With the Bible as our guide to good storytelling, and just what is and isn’t permissible morality in stories, let’s take another look at how to interpret morality issues we face in fiction.
Some well-meaning conservative people wish that fiction would lack immorality—well, immorality that they don’t have a tolerance for. As I pointed out in the first part, the Bible has lots of immorality that no good Christian should take a liking to. Yet, the Bible depicts many graphic details of sin and immorality of all kinds that we should be on guard for. As we think about the meaning underlying fiction we either get on television, the theatre, internet (web shows), or novels, we should discern what the moral compass is of the fiction; whether the author/filmmaker is consistent with his own morality. If he wants to objectify women in an evolutionary way (do whatever you want with your body—who cares?) but doesn’t want to take a consistent view of evolutionary thinking as it relates to politics (Indiana Jones is opposed to Nazism just because ‘it ain’t right’) then he’s picking and choosing his morality out of thin air. There isn’t a basis for it except personal opinion, and that is not concrete or authoritative.
Interestingly, most stories have a far more Christian worldview than they realize. There are consequences for evildoers (bad guys). There is no lasting happiness or contentment from sexual immorality (just pitiful lust and more ethical complications). Heroes are rarely godly men (meaning they usually have major moral flaws because they’re human) and the only truly godly man ever was Christ. Even stories that seem consistent with their deviations from Biblical morality have to borrow morality from God’s perspective of right and wrong. A lot of fantasy stories do this such as Harry Potter. There are many moral standards in Harry Potter stories, and the only way they make sense is if there’s an authority (God) backing them up. Yet, Potter stories don’t vouch for where the moral standards come from, and there are inconsistencies in the stories with real-world morality. Some would say that has to be a give in since Harry Potter is a fantasy. That’s just what fantasies do. And yet, so much of the Potter universe—most things we take for granted—that make the story work and appealing to real-world audiences is simply borrowing from the real-world God-created facts of life. What really makes Potter stories interesting is the contrast of the Biblical standards and the clashing pagan standards all throughout. The pagan morality in the stories are essentially the bad guys’ of the story, and the Christian morality basically belongs to the good guys.
The more I study morality and good storytelling, the harder it is for me to find an honestly Christian method of arguing that secular worldview/morality in fiction is objectionable. Since sin is sin, and seeing it in a story doesn’t change that or desensitize a real-born again Believer that is filled with the spirit, how can evil harm us? Evil is harmful for the immature in spirit. This is where I will pick up next time (so don’t chew me out for being a heathen yet).
