Brain cramp

[CastleLyons]

Did Jesus walk on water and calm the sea not because He is God but because He is unsullied man? Any thoughts?

Wow, torainfor, I love the idea that Jesus could do this because He is unsullied man. What a thought! I heard a sermon once that mentioned something to that effect. It was a loooong time ago, so I've lost many of the details, but it was something about Jesus' powers coming from the same Holy Spirit that we have access to. In fact, Jesus himself said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12).

I've often thought that mankind has lost all kinds of potential because of the Fall. It'll be exciting in heaven to see what amazing things we will be able to do, and should have been able to do all along.

[mongoose]

this reminds me of the very interesting discussions I had at the height of my role playing days about the difference, in writing and in life, between the working of the power of God through us, and magic/witchcraft.

I was commited to never allow my PCs to use magic or witchcraft, and yet I wanted them to use the power of God in them in a realistic fashion. I needed to make it clear what was happening in the stories. The issue was complicated somewhat by my reading of Stephen Lawhead's Celtic Christian lore, which seemed to blur the line between Druidic elemental magic, and calling on God.

A number of definitions flew back and forth, but this is what I wound up understanding and using:
Magic is when a person attempts to exercise control over things, using whatever source of power, for their own purposes. Those purposes could be good, bad, or indiferent, but it's the person doing their will, because they want to.
Prayer and the power of God, on the other hand, is asking in faith for God to do what God wants to do anyway, for His glory and for the blessing of ourselves or others.

With magic, the worker of the magic believes they control the outcome.
With prayer, the faithful leave the results in the hands of God

With magic, the objective is usually more or less selfish.
With prayer, the objective is usually to see God's will done, and His Kingdom come.

Example: I just watched a movie in which a witch tried to use a "binding spell" to keep another character from doing harm. Christians have the authority to bind in heaven and on earth, and to loose. So what's the difference?
1. The language used by the witch was "_I_ bind you from doing harm." The witch took the credit, doing what she wanted to do. A Christian, praying, might say something like, "_In Jesus' Name_ I bind you from doing harm," or, "Jesus, I ask you to bind her from doing harm." The Christian gives the credit to Christ
2. I find that in my prayers for people, including my enemies, I'm not trying to control them or their behavior, and I'm not asking God to control them or their behavior (although some Christians have done so, and God has honored their requests on occasion.) Rather, when I ask God how to pray for my enemies or others who might do harm, he changes my heart. I find myself praying that they would find God, and asking God to draw them near to himself. I pray that God would bless them and give them peace, joy, safety, security and contentment.
So practitioners of witchcraft, even when casting "good" spells, are trying to control things or people, whereas the praying Christian asks God to do what _He_ wants regarding heart issues primarily, and physical needs secondarily.

That being said, God certainly does work powerfully through His people when they pray. Witness the prophets under the Old Covenant, or the Apostles under the New. Witness those the Catholics designate as saints. Witness the dozens of missionaries through whom God works miricles around the world today. I see no reason not to expect the weather to change, the dead to rise, the waters to support human weight etc. at the request of those who call upon the Lord.

I very much enjoyed Ted Dekker's books "Blessed Child" and "A Man Called Blessed." In them the character has the faith of a child, having been taught the Word of God from an early age, and God honors his requests. He heals people and such, but more importantly, as pointed out by another character, God uses him to touch and heal people's hearts. But always he calls upon God, and always he gives God the credit. Sometimes God chooses not to do what the child asks, and the child concludes that something is wrong with the motives of those on who's behalf he's asking it.

The discussion continues, but those are the guidelines I've been using, in brief.

[lexkx]

I have heard an argument, which I find more interesting to ponder than to involve myself in either side, that goes back to the Genesis account of creation. Given the size of Eden, how could Adam and Eve have tended it in its entirety if they couldn't fly or teleport? And since we fallen folk often wish for superpowers, I am inclined to wonder what might have been possible for us before we were sinners.

Of course, God is spirit, and the spirit is often supernatural. And there is a part of us that only functions--only lives--because of his supernatural presence in our lives. What if we lived in that realm all the time? Kind of hard to live like that if you're not committed to a selfless life of humble service before God, though.

[strangewind]

I think of Perelandra in this regard. Although the planet is "tended" by only two people (with an attempted corruption by another) it is what one might call an "easy keeper."

Also, who is to say that Eden was enormous? Perhaps the garden only covered a (relative to the earth) small area and was intended to grow as the family of man multiplied in number.

