Should Christians Read Fantasy? Pt. 1

Is it okay for Christians to read fantasy? There's a lot of discussion about this in today's Christian circles and churches. Everyone seems to have an opinion on it, and it seems like everyone has very well-thought-out reasons why or why not their family reads and/or watches fantasy.

It's a slightly controversial topic, and there's just way too much to cover in one blog post, so I'm aiming to do a mini-series on this issue. At the least two posts, and at the most four.

Personally, I love fantasy. I read it, I write it, and I practically breathe it. I am fairly certain that if someone were to cut me open, "magic" would be engraved on my heart.

But I have some dear friends who have the opposite position, and that's perfectly okay. The Holy Spirit leads us all to different convictions, and I respect their decision to listen to His leading.

Most of the objections to fantasy come from verses in the Old Testament. Verses like Deuteronomy 18:10-12, "No one among you is to sacrifice his son or daughter into the fire, practice divination, tell fortunes, interpret omens, practice sorcery, cast spells, consult a medium or spiritist, or inquire of the dead. Everyone who does these acts is detestable to the Lord, and the Lord your God is driving out the nations before you because of these detestable acts."

That seems very clear, right? Like most of His commands, God doesn't give wiggle room for following His law. And these passages in the Old Testament are inerrant and inspired just like the rest of God's word.

But how we read the passages matters. Context matters. And the meaning behind it matters.

For that verse specifically, in context, God was giving the Israelites a list of guidelines for them to follow when they entered Canaan, the land He had promised them. It was a warning of what the foreigners they would encounter were practicing, and it was His promise to punish them harshly if they disobeyed His command.

The Canaanites were practicing sorcery and casting spells, invoking the dead, and committing other acts that the Lord found detestable. Anyone who tries to communicate with the dead or the dark side of the supernatural is absolutely walking in sin.

God wants for us to understand that He is our guide, and He is the one who will provide for us. We shouldn't have to look to magic or our dead ancestors to know how to live.

But what that passage isn't is a warning against reading fantasy, or partaking in content that involves another world, and usually magic.

So what's the difference? Why would it be okay to consume content with magic in it, but not practice it ourselves?

First, we need to understand the supernatural.

Our physical and solid world coexists right alongside another world, a realm of the unseen. This world contains angels and demons, good spirits and evil ones, and they are constantly at war. The kingdom of light, the Kingdom of our God, has already won the battle, but the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of our enemy, the Devil, still rages against him, shaking chains and rebelling against God's created order, His rulership, and His image bearers.

The bible tells us that we also have a part to play in this battle. Ephesians 6:11-13 tells us, "Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, against spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand."

Paul writes here that we have to be prepared and understand the world of the supernatural. We cannot just shut it out and pretend it doesn't exist. We cannot revere the side of the enemy and be fascinated with his darkness. And we cannot just sit passively without preparing ourselves for that battle.

This is why God warned so harshly against practicing magic. He cannot have any part in evil, and magic like the Canaanites were practicing was designed to be evil and designed to call upon the shades and spirits of the dark, supernatural realm, similarly to our Ouija boards today.

We can't partake in the dark, evil supernatural realm. But that doesn't mean that we get to ignore and close our eyes to the Kingdom of Light either. Just like demons serve and carry out the evil will of their master the devil, so angels serve and carry out the will of their master, our God.

We shouldn't worship angels. But we also should understand that they exist, and they fight alongside of us. They are vessels of light, opposing the schemes of the devil and every evil deed of his.

In the world of fantasy, magic takes the place of the supernatural. It stands in for that realm of the otherworldly, and can be dark, or good, just like the world we live alongside.

And because of that, it can serve as a powerful tool to helping us understand that world.

Nobody believes in, or worships The Chronicles of Narnia, or The Lord of the Rings, for example, and neither did their authors intend for people to. Rather, C.S Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien wanted to embody and portray many core Christian themes. They do so thematically, symbolically, and imaginatively, like the parables of Jesus.

C.S Lewis summed this up perfectly when he explained his process in writing The Chronicles of Narnia:

"Then of course the Man in me began to have his turn. I thought I saw how stories of this kind could steal past a certain inhibition which had paralyzed much of my own religion in childhood. Why did one find it is so hard to feel as one was told one ought to feel about God or about the sufferings of Christ? I thought the chief reason was that that one was told one ought to. An obligation to feel can freeze feelings. And reverence itself did harm. The whole subject was associated with lowered voices; almost as if there were something medical. But supposing that by casting all these things into an imaginary world, stripping them of their stained-glass and Sunday school associations, one could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? I thought one could." - C.S Lewis

Essentially, C.S Lewis believed that fairytales and fantasy served a unique purpose: by taking Christian themes and elements and placing them in an unknown setting, one can break past the reader's predetermined opinions and show them for the first time the pure, unaltered core of Christianity and the Gospel.

This is why I love fantasy, and this is why I think it is so important to read and cultivate good fantasy stories in your library. Because fantasy holds the unique power to portray the gospel and the love of God in a way that forces the reader to think.

There are so many wonderful, wonderful themes and stories out there we would be missing if we didn't read fantasy. The brotherly love and loyalty of Samwise Gamgee as he journeys to the end of the world with his master, Frodo, in The Lord of the Rings. The Christ-like sacrifice for his brother of Janner in The Wingfeather Saga. And C.S Lewis himself penned one of the most gorgeous and beautiful parallels to Christ's death in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

That's all from me for now, but I'll be back in two weeks with part two and we'll wrap this up!

Until then, I encourage you to stay undistracted and keep an open bible.

With love, Mira <3