I was thinking about writing a story, involving (slightly) wizards, and fairies, and charms and potions. And maybe even, as lightly used as it would be, spells. I don't really think there's anything wrong with these types of elements, provided I don't use real spells. Right? I mean, I know a lot of Christians avoid stuff like that... Myself, generally included.Yet I can't really see, so long as I don't do anything too out there, how bad it would actually be to do this. I mean, case and point, I know a lot of Christians don't like the Chronicles of Narnia, because it has 'magical creatures'. Yet, the man who wrote it, C.S. Lewis, was a born again Christian himself.But, because I fear God and wish to keep His commands, (and in fear of doing anything, perhaps, un-godly?) I thought maybe I should ask the brotherhood here at CCAS first... So, where do you guys stand on having magic in comics and/or stories in general?
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"All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable." 1 Cor. 6:12a
As Christians, we are not under legalistic laws. We are free in Christ. However, we are to be lights on a hill- causing no harm.
"But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died." 1 Cor. 8:9-11
Our purpose in life is to glorify God. Our stories must glorify God either overtly or covertly. Does the depiction of magic in a story glorify God? The bible depicts magic. In 1 Sam. 28, a witch conjured up the prophet Samuel from the dead but it was shown to be an evil act. King Saul was shown to be in terror from his rebellious participation in the act.
I'd be extremely cautious in depicting magic in stories. Magic is never good and can not be used for good. To say otherwise is a lie. It might be legitimate to depict magic as a force of evil while the hero must rely on faith and God's protection.
The topic of super heroes came up. Someone rightly pointed out the idolatrous qualities of super heroes. Fallen man always has a desire to look at any source of help BUT God. Do we desire Superman to come and save us or do we desire Jesus to save us. Are we looking for physical solutions to our problems or spiritual solutions? Aren't super heroes vain substitutes for God?
"but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong" 1 Cor. 1:27
I'd like to see a super hero story in which the "hero" must battle his own ego. Wouldn't he struggle against vanity? Wouldn't he struggle against his own desires to solve his own problems? Why would he need God? Isn't a super hero a kind of demigod? What would bring a super hero to the point of relying on God's power?
"Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor. 12:10
An important question we must ask ourselves is: Who is my audience? Are we writing secular stories for a secular audience? Are we writing spiritual stories for a secular audience? Are we writing spiritual stories for a Christian audience? In each one we must still be true to our calling and glorify God.
If that's the case, that is really good. I guess it's kind of like having religious freedom- i frankly am not looking to be preached other religions or world views in a marvel comic (which might be a reason that i find myself buying less marvel nowadays...) so on that note it is probably good that Christ was not used in the book.
However, Buzz I do think you're point is better. At best it would be "religious" fiction- where someone fictionalizes Jesus or God- and i really don't like that idea. Like in the "Facing the Giants" movie- there are a couple reasons why i didn't like that film (the first being that with the word "giant" in the title, i was looking forward to a Christian fantasy film...). The main reason was that it takes very real situations and then mixes in "miracles" that they deem the Lord should perform- and then we as actual people are to be inspired in our real lives? who am i to say how the Lord would act- what with the wife getting pregnant and whatever other miracles happening. it makes a nice happy story, but in some ways, i think that it makes real miracles appear less phenominal- when we formulate ones. i really really do not like that. and it also makes me feel like we are saying that God's actual miracles are not good enough, so we have to concoct our own. almost heretical, maybe? it's like there are so many amazing things God has done- can't telling a true story to a new audience or in a new way be better than making up your own? no matter what, what God really does is giong to be better than anything of which we could conceive to write.