As for the question of fantasy magic, I have no problem with it, either in books or in roleplaying. Occult practices in the real world are a devilish solution to an existing problem. Magic in most books is symbolic of something else, and more often than not, an unreliable hazard!

Magic in the real world holds empty promises and opens nearly non-existent doors to nothing. Magic in fictional setting can be used to describe something that otherwise can't be apprehended.

I find it somewhat remarkable that in today's modern/post-modern world, Christians have more queasiness about the fictional portrayal of magic, a trope we practically invented (or at the very least, played a strong hand in recovering)!

I, too, like the idea of fictional magic being a "type" of gift from God, such as technology or science is, that is quite easily corrupted.

Again, I'm speaking of something far different from "practical" and "real" magic as pursued by those wandering after the occult. [Hint: Here's the difference between anti-Christian magic, and, in my opinion, perfectly decent fictional magic - The fictional magic actually works!

[mongoose]

I'd advise caution, for what that's worth. I live and work in a place where I see the demonic at work fairly often. Those who play with them, practice magic, or even try to pray in order to control things themselves often are ensnared. I know people who have all kinds of difficulties because of curses that came upon their families as a result of the activities of their ancestors.

What I've seen has not been a non-existent door to nothing. It's been a very great number of doors to a very large pit of despair, sin, hatred, and all kinds of trouble. Here next to remote villages where shaman still shape shift, call on spirits, attempt to control the weather and heal people and stuff, Spiritual warfare against demonic spirits that people think they control seems to be a very real, powerful, and imminent threat to people everywhere.

I thank God that the Holy Spirit in me trumps any spiritual attack or deception that may come against me as long as I call upon Him or turn to Him. Still, until He commissions and appoints me to engage demons and those possessed by them, I'll have nothing to do with magic, whether fictional or in real life. That's just my choice; to keep my distance except in prayer. I think we each have to examine our selves and listen to God and determine what He wants us to do.

[strangewind]

We are speaking at cross purposes, perhaps. My point isn't that real occultism isn't dangerous. I highly doubt that most who practice the occult are hoping to fall into darkness, become tormented by demons or fall into sin. They are usually after some sort of goodie, a goodie which doesn't exist, and in my experience with spiritual warfare, never exists, or exists by coincidence. That is the nothing of which I speak.

I'm not saying that it is safe to try the occult in the real world. I'm just saying it is ineffective.

Likewise, having witness many forms of spiritual warfare, I also can't say I've ever found an instance springing up from someone reading Tolkien.

[lexkx]

I must side with Mongoose on this one. Not to be argumentative, but because there is a truth that we (Christian lovers of sff) seldom acknowledge. There is a line from the film The Usual Suspects that people like to quote, because it is effective. "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." There's some truth to that. Societies that forget that tend to meet short, bloody falls soon after. But there is another one that goes around, and Christians are more sharply divided on it. "Magic in fiction has nothing to do with magic in the real world." I cannot agree with that.

Now, I'm a Christian who enjoys sff, and I will read stories and novels on occasion with magic in them. Doesn't mean I condone it and I make a point to never recommend these books to people. Why? Am I such a snob? It's possible, but the core of that [for me] is a philosophical point drawn from spiritual experience. Throw in some strong convictions and restraints the Lord has placed on me about my own writing, and I have a solid brick wall in place about my position on this. I don't demand that others agree with this, but it is deadly serious for me, for two reasons.

1. In every person's mind, there is a) reality, b) the supernatural, and c) the imaginary. For some of us, these are nebulous divisions and one bleeds into the other. For others of you, they are clearly defined and you can keep them nicely separated. For those of us who can't, a rule that exists in reality or in the supernatural must also exist in the imaginary, or things become too confusing. I expect this is why so many Christians prefer to avoid fantasy and stories concerning magic, because the lines that demark their understanding demand certain limits.

2. Magic, either in fiction or in reality, is a pursuit of power. I don't include the supernatural in that argument, because in the supernatural realms I believe such a pursuit of power is seen for what it is, and satan has a heyday with it. But part of magic's lure is that it makes you special. Not necessarily dangerous, but certainly prepared to deal with the world (and your enemies) in ways that not everyone can comprehend. The occult has a similar appeal. You're suddenly in on a secret, and this gives you power and purpose over others.

