Being new here, I was uncertain whether this would fit better in this forum or in the "Theology" forum. It's about being theologically consistent with the Christian worldview in the way that we handle the issue of magic.

Now, I know some people will say, "We don't have to follow the rules of this world in another world." But the problem with this idea is that even the imaginary worlds we create are a part of this world, because they exist in our minds, which must be governed by the rules that God has set in place for this world. We must take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. There is no escape from his law order. We're also supposed to love God with all of our minds (Luke 10:27), and a major part of loving God is keeping His commandments (John 14:15). So we need to handle magic in a lawful, as opposed to an unlawful, manner.

I know some people will raise the cry of "legalism." Listen, this is really, really important. If our creativity is not governed by the laws of our Lord and Savior we will go off the rails. We're supposed to delight in the laws of God, not deride them. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Even the creative wisdom out of which we make great fantasy stories.

Of course, the Bible condemns sorcery. Sorcerers will have their part in the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8). Sorcery is listed among the sins the practitioners of whom shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:20) The list of Scripture passages which speak out against this is really quite lengthy.

Now, after surveying these verses, a lot of people will make a snap judgment and say that all use of supernatural power by created beings should be avoided in a Christian fantasy story. I understand the convictions of those who hold this view, but I think it is theologically imprecise. What is sorcery? Is it the use of supernatural power by created beings? No. It is the use of supernatural power by those to whom God has not invested it. Angels use supernatural power all the time. God has invested that power in them. But there are supernatural powers that are sinful for us humans to try to use because God has not legally invested them to us. For us to take them on ourselves, even with the pretense of good intentions, is rebellion. For men to use magic is to make a contract of mutual damnation with devils who lend their power to men against the laws of God. It is not just to tap into some neutral pool of power which is available to people who know all the secret passwords. The power that sorcerers in this world use is not an impersonal force. It is a power wielded by the evil one and his subordinates. And the reason why there cannot be any "good sorcerers" in this world is because only a demon would give his power to someone who has no right to use it.

In our world and in every world we create, authority must be the moral issue. The problem with so much of "magic" in fantasy stories is not that it's dark and smoky, or even really that it's used by created beings. The problem is that it is jurisdictionally confused. What I mean by that is it's unclear whether the supernatural power being exercised by created beings is specific power which they may lawfully use because it was given them by Divine authority. In Christian fantasy, every use of power which is presented as good must be a use of power which is clearly approved by a divine law. Every use of power which is presented as evil must be a use of power which is clearly condemned by divine law. This does not rule out the presentation of the righteous exercise of supernatural power by created beings. Far from it. Rather, it keeps that supernatural power from being presented in ways that are morally confusing to our readers.

Just to contrast a couple of examples, I actually think that the Lord of the Rings stories do a much better job in this respect than the Chronicles of Narnia. In the Chronicles nobody knows what magic is, exactly; it is like a pool of power that good and bad people can tap into if they study long and hard enough. That's a very pagan view of magic, and it's actually a lie that the enemy uses to lure people into sin in this world.

In the LOTR stories, the magical power exercised by such characters as Gandalf is a power that has been committed to them by divine authority.

Why is Gandalf ultimately good? Gandalf exercises his power in obedience to divine authority (which has been invested in the Valar to invest in their subordinates, which the Maiar, of whom Gandalf is one are). He and the four other Istari, or "wizards," as they are called, have been sent into the world to exercise power within a defined jurisdiction in order to aid the people of Middle-earth in fighting Sauron. Gandalf and his brother wizards are not men who have seized power not rightfully their own and used it pragmatically for "good." They are angelic beings who have taken on the form of men to accomplish a Divine mission.

Why is Saruman is ultimately evil? Because unlike Gandalf he uses the power given him for the purpose of righteousness in disobedience to divine authority. He steps outside of his jurisdiction and gives his power to Sauron. (And as a result he is destroyed, and his power is given to one more faithful, namely Gandalf.) Sauron in turn is evil because he serves the rebel Morgoth. Morgoth (who in the beginning was known as Melkor) is evil because he disrupted the order of creation for his own glory. The basic moral structure here has integrity. It's theologically correct. Tolkien understood that authority is the real moral issue as concerns the use of supernatural power.

This said, I think there are theological problems in the metaphysical systems of both Narnia and Lord of the Rings. However, LOTR is much more morally sophisticated, and sets a better example for the handling of the supernatural, in my opinion, than Narnia does.

Thoughts? Comments?

