Discernment and Fiction
July 6, 2009 Posted by Roger Overton
One of the most frequent responses to criticism of books like The Shack, Twilight or Harry Potter is that it’s just a story. It’s implied that fiction cannot be dangerous in any way because it’s all made up. I believe this is entirely misguided for two reasons: 1) We are affected by everything we take in, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. 2) Simply because something is fiction it is not some how neutral, morally or otherwise.
Everything we take in affects us, for good or for ill. This is obviously the case with food. Good food provides us nutrients for our general health, while bad food harms our health. It is the same with ideas, whether they are found in a romance novel or in a philosophy book. One aspect of how we are affected is restricted by the genre- a philosophy book is not meant to entertain in the same way a romance novel is. So certain untruths are expected in a fiction, and it would be silly to claim that it’s immoral to expose people to such untruths (such as the existence of Mr. Darcy).
But there is a limit to where healthy fiction can go, and that is where what is being utilized is not simply untrue, but falsehood. It is the presenting of falsehoods, even in a fictional setting, that causes problems. Let’s take Star Wars as an example. Kids (and even adults) may pretend that they can grab things with the force. This is having fun with an untruth presented in the Star Wars universe (I do think using our imaginations is a healthy activity). But the danger is in adopting too much of the Star Wars worldview and imagining that I might be able to communicate with the dead (such as Luke does with Obi-Wan), which is expressly condemned in the Bible. This is the sort of thing I’m referring to as a “falsehood.” Far more serious is the development of a Jedi religion, in which tens of thousands across the globe believe.
We read or watch fiction in much the same way we interact with the real world. If it is well written, we identify with characters, sympathize with their problems, feel what they feel and hope for what they hope for. The more a fiction embraces falsehoods, instead of simply untruths, the more our minds our invited into a world that will affect our thoughts, feelings and beliefs in ways contrary to what God desires for us, thus it becomes unhealthy and immoral.
Some do argue that for these reasons, we should entirely avoid fiction that has any falsehoods, be it Harry Potter, Twilight, Star Wars or whatever. I think this is the wrong response. As I said, we interact with fiction in our minds in much the same way we do with the real world. We find things in the world that are good, neutral and bad for us, including people. When we hang out with ungodly people, we inevitably begin to adopt the same ungodly traits they exhibit. The opposite is true with godly people. But the important point here is that no one is perfect. Even with people we believe to be of good influence, they have imperfections that will be communicated. We cannot live in the world without being affected by unhealthy things to some degree, just as we cannot eat with taking in some ingredients that are unhealthy.
The proper response is not to withdraw from the world in solitude with only the Bible to feed and entertain us, just as the proper response is not to stop feeding as to avoid all unhealthy ingredients. We must eat, and we are called to go into the world as light in a dark place. Likewise, because there are unhealthy ingredients in fiction, does not mean we should avoid it all together.
Our response should be discernment. 2 Corinthians 10 tells us we are to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” Everything we consume we are to weigh against what God has revealed as good and true and beautiful. If it fails, we are to discard it. We are to fill our souls with “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable,” etc.. This is a call to be wise about what we consume.
If we were to avoid all books that contain any falsehood, then we could only read the Bible. But I think that would obviously be drastic. As long as we are wise about what we read, as long as we are able to discern the untruths from the falsehoods, we should be able to consume all sorts of fictions for our entertainment and enrichment. The problem is that most people do not have this discernment. They begin to move things from the “falsehood” category to the “untrue” category, and this is exampled by people who have unwittingly adopted many of the ideas presented in The DaVinci Code. Because they have identified so much with the characters and their surrounding context, many readers have assumed the plausibility of ideas such as Jesus having a romantic relationship with Mary.
Simply because something is fiction does not mean it should be immune from criticism. Quite to the contrary, because fiction often hides falsehoods in ways difficult for us to discern it must be critiqued. “It’s just a story,” means we should be all the more vigilant about what it is exactly we are consuming so we can sort the good from the bad. Sometimes the fiction is so unhealthy that it should be avoided altogether, but there is much out there we should be able to take in with discernment in order to discard the bad and enjoy the good.
Related posts:
- We Needed this Discernment Book
- Book Review: The Da Vinci Code, Fact or Fiction?
- Book Review: Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code by Bart Ehrman
- Da Vinci on Parade
- Book Review: The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code
- George Lucas and the Inconsistency of Star Wars
Posted in Book Reviews, Culture, Roger's Posts, The Da Vinci Code
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July 14th, 2009 at 10:56 am
[...] The A-Team Blog: Discernment and Fiction by Roger Overton One of the most frequent responses to criticism of books like The Shack, Twilight or Harry Potter [...]