No, I don't for a moment think someone will go to hell over whether or not they write magic into a story, or whether or not they approve of magic in fiction or in real world practice. I do know that the Lord has made it very clear for my own writing that I am never to include or condone it in my own fiction. No, I don't expect He'll do that in every writer. I have had sufficient experience with the occult and the supernatural to prefer to lift up the Lord and His plan to make us complete through His supernatural spirit's control. Other people--other writers--will have different experiences and different understandings of the Lord's work and will, and it is not abnormal this side of heaven to find people who think differently on such sensitive subjects.

But I do think that calling magic in fiction a metaphor or symbol for something truer cheapens God's intent. He doesn't call us to imagine a fuller life with Him. He calls us to live a fuller life with Him. To lift up magic or "the light" in fiction, while sometimes encouraging and symbolically beautiful, sometimes gives the authors more credit than they're due and sometimes gives satan opportunities to slip in small lies. It's harder to take captive every thought and bring it back under the Holy Spirit's control when a part of you says "this won't really harm me because I know it's not real." What if God has other plans for your way of thinking?

[strangewind]

I can't but totally, though respectfully, disagree on a philosophical level. I fully respect your choice to bar magic from your work and/or reading of fiction, as might one who eats meat may, by choice, abstain when in the presence of a vegetarian. But I disagree strongly with the suggestion that one who finds magic to be a useful, in fact important, metaphor in fiction to somehow be leaving himself open to satan's lies.

One could just as easily suggest that it is one of satan's lies that magic in fiction should be feared and avoided by Christians. There's no biblical evidence for either, and it is probably one best left aside for better arguments.

Murder is a far more dangerous trap for a sinner to fall into than, say, casting a fireball. So is adultery. So is spiritual or emotional conflict. Should these too be left out of fantasy fiction?

Magic is as important to fantasy literature as technology is to technothrillers. It is a bedrock of its special brand of escape. And I'm not just talking about magic spells. Is it okay to have trees that talk in fantasy? Is it okay to have orcs or goblins? Specially gifted heroes? Elves? All of these are part and parcel to fantasy magic. They (or variant tropes of the same ilk. I don't mean to be cliche) are inherent to the genre.

It seems as if the argument you are making is a Christian stand against fantasy literature, not against a superfluous element of fantasy literature.

Are there untrue works of fiction that portray magic in such a way as to make occultism in the real world attractive? Certainly, just as there are untrue works of fiction that portray murder in such a way to make crime attractive and rewarding. But these are bad books. You can't blame the inclusion of magic as the cause of untrue literature.

In far-flung science fiction, most of the far-out technologies, in fact, are simply another brand of magic.

Magic in fiction has an internal set of rules that are necessary for the advancement of the plot or the development of a character. Nothing like it exists in our world.

Now I understand not having the discernment to understand the difference between magic in fiction and occultism in the real world. I, for example, often confuse Boxing Day in Canada and the Boxer Revolution in China. But they are two very different things.

If you believe magic to be such a spiritual problem in literature, I would recommend you avoid fantasy literature altogether. I'd suggest skipping over a great deal of non-hard science fiction, as well, considering that so much of it addresses (favorably) the concept of the omega point. If it doesn't do that, much still suggests magic in its mega-advanced technologies.

Asking for fantasy without a concept of magic underlying it is a little like enjoying soccer, except for the goal scoring and exercise involved.

As I said, I respect your zeal to eschew magic in any form.

Please just don't suggest that the earnest work that Christian speculative writers do is to "cheapen God's intent." It may not be for you, but to quietly suggest we may be unwittingly in league with the devil is a very wrong-headed direction to take.

I'll re-iterate this: we certainly should be mindful of what goes into our heads and hearts. But I also have zero evidence that any of the occult activities in Africa, the satanic masses of "curious" teenagers, cases of demon possession, or any magical practices for the purposes of power or gain are in any way related to the rich genre of fantasy.

Tolkien is NOT a gateway to the devil, any more than my kitchen counter is. Demon: A Memoir does not entice people to dabble in the occult. Dean Koontz books aren't corrupting, and Shadowmancer (though poorly written, IMO) isn't going to teach a kid how to be evil.

Are there spiritually troubled people who seek out these books for occult knowledge? Possibly, but why then do they move on to true occultism? Because magic in good fantasy does not, and can not, satisfy the sinful objective.

Magic in fantasy fiction is no more a gateway to the occult than strong Kool-Aid is to heroin.

