some time ago, considering the violent and otherwise depraved nature of the world i'm depicting in my project, i was confronted with the need to figure out how to communicate such subjects in such a way that honors God, as the entirety of my work intends to.
i've seen christian media promote pacifism, or at least non-violence in the past, and knew that such a tactic was inappropriate for the subject matter i'd be dealing with, would not work with the story, and was actually and honestly completely unattractive to me. my initial disturbed assessment of myself with my complete lack of interest in violence-less media was to think that i was so depraved an individual that i could not enjoy a story without violence and gore, that i was the product of secular media, and that there was nothing i could do about it. pressing further into this issue as i confronted my current dilemma, i realized that yes, despite my depravity and how desensitized the media i had consumed had made me, pacifistic-christian action oriented media actually does contain a deficit.
without the protagonist being able to respond with violence, the antagonist cannot act evil enough for a story to hold my interest. if a storyteller has set a tone where non-violence ultimately prevails, usually the Big Bad Evil Guy lacks any real depth, anything that actually, believably needs to be fought against. this creates a deficit i react by filling with non-interest.
again, i'm depraved, but i feel that this is an issue closer to the basic character of mankind and what we seek in media. we need something to rally for, and we get that by having something significant to rally against. when we neuter either side of that equation, i believe we lose depth and the audience. when we lose the audience, we lose out on our opportunity to get our point across, and since for me, communicating that point with a medium is my ministry, that's not an acceptable loss.
furthermore, i think pacifism is a red herring modern christian media promotes. we are directed not toward pacifism in the bible, but toward activism. we are to be proactive turning the other cheek, not passively accepting only the first blow. we see Paul take beating after beating as an apostle in the New Testament, but there's more to that than what we've adapted as a hippie ideal. i believe if Paul found himself in a situation where he was in position to defend someone defenseless facing imminent physical danger from a murderous antagonist, Paul would act immediately, appropriately, and probably violently.
We see a lot more violence in the Old Testament than we do in the New, but in the same way that God's character does not actually change between the two, neither does the actual historical violent content of the times, just the content of what the bible actually communicates. even Jesus, who is earlier depicted very humble and accepting of the violence He endures comes back in Revelation as the leader of the armies of heaven, who wipes the earth clean with his return, and not in a pleasant, harmless, non-offensive fashion.
So, to the actual depicting of violence and other forms of sinful depravity, what is to be done? i've come up with a basic philosophy for how i intend to communicate those subjects, not in such a way as to conform to the world and just do as the popular secular media does, but in such a way that doesn't pull any punches, lose any interest, and continues to honor God.
The Rules:
don't pull any punches. stay honest about the negative content in your story. don't curb or muffle communicating the evil content in your work, because real life has evil content that will not be curbed of muffled, and what your communicating, that there is a better way, that evil is worth fighting against, is worth communicating.
don't honor the violence. secular media creates and glorifies hero's who excel at violence, who are worshiped by their fan base because of how effective their violence is at solving their problems. while violence might solve the immediate problems your protagonists are facing, it should not be the central focus of your story, like in an action movie or an issue of Punisher.
depict violence realistically. this will vary depending on the content of your work, for instance you can play fast and loose with an angels vs. demons kindof story, but if you're depicting something more flesh oriented in nature, be realistic. rarely does someone walk away from a fight unscathed, and rarely does an injury not significantly interfere with not only continuing to fight, but daily life in general. if your protagonists are constantly wading into battle and coming out the other side incurring no losses or injuries, your antagonists are lacking any real reason to be feared or fought against.
consider the audience. your work will be consumed by what is probably a younger audience, which hopefully will be first reviewed by their parent-types. your violence is going, to at least some degree, desensitize them. that's not always a bad thing, imagine an EMT who's not been desensitized to the sight of blood, their going to be useless in their life saving role. your violence, gore, and other depraved subject matter must desensitize in such a way that prepares them for life, and for the secular media they will also be consuming. make it a point to communicate the 'why' of your violence, the correct and incorrect role it should play, and the contrast in the way it should be consumed. i want a young reader walking away from my work armed with the ability to shirk off the violence glorifying portrayals they're going to be consuming everywhere else in life outside of the realm of christian media. additionally, if your work is too violent, too gory, then not only will the parent filter probably prevent your audience from actually consuming your work, it probably wont be sold by discerning vendors like family owned christian book stores, which is your most likely eventual storefront.
your work should not arouse. this works directly for sexual content you choose to include and peripherally for violent content. if you depict sexuality, you should do so in such a way that does not 'turn on' your audience. this is a tricky minefield to navigate, but review your work continually, figure out how to do that. your purpose is not met, and your work counter productive if you actually lead your reader into sin and not away from it. violence works the same way, it's okay for a reader to come away from a story wanting to learn martial arts, sword fighting, acrobatics or similar, it's not okay if your reader leaves your work inspired to solve their problems by shooting up their school.
anyway, these are my guidelines to date, their still evolving and being refined as i figure this stuff out for myself, i hope this is helpful to anyone out there who's trying to honor God with their work in a similar fashion.