(Now, i will say that films like facing the giants (and honestly, "fire proof" was a pretty good film) are better than stuff with vulgar content,)
this is ultimately why i think it is hard to have God or Jesus as a character in a comic. It is very cheapening. and if that was Shooter's goal- that was probably a good move. hard to make it into a trick of mephisto's but i guess it was the path he found most expedient. i would have maybe made "the Friend" an angel or something. I think i'm okay with angels being used in fiction
but i also don't want super heroes to exist in an athiestic world. stracyzinsky (sp?) did a run on Spider-Man that was actually quite spiritual- where Peter actually prayed surface level prayers and directed his thoughts toward God- so here, God existed in a marvel comic (or at least the understanding of God existed in Peter Parker's mind) and oddly enough, I believe stracyzinsky is an athiest! but he thought that it would be a logical component of the character- and i like that. i think that a semblence of Christian faith would be very likely in a character like Peter Parker- he clearly is motivated buy guilt, but at the same time, he does believe in working towards something greater than himself and loads of self denial and sacrifice- and apart from all of that, he really is a pretty good guy. we've always had someone with whom we could sympathize in Peter- he is a VERY REAL character (which has been his strength in pop culture for years- apart from his awesome webshooters), but at the same time, we do not see him as human because of his moral flaws, but because of his emotional ones. peter has never really been an anti hero. Even with the alien costume [whether films or comics] we saw a dark side of peter, but what was shown was his struggles in that. He's not Daredevil, Wolverine, the Punisher, Iron Man, or whoever who do bad things and we realte to them because of that- but still are on the good guy's side and fight a truer form of "evil". he's probably about as close as you can get to a pure, human hero (apart from super man types who are so "benevelont" that we cannot relate to them at all- but then, clark kent never was human, anyway...). so i am cool with that- but if God started talking back to Peter- I don't know. Not that Christ wouldn't affect Peter's life- but then it has me defining who Christ is in a fictional world.
So i want super heros i read to exist in a world created by God (i think the dc standard is that any and all belief systems, myths, demons, and deities can be used, but ultimately the Judeo-Christian God is seen as the creator of everything- "God of all gods" etc) but where Christ is not fictionalized or trivialized.
and lowering Christ to being a super hero character would do just that. i much prefer characters who can represent God, without being God, such as Aslan. Marvel has many characters who all represent aspects of God and I think i like that, too.
Also, the other good side of super heroes, is that you can't really have a super hero system that is athiestic- because once you have a super-human, you now have the first diety in a world system, and now you no longer have atheism. I mean, theoretically, if we all evolved by chance with no being higher than the most evolved creature on earth, which ultimately became a human, than once that first human got blasted by that first gamma ray, we now have something extra human- now we can define that being as superior to human or inferior to human, if we define it as higher than human, we now have the first god. and once you "evolve" to that point, you no longer have athiesm, do you? but still most super hero systems have powers that exist beyond our world- which clearly point to diety. but enough of my theologies about superheroes today.
i'm definitely completely interested in the rest of your thoughts.
about the Superman saving the planet and then it being shown that such was God's will for how the planet would be saved- how about
THE OPPOSITE!
i'd love to see a story where Superman (or someone like him) saves a planet and then (maybe not God, but another figure- i know that DC has an ultimate Yahweh character, but i forget what they call him) it is revealed that such was not God's will- but that in fact it was time for the end of that world and Superman was doing what he understood was right, but in fact limiting a divine plan.
or- have you heard about the 1970's Ghost Rider story where Ghost Rider was going to be delivered by Christ (no joke!) and cease being demon possessed? The editors approved it and everything but something held the ending up, onlyfor another writer to come in (as Buzz said) and have Mephisto describe how it wasn't really Christ, but some trick of his or something. The character that was in a couple issues was alluded to be Christ, but i guess wasn't going to be said for sure until the end. check out http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/06/07/comic-book-urba...
crazy stuff!
