Sharing that SF/F can be Christian

[susanne]

Thank you so much Morgan and Newburydave for your kind comments. It is so WONDERFUL to be able to speak to fellow Christians who do not think my taste in books is strange.
I think God is definitely nudging me to write Christian Sci-Fi.
1.) I found Sharon Hinck's fantasy books
2.) She kindly returned my e-mail and pointed me towards Marcher Lord Press
3.) I found this wonderful, helpful forum
I don't think these are coincidences. Now, all I have to figure out is whether to leave these aliens in my story, or come up with a whole new direction... At least I HAVE figured out the characters I want to keep. So that is progress of some sort.

[yoda47]

Some good stuff in here.

I wrote a blog post that partially summarizes it for me. I could probably write a whole book about just this topic...

aarondemott.blogspot.com/2011/05/christian-fantasy.html

I too, have good and bad characters that both use "magic". I like to explore the source of their power, and the way they use it.

In the Bible, there are all kinds of people who did "magic", if you want to look at it that way (Moses and the ten plauges, for example). Now, they themselves didn't do anything, God did. In my fantasy writing, God is the source for all good "magic", and it happens to be a more direct part of the world that it is the the real world.

[pixydust]

Wow, Dave! Preach it brother! Nicely done. Your words were spot on. Just what I needed today--you have no idea.

Keep the faith, Susanne! When the "religious" people of the day condemn you, you're probably headed in the right direction...lol. And I just mean the legalistic people are the most talented at squelching God's Spirit, as any I've ever seen.

I'm a person who desires approval, so of course I've been drawn from my comfort zone and placed into a situation where I don't fit. This is the story of my life: I DON'T FIT. Not ANYWHERE. The Church says I'm on the side of evil, and the world isn't my home. So, I live as a spy in the World's Order and try to be cunning as serpents and gentle as doves. I write/draw what I feel in my heart and pray that God would give me the strength to fight off the negative talk. I belong to Him alone. Just Him. So, his opinion is the only one I worry about.

[ignominius]

Hi all, please forgive me for barging in as I'm new here. I'd like to add to the great views expressed here. As a long time fanatic of science fiction (and less so of fantasy), I believe that there is no conflict between what we believe and what we imagine of the future. If we write stories about a far future time in which alien civilisations have been contacted, does that invalidate our Christian belief in such things as end-times and the rapture. Not one bit of it. The bible states clearly that no man knows the hour of the coming. All we can do is look for the signs. It might be that the more of the signs will appear thousands of years from now or maybe tomorrow or even today. But, even if end times prophesy has been fulfilled, does the bible state that man will cease to exist as physical entities. No, so we could go out into the great void exploring, the only difference between that and conditions before now is that man would be perfect in his actions and thoughts, holy and acceptable.

As to the question of magic in a fantasy world. In the real world, as has been stated, there is black magic (for bad) and white magic (for good) but all of it flowing from the lucifer. But what is magic? Is magic prohibited by God (I think so in Deuteronomy). I think there are two ways you can use magic in Christian-based fantasy stories. One is where on the side of Good, the good guys call on the might and power of God/The almighty one/the Ancient of Days and the bad guys use magic. The other (based more on the concepts of physics) is that magic is the re-arrangement of time/space/matter. God forbids people to use it because a) it draws them away from relying on God and his power, b) there are side-effects - cause and effect that have bad reprecussions to the user and the to the environment and c)(something akin to the dark side of the force in Star Wars), it draws the user more and more towards Satan and away from God. (I think I've just thought of a story based on that exploration of the use of magic ).

Well those are my thoughts. I don't know if that adds to the debate, but God willing, it will prove to be food for thought!

[newburydave]

One of the things the Lord called to my attention many years ago is that most people seem to miss the point of Jesus admonition to Watch (or be very careful). In context he refers to the signs of the times as things in the background that should make us careful.

His exhortation to watch was to "Watch ourselves", not the world around us. I think Peter's exhortation "Since you know these things (the end is coming) what manner of persons should you be in all carefulness and holy living?" is actually Peter's expanded paraphrase of Jesus' exhortation to watch. I'm sure Jesus words to him in the Garden, and his own subsequent failure, were much in his mind when he wrote this example of the danger that we all face as crises arise around us. (Holy = wholly motivated by Christ like love, not legalistic)

To be succinct the exhortation in common language as I read it is: "Notice the signs of my coming that surround you and watch how you are living, make sure you are responding to Me and my love in all that you do, not following the old dead ways of the world that is soon to be burned up."

IMHO of course.

So live and So Write my beloved siblings.

SGD
dave