After thousands of years of myth, hundreds of years of novels, and about a century of television, carefully slotting in everything we have managed to learn about human psychology, we've made an art and a science of story. We know what we're doing. Beowulf, Thor, King Arthur, Robin Hood, Romeo and Juliet, Sherlock Holmes, Mr. Darcy, Oliver Twist, Scarlet O'Hara, Anakin Skywalker and Walter White.
The bible's a story book, isn't it? Most people don't read the bible. Not the whole thing. I've been going around to churches for a while now. I've been checking. Every single person who tells me he or she is in bible school gets asked the same question: have you read the bible? I have not yet met a single person in bible school (no matter first, second or third year of it) who claims to have actually read the whole thing. Not one. I have had two atheists tell me they read the whole thing.
Mostly, in churches the bible is working as a sourcebook to quote snippets from, and to pull episodes of certain characters' lives from, and to then put a heavy-handed Western, 21st Century spin upon, with a kindergarten-grade moral slapped on overtop the whole thing like a cheap bumper sticker, put there in a vain attempt to justify the whole thing existing to begin with. But that's it. It's being "used." In bits. It's not being allowed to be itself, for its own reasons.
Mostly, in churches the bible is working as a sourcebook to quote snippets from, and to pull episodes of certain characters' lives from, and to then put a heavy-handed Western, 21st Century spin upon, with a kindergarten-grade moral slapped on overtop the whole thing like a cheap bumper sticker, put there in a vain attempt to justify the whole thing existing to begin with. But that's it. It's being "used." In bits. It's not being allowed to be itself, for its own reasons.
I love stories with supernatural elements. As a teenager, I liked Dracula and Frankenstein and stuff by Poe, and I loved all those 80s TV shows with a character who had some kind of special ability. And I loved superheroes. So long as they had a supernatural ability, and weren't just wearing a metal suit, or something. Batman kept my affection, despite being a normal guy. Because he had drama and mystery and the night.
When I started discovering horror movies and rock music in my early adult life, casting off the Christian superstition/fear I'd been raised with that listening to rock music would turn me into a Satanist, I grabbed up Bat Out of Hell eagerly, and looked vainly through bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden for anything both interesting and supernatural. Black Sabbath I liked for the over-the-top doomy guitar riffs, but these guys had built no mythology, had no interesting stories to tell, really.
And I was shocked in looking at all of this music to discover not what I'd been told at all, but just the typical old scary story stuff there. There was no "worship Satan!" message on anything they'd play on the radio. It was all "Satan is evil. Beware! Ha ha ha!"
And there was certainly nothing my parents could really have found to disagree with. They didn't like the packaging, but the content? I mean, the "worst" thing Iron Maiden really did was read part of the book of Revelation at the beginning of a song to make it sound creepy. Because Revelation is creepy. People are always stealing stuff from it for their stories. But they don't let it hang together the way it wants to. They do just like the church folk. Cut bits out with scissors as if they were making paper dolls. Steal bits for "colour."
And I was shocked in looking at all of this music to discover not what I'd been told at all, but just the typical old scary story stuff there. There was no "worship Satan!" message on anything they'd play on the radio. It was all "Satan is evil. Beware! Ha ha ha!"
And there was certainly nothing my parents could really have found to disagree with. They didn't like the packaging, but the content? I mean, the "worst" thing Iron Maiden really did was read part of the book of Revelation at the beginning of a song to make it sound creepy. Because Revelation is creepy. People are always stealing stuff from it for their stories. But they don't let it hang together the way it wants to. They do just like the church folk. Cut bits out with scissors as if they were making paper dolls. Steal bits for "colour."
At the movie theatre I watched Stigmata, End of Days, The Prophecy, and all the rest. I was very aware that the most successful supernatural movies were horror movies, and that they were mainly only about people getting terrified, tortured and killed. I wasn't into it for that. I was into it for the good and evil, the God and Devil, the angel and demon stuff. I wanted to know more about that, either as a real thing, or as an inspiring thing. And that stuff shows up mainly in horror stories. Not an awful lot of romantic comedies with a lot of angel and demon content. (Some, of course. There was Michael. But I like that stuff taken seriously. And I need it to be darker than Touched By An Angel or Highway To Heaven.)
On TV, I loved The X-Files, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I liked Babylon 5 better than Star Trek: Voyager, because Babylon 5 had a lot of angel and demon imagery, and good and evil stuff.