to me- it seems that the concept of the super hero is very much an extension of the human will. which as Christians we know is not God's will. at best a super hero (unless he was truly a Christian super hero- but Illuminator only sold so many copies!....) is a good guy who is serving himself, or maybe others to some degree- but still his motivation is usually guilt, vengeance, a drive for his own success, something worse, or not defined very well. And we all know, as Christians, that none of those are good motivations for anything. So the concept of the super hero, in itself, is not a very Christian concept. I'd say they are great as symbols, but in the real world, every hero would really be a villain- which i guess is what they've tried to do with Civil War and stuff like that- but to me, that takes the fantasy symbol away from it. i dont' want to read about miserable people in a super hero book. i want to read about a world where stuff can be vised in 28 pages!
and i really want to read a book where the all good super hero is presented to be nothing but a villain, since although he is seeking to do good, he is doing it for the wrong reasons. i'd like to write it one day, in fact, but i'd have to have an artist who was both interested in the story and whose art fits the style (because mine doesn't)
but back to MAGIC- Doug TenApel (or however you spell it) at the spirituality in comics panel at SDCC last year spoke about the presence of magic being needed in Christian books- not wiccan, of course, but of fantasy- of special things being able to happen, perhaps miracles if you will. and i can see what he means. i was recently asked to write a story about a sorceror villain (and was even going to get paid!) and i struggled with it for a little bit and ultimately decided i would be okay with it, especially since his magic was not being glorified it would be utilizing "wish magic"- tho i hadn't known that term. turned out, just after i finished the story, that one creaor was doing the whole book instead of it being an anthology, so mine wasn't used, anyway- i thought that might have been God's way of working it all out- and i think i'm glad it wasn't used. i don't think the story was bad, but it could be tricky. But basically, lots of items in fantasy are "magic"- i think, tho, as Christians, that we need to abstain from the occult, actual incantations, and witchcraft. i know lots of Christians who like harry potter, and i don't want to get legalist- but i've never read it and i've not made a purpose to see the films. the one i saw some of which i didn't really care for.
but this was always my hang up about harry potter or dr. strange (and i'll admit, i have comics with dr. strange- and even thor- tho i wasn't allowd to read those as a younger child) and the like. as kids, we look up to super heroes and we want to be like them. i swear, i did everythign i could to be the most like a ninja turtle that i could possibly be in 1990. no joke! but no matter how much i tried, no matte what i do- i will never and can never be a ninja turtle. period. had i looked up to harry potter, i would have desired to be a wizard/witch/what have you- and if that is a path someone takes, they can very feasibly get into witchcraft. most don't- but i wouldn't want some kid to play around with magic without realizing the reality of it- but then that is assuming that as Christians we believe in spirituality- and that we believe there is something to witchcraft- we are not athiests after all- we believe in good and bad spiritual power- and the Bible clearly testifies to cases where unGodly magic is permitted and used.
now- how many kids watched bewitched or sabrina (or even Zatanna of the JLA- she even uses backwards speech "spells"!) and then wanted to be actual practitioners of wicca? i don't know- but i think that some wiccan groups have even found those characters offensive as they are inaccurate portrayels of witches.
but i think the ultimate problem is when we blur in fantasy and reality. i can't be a ninja turtle, i can't be spider-man, i can't be superman, and even if i try really hard, i probably still can't be batman. i can't be dr. strange either, but i can get into the occult if i really want to. but then again, i could get into paganism if i really like thor- i don't know of anyone who has done this- but as a kid, my parents didn't want me to glorify thor as a hero- and i think there is something to that.
now, i did write an adaptation of dracula, which could be seen as occult or magic- but to me, it's a symbolic story with a very deep spiritual message, especially in the original story. now i don't see the power against the vampire in a crucifix, but i do see it in what the cross represents, and that is Christ. interesting about an athiest director, tho, Buzz, of those old hammer films. i like the earlier hammer films especially, but not the later ones as much.
I think as long as Christ is glorified by upholding His gospel then it's ok. That means however powerful the characters are, we understand that God is infinitely more powerful and is sovereign over that magic even if it's from the Devil.
I often think imagine how cool it would be to see Superman (I know not magical) save a planet from going into it's sun or perform some other godlike ability and then we realize that it was God working through him to save the planet, how glorifying a testimony that would be?