You bring up a lot of really good things in this post, and I agree with most of this. I think this was posted in another place on HW, but I'd throw this article also into the discussion since I think that gives another really good viewpoint on magic.

I think that further delineations of magic can be made, however. Although there are forms of magic that come directly from the gods/demons of your world, I believe that "neutral magic" is permissible. Often, magic is kind of broad because we call things magic what we can't explain. Just throw a medieval-ages person into the modern world and he'd think we're all sorcerors because he can't fathom how everything works. In the same way, because different fantasy universes operate under different laws, I think you can have a neutral power source which the characters view as magic just because they don't fully understand how it works. For example, in my current world, Ritharael, the neutral form of magic is elementalism, which involves reshaping the different elements of the world. Although it's called magic, a lot of it in the end comes down to science and energy manipulation in a different way to view and imagine a world.

I think the biggest problem with a lot of magic is the lack of rules, and I agree with your statements against a dark and smoky view of magic where it's just kind of there without any foundation or basis. But, given how broad the term 'magic' can be, while this is definitely open for debate, I do think that neutral magic can be fine and permissible within fantasy stories when it's cemented on stable rules and laws.

This topic has been moved to Theology.
Carry on with the discussion!

Very well put, Bard! I agree entirely.

In my world (Ekelek) there are two major kinds of magic: an elementally limited form and a vocally limited form. Both are based on a genetic predisposition, granted by El (God), and can be used either for His glory or perverted to the use of the Enemy. The Enemy can also twist the genetic abilities for his own use, granting exclusively destructive or deceptive powers.

I suppose this is technically 'neutral' magic, since anyone with the gene can have it; but anyone who has it has been called by God to use it for His glory.

Ok, thanks, Jay.

Aratrea, thank you, because you make some really good points. Magic is sometimes used in the sense you describe. We just need to be very specific about what that power is and where it is coming from. I agree, stable rules and laws are the issue. It is possible to imagine a physical world that is governed by somewhat different physical laws than ours, for sure. At some point I would like to review some points of the article you shared. The points about the seven hedges are excellent. I'm not sure that I agree with the whole logical structure that the author presents, but it is very thought-provoking. I would probably come on more strongly against Harry Potter; I think those stories really are lawless and absolutely subversive to a Christian worldview. I haven't seriously read the books and don't intend to, because I know enough about them to know that they would offend my conscience and pollute my mind. As you reiterated, any use of power which is considered "good" in a Christian fantasy world must be exercised in accordance with clear, stable, well-defined laws. Our worlds must have consistent, well-defined authority structures. When they do not, the mind of the reader may be morally confused.

Jakorosin, I think what you describe is perfectly lawful. "Magic" in that case is simply a God-given power that creatures can use either in obedience or in disobedience to God, just as we use our powers of body and mind either in obedience or disobedience to God. The question is, where does the power come from? How and from whom is it obtained? Is the means by which it is obtained in obedience or in disobedience to Divine law?

In our world, the power to communicate instantly with someone many miles away is not inherently evil. However, there is a lawful and an unlawful way to obtain that power. The lawful way is to invent physical telecommunications systems by generations of hard work, study, and labor. The benefits of such a system are God's good reward for our industriousness, and we as free moral agents can use them righteously or lawlessly. But there may be a way to obtain that power to communicate instantly with someone many miles away that is not lawful, involving sorcery, which at heart is a rebellion against God's created order of things. The moral issue is about the creation order. God established an order to creation in the beginning, and the badguys are those who act against it in an effort to empower or exalt themselves. I like Tolkien because he gets this. Some aspects of Lewis are brilliant, but because the Narnian creation order isn't quite as clear, I could see how it might be morally confusing to some readers.

Magic or at least the biblical interpretation, is the practice of summoning and contracting with evil spirits (AKA Demons). The Bible specifically mentions Divination (The act of trying to divine the future), (Sorcery the act of Summoning spirits AKA Demons), Necromancy (The act of summoning the souls of the dead, often in an attempt to divine the future), and the one I'm reading mentions Alchemy (however that can't be right as the term alchemy did not appear until the mid 1000's). (However for prosperity and clarification Alchemy is the practice of attempting to change one thing into another.) So long as you avoid these practices and create something unique and original there should be no theological issues. However you could simply avoid the issue by not having any human characters with magical abilities, and limiting such things to mythical creatures or items that have special properties because they are made of said creatures ect.

Yes, DawnBringer, I'm inclined to agree with your delineation between right and wrong here. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with creating characters who have special abilities that we would consider supernatural. Divine authority is the issue.

