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I think the entire 14th chapter of Romans is very relevant for this discussion. I think the strongest argument against writing about vampires is the potential, if real, to cause others to stumble.
14 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. 2 One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. 3 The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge the [a]servant of another? To his own [b]master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5 One person [c]regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, [d]does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. 7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; 8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall [e]give praise to God.”
12 So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way. 14 I know and am convinced [f]in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15 For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be [g]spoken of as evil; 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then [h]we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. 20 Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats [i]and gives offense. 21 It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. 22 The faith which you have, have [j]as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.
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OrpheusAudioAcademy.comI suppose what I mean by dark fantasy is anything that is evil, yes, and deal with witchcraft. Since witchcraft is occult and vampires are occult I consider them one in the same.
Yes I do use instances of “evil” since anything from white lies to murder is a sin. And I really don’t know how to reconcile that with Phillipians 4:8 except for overshadowing the evil with good, not focusing strictly on the evil, and not going into gory, graphic details. How would you reconcile them?
I’m not really sure I can produce any evidence. I’ve done my best but everything I’ve come up with you’ve managed to counter with another thought provoking question. I don’t know think I can produce anything else.
It may not be wrong for everyone to write and it may not be wrong for everyone to read but I definitely think it could be a stumbling block.
HC
Okay, that makes sense. I never thought of them in that category before.
Yes I do use instances of “evil” since anything from white lies to murder is a sin. And I really don’t know how to reconcile that with Phillipians 4:8 except for overshadowing the evil with good, not focusing strictly on the evil, and not going into gory, graphic details. How would you reconcile them?
That’s exactly what I believe, because that’s what the Bible does.
I’m not really sure I can produce any evidence. I’ve done my best but everything I’ve come up with you’ve managed to counter with another thought provoking question. I don’t know think I can produce anything else.
If that’s the case, then this issue probably falls into the Romans 14 category as a matter of conscience, which means there is really not much point in discussing this much further, and we should just accept and respect each other’s views, which, I think we have done up to this point. This has been a very respectful discussion I think. 🙂
And like you point out, that stumbling block issue is probably your best argument. Definitely something I will have to consider.
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This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by
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This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by .
My Music:
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OrpheusAudioAcademy.comOh good!
If that’s the case, then this issue probably falls into the Romans 14 category as a matter of conscience, which means there is really not much point in discussing this much further, and we should just accept and respect each other’s views. 🙂
I agree, I think this etty much comes down to a matter of conscious. Well that’s settled and I think it’s a good thing too, this topic became monotonous after a while. 🙂
Thanks everyone for being respectful to each others opinions, views, and beliefs!
HC
Yes, I think we can all agree to disagree on the points upon which we do not see perfectly eye to eye. It was a great discussion. Thanks for starting it, Daniel!
Aiyoh I went to sleep in Singapore and all this happens in the U.S. while I’m sleeping. It seems as though this discussion is over but I’d like to say what my main point was: sure you can write about vampires and zombies and such but only as long as they are portrayed as evil. And yes, that was mainly it. I guess you all are sleeping now too so sweet dreams 🙂
Okay heyo I know I’m late to the party but here’s my two cents:
I don’t agree with the morals behind either but as well done speculative fiction, they can shine an interesting view on human nature. They are in no way realistic, from what’s popular and what I’ve read at least, to what I believe. However, like I said, they can be good thought-provokers. YA zombie/vampire fiction doesn’t usually turn out to be so, though; they usually turn out to be really weird and demented and unneccesarily romantic twists on good and evil.
For a different example, Ray Bradbury doesn’t write zombie stories, but in a few of his short stories he speculates about the undead (i.e, The Reincarnate.) They aren’t Christian in viewpoint by any means, nor were they meant to hold any real theology, but they do put characters in situations that make you think in a good way. That’s the only zombie-eske stuff I’ve read and appreciated.
This is already an old topic, but I’ll speak out my opinion.
Vampires and zombies are associated with satanic evil stuff. So we shouldn’t write about them. You can use the idea of some undead person but using actual vampires and zombies have a bad connotation. And remember that to others watching their connotation trumps your motivation
I blog on story and spiritual things at mkami.weebly.com
But what if their connotation is wrong.
We can argue all day about whether vampires and zombies are okay to use or not and all those technicalities. but as Christians, shouldn’t there be other, better things we could be writing about?
Going off of what Daniel just said-
Firstly, I think this is an issue of ‘what should christians write in general’ not merely just zombies or vampires.
When you put it that way, it’s a bit of an ‘am i my brother’s keeper’ thing, to a small extent. Just because we have the right and ability to write something, should we? That’s the question of the day.
Paul wrote in his letters to the Corinthians about how he ‘had the right to do these things, but didn’t, lest he lead a weaker brother astray.’ (I’m paraphrasing here.) So basically what Reagan quoted from Romans.
On the other hand, be careful to know what that looks like. Let’s not take everything to such an extreme that we lose meaning altogether: for those who are more mature, your story could be beneficial and wholesome, while to younger audiences it may be tramautic or detrimental.Basically, if you think your audience won’t get it, either change your novel or change your target audience.
An example is the Hunger Games books. Brilliant idea. Brilliant execution. Still, some people in the consumer audience tend to take it the wrong way. Highlighting the romance instead of the real issues, just as the Capital did. Cheering when characters were killed. Doing the exact things that Susan Collins warned against. And yet obviously many people have been touched in good ways by this series, and it’s made valid and relevant points.
So you have to ask yourself: is the benefit of what I’m writing worth the risk (of wrong interpretation)?Don’t all stories run the risk of wrong interpretation?
Emma you have such amazing intellecjewel powers.
@daniel- exactly.
So it DOES run down to our intentions and true heart attitude/purpose about the whole subject, doesn’t it then, hmm? Agh. And that brings us right back to where we started, so.@ezra- oh stahp.
actually no dun stahp yes thank you for appreciating my intellecjewelity there i thought that was purty good maself xP -
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