A Question of Faith

[Androxine Vortex]

This problem has been bugging me the past few days and I wanted to share it with you and maybe get some help. This is a very personal and religious issue so please be respectful of my beliefs.

I am a Christian. I have been one for a long time. I have asked Jesus to be my Savior and for Him to forgive my sins. I also love writing. Ever since I could first read and write I made my own books and stories. It has always been my favorite hobby my entire life.

I took a look at some of my stories the other day and began to question them. Nearly all of them involve magic. The Bible specifically prohibits magic; no if, and or buts. But because I create a character that uses magic, I am in no way trying to promote my reader to go out and practice sorcery! Look at C.S. Lewis; he was a devout Christian but used magic in his stories. But his stories were also a metaphor for Christ.

I feel somewhat conflicted about writing fantasy. I love mythology and fantasy and in all of my fantasy novels (nearly all of them) they are heavily involved with pantheons that I created and magic systems and lots of war and violence. My stories aren't necessarily a metaphor for God such as Lewis's were. But I know that these things are purely fictional. They aren't real! I write these stories for entertainment purposes only.

This is my take on it: Alcohol is fine, just don't become drunk. Money is fine, just don't become greedy. Fantasy literature is fine, just don't lose sight of what is real. It's all about self-control. Jesus Himself drank wine, but he didn't become drunk. I write these novels that involve imaginary gods and magic but I know that they aren't real and am not trying to convince my readers that they are.

I have prayed hard about this for days. It is always on my mind. My stories have angels and demons and gods and divine figures and magic but in no way am I (intentionally) trying to denounce Jesus. LOTR was written by a Christian and it has a lot of "darkness" in it but in the end, good triumphs. Not all of mine end that way where everything is fine and dandy. The one story is about a renegade god that actually brings about the complete destruction of the world. Has anyone else had this issue? There is no definitive answer to this. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that you can not write fantasy literature. I think it comes down to what I think God is trying to tell me. But I have been really struggling with this.

[ThinkerX]

This is an issue I looked into for different reasons.

Put simply, all of the miracles attributed to Jesus, without exception, were in the popular mind of the day, considered to be within the capability of a competent pagan or jewish magician.

In terms of magical ability, the old line Egyptians and Babylonians (and their successors) were considered to be the flat out best (most competent) magicians. 'Magi' - aka 'magician' is a term we get from...well, call it Persia. But the jewish rabbi's were no slouch in that department either; a couple of them, contemporaries of Jesus no less, were also credited with ressurecting the dead, among other miracles.

At the outset, christianity was viewed by the Roman Authorities - when they thought of it at all - as a sort of magical cult, and was legally treated in those terms.

The stigmatazation of magic didn't occur until later, for rather obvious reasons - a magic using prophet turning up out of nowhere was a threat to the church heirarchy. Eventually, magic using priests within the heirarchy also came to be seen as problems - unless they were saints.

The overall idea, for a long, long while, was that magic was forbidden to everybody *except* the priests (in Judaism at least). Initially, this mentality carried over into christianity.

[TWErvin2]

I too am a Christian, firm in my beliefs. They are often reflected in my stories.
I too, write fantasy. Your question was a question that occurred to me. I prayed and spoke with my pastor, and moved forward with writing and finding a publisher and getting published.

I will focus on my novels, but much the same can be applied to my short stories published.

My works involve themes such as good vs. evil, where loyalty, friendship and faith are a part of the mix. The language and content are reflected in my beliefs, thus there are not any F bombs and erotica-like sex scenes (actually there are no sex scenes--it's just not what I write and not part of the plot).

I have had one person in my church provide a list of Bible passages and attempt to disuade me writing/having my work published because one of the good guys was a wizard/sorcerer type. While I listened and respected her opinion, I did not agree.

It is a decision you have to be comfortable with. In truth, there are plenty of genres other than fantasy that you could write, and even some subgenres of fantasy that you could write.

For me, my writing is stories told for entertainment. They pretend to be nothing else, and I do not pretend them to be anything else. In truth, with Flank Hawk, there is a positive faith message contained as a sub-plot. It's just part of the story being told.

As you said, there is no definitive answer, only the one that works for you, just as there was one answer that worked for me.