I think a good rule to fallow on this matter is what John the Baptist said, "He (Christ) must become greater; I (man) must become less.
Buzz I always enjoy reading your posts you bring up a lot of good solid points. About wish magic vs spell magic. Comic books have been using magic to solve problems for years. And I agree with a lot of what your saying, I think any time magic is in the game the rules of engagement must be outlined for the reader. DC has its own law of magic; Vertigo realized a series a long time ago called the book of magic witch outlined magic for the whole vertigo universe. Batman in the JLU TV sires even has to deal with magic when Wonder Women was turned into a pig (grate episode). The word tells us God can use any thing for his glory. I am reminded of a three issues acre (from the 70’s) of Doctor strange were he was killed by Dracula and spent two issues in Hell.
Its just food for thought because I totally agree with every thing you said.
An interesting question - and I think it merits some serious thought. As pointed out, C.S. Lewis was a Christian - and there is definite magic in his books.
I think it comes down to, as mentioned by sir brandon: Use whatever is needed in service of the story. IF that involves magic, then use it. One way you can portray "magic" is "magic" vs. the Power of God.
An interesting note: I never perceived talking animals, flying beings, or overtly powerful characters magic for some reason. Not sure why. However, once you start getting into incantations, spells, hex's and the like, that for me, starts going into the deep end.
"fairies, talking animals, (maybe even dinosaurs?) magical/make-believe creatures, and even deceased animals."
If whatever you're using is getting the point across, then go to town. (At least in my opinion). As mentioned, would Jesus read it? (Not that he isn't already as you make it...)
For me the story is the most important thing. Once you get that down that you can play with the other stuff. Magic is a big part of comic book history with characters like Shazam, Doctor Fait, and Steve Ditko’s Doctor strange. For me when I start playing with things like that I make my characters exempted from reality. What I mean by that is there some loop whole or there character is different some how and not any body with a dumb book of spells can use magic. Like in so many bad Hollywood films.
But if you have issues with magic address that in the book I love to draw and write my characters arguing. I hade my guys argue about marriage, life death and even the existence of God it’s a grate way to draw your reader in with out preaching to them instead another guy is getting preached at in your book. I also think it’s a little bit more dramatic that way.
Worth mentioning: ... I don't really have a story laid out in my head or anything, but I kinda thought the main character would be a lepercon. (like Lucky, from the cereal lucky charms?) It would be set in this imaginative wasteland, filled to the top with fairies, talking animals, (maybe even dinosaurs?) magical/make-believe creatures, and even deceased animals.
Thanks, David. You raised some pretty good points. While I was growing up, my mom never let us watch Harry Potter. She said it had a lot of witchcraft in it, and she didn't think it was anything we should be putting in our minds. Because I believed her, and still do, I've always stayed away from that kind of stuff. But with that being said, my mom never had a problem with us watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch. So, I guess my question becomes, where's the line in the sand that says, "too far."?
David C. McConnehey II said:
I think it is a question of rather the magic is being used to glorify magic or demonize it. It is really hard when you are a fan of super heroes who have super powers, because just like in magic, it, in a way, eliminates the need for God. It is a self focused, self derived power. I dont mind magic in comics if the magic is coming from the bad guy. But I really struggle with characters like Dr. Strange, who use witchcraft for "good". How is that any different than Wiccan's who see their magic the same way. The same discussion has been stated for cussing. People wanting to make it as real as possible. One of my best buds told me something one time, that has become my rule for what I put into a book. If I can't sit down with Jesus, and show him that book, then should it be in there? Would I feel guilty? Guilt can be God's way of giving you conviction.
