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@Daeus- Let me use an analogy of my own- what make a demon evil? I believe a demon is evil because of what it is, not because of its characteristics. Your analogy doesn’t really apply because all humans are not inherently evil, so the evil would have to be in the characteristics. Not so with demons.
One final word:
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”
Exodus 22:18 KJV“Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 19:31 KJV“And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 20:6-7 KJV“And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God?…”
Isaiah 8:19 KJV“There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;”
Deuteronomy 18:10-15 KJV“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
2 Peter 1:21 KJVThere is a vast difference between a prophet and a wizard. There never ceased to be a difference. There are wizards today who use magic. Some of them know that they are dealing with demons; others think they are manipulating a natural force. They use spells, incantations, magic wands, magic medallions, etc. Some of them actively serve Satan. Others merely serve themselves. NONE of them get their power from God. There are prophets of God today. They speak what God tells them to speak, and they use their God-given authority the way God directs them to. NONE of them call it magic. NONE of them use spells, incantations, magic wands, magic medallions, or their own will power. To create a prophet character and call him a wizard, or to create a wizard character and say he is using God’s power, is to take the truth and mix it with something God hates. It doesn’t matter that you are doing it in a fantasy world. You are doing it, and that is wrong.
“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.”
Psalms 119:1 KJV“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”
Matthew 5:8 KJV“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”
Psalms 24:3-4 KJV“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:”
Hebrews 12:14 KJV“That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
Ephesians 5:27 KJV“I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.”
Psalms 119:101 KJV“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes:”
Psalms 101:3 KJV“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 KJV“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
2 Corinthians 6:14- 7:1 KJVDoes anybody care what God thinks? Does anyone respect Him enough to obey a simple command: Thou shalt not touch it? Witchcraft and magic and wizardry- all that stuff is an abomination to the Lord. We are supposed to hate it. Has anyone gotten on their knees before God and asked Him what He says about magic? Or will we continue to use human reasoning to explain away His commands? Who is willing to follow God with their whole heart? Who is willing to die to themselves and obey God? Who will love what God loves and hate what God hates? Who will love the truth enough to fight for it?
I have nothing further to say.
“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:15-16 KJV“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
Matthew 5:48 KJVThank you Sarah. I really enjoyed this discussion.
I believe I have stated all my arguments, and furthermore I believe each and every one of them was Biblically and logically sound, as I tried to explain. I may perhaps have failed to come across on some points, but I don’t know how to state them more clearly.So thank you. God bless! 🙂
As for why a fantasy creature is evil, you seem still to not understand my question. [I didn’t mean demon. I meant fantasy creatures (which you think are connected to demons) incase there was any confusion] However, since I have tried to explain it three times, I think I had better let it rest. There is a difference between being able to talk forever (I always have more to say) and whether one should actually do so (I should not).
Well, thanks Sarah. Amen to all the verses you listed. You are obviously seeing something there that I can’t, but at the end of the day, I would far rather you disagree with me on what these verses say then to reject them outright. Considering that, I am glad for you opinion and firmness.
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vampires, zombies, werewolves, witches, wizards, sorcerers, magicians, ghosts, elves, mermaids, aliens, and fairy dragons
While I totally agree with you on vampires, zombies, werewolves, (real) witches, (real) wizards, (real) sorcerers, (real) magicians, and (real) ghosts, I can’t agree on Elves, Mermaids, Aliens, and Dragons.
God gave us an imgaination. And Tokien and CS Lewis were both (in my mind) strong Christians! Particularly the latter.
In the OT, God told the priests to have BLUE pomagranets on their robes. Blue pomagrantes don’t exist! So, I think it is fair to think that God is okay with a little imagining. Maybe some fruit in Heaven is blue.
If you acctually studied modern wicca, norse paganism, or other forms of paganism, you would see the difference. I don’t really reccomend it, but it’s simple to see, they are different.
Using a sorcerer in a story is fine if the source is well accounted for. If you create another world, you have the ability to distinguish between all things, and decide where a sorcerer will get her power.
In the world that I most recently created, Maldroc, I created a form of magic called Eznonery. Enzonery is based on a natural element that the ‘creator’ made in their world. And therefore, it is just as natural to use Enzonery and be able to fly as it is to breathe and be able to live.
I commend you for looking in to all things. Keep doing that. But nothing is simply ‘cut-and-dry.’ There are deeper layers of facts.
