This is part of a series. To read āIn Defense of Christian Romance,ā click here. Check back later for āIn Defense of Christian Horrorā and āIn Defense of Christian Fiction.ā
Magic. Dragons. Witches and wizards. Vampires. Zombies. Mythological beings. These words can cause some Christians to immediately write off a book as demonic, Satanic, immoral, or a waste of time. Hereās my defense of the genre.
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1. Beyond our understanding liesā¦
Remember when the earth was flat and we could fall right off?
Remember when flying was humanly impossible?
With a clap of my hands I can make light appear. There was a point in time where that would have been seen as magic. Now itās called tacky electronics. In fact thereās a lot of things so common now that are beyond historyās understanding.
Similarly, there are things believed in the past (falling off the earth) that seem preposterous now.Some fantastical elements can just be a shift in understanding. Suspend disbelief. This is the world that these people live in.
2. God is into the inexplicable
Do you know how many times God asks us to suspend disbelief in His book? Over and over and over. Dragons, leviathan, Sheol, ghosts, miracles, talking animals, animated detached hands, immortality, the āsons of Godā and ādaughters of menā creating Nephilim. Thereās some weird inexplicable things in there. And God seems just fine with His book having supernatural occurrences we canāt explain.
I especially love that thereās a ghost in 1 Samuel 28, and God doesnāt stop the story to say āHold it. This is not actually a ghost, but a demon masquerading as a ghost.ā That may or may not be the case, but thatās not the point of the story. Sometimes God tells the story and lets the story speak on its own, without worrying about what exactly is going on supernaturally.
Remember when Job is attacked by Satan? What is Godās response. Itās not, āOh well see here, Satan came to Heaven, I was asking if heād noticed your righteousness, and he challenged me.ā Instead He says, āWhere were you when I formed the foundations of the earth?ā It seems Godās point isnāt to explain all the inexplicable in the universe, but rather to say that there are things in this life weāll never understand ā and thatās okay with Him, in fact, itās His plan at least for now. To trust Him despite the weird, absurd, or confusing moments in life.
3. Some books, some peopleā¦
I stated this in defense of Christian Romance, and itās as true a statement in Christian Fantasy. I am not defending every book in the genre, but the genre as a whole. Some books that claim to be Christian are not, and should never be read by a Christian. Also, some people may have personal convictions that cause them to never read Christian Fantasy of any type, and Iām fine with that. In addition, Iām aware that overexposure or worship of the genre can be unhealthy, escapism in the sense of neglecting this world for fictional worlds. But donāt throw out the entire genre quite yet.
This post is not to argue over which books should not be read or which people shouldnāt read Christian Fantasy. Rather this is just some thoughts to start a discussion about the view of the genre as a whole.
4. In defense of magic in fiction
To be clear, I am talking about magic in the sense of witches, wizards, incantations, and the like. Supernatural occurrences that are inexplicable are not magic per se, and are fair game in my book, due to reasons 1 and 2 above.
Hereās my stance on magic. And I know you may disagree with me. Magic is evil according to the Bible. Magic is in the Bible, depicted as evil. I am completely fine with books having magic used by ābad guys.ā Iād even be okay with magic being used by āgood guysā if it was not the end-all be-all solution. Because that distorts the truth. As soon as ābad magicā and āgood magicā are pitted against each other, I canāt support the story personally. If there is magic used for bad purposes, I can totally read a book with that, because if I couldnāt then I wouldnāt be allowed to read the Bible. But I will not personally perpetuate the lie that magic can be good.
5. In defense of dragons
Iād say, āPoor dragons, why do they get such a bad rap?ā Except, I know why. Itās the whole Satan is depicted as a dragon in the Bible argument. In this case, it may seem that I would only be in support of dragons depicted as evil, just like magic in reason 4 above. Exceptā¦.
Instead let me say this. God never created a creature that is purely evil. There in fact, as far as I can tell, is not a single thing on this earth that is evil in and of itself. Everything was designed āgood,ā and then Satan comes along and messes things up. Humanity. Animals. Romance. Alcohol. Emotions. You may think you have a rebuttal by bringing up Satan and demons, but remember what they once were? Angels. Designed for good, but chose bad.
So donāt count dragons as always evil ā give them a choice like angels and humans, or have them live in this fallen world as animals groaning for the restoration of creation, but donāt make them all evil. Or, if you make them all evil, have them be Satanās spawn or something I guess. But the point is, they donāt have to be all evil. They can be good creatures in story without the story being demonic.
6. In defense of Damon, Klaus, the Byronic Hero, and the Anti-Hero
Vampire Diaries (the TV show) just happens to be one of my obsessions. And who do I root for? Damon and Klaus. There was a point where I wondered if this was a problem. That maybe I liked the idea of having an excuse for evil behavior, a reason that being bad can be acceptable or even justified.