I think it is a question of rather the magic is being used to glorify magic or demonize it. It is really hard when you are a fan of super heroes who have super powers, because just like in magic, it, in a way, eliminates the need for God. It is a self focused, self derived power. I dont mind magic in comics if the magic is coming from the bad guy. But I really struggle with characters like Dr. Strange, who use witchcraft for "good". How is that any different than Wiccan's who see their magic the same way. The same discussion has been stated for cussing. People wanting to make it as real as possible. One of my best buds told me something one time, that has become my rule for what I put into a book. If I can't sit down with Jesus, and show him that book, then should it be in there? Would I feel guilty? Guilt can be God's way of giving you conviction.
Replies
As Christians, we are not under legalistic laws. We are free in Christ. However, we are to be lights on a hill- causing no harm.
"But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died." 1 Cor. 8:9-11
Our purpose in life is to glorify God. Our stories must glorify God either overtly or covertly. Does the depiction of magic in a story glorify God? The bible depicts magic. In 1 Sam. 28, a witch conjured up the prophet Samuel from the dead but it was shown to be an evil act. King Saul was shown to be in terror from his rebellious participation in the act.
I'd be extremely cautious in depicting magic in stories. Magic is never good and can not be used for good. To say otherwise is a lie. It might be legitimate to depict magic as a force of evil while the hero must rely on faith and God's protection.
The topic of super heroes came up. Someone rightly pointed out the idolatrous qualities of super heroes. Fallen man always has a desire to look at any source of help BUT God. Do we desire Superman to come and save us or do we desire Jesus to save us. Are we looking for physical solutions to our problems or spiritual solutions? Aren't super heroes vain substitutes for God?
"but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong" 1 Cor. 1:27
I'd like to see a super hero story in which the "hero" must battle his own ego. Wouldn't he struggle against vanity? Wouldn't he struggle against his own desires to solve his own problems? Why would he need God? Isn't a super hero a kind of demigod? What would bring a super hero to the point of relying on God's power?
"Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor. 12:10
An important question we must ask ourselves is: Who is my audience? Are we writing secular stories for a secular audience? Are we writing spiritual stories for a secular audience? Are we writing spiritual stories for a Christian audience? In each one we must still be true to our calling and glorify God.
However, Buzz I do think you're point is better. At best it would be "religious" fiction- where someone fictionalizes Jesus or God- and i really don't like that idea. Like in the "Facing the Giants" movie- there are a couple reasons why i didn't like that film (the first being that with the word "giant" in the title, i was looking forward to a Christian fantasy film...). The main reason was that it takes very real situations and then mixes in "miracles" that they deem the Lord should perform- and then we as actual people are to be inspired in our real lives? who am i to say how the Lord would act- what with the wife getting pregnant and whatever other miracles happening. it makes a nice happy story, but in some ways, i think that it makes real miracles appear less phenominal- when we formulate ones. i really really do not like that. and it also makes me feel like we are saying that God's actual miracles are not good enough, so we have to concoct our own. almost heretical, maybe? it's like there are so many amazing things God has done- can't telling a true story to a new audience or in a new way be better than making up your own? no matter what, what God really does is giong to be better than anything of which we could conceive to write.
(Now, i will say that films like facing the giants (and honestly, "fire proof" was a pretty good film) are better than stuff with vulgar content,)
this is ultimately why i think it is hard to have God or Jesus as a character in a comic. It is very cheapening. and if that was Shooter's goal- that was probably a good move. hard to make it into a trick of mephisto's but i guess it was the path he found most expedient. i would have maybe made "the Friend" an angel or something. I think i'm okay with angels being used in fiction
but i also don't want super heroes to exist in an athiestic world. stracyzinsky (sp?) did a run on Spider-Man that was actually quite spiritual- where Peter actually prayed surface level prayers and directed his thoughts toward God- so here, God existed in a marvel comic (or at least the understanding of God existed in Peter Parker's mind) and oddly enough, I believe stracyzinsky is an athiest! but he thought that it would be a logical component of the character- and i like that. i think that a semblence of Christian faith would be very likely in a character like Peter Parker- he clearly is motivated buy guilt, but at the same time, he does believe in working towards something greater than himself and loads of self denial and sacrifice- and apart from all of that, he really is a pretty good guy. we've always had someone with whom we could sympathize in Peter- he is a VERY REAL character (which has been his strength in pop culture for years- apart from his awesome webshooters), but at the same time, we do not see him as human because of his moral flaws, but because of his emotional ones. peter has never really been an anti hero. Even with the alien costume [whether films or comics] we saw a dark side of peter, but what was shown was his struggles in that. He's not Daredevil, Wolverine, the Punisher, Iron Man, or whoever who do bad things and we realte to them because of that- but still are on the good guy's side and fight a truer form of "evil". he's probably about as close as you can get to a pure, human hero (apart from super man types who are so "benevelont" that we cannot relate to them at all- but then, clark kent never was human, anyway...). so i am cool with that- but if God started talking back to Peter- I don't know. Not that Christ wouldn't affect Peter's life- but then it has me defining who Christ is in a fictional world.