Continue to pray. Confide and discuss it with those who you respect and trust for additional insight. Then move forward, whatever direction you are led.

[danr62]

I agree with Terry. C.S. Lewis was my introduction to fantasy and to reading in general. As a Christian, I don't see anything wrong with writing stories that have magical or pagan elements.

[Androxine Vortex]

I too am a Christian, firm in my beliefs. They are often reflected in my stories.
I too, write fantasy. Your question was a question that occurred to me. I prayed and spoke with my pastor, and moved forward with writing and finding a publisher and getting published.

I will focus on my novels, but much the same can be applied to my short stories published.

My works involve themes such as good vs. evil, where loyalty, friendship and faith are a part of the mix. The language and content are reflected in my beliefs, thus there are not any F bombs and erotica-like sex scenes (actually there are no sex scenes--it's just not what I write and not part of the plot).

I have had one person in my church provide a list of Bible passages and attempt to disuade me writing/having my work published because one of the good guys was a wizard/sorcerer type. While I listened and respected her opinion, I did not agree.

It is a decision you have to be comfortable with. In truth, there are plenty of genres other than fantasy that you could write, and even some subgenres of fantasy that you could write.

For me, my writing is stories told for entertainment. They pretend to be nothing else, and I do not pretend them to be anything else. In truth, with Flank Hawk, there is a positive faith message contained as a sub-plot. It's just part of the story being told.

As you said, there is no definitive answer, only the one that works for you, just as there was one answer that worked for me.

Continue to pray. Confide and discuss it with those who you respect and trust for additional insight. Then move forward, whatever direction you are led.

And even though they involve angels and demons, not once do I EVER directly mention Jesus. So there is NO connection between my works and the Bible. I do agree that it has to be something that I am comfortable with. I do feel comfortable with it but every so often I keep asking myself again. I don't involve my stories with unnecessary profanity or erotica at all either, just lots of violence like in LOTR.

I discussed this with my mother and she said that she watches Harry Potter and LOTR and loves them even though they involve magic. She is a strong Christian and she said that it is something that I have to discover myself with God. I kind of already knew that no one here could really give me a definite answer because the Scripture isn't clear about it. I just wanted to see if anyone else had this problem.

[Benjamin Clayborne]

In general, there's nothing wrong with writing stories containing characters who believe things different than you. In fact it's pretty boring when a book only contains characters who are author surrogates (or worse, straw men).

I don't personally believe in the existence of any deities, but my fiction frequently contains characters who do--because that's the world they grew up in. (It would be difficult to write a fantasy world full of nothing but atheists.) As far as they're concerned, the Caretaker (for example) is real and is running things. It's interesting to explore how characters behave and process things based on that, even though I don't think remotely the same way they do.

[T.Allen.Smith]

At the risk of entering a religious debate (which I will not respond to) I say one thing.

Understand that the bible we know in modern times is very different from the many different texts that revolved around early Christianity. It was the emperor Constantine that brought together the leaders of many different opposing sects of Christianity together to form the Council of Nicea. There, these men argued & debated, to decide what books were divine and which would be excluded from the bible. Since that time it has gone through many revisions and translations. Who knows what was said about magic in those texts as we don't really know all of them that were excluded.

My point is only this, make any decisions based off your personal relationship with whatever God or Gods you serve and be comfortable with your own belief.

Another point, killing is a considered a sin. Would that keep you from writing a crime story where someone is murdered? So why is magic different?

For myself, I am not religious but I fully support people's personal spiritual beliefs & needs.

[Devor]

There is no definitive answer to this. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that you can not write fantasy literature. I think it comes down to what I think God is trying to tell me. But I have been really struggling with this.

Google a book called Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton and look up the chapter labeled The Ethics of Elfland. It will help.

[Shockley]

Not being a Christian (UU, at this point in my life) but someone who has spent a whole lot of time studying the Semites and related peoples, I can only say this:

There is magic in the Bible. A lot of it. Some of it is condemned (when Saul has the Witch of Endor bring up the ghost of Samuel) and some of it is ordained directly (the destruction of the walls of Jericho). Seeing it just requires a particularly broad definition of magic.

[Jabrosky]

If I were God, I wouldn't mind my worshipers writing fiction set in worlds where I didn't exist and "pagan" magic was everywhere. It's only fiction after all.