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Okay. So it’s our heart that matters.
So if you true heart attitude is like, “I totes my goats wanna write a great Christian story but I wants to do it in space with vampires and Amish people and stuff”, then we’re all chill?
^with Kittens.
Do kittens make it better?
It’s less gross and more adorable with kittens.
Well, is everything relative? Nope.
I think here’s the thing.
Knowing what is the right thing to do and doing it is different. You may know that something is wrong, and you may still want to write it in a positive light. Now that you have that speck of knowledge placed in you, you can’t just flick it out and pretend it’s not there. Maybe heart wasn’t the best word to use for conscience and depths of your gut or soul or whatever. Hmm.Anyway, I don’t think writing about zombies and vampires is always bad. I’ve read some of both. I think it’s WHY you are writing them that matters most only because of this: WHY destines how you will, what light you will portray in them, and what meaning you are trying to get across. Why makes a good thing or a bad thing. I don’t mean why as in ‘I want to write this for fun, so it’s no harm‘ vs ‘I want to inspire EVIL INTO THE HEARTS OF MAN.‘ (and I think it’s fair to say most people don’t think the latter, but do the first, which is why that is such a dangerous mindset.) Yeah, that’s not what I’m talking about here. Neither are valid reasons, usually.
Well, if by some amazing chance you could take a vampire story and make it this really convicting, godly story… Congratulations. But it just seems like the way of getting the message across would be a little too confusing. No matter how great one book is, the association zombies and vampires have with evil thingamajigers in general seriously cannot be erased. It’s good for authors to break out of the box, be creative and all, but personally, I’d rather tell my Godly story with more Godly things. 😛
… And yes, I’ll admit that that Amish vampire kitten thing made me laugh. But, really, how many people would look at that and think “spiritually enriching”? XD
Good point Rosey.
Oh, other thing. I’m not trying to erase the negative connotations about them. I’m just asking that they be used correctly if at all.
Miss Emma, I have spent a great deal of time doing things for the grander purpose, and a great deal of time doing things for fun. You would not believe how often the two intertwined, and even turned out to serve the opposite purpose more entirely than they did the original.
Now I may know something is wrong, and do it, and then I have done wrong. But I may see that my peers think something is wrong, and do it, but have not done wrong, because wrong is not based on the whims of man, but on a 2,000 year old (last divine revision date) book that has entirely left open the floodgates of possibility for what we can and cannot write. God himself put creatures on this earth far more terrifying than vampires and zombies. He made us. Mortals in the image of the God. We were good, and then we were not.
I suppose man is like a zombie in that way, isn’t he? Walking about on this earth, living on the outside but dead on the inside. When you think about it, Jesus came to cure the zombies.
^That’s MY novel idea, dibs dibs dibs, no stealing. XD
@Rosey: BUT IT MADE YOU LAUGH! Did you see that? Did you see it? IT CAUSED LAUGHTER! The God of the universe created the smallest elements that make up the flesh of an amoeba and the largest gargantuan balls of nuclear fire in the cosmos but he stopped for a moment and decided that laughter would be a good thing.
That’s a spiritually enriching thought, isn’t it?
@Daniel
It is, but I don’t think everyone is going to have that thought upon reading “Amish vampire kittens in space”. That would be awesome if they did though… 😛No no no, you missed it, stay with me here a second!
You laughed.
You, just you.
Somewhere in the vast scheme of things, as God formed you in your Mother’s womb, and saw everything you would be and mean and say and do, he gave you the potential to find joy in a picture of kittens wearing bonnets.
Isn’t that amazing?
Isn’t it amazing that God actually cared that much about something that small? You didn’t laugh at the picture because you’re a fallen creature, fighting against the sin in your bones. Even though we’ve been trying all this time to wrap our minds around the deep moral dilemmas behind this complex, stirring issue . . . all that stopped for something like 3 seconds, and someone experienced joy. And it happened because you were designed by a creator, and that made the checklist.
I’ve heard people say, and I’ve said it before too, that if my work changes the life of ONE person for the better, then I’m content. But I’m never fleshed out the context of that. So maybe I should say something different. If my work changes the life of one person for the better, but offends the rest of the world, Christian and non-Christian alike, then I’m content.
Cause maybe that Amish Vampires in Space novel caught the eye of the girl perusing the paranormal romance section who got ostracized by church kids for reading Harry Potter.
Maybe that Christian zombie movie grabbed the attention of the horror buff over in the corner looking for a movie for his buddies and him on Halloween.
Or maybe a joke I make lifts the chin of someone fighting depression, at least just for an instant.
You know what I gathered from Kerry when I talked to him about his choice to use Vampires? He used to watch old monster movies with his family. He grew up with this type of stuff. And he loves it, because it’s fun. Not evil; there’s no direct Biblical evidence that vampires and zombies are evil concepts that should be abstained from. So he wrote a story, taking a crazy title, fun from his childhood, and a passion for God, and mixed it together into what we have been debated, yet not reading: Amish Vampires in Space.
That was so beautiful and that made me happy to read and a tad bit inspired
@Daniel
Okay, I get it. 🙂 I stick by my former points, but understand your and Kerry’s position a little better now.
Still, I’d rather not stick my finger in that pie. 😛That’s a healthy place to be writing from, both of you- understanding the other viewpoint and your own convictions both is of paramount importance, and I do see both of your points. I agree with both of them, in temperance.
At this point I feel I don’t really have anything to add on in this debate that wouldn’t be redundant or just further clarifying whatever I haven’t properly expressed.So let’s see. What are some tangible examples of zombies and vampire stories put to good use? I’m asking not rhetorically, but because I’d actually like to hear opinions and examples, and why.
(And yes, I’ve heard of Amish vampires in space xP)I.e, I brought up some of Ray Bradbury’s speculative undead short stories earlier, which I enjoyed. They weren’t ‘spiritually enriching’ in a christain way, but they were introspective and thought provoking. They weren’t conventional zombie fiction, but off the top of my head that’s what I think of.
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