You may have a similar issue with this new anti-hero fad (Wicked, Maleficent, Once Upon a Time, and other villainsā stories explained) or with vampires or creatures that go against a certain moral standard. I prayed about this and even stopped watching Vampire Diaries for a time.
I received my answer a few different ways. Hereās a new perspective of this phenomena.
⢠Hurt people hurt people
⢠The Misty Edwardās song: āFor all men are broken/And broken men break their children/Who grow up to be broken menā
⢠We all have a fallen nature in us, we all have a tendency towards wickedness until redeemed
You see, the reason I root for Damon and Klaus is because they own their bad choices. They arenāt afraid to admit it. Stefan, Matt, Caroline, Elena ā often they act as if their choices are good when theyāre just as broken as the rest. My qualm was not with them choosing good, but with them pretending to be better than they are.
Just something to think about when you encounter a fallen creature in a story. What is this story saying? Could the theme actually be Scriptural, even when the character is not?
7. Speaking of vampiresā¦.
Funny how some creatures get special dislike from Christians. Not just that itās a waste of time to read about them because theyāre fictional, but that theyāre inherently evil, perhaps even demonic.
Iām speaking specifically of vampires with this defense, because thatās where the dislike most commonly manifests right now, but this can be the case for many a mythological creature.
The mythology of vampirism is that theyāre humans turned immortal surviving off of the blood (life) of others. We can see why this is unScriptural. I would not argue that this creature is holy and pure by any means. But there is a Christian perspective to this mythology that can bring clarity and depth to these stories.
This is what I think is the strength of vampire stories. A new way of seeing the Romans 6 struggle. For instance, my favorite vampire fix would be Vampire Diaries. On the show, some vampires drink animal blood, some drink āfreshā human blood, from the vein. Others only drink from āblood bags,ā taking from blood donation locations and hospitals. Some vampires have embraced this part of their new life, while others are wracked by shame and contempt for the very nature they canāt seem to escape.
Just as humans daily have a struggle between their sin nature and the glory God has designed us for, vampires have a struggle between their vampirism and their humanity ā restoring what was lost in them. You see, vampires for the most part haveĀ NOT chosen this lifestyle;Ā like humans are born with aĀ sinful nature and choose to sin, vampires are forced into a vampiricĀ nature and must make their choice from there.
Each of these ādietaryā choices come with their own dilemmas at different times. The shame and guilt of breaking your own standards. The problem of stealing blood from hospitals. The manipulation of drinking from the vein. And what if the strength of animal blood is not enough to fight off an enemy, and the friend tells you that you should drink from their vein ā is it okay then, to save your friends? You see what Iām getting at ā no longer black and white issues, but daily areas that appear so grey at times.
Itās easy to say āThou shall not stealā and the set standards of living for God. The day-to-day living gets harder to see where the black and white is. I thought of this when I read āThe Land of Storiesā and the brother lies to his teacher to help his sister. The narrator says āit was the wrong thing to do as a student, but the right thing to do as a brother.ā I wonāt say whether that is justified in Godās sight or not. Iām just saying getting into the gnitty-gritty of life, sin gets a little confusing. And vampirism shows this struggle with a new perspective ā a little more distanced, but also a little deeper. Vampirism is an analogy for humanityās inward life in many ways.
8. Iām so lost I donāt like Lost anymore
And herein lies so many peopleās problem with the tv show Lost. Let me be clear ā I am obsessed with Lost. Iām completely fine with its unanswered questions and layer upon layer of whatās really going on. Because thatās the point of Lost. That thereās always something you canāt understand, thereās always more going on than meets the eye, thereās always unanswered questions (see my reason 2 above.)
Switch to something more Scriptural. If you recall, thereās this thing where weāre supposed to worship God for eternity and never get bored, because thereās always something more to discover. And the apostolic prayer from Ephesians about āknowing the love that surpasses knowledge.ā Some things arenāt meant to be explained. Thereās always going to be something more. So in the case of vampires, zombies, mermaids, faeries, hobgoblins, will-o-the-wisps, time-travel and parallel universes ā just enjoy the mystery. Donāt explain away how they arenāt real, because yeah, thatās not the case (or is it? Muahaha.) Enter the story and enjoy the inexplicable for what it is. Or donāt read it, if itās not your thing.
9. We donāt fight against flesh and blood
Ephesians 6 describes a supernatural war that is going on that we are a part of. This can be seen all throughout the Bible, I would say especially in Revelations, where crazy crazy stuff goes down. Sometimes itās easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, to forget the battle that is going on around us that we canāt see. More importantly, itās easy to forget about the battle that we are constantly a part of. Weāre called to something great and epic, beyond this flesh and bones daily living stuff.
I donāt know about you, but reading a story so much bigger than one character ā especially if it includes elements I donāt see in daily life ā reminds me of the life Iām called to, the life Iām daily living and so easily forget about. It sparks the need to be a part of this invisible supernatural battle ā because we are natural beings, but we are also supernatural beings. And itās war time.
What do you think? Tell me in the comments below.
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