Literature and pain
I've always thought that illustrating true pain and despair are some of the most important purposes of literature and storytelling. With my fairly comfortable life, I assumed that a picture of the world's grimness would be necessary for me to feel compassion and empathy for child soldiers and trapped bureaucrats. What message could be more vital than the way humans live with pain, struggle against it, and seek hope through it? And if the characters never overcome their flaws, and never truely save themselves in the end (they never do), doesn't that just show once again that humans need God?
I don't know if the intervention of God in the present world can be written about convincingly in fiction; unless it's experienced, accepted and believed in, any miracle can be dismissed as 'unrealistic'. Maybe the most convincing miracles are unexpected answers to prayer,but direct miracles have a certain something as well..
The point is that I made a mistake in looking too deeply at survival in a world with a hidden God. Somewhere 'humans can't save themselves' began to sound like 'humans can't be saved'. Rather than disbeliving in God I grew a belief in human darkness, human struggle and in the picture of the ugly 'truth' as an end in itself. I still think works like 100 Bullets, Anno Dracula, Gunsllnger Girl, Battle Royale, Berserk, Baccano and Scalped are great works of imagination and writing, but all either ignore God or actively oppose both Him and the whole concept of goodness. What does this say about writing, or for that matter, imagination? What does it say about me that I even admit their good qualities, while hating their fatal ones?
(Preacher, by the by, is both opposed to God and, in my opinion, a nasty, vicious heap of bile).
My problem with a lot of Christian fiction is that everyone knows the ending already. Even a genuine redemptive masterpiece like Les Miserables has as much darkness in it as light. If I keep reading or writing stories, I want them to have tension, real despair, and room for interpretation. They must have hope, and the hope can only be God; God does not admit multiple interpretations. Which is why I don't know if I'll ever be able to write about Him in a story until I understand a lot more about God and writing.
Does anyone know any good books or comics with a more positive outlook on the world?
I don't know if the intervention of God in the present world can be written about convincingly in fiction; unless it's experienced, accepted and believed in, any miracle can be dismissed as 'unrealistic'. Maybe the most convincing miracles are unexpected answers to prayer,but direct miracles have a certain something as well..
The point is that I made a mistake in looking too deeply at survival in a world with a hidden God. Somewhere 'humans can't save themselves' began to sound like 'humans can't be saved'. Rather than disbeliving in God I grew a belief in human darkness, human struggle and in the picture of the ugly 'truth' as an end in itself. I still think works like 100 Bullets, Anno Dracula, Gunsllnger Girl, Battle Royale, Berserk, Baccano and Scalped are great works of imagination and writing, but all either ignore God or actively oppose both Him and the whole concept of goodness. What does this say about writing, or for that matter, imagination? What does it say about me that I even admit their good qualities, while hating their fatal ones?
(Preacher, by the by, is both opposed to God and, in my opinion, a nasty, vicious heap of bile).
My problem with a lot of Christian fiction is that everyone knows the ending already. Even a genuine redemptive masterpiece like Les Miserables has as much darkness in it as light. If I keep reading or writing stories, I want them to have tension, real despair, and room for interpretation. They must have hope, and the hope can only be God; God does not admit multiple interpretations. Which is why I don't know if I'll ever be able to write about Him in a story until I understand a lot more about God and writing.
Does anyone know any good books or comics with a more positive outlook on the world?