In my twenties I also went through a real phase of putting aside superhero comics, and reading Sandman, Hellblazer and Preacher comics instead. These were (kind of) "horror comics," but I was reading them for what they had to say about good and evil, God and the Devil. And I didn't need to or want to agree with them. I wanted to see how they thought it all worked. How they pictured it all. I found that endlessly entertaining. "How does this guy think a story with that kind of stuff in it should work?" What is the mythology created in comic book form by an atheist who was raised Catholic?
I realized that I had read the whole bible when I was 12, and now I wanted to know more. About that stuff. I wanted to know all the stuff that the bible doesn't tell. I wanted to know things like how many wise men from the east came to visit Jesus, and what their names were, if there was one or twelve archangels, what Jesus did between age 12 and 33, how people got possessed exactly, and what all that stuff in Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation was really all about, not that any of that is in the actual bible. (Oh, my dad would be delighted to tell you what every bit of Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation mean, and what it all has to do with what's currently on CNN, but I don't believe he knows or that any of that gobbledygook he calls "biblical prophecy" hangs together on any level.)
I wasn't content with the bible's habit of blankly reporting events without description and without character motivation. I wanted to know all the whys and wherefores. I wanted to know how it all worked. Especially if it was something mysterious, miraculous or supernatural. Where ancient minds might have been content to say "Holy crap! Look at that!," my modern mind wanted to feel like I understood everything about how all of it worked.
I wasn't content with the bible's habit of blankly reporting events without description and without character motivation. I wanted to know all the whys and wherefores. I wanted to know how it all worked. Especially if it was something mysterious, miraculous or supernatural. Where ancient minds might have been content to say "Holy crap! Look at that!," my modern mind wanted to feel like I understood everything about how all of it worked.
But I didn't really believe that there were books besides the bible, written with knowledge and understanding of that extra-biblical supernatural stuff. I put the bible above any other book. I didn't believe that anything God didn't clearly want to share was good to pursue, nor that one could learn anything much about supernatural things, going beyond what the bible said, without mainly coming out of it twisted and deceived. And some kind of horror geek. Ever talk to someone who calls himself or herself a Satanist? They make Star Trek fans look suave and debonair.
All of these supernatural stories I was enjoying, with added in stuff that wasn't in the bible, were people trying to make a workable, saleable, feelable, atmosphere-rich story out of things the bible insists upon blankly reporting without detail. The bible isn't trying to entertain or engage, I realized. It doesn't work very well as fiction at all. Almost like it wasn't written to. Almost like the people who were writing didn't know all kinds of the relevant stuff, and didn't feel free to just make it up.
So I got really interested in why the bible "just didn't work" as entertainment, and what exactly was therefore always and only done, when making supernatural things into stories. What I saw was that, despite there being some very clear structure to what's in the bible, in order to make stories, people who know what they're doing, story-wise, consistently undo that structure and remake it into a more dramatic, simple story-sensible thing.
And increasingly, atheists assumed that what they'd see in a movie like Hellraiser or Witchboard was more or less what Christians actually believed to be true, and was actually what the bible said. And I saw increasingly too, that Hollywood theology came to be what Christians did in fact believe, and that many of them who didn't read the bible (or only used it to scavenge for spare parts for their speeches) started to believe stuff that wasn't terribly different than Witchboard. "Don't listen to heavy metal, or the devils will get out of Hell and will make you serve Satan!" Wait... devils are in Hell? Since when?
When I was a little kid, I saw a puppet show at the public library. I had a character being approached by the Devil to sell his soul and go to Hell. I dunno if it was The Devil and Daniel Webster or what. I do remember that to me, it was wholly foreign. I was going to church five times a week pretty much from birth, and memorizing chunks of the bible, and this "devil asking you to sell him your soul" stuff was some other religion. They said things like "the devil," and "Hell" and "soul" and "God" and "Heaven" just like at church, but I had some idea what the bible said about all of that stuff, and what the hell was all this stuff going on about?
Here are some of the ways that Hollywood Theology consistently differs from the bible, to make stories simple and dramatic:
Satan and Demons Are In Hell
In the bible, they are wandering all through the world, which is the bible's explanation for why the world is the way it is. In a movie, you might have a Nazi war criminal who has a Ouija board (copyright Hasbro) which he is using to communicate with demons in Hell, who are now suddenly finally able to break free and manipulate him from their distant offices down there, where they've been imprisoned for all eternity.