I really enjoyed your post on this topic. It hit on a lot of key issues and objections and addressed them wisely.

However, I do have a question. There are pagan religions where the use of magic is approved, and their so-called deity is invoked in the process. They believe that magic can be used for good as divinely instituted by their god or goddess. In light of this, would you still say that power given to individuals by divine authority is needed to justify the use of power, or must something more be in place for power in a story to be justified?

I guess it comes down to this question: What is wrong with false religions?

The answer is, of course, that they are false in what they assert. Religions that assert that God has given such supernatural powers to man are incorrect in that assertion, because according to the Scriptures God has not given such power to man. But the point is that if God had chosen to do so, then it would not be wrong for men to use such powers.

This raises the question of the extent to which we may imagine a world which has a moral system different from this one. And that is a tremendously complex question, because all fantasy worlds are derivative; there is no such thing as perfect originality on the part of man. Every creative work of man is derivative from the creative work of God.

These thoughts are at present incomplete, but I must leave them so for the moment. Perhaps by tonight I shall have a more definitive answer on your question and the question I myself have raised.

This is an excellent thread. Thank you for laying this out.

I've often wondered how I would handle magic in the worlds I've thought of. I think this offers me a clear way to address it. I'm not personally huge on magic in stories, but if it works into my plots, you can bet I will be referencing this thread.

Magic is very real, I have had the issue come up in the novel I am working on. Magic is commonly used in fantasy, (with all that i've seen). And at first it bothered me a little bit to put it in my story. I talked with my pastor about it, and came to the conclusion that there are boundries to it. Most commonly that I have noticed that magic is a dark thing, so in my story I came to the conclusion that my characters battle it constantly....magic or witchcraft is not just spells. It is word curses, wishing bad on someone, etc....so like I said there is a boundry. So I think some point of discretion has to be met. I hope this helps.



Heather

First Holy Worlds post. I see magic as a difficult thing to use in my books. I liked the prospect of magic, but I also wanted to honor God in my writing. After a large amount of study in the occults, druidism, and general magic (supernatural abilities), I decided on the following for my characters.

A group of warriors called Magitans (Atlantean) practice alchemy, thus giving them "magic". It is simply using explosions and light and chemicals as weapons and illusions. These are the good guys.

Magic, in the sense of say, casting fire or mystical energies from one's hands, is a dark, forbidden art. Fallen Magitans, or Dul Val Saer (Twisted Forbidden Seer) , again, an Atlantean word, use this type of "magic." These, you may have guessed, are the bad guys.

I also have immortal beings called Titans who seem to have mystical abilities. All of their abilities are derived from the Holy One Most High God, or Lord Hakadosh, the name of God in my book. I based the Titan's abilities on the Greek myths. But, unlike the Greek deities who had power in and of themselves, these Titans have the powers as gifts from Hakadosh, who could just as easily strip them of their powers.

For the Titans, think of the ability of the animals who talk in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, particularly in "The Last Battle." Aslan warned the animals if they used their gift of speaking for evil, he would remove that ability they would be as the dumb animals. This is how I look at my Titans.

So, to wrap it up, supernatural magic is evil, illusions and attacks done by chemicals and herbs (natural "magic", if you will) is good, at least in my books.

Hope this was helpful.

Its important to keep in mind that "Magic: in fantasy rarely fits into the biblical definition, and when it does it is more often than not seen as evil. As I outlined before in an earlier post, magic in a biblical sense is primarily the act of summoning and trafficking with spirits often those of the dead, demons, or Pagan "gods", often in an attempt to ascertain the future (Which God alone may know, and make known).

While in Fantasy "Magic" is more often than not an innate ability that the character may posses often dealing more scientific concepts than sorcerers ones. Often manipulating energy or some form of unique energy often called Mana, its a natural gift more inclined with having been born a good singer or swimmer that the accursed acts forbidden by the bible.

Quite Ironically the DnD Sorcerer is a good example of this having inherited their powers from powerful magical ancestors (Often Dragons) their powers have as much to do with evil spirits as a slice of bacon. (Well unless they descend from Demons). While the Warlock and funnily enough up until the most VARY recant edition the Cleric (Clerics are know freely given their powers by deities that favor them as a sort of gift) from DnD would be a perfect example of this transgression, as they draw their power from an outside power source a Spirit that they have pledged their vary souls too.

I think s long as you understand and keep that distinction clear you should be more than fine.