If you feel that it would be wrong for you to create magic in a story, then it would be going against your conscience and would be wrong. But many other Christians don’t have a problem with it.
You raise a valid question.
I do believe there are probably scores of answers for this on the internet, and I’m sure you’ve been answered many times over by others, but I hope I added something. 🙂
Hi Levi! I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you.
I noticed that you made a distinction between “real” wizards and fantasy ones, “real” witches and fantasy ones, etc. It seems like you believe that they are evil in the real world, but not necessarily so in fantasy. I can’t agree with you there. They are the servants of Satan, and it is wrong to glorify them by creating a “good” version of them in any genre of writing. We are Christians. We are the servants of God Almighty. We are to glorify Him in all that we do. Our writing should draw people to Christ; not to magic, and certainly not to Satan’s servants. God gave us our imaginations, and as Christians, we should submit them to Him completely. He did not give us imaginations so that we could create our own world based on Satan’s system of magic and witchcraft. When we do that, we are giving our minds over to Satan.
Our mind is subject to the laws of God. When we use our minds to play with and create powers that He has forbidden us to use, that is rebellion. We know that if a person thinks about committing adultery, he has done it in his heart. In the same way, if a person plays around with witchcraft in their mind, thinking “It’s in a fantasy realm, God’s rules don’t apply”, they have committed it in their heart.The difference between “fantasy magic” and witchcraft is not so big as you think. Many former witches and wizards who have come to Christ, as well as active witches, testify that they are basically the same. Despite embellishments added by the authors, fantasy magic at its core springs directly from real magick. Your idea that magic is tied to a natural element in your fantasy world is neither original nor fantasy. If you study New Age long enough, you’ll come across it (not that you should study New Age, of course, but if you are going to present an idea, you should know where it comes from.). Beings like fairies, elves, dragons, and unicorns are not fantasy. They are evil spirits, and real wizards interact with them all the time. Spells and incantations are real, and they are never, EVER okay to use. Magical objects like rings and wands are also real…and the list goes on. It’s wrong to portray evil as good in any setting. (Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!)
If you create another world, you have the ability to distinguish between all things, and decide where a sorcerer will get her power.
That is one of the reasons why I believe writing fantasy is so dangerous. Many fantasy writers think that they can redefine good and evil, justify witchcraft, and create their own god. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the phrase “but it’s in a fantasy world, so it’s okay.” No, it isn’t okay. God has decreed what is good and what is evil, and He says that sorcery is evil. A sorcerer gets their power from Satan, never from God. If you make your creator figure give a sorcerer power, you are fashioning him after Satan. It’s not okay to embellish witchcraft, put it in a fantasy setting, and call it “Christian”. Furthermore, it is extremely disrespectful (and dangerous) to create our own fantasy god. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Who are we serving when we have our characters worship a false god, the work of men’s hands, instead of the one and only true God? “But,” we say, “I am modeling my creator after the one true God.” He is perfect, and any change we impudently dare to make to His character can only take away; it cannot add anything. Our God is so wonderful. He is wise and just and holy and all powerful, and He loves us even though we don’t deserve it. Let us honor Him and respect Him, and really truly love Him. He deserves it. Please, let us not be so dishonouring to the One who made us and died for us. Once, people respected Him so much that His very name was held sacred. Now our culture is Godless, but that’s no excuse for us to be irreverent. Besides, you have an opportunity to impact the souls of your readers for good or for evil. One day you and I will stand before God and give account for every word that we have written. I don’t want Him to say “I gave you talent, and you used it to spread the Lie. The lost people who read your works never caught a glimpse of the hope I gave you, even though I commanded you to tell all the world.” It doesn’t matter how allegorically profound our work is; if it merely points to a generic “Savior figure” instead of to Jesus, what good does that do a lost person? Christian morals packaged in a Christless fantasy story will do no good, because morality cannot save the world. Only the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can save the world.
If you feel that it would be wrong for you to create magic in a story, then it would be going against your conscience and would be wrong. But many other Christians don’t have a problem with it.
But Levi, conscience is not god. Jesus is. He says it is evil, and I must obey Him, whether my conscience has a problem with it or not.
I respectfully challenge you to go before the Lord and ask Him what He says about magic and fantasy. Lay aside your opinions and ask Him to reveal His truth to you. He loves to talk to His children.
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