Again, I'm not trying to convince you that you should read books with magic in them, far from it! I trust your conscience to guide what you read. I'm not encouraging you to go against your conscience in any way, and in fact encourage you to avoid magic, to avoid advanced science fiction, and to avoid fantasy literature altogether.

[knightofhyn]

I would argue that it depends on the person. Some minds and hearts are easily led astray. Quickly led to wrong things. Why? Because they have no foundation. Their hearts are built on sand, waiting for the wind and rain to move them.

While I would say of myself that reading and writing about such would not lead me astray, there are those that practically worship the ideas put out in books because they can't form thoughts of their own.

[mongoose]

Incidentally, I love to read fantasy by Tolkien, Lawhead, and Hancock etc. Much of that includes magic in one form or another. I have all kinds of ways that I can rationalize it and make it the power of God, instead of magic, even when the author uses the word "Magic" in reference to it.

But I'm not interested in whether or not reading about magic in a book would lead a person astray, and I don't think that was Lexkx's intent either (correct me if I'm wrong, of course.) I think what he's talking about is whether or not it's God's will for him (he doesn't state what he thinks God's will for anyone else is) to condone the use of magic, for its own sake, in literature. Never mind how people react to it, should it be there, or should we, as authors, avoid it?

I, for one, have chosen to avoid it, and I honestly don't see the point in making it a major part of a story. I'll write about elves, maybe, orcs and goblins, and even talking animals and trees. But my primary characters will not cast spells or curses, nor will they commune with the dead or try to tell the future. The villains might, just as the villains will torture and kill civilians and enemy combatants. I'll show, in the context of the story, how wrong and harmful I believe those activities to be, whether witchcraft, adultery, or murder. I'll show the consequences in the characters' lives. And the heroes, striving to avoid evil, will not touch some of it, and will only touch other parts when they are weak and fail in their pursuit of God.

Why will I include violence and not magic by my primary characters? Because violence doesn't worry me. I know I can overcome it and remain peaceful myself, no-matter the circumstances. Back when writing violence made me feel angry and violent, God led me to abstain for about six months. Once it was under control, it was cool for me to write it, in moderation, and making sure that the reader could see that the violence was wrong and harmful. Magic, however, still scares me. I know by faith in the Word of God and the testimony of the Saints that it can't hurt me, but I see it hurting others, and so there's no way I'll take it lightly or as a metaphor for something good.

Of course, there is, as someone pointed out, a difference between the magic practiced by Tolkien's wizards, empowered as they were by Illuvitar, and the magic practiced by witches and warlocks in real life. Do any of you know just how that difference is defined, what fits into one vs. what fits into the other? I know I don't. Nor do I want to do the research to find out, lest I be ensnared as were Saruman, Gideon, Solomon, etc.

But then, I still want the power of God to be evident through the lives of my PCs, so it is incumbent upon me to find a way of showing that which removes any doubt concerning the source or purpose of the power. Again, I think Ted Dekker does an excellent job of this in many of his novels that deal with people with supernatural, demonic, or magical powers.

Everyone has to find their own way, preferably led by the Holy Spirit. I just hope I've clarified how He's leading me, currently.

[torainfor]

Merely a stream of consciousness...

I have met a "white witch" who could see auras and sense medical problems (apparently with some success) and "heal" people. I've met a Southern Baptist preacher who believes Harry Potter is evil and must be destroyed. Most of my friends (all Christian) read Harry Potter. A lot read fantasy. Some role-play.

Does the positive portrayal of magic in fiction books encourage some people to dabble in the occult? Of course it does. And that McDonald's down the street (not to mention my beloved Starbucks with its 500 calorie mocha-frappa-yummies) encourages some people to over-eat. People who are already susceptible to a particular sin will find encouragement anywhere.

Then again, maybe someone will read a story with magic in it and find deeper meaning in a metaphor. Maybe they'll look to God for the power to do the impossible or read about a telepath and realize their own need for deeper relationships. Just as my husband uses that McDonald's and I use that Starbucks to spend time with our kid and bless his heart.

I like the way Elizabeth Moon handled it in the Paksennarion trilogy. Paks was gifted by the Deity of the world. Although she looked to other individuals for inspiration, they were clearly represented as humans who had done great things and then died, not other "gods." (And if they bear some resemblance to Catholic saints, I'll leave her to her own beliefs.)

