from this awful position, break Scar's painful hold on his paws, and pin Scar. Simba gets Scar to admit openly that he was the one who killed Mufasa. But, being the dirty doublecrosser he is, Scar manages to turn the tables on Simba once again. A great cat fight ensues, with Simba battling Scar, and the lionesses battling the hyenas. Eventually, Simba gets the upper hand, and has Scar cornered. Scar asks for mercy. Now, Simba gives Scar a chance to back down and leave the pridelands in exchange for his life. Scar accepts, but then double-crosses Simba one last time. Scar sweeps hot ashes from the now-burning pridelands into Simba's face. Scar jumps on Simba and another pitched battle ensues. Finally, Simba is on his back, with Scar above him (An extremely vulnerable position for a lion!). Scar makes a great leap to finish off Simba. In self defense, Simba (Who never had a chance to learn how to fight properly) does the only thing he knows how to do: put up all four feet and attempt to push Scar off when he lands. This works, and Scar's momentum carries him over the cliff edge. He falls, and lands. Not wounded as badly as you might beleive, it is the hyenas that finish Scar off. (He even lied to the Hyenas!) In any case, we see Simba gave Scar as much leeway to change his ways as possible. Scar was so deluded that he didn't want to give up even though he knew he was beat. This has application in our Christian lives: If we find we are opposing God for one reason or another, stop now before you sustain more damage! We also learn here that being truthful about wrong is better than trying to cover it up! 4.I. The presentation of Kiara The very last scene in the film is the presentation of Simba's nad Nala's first cub.( We now know that this cub is a female and that her name is Kiara. For some reason only known to Disney (And probably related to women's lib), a female is expected to lead where males have always led before.)(There was a female king of Judah, but she was evil. (2 Kings 11:1-16)) The animals rejoice, as before. What I want to talk about here is the music. This is obviously a celebration of new leadership. The zulu words used here charge the new ruler to rule the land (Busa lelizwe bo), Rule with peace (Lethu busa ngxolo)(Ubuse ngo xolo), rule with love (Ubuse ngo thando), etc. (I am extracting this information from the Broadway show soundtrack, but much of this is in the film, too.) These and similar terms are repeated over and over again. (Another term used repeatedly is 'Rule Simba! (Busa Simba)(Busa Simba yo)) However, there is a worship term that shows up once or twice in this music. Although not probably meant as worship terms by the writers or the context, they are nevertheless, there. The term is 'Ah, king of kings' (Oh busa nkosi bo). (I love this music, but in no way want to worship Simba!) The known occurence of it is in the descant, not the main melody line. Also, there is a line, again not in the main melody, but spoken along with the music, where the speaker says something like 'Lord of all'. Everything else this speaker says is zulu, so I kind of suspect that this is a zulu phrase that sounds like 'lord of all', but I have no basis to prove or disprove this. This is such a rambunctious, glorious celebration of beings that obviously revere and love their king (even though he has a habit of eating his subjects!), it makes me wish our Christian worship could be this wound up! 5. Conclusion 'The Lion King' is a timeless coming-of-age story whose astounding success rather surprised Disney. It has developed a life of it's own. It has spawned a sequel, a major Broadway show, (already called the most succesful Broadway show in history), and at least two TV series. Disney has made nearly a billion dollars on this film, and it might have been the funding source that allowed them to buy the ABC TV network and construct one of the world's most spectacular wild game parks. Even as a secular story created by worldly persons, it has much to teach us about living Godly lives and developing Godly character. I have written this to share my excitement about this with other Christians who are 'Lion King' fans, and perhaps get them to think a little bit about the film. I hope you are edified as much as I am! 'Remember who you are!' Tim Stoffel 11-22-98 Notes: All scripture quotes identified NAS are from the 'New American Standard Bible', Copyright 1977, The Lockman Foundation All scripture quotes identified KJV are from the King James Bible. The words to 'Endless Night' were used without permission, and have been slightly altered and significantly truncated. Although this paper exists here in it's more-or-less final form, I fully intend to improve upon it as I learn more, or find mistakes. Check back here every once in a while to see what's changed!