Christian fiction and magics

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Christian fiction and magics 02/23/19 (Sat) 06:58:36 1c5bcc No.1519

Simple questions to help settle a debate:

Would (do) you read Christian fantasy novels? I grant you, romance aside, there aint much out there

Would you read a Christian novel that had magic in it?

Would you read a Christian novel that had magic in it if the magic is demonstrably (albeit in the end) demonic in origin and destructive in a user's life?

IF you said "no", final follow-up questions:

Have you read Lord of the Rings?

Did you notice the magic in it?

Why was that "okay" but other novels involving magic are not?

Please use flags for this one, m80s. I'd appreciate it.

02/23/19 (Sat) 14:58:33 6a7aa0 No.1526

I don't read fiction personally, but I'm not opposed in principle.

I'm more likely to watch a fiction film with magic, and have.

Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia are obviously Christian stories, just fantastic and metaphorical.

I think parents should have their children steer clear of non-christian magic stories like Harry Potter until they're of a high enough age.

02/23/19 (Sat) 18:12:34 0013f8 No.1528

>Would (do) you read Christian fantasy novels?

I've read LotR and one of the Narnia books, but that's about it.

Most of my reading is either Scripture, a Church Father, histories, or something else.

I'm a very dry man, you see.

>Would you read a Christian novel that had magic in it?

Depends on what the author means by "magic".

I think it should be noted that Tolkien didn't consider what Gandalf and the Elves did as "magic", nor did they consider it as such in the books.

Its explained as having a better knowledge and grasp of the spiritual nature of certain things (like how an advanced enough technology can be seen as "magical" by primitive people).

The only group that does anything close to "magic" is the evil characters, and that's entirely appropriate.

On the side of being cautious, I wouldn't.

>Would you read a Christian novel that had magic in it if the magic is demonstrably (albeit in the end) demonic in origin and destructive in a user's life?

Again, depends on how it's being presented and how detailed it is.

If it's to demonstrate how fruitless any attempts at witchery is, sure.

But Scripture tells us that Saul went to consult the witch of endor, part of the series of events ultimately resulting in his downfall as king of Israel. So if I need to share a story of how fruitless witchery is, I'd share that (or how Simon the Magician gets rekt in Acts).

03/01/19 (Fri) 03:02:09 385ce0 No.1586

>>1519

Totally fine with it.

O.P. 03/01/19 (Fri) 10:08:57 3bed5b No.1590

File: 18e0a6296dc1ef5⋯.png (110.03 KB, 382x491, 382:491, where-are-the-proofs.png)

>>1528

>I think it should be noted that Tolkien didn't consider what Gandalf and the Elves did as "magic"

Mmm. (pic related)

Tolkien may use words like "craft" to describe what the Elves and Istari did, that secret knowledge of how the universe works, but that seems to me to be splitting hairs. It's magic. It is not a power that men had, it was … alright, maybe I can't use the term "supernatural" since T would insist that it was plain natural but you just had to be old enough (or imbued enough) to learn how to use it, but even men over hundreds of generations never seemed to master any of it. Either way, it certainly isn't anything we would recognise from our world.

It's magic by another name at the very least. Everyone who reads it sees it thusly. But that comes down to definitions. potato, potAto, etc

>>1526

>Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia are obviously Christian stories

>obviously

Narnia, sure, but LotR aint. Obvious, I mean. What's Christian about it? That the good guys won? Pretty sure that happens in the Marvel universe as well.

The novels reek of Norse/old Germanic mythology that I'm surprised Gandalf doesn't get called Wednesday by someone in the know and he is followed around by ravens.

Oh, no, that's right, he has eagles instead.

We may "extra liber" know that Tolkien is a cathbro and there's "angels peeking" and so on, but you'd not know it from a plain read of the novels. (I know I didn't on first read, though I was only a couple of years old as a Christian.) Too much has to be foreknown, and always – as I just did – has alternative explanations.

If nothing else, this is what has always disappointed me about Tolkien's writing. But he insisted that mythologies (which LotR is) shouldn't be didactic, but should just "be". I'll respect him as an artist, but as a Christian … I kinda have an issue with that.

just my two cents

Thanks for your thoughts, fellas.