In the bible, people demean, abuse, addict and corrupt themselves, lose all their sanity and virtue boundaries, and let in horrible attitudes and spirits which are at all times loose in the world. They invite cruelty, vindictiveness, exploitation, hatred, strife, intolerance and violence into their lives and become defined by them. This is not quite the same thing as selling your soul for fame and glory, to some demon who likes the heat of Hell and lives down there.
In the bible, Satan (which means "the adversary") not only is depicted in the book of Job "walking to and fro upon the earth," but going on up to angel country and talking to God and making bets with Him. And demons go around possessing people with weakened sanity and virtue barriers and pushing them to perform acts, primarily of self-harm, humiliation and self-destruction. They take possession, normally, because in that person's life, nobody's home anymore.
It's like God built humans to "work," and demons are quality control, or stress testers, or parasites, like rot which looks to prove God wrong about His silly idea that humans can work. Humans are designed to be object lessons, images of the nature of God. If humans don't "work," they present an image, the idea, of a God Who doesn't work either. Flawed creation of a flawed Creator who leaves flawed creatures to their own devices.
It's like God built humans to "work," and demons are quality control, or stress testers, or parasites, like rot which looks to prove God wrong about His silly idea that humans can work. Humans are designed to be object lessons, images of the nature of God. If humans don't "work," they present an image, the idea, of a God Who doesn't work either. Flawed creation of a flawed Creator who leaves flawed creatures to their own devices.
What this biblical view "ruins," in terms of story sense, is the workable story idea that the world is relatively normal and white picket fence safe (ha), but that something like an evil pendant or incantation or book or other thingie might "summon" or "raise" a demon, freeing it from the depths of Hell, and letting it (gasp!) loose in the innocent world to wreak unimaginable, Hellish chaos here, bringing about Hell on earth.
In the bible they're all here. Right now. In government. In big corporations. In church groups, mosques and synagogues. In the Vatican. In schools. Making people hurt themselves, and making people prey on each other, making people "harvest" other people's time, bodies, money, servitude and health as if they were sheep. Bringing cruelty, exploitation, rot and ruination.
In the bible they're all here. Right now. In government. In big corporations. In church groups, mosques and synagogues. In the Vatican. In schools. Making people hurt themselves, and making people prey on each other, making people "harvest" other people's time, bodies, money, servitude and health as if they were sheep. Bringing cruelty, exploitation, rot and ruination.
Half Angel, Half Demon
In stories, angels are normally calm, quiet, androgynous, beautiful, serene forces of order, while demons are laughing, sexy, sneering, wisecracking forces of trickery, death and destruction. But fun. Demons are the kid up the street who'll sell you fireworks, while angels are the tattletale older sister.
In the bible, demons infect people and make them addicts, make them hurt themselves and erode their sanity and health and safety, while angels are mainly forces of much more dramatic, overt, holistic destruction. Angels are creatures of fire, lightning and cataclysmic, chaotic death in the bible. The first thing they say to anyone who sees them, whom they aren't going to kill, is "Be not afraid!" They need to say that. Angels show up as often to raze cities and declare judgment as they do to bring what is perhaps kind of good news. ("You're pregnant.") God Himself is presented as being veiled in smoke and thick blackness, a creature Whose very gaze burns everything He looks upon, Himself and Him servants being creatures of fire, rather than flesh. In the bible, angels are terrifying.
In stories, humans are kind of at a half-way point between those boring, pouty angels and those hilarious, seductive demons. A happy medium. Better than either. Humans have humour and sex and celebration and joy and the best, most danceable music. And often they "get" the very best examples of that creativity not from the Source of Creativity, the Creator Himself, but from deals with demons, selling souls at crossroads. In stories, if you want to be a Creator extraordinaire, a truly inspired artist, you need to deal with Satan. Because God's not got a creative bone in His body in stories.
In the bible, a soul is you. You can't sell it. And demons don't deal. Or dance. Or have sex. Or sing or joke. Any more than cancer does.
In story after story (this started primarily in the 1990's "let's flip hero and villain roles" (see: Shrek, Angel, Spawn etc.) an angel/demon hybrid kind of human is the hero. Angels are oddly distant, detached, priggish, prissy; harmless, helpless and gullible. And they can't lie. In stories, you can do more harm with a lie than with the truth. That's not always how it works in real life.
God is, in movies, at best, a beatific light which shines down from on high shortly before the credits, with some swelling music, to thank the humans for saving His Butt by doing stuff He couldn't really do, and remain Himself. He can't get His fingers dirty, after all, so it's important to have humans around. They're better at some stuff.