At any rate, my story is Christian hardish sci-fi. I'm trying to stay within eyesight of the limits placed by both theological truth and physical science (which, even if I did understand it, isn't completely mapped out). I intend to take some liberties with science and creation-based history, but not theology. In fact, I plan on sending the manuscript to a chaplain friend of mine so he can go over it with a fine-toothed comb.

Maybe it's not too much to ask for a Christian author to qualify the source of magic. Strange how I stopped watching Buffy when Willow became a witch, but I have no problem with HP. Then again, I don't see HP about magic so much as a disenfranchised boy who finally finds his place in the world. But! Like Jeff says, every author has an audience waiting on their books.

[strangewind]

I guess my takeaway is this:

The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls.

Again, I understand those who are troubled by magic in literature, and I would certainly never do anything (knowingly) to entice them to accept it. But the converse is true: I think those whose consciences are clear on the issue should have their practice honored, as well.

Even if you feel that magic in literature is akin to food sacrificed to an idol, and should therefore be avoided (by your conscience, not by scripture), Christians must trust each other as often as (or more than) they rebuke.

Again, I'm not sure I see the strong distinction between a spellcast and a talking tree or an orc (which, traditionally is the product of black magic) in terms of what is "safe" territory and what is "unsafe."

Could not a talking tree promote pantheism and pagan rituals to Gaia? Doesn't an orc give credence to the creative power of dark magic? Don't sentient non-human creatures undermine God's order? Wouldn't readers of any fantasy novel, whether or not Wizard A casts a glammer against Sorcerer B, be tempted to develop an interest in something beyond the material world? Might they not end up seeking out demons after reading Peretti, might they not be tempted by the occult after reading Perelandra?

Again, I absolutely understand a personal aversion to certain content, as well as the justification for that. I support that. What I'm balking at is the suggestion that magic in literature has an inherent sin that should be avoided as a matter of doctrine.

[newburydave]

When I was pastoring the rescue mission, one of my charter members was a converted witch. I don't mean one of those plastic commercial witches who make money from being weird. Her father was a full blooded Indian and the hereditary shaman of his tribe (not a reservation tribe).

Now her father was a Methodist and not actively practicing the tribal "Medicine" but he still had the hereditary sense of the other world and a lot of insights that could only come through a spiritual portal/sensitivity.

Well N____, the woman who was one of my charter members, had grown up and nurtured that heritage and became a heavy duty spell casting, tarot reading witch. I mean real power, here not imaginary stuff. Like she foretold the death of one of her husbands with the tarot and saw the occurrence in detail before it happened.

After her deliverance, which took some doing, she told us that the games in Toys-R-Us, that that they saw Christmas shopping, were using actual spells from occult books that she had paid hundreds of dollars to buy back when she was practicing Wicca.

I've seen too many cases of demon possession through drug use and casual play with "magic games" to look on "play" magic as a neutral thing. The Old Testament told the Hebrews not to even name the names of the Canaanite's pagan gods. I take that to mean that it is a good idea to stay far away from even the appearance of Occult Evil.

In my stories I always try to make it clear that the supernatural is either from God's hand in Miracles or from Satan's hand in evil magic. Maybe I'm narrow minded but I've seen too much damage done to people who let the lines burr too much and got to comfortable with borderline occult things.

Even beyond the danger of demon possession witchcraft and non-God sourced miracles (magic) leave a spiritual stench in the soulish atmosphere of a place that breeds evil and wickedness. Witches and Warlocks actively cultivate sin, the more heinous the better, because it builds their power. Real witches work through unbridled sexual promiscuity (does that ring any bells). Occult practitioners are violently allergic to purity and goodness. Holy living drives them into paroxysms of rage (personal experience) because it affects them like Kryptonite affects Super Man. Actually it is the presence of the Holy One and true faith that is the only source of Holiness, Purity or Goodness that hammers them.

I like Lawhead's stuff (being Celtic of the seed of Cymry) and some of Ted Deckker's books but felt that they skate kind of close to the edge in some places. I guess that as a Christian I am ambivalent about some of the conjuring in them. Some of it could be God meeting people where they are, but some seems to be a lot like spiritism.

Where we live is a stronghold of Spiritualism and New Age Occultism. We had a run in with a Spiritualist church when our mission was just starting up, we were constantly opposed by spirits of darkness and we were assaulted by at least one Witch that we know of during our tenure in the city. I'd just like to testify that when we keep the Glory of God down on our lives and church services Satan's agents do flee. And some of the fallout can be surprisingly blessed.