So i want super heros i read to exist in a world created by God (i think the dc standard is that any and all belief systems, myths, demons, and deities can be used, but ultimately the Judeo-Christian God is seen as the creator of everything- "God of all gods" etc) but where Christ is not fictionalized or trivialized.
and lowering Christ to being a super hero character would do just that. i much prefer characters who can represent God, without being God, such as Aslan. Marvel has many characters who all represent aspects of God and I think i like that, too.
Also, the other good side of super heroes, is that you can't really have a super hero system that is athiestic- because once you have a super-human, you now have the first diety in a world system, and now you no longer have atheism. I mean, theoretically, if we all evolved by chance with no being higher than the most evolved creature on earth, which ultimately became a human, than once that first human got blasted by that first gamma ray, we now have something extra human- now we can define that being as superior to human or inferior to human, if we define it as higher than human, we now have the first god. and once you "evolve" to that point, you no longer have athiesm, do you? but still most super hero systems have powers that exist beyond our world- which clearly point to diety. but enough of my theologies about superheroes today.
i'm definitely completely interested in the rest of your thoughts.
THE OPPOSITE!
i'd love to see a story where Superman (or someone like him) saves a planet and then (maybe not God, but another figure- i know that DC has an ultimate Yahweh character, but i forget what they call him) it is revealed that such was not God's will- but that in fact it was time for the end of that world and Superman was doing what he understood was right, but in fact limiting a divine plan.
or- have you heard about the 1970's Ghost Rider story where Ghost Rider was going to be delivered by Christ (no joke!) and cease being demon possessed? The editors approved it and everything but something held the ending up, onlyfor another writer to come in (as Buzz said) and have Mephisto describe how it wasn't really Christ, but some trick of his or something. The character that was in a couple issues was alluded to be Christ, but i guess wasn't going to be said for sure until the end. check out http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/06/07/comic-book-urba...
crazy stuff!
to me- it seems that the concept of the super hero is very much an extension of the human will. which as Christians we know is not God's will. at best a super hero (unless he was truly a Christian super hero- but Illuminator only sold so many copies!....) is a good guy who is serving himself, or maybe others to some degree- but still his motivation is usually guilt, vengeance, a drive for his own success, something worse, or not defined very well. And we all know, as Christians, that none of those are good motivations for anything. So the concept of the super hero, in itself, is not a very Christian concept. I'd say they are great as symbols, but in the real world, every hero would really be a villain- which i guess is what they've tried to do with Civil War and stuff like that- but to me, that takes the fantasy symbol away from it. i dont' want to read about miserable people in a super hero book. i want to read about a world where stuff can be vised in 28 pages!
