A Christian Fantasy

Posted by Rob Borley | Posted on 29-01-2006

Category : Literature, Society

It is with fear and dread that I approach this subject because of the can of worms which it is bound to open. Is the whole genre of fantasy; Tolkien, Potter, Dungeons & Dragons, and the like, a really unchristian and dangerous place to be?

MessyChristian.com is a blog which I have stumbled upon, and delve into from time to time. Recently I read a post there about this very subject. ‘Why do some Christians have a problem with fantasy books?‘ is a fairly self explanatory title but one that has been on my mind recently following a planning weekend for a CYFA venture which I am a leader on this summer. We decided to include a talk in our programme about the dangers of this fantasy world; especially Harry Potter and Tolkien as they are both culturally relevant at the moment.

Let me state right now that I am a big fantasy fan. From a young age I read both the Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia, along with the Jackson & Livingstone series of role playing books. Until very recently I was a regular player of the Dungeons & Dragons based PC game Neverwinter Nights (I stopped more due to time constraints than anything else) although I confess to have never read or seen anything of the Potter series mainly because it was all anybody else could talk about. (That’s the non-conformist rebel in me.) My point is that I am not coming at this as a witch bashing, right wing evangelical. That of course is not to say that I don’t think that witchcraft and the occult are very real and dangerous things. (I think that’s all my bases covered.)

Depending on who you talk too; including people that have been / are currently heavily involved with the occult and those who know absolutely nothing about it, you will hear a different message about these things. It ranges from such fictions being very accurate in their use of rituals and incantations to them being completely made up nonsense. That is not really relevant to what I am about to say. (Although I have a feeling that the blood rituals in the most recent Potter film might be a little close to the mark!)

The standard argument says that these stories are a battle between good and evil (pseudo-Christian in the case of LOTR and Narnia) where good wins and everything turns out all right in the end. A good wholesome message. And with that I cannot disagree. However, I believe, and this is an opinion shareed by my fellow leaders on the above mentioned planning weekend, that the means in these cases does not justify the end.

The Bible carries very stern warnings about witchcraft, sorcery, and the black arts. These are things which are evil. They are very real, carry great power (power which of course cannot overcome that of the Lords), but evil all the same and not to be messed with. So the use of evil to overcome evil is not a good thing. And this is the main point which is so often overlooked.

I am not saying, do no read these books or watch these movies or play these games. That is for your own judgement and for discussion between you and God. But be very aware that they are supporting the use of evil things; things we are told to never go near, even for the ââ?¬Ë?greater goodââ?¬â?¢.

There is a lot of mis-education out there. Do not fall into the trap of believing its lies.

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Once Saved, Always Saved?

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Posted by Rob Borley | Posted on 05-01-2006

Category : Literature

One of a number of questions I have managed to avoid thinking about in my ongoing walk with Jesus is coined in the phrase which is the title for this post. After all, such theological discussion (more often argument) is, while interesting and even enjoyable, not really worth worrying too much about or wasting too much time on. Is it?

For Christmas I was given a book by David Pawson (Once Saved, Always Saved?). He is rapidly becoming one of my favourite teachers and authors after seeing him a few times on God TV (It’s true I am a secret God TV viewer) and reading one of his earlier books; “The Road to Hell“.

From what I can tell he is either called to talk / write about the subjects that the rest of the Christian Church seems to like to ignore or he just likes a good argument. Either way he has produced some very interesting and thought provoking reads.

As I’ve said, I have only just picked this book up but after the first couple of Chapters I am already asking myself some questions I wasn’t expecting.

Once Saved, Always Saved is a phrase which you may be familiar with. It refers to the idea that once you become a Christian you have your ticket to heaven and nobody or nothing can take that away from you. That is possibly an over simplification but you get the idea. What I have found interesting that that without ever thinking about the idea or making any kind of conscience decision I subscribe to a form of this that Pawson calls the “Subtle, Omega” variety.

This variety is such that if you truly commit your life to Jesus then you will never fall away, anybody who does clearly didn’t commit properly in the first place and that our behaviour; our level of holiness to put it in spiritual speak, affects our level of inheritance in the next phase of our existence. The size of the prize.

Having just written that down i know that that is roughly what I think but it just doesn’t sit right. The really concerning thing is that this is not a conclusion I have come to but more ideas that have somehow; through experience, emotion, teaching, how much cheese I’ve eaten, somehow gotten into my head.

I have an idea where Mr Pawson is going with his book and I’m not sure if I will agree with all of his conclusions but I thank him now for provoking this realisation in me.

I’ll let you know where it leads when I get to the end. *smile*

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The Community of Prayerful Love 3.2 – Ashamed of Jesus

Posted by Rob Borley | Posted on 02-10-2005

Category : Cell / Sermon notes, Literature

Do we see Jesus as attractive?

This is the question that was posed in our group recently as we were discussing our recent reading from Dallas Willard’s “The Divine Conspiracy”.

As Christians, we know that Jesus is attractive. After all, He attracted us didn’t He? Why then do we seem to be constantly making excuses for Him? It’s often almost like we are friends with the class geek but we donââ?¬â?¢t want any of the cool kids to find out.

When Jesus walked the earth over 2000 years ago there can not be any doubt that Jesus was attractive. People wanted to be around Him. Crowds followed him around and flocked to him wherever he went. He was often a guest at people’s homes for dinner. We know of at least one wedding which He was invited too. People liked having Him around.

When you think about it, that really makes sense. I’m sure, at I least I hope that this is true, that we have all met Christians in the past that have been just so full God and His Holy Spirit that we canââ?¬â?¢t get enough of them. We really enjoy being around people like that. Jesus was the ultimate person like that. He oozed God. He was God.

Why then are we embarrassed of Him?

As we discussed this we thought about the image which the Church as a whole portrays of Jesus. All of us recalled times when a Church leader or a particularly ‘Spiritual’ member of the congregation had encouraged us to consider if we would; go to that place if Jesus was with us, or watch that film if Jesus was with us, or do that thing if Jesus was with us.

Now please don’t misunderstand me, I can of course understand, and indeed, at least in part, agree with the sentiment behind asking ourselves such questions. However, we felt that this does paint a misleading picture of who Jesus was and what He was like.

Jesus was the life of a party. Jesus mixed with people that were undesirable. Jesus didnââ?¬â?¢t condemn others for their behaviour. For example, He ate with tax collectors, He allowed women to wash His feet, and at a party where people had already had too much to drink He replenished the alcohol supply when it ran out. Jesus was not the accusing “kill-joy” that often we leave people thinking He was.

The Jesus that we felt that we were often ashamed of sharing with our friends is not the real Jesus at all. This Jesus is akin in most people�s eyes to an ultra spiritual Bishop or maybe a perfect version of The Pope. The real Jesus is attractive to people. People flock to Him. People love to socialise with Him. They don�t feel condemned by Him. We were drawn to Him. This is the Jesus we need to share.

It was our prayer that we shake off this negative image of Jesus from our own minds and be filled with excitement at introducing people to our best friend!

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