Deckker's book series "White" "Red" and "Black" (or some such color series) were definitely over the edge. It seemed to start well, similar to "Blessed Child" but I bailed out when his "faith" started running over into a classic "wizards war" of the "good guys" and the devils spawn throwing big boulders at each other "by the levitation of faith". I felt that it was encouraging folks to go beyond faith into a kind of personal power fanaticism that any New Age practitioner could relate to.

And, no I don't like most fantasy. I thought that Tolkien was walking in some very gray areas in the Ring Trilogy. I realize it was allegory and I read it before I met Jesus, but on re-reading it I was struck by how Gandalf was a very ambiguous figure. I think that wizard guy in the lone tower and the prince who was overwhelmed by the seeing stone were better pictures of those who think they are "wise" enough to dabble with occult arts.

The whole idea of the "old arts" growing old and passing from the earth struck me a fundamentally inconsistent with a Biblical world view. I know Lewis used that idea too but much as I like Lewis I find some of his ideas difficult.

We are all called to walk the Narrow way after all, and we are to exercise our minds and senses to discern between good and evil. So as an old saint in the church where Jesus saved me used to say, "I intend to walk the extreme narrow way" to stay off the devils property.

[mongoose]

The discussion wasn't about whether or not witchcraft should be in fantasy literature, nor was it about whether we should read such books (though that may be worth discussing) it was about whether it could harm us to write about it. Does it harm me to write about graphic violence, or sexuality? Is it weakness if we see potential for harm in writing these things, or is it a desire for holiness? Somewhere in between? A purely individual decision between each person and God?

I'm not sure I see any threat in including characters corrupted by magic in our writing, if it's clear that the character has been so corrupted (referring to orcs here.) I certainly see nothing wrong with talking trees. For all I know, the Eden trees may have carried on in sonnets to each other, and verbal praise to their Creator. I like that idea, in fact, and see no conflict therein with Scripture. These things are either imaginary, which is just fine, or they are illustrations/allegories/parables, which are just fine. The question is about whether our PRIMARY characters (as opposed to our villains) should practice witchcraft, which I already attempted (perhaps not successfully) to define.

Again, talking trees, orcs, or any of these other things may or may not promote sin when read by weak minded readers. But that's not the issue at hand. We're not asking about whether these things should be read, or whether they could be harmful to a reader, although we might do that in another thread. We're talking about whether we, as writers, are safe when we write our PCs as doing evil. I know that though I find it necessary for the sake of building realistic characters, to have them sin, I don't feel good when I'm writing it, or afterword. I figure there's a reason for that.

How would sentient non-human creatures undermine God's order? Sure, they'd undermine the conservative Creationist understanding of God's order. But there's no statement in the Bible that God created ONLY . . . or that ALL that God created is with us today, or has been recorded in Scripture. I'm pretty sure I've heard Creationists explaining away dinosaur fossils. Why not other sentient creatures? Why not life on other planets? Why not . . . This is SPECULATIVE Christian fiction, after all.

If anyone IS suggesting that any given element of fantasy literature should be entirely abandoned as a matter of doctrine, I suspect they are not a speculative fiction author.

I think newbury dave may be confusing Dekker's Circle trillogy with the book, "Saint" No rock levitating that I recall in the trillogy, but plenty of it in Saint. What was interesting, though, was that this rock throwing contest availed neither combatant anything. It was God's holiness that won the day. Still, I can see how he was into a gray area there, especially given the foundation laid earlier in the post.

Another minor point, but one people have stuck on before; Tolkien's Ring trilogy was not an allegory, or it wasn't supposed to be. Tolkien abhorred allegory, preferring to write a good story that stood on its own without referring to actual Earth characters or events.

[knightofhyn]

Reading or writing about it is to invite it into the mind. So, in talking about writing about a subject, one must know the subject. That means that you have either had experience in it (such as some of the cases mentioned) or you have read about it.

I use magic in my works. Or abilities with just unknown sources. In many ways, sometimes I'm just writing that for fun and know it will never see the light of day or have no interest in explaining the source (i.e. mutants). In my primary novel, I write about a young man who discovers that he is a prophet and his opposition, a cultist with borderline terrorist tendencies. The villian does use magic. And I have some understanding of where he is coming from. In many ways, the darkness in Philip's (my villian) actions on accents to joy in the light behind Hunter's actions.

Of course, that's just my two cents...