and i really want to read a book where the all good super hero is presented to be nothing but a villain, since although he is seeking to do good, he is doing it for the wrong reasons. i'd like to write it one day, in fact, but i'd have to have an artist who was both interested in the story and whose art fits the style (because mine doesn't)
but back to MAGIC- Doug TenApel (or however you spell it) at the spirituality in comics panel at SDCC last year spoke about the presence of magic being needed in Christian books- not wiccan, of course, but of fantasy- of special things being able to happen, perhaps miracles if you will. and i can see what he means. i was recently asked to write a story about a sorceror villain (and was even going to get paid!) and i struggled with it for a little bit and ultimately decided i would be okay with it, especially since his magic was not being glorified it would be utilizing "wish magic"- tho i hadn't known that term. turned out, just after i finished the story, that one creaor was doing the whole book instead of it being an anthology, so mine wasn't used, anyway- i thought that might have been God's way of working it all out- and i think i'm glad it wasn't used. i don't think the story was bad, but it could be tricky. But basically, lots of items in fantasy are "magic"- i think, tho, as Christians, that we need to abstain from the occult, actual incantations, and witchcraft. i know lots of Christians who like harry potter, and i don't want to get legalist- but i've never read it and i've not made a purpose to see the films. the one i saw some of which i didn't really care for.
but this was always my hang up about harry potter or dr. strange (and i'll admit, i have comics with dr. strange- and even thor- tho i wasn't allowd to read those as a younger child) and the like. as kids, we look up to super heroes and we want to be like them. i swear, i did everythign i could to be the most like a ninja turtle that i could possibly be in 1990. no joke! but no matter how much i tried, no matte what i do- i will never and can never be a ninja turtle. period. had i looked up to harry potter, i would have desired to be a wizard/witch/what have you- and if that is a path someone takes, they can very feasibly get into witchcraft. most don't- but i wouldn't want some kid to play around with magic without realizing the reality of it- but then that is assuming that as Christians we believe in spirituality- and that we believe there is something to witchcraft- we are not athiests after all- we believe in good and bad spiritual power- and the Bible clearly testifies to cases where unGodly magic is permitted and used.
now- how many kids watched bewitched or sabrina (or even Zatanna of the JLA- she even uses backwards speech "spells"!) and then wanted to be actual practitioners of wicca? i don't know- but i think that some wiccan groups have even found those characters offensive as they are inaccurate portrayels of witches.
but i think the ultimate problem is when we blur in fantasy and reality. i can't be a ninja turtle, i can't be spider-man, i can't be superman, and even if i try really hard, i probably still can't be batman. i can't be dr. strange either, but i can get into the occult if i really want to. but then again, i could get into paganism if i really like thor- i don't know of anyone who has done this- but as a kid, my parents didn't want me to glorify thor as a hero- and i think there is something to that.
now, i did write an adaptation of dracula, which could be seen as occult or magic- but to me, it's a symbolic story with a very deep spiritual message, especially in the original story. now i don't see the power against the vampire in a crucifix, but i do see it in what the cross represents, and that is Christ. interesting about an athiest director, tho, Buzz, of those old hammer films. i like the earlier hammer films especially, but not the later ones as much.
I often think imagine how cool it would be to see Superman (I know not magical) save a planet from going into it's sun or perform some other godlike ability and then we realize that it was God working through him to save the planet, how glorifying a testimony that would be?
I think a good rule to fallow on this matter is what John the Baptist said, "He (Christ) must become greater; I (man) must become less.
Its just food for thought because I totally agree with every thing you said.
I think it comes down to, as mentioned by sir brandon: Use whatever is needed in service of the story. IF that involves magic, then use it. One way you can portray "magic" is "magic" vs. the Power of God.
An interesting note: I never perceived talking animals, flying beings, or overtly powerful characters magic for some reason. Not sure why. However, once you start getting into incantations, spells, hex's and the like, that for me, starts going into the deep end.
If whatever you're using is getting the point across, then go to town. (At least in my opinion). As mentioned, would Jesus read it? (Not that he isn't already as you make it...)
But if you have issues with magic address that in the book I love to draw and write my characters arguing. I hade my guys argue about marriage, life death and even the existence of God it’s a grate way to draw your reader in with out preaching to them instead another guy is getting preached at in your book. I also think it’s a little bit more dramatic that way.
David C. McConnehey II said:
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