God is, in movies, at best, a beatific light which shines down from on high shortly before the credits, with some swelling music, to thank the humans for saving His Butt by doing stuff He couldn't really do, and remain Himself. He can't get His fingers dirty, after all, so it's important to have humans around. They're better at some stuff.
In the bible, though, God often acts like a cheated on husband, or a teenage girl having a meltdown. Will end up elbow-deep in the blood of children. He is unabashedly jealous and His wrath is superhumanly destructive and long-lasting. He is more than just a force of nature. He is the source of nature. Not just like a hurricane. The heart from whence hurricanes come. He has more, not less emotions, appetites and reactions and desires than human beings. All human emotions, appetites, reactions and desires, in fact, are faint echoes of His, us being created in His image. That's God in the bible. Now, who would play Him in a movie? Steve Carrell? Will Farrell? Shea Leboef?
Samuel L. Jackson?
Samuel L. Jackson?
God Stuff Is White and Featureless, Hell Stuff, the Opposite
Okay: You've been hired to make a couple of movie sets. Let's say there is one scene in a room in Heaven, and one in a room in Hell. You know exactly how to do make these sets. Heaven is chalky, uninterrupted whiteness. Blank. Not a bit of life. Not even a cat or a potted fern. No decoration. Not a single painting or pattern anywhere. Just paint all the walls in an empty room white and dress everyone in white and overexpose the whole thing. Easy. If you put a couch in the middle of all of that whiteness, it will look particularly arty.
Hell? Now a hell-set is going to be dark, dirty grey with red and black. No blue. You've seen heavy metal album covers, so you have an extremely accurate, biblically based picture of exactly what Hell is like. H.R. Giger kind of stuff. Flames. No blankness or right angles anywhere. Wrong angles. Horrific images. Mocking faces with tongues out. And everything should be, instead of flat and featureless, either obsessively decorated with complicated geometric runes (because devils have awesome writing?), or with stuff that looks like it was all torn out of a deep sea fish. Dub in some layered recordings of people on a roller coaster. Heaven stuff is white and featureless. Nothing either industrial nor organic. Hell stuff is pointy, complicated, stone and metal.
In movies, Heaven is nothing. No life, no movement, no sounds (unless they are soothing, shimmery ones) and certainly no laughter or celebration. Hell is too much life. Screams, punishment, all kinds of stuff. And maybe partying. Motorcycles with flaming wheels, ridden by a guy in a leather jacket with a flaming skull for a head. Demons fiddling and dancing on people's entrails. Flames. Darkness. A kind of pain-filled Mardis Gras.
In the bible, Hell is endless, dark, solitary nothingness, and Heaven has mansions and parties and marriage suppers and feasts in it. It has colours. Music. Thrones made of gems. Creatures filled with eyes, with extra wings, and hovering flying saucers (with eyes all over them too. And lightning.) Jesus with legs that look like molten brass, with a sword which leaps out of his mouth at will, presumably slaying anyone who he speaks a harsh word at. Voices that sound like trumpets sounding. Streets made of gold. Walls made of what gems are made of.
To me, anyway, it sounds like the report of a guy seeing stuff he had no clue how to deal with or understand. A guy making wild comparisons to stuff he's actually maybe seen in more normal settings. Like a guy from the middle ages writing a detailed description of a testing lab at NASA. Not the most reliable of witnesses. Far better for him to have made something more explicable. Something that raises less questions. If we were writing fiction, that is.
Easier in a story to make Heaven empty, with nothing going on. With a pearly gate, and St. Peter there with a book, checking for reservations. You know, like at a restaurant. Somewhere we've been, or seen fairly accurately depicted in movies.
To me, anyway, it sounds like the report of a guy seeing stuff he had no clue how to deal with or understand. A guy making wild comparisons to stuff he's actually maybe seen in more normal settings. Like a guy from the middle ages writing a detailed description of a testing lab at NASA. Not the most reliable of witnesses. Far better for him to have made something more explicable. Something that raises less questions. If we were writing fiction, that is.
Easier in a story to make Heaven empty, with nothing going on. With a pearly gate, and St. Peter there with a book, checking for reservations. You know, like at a restaurant. Somewhere we've been, or seen fairly accurately depicted in movies.
Humans Turn Into Angels or Devils
This is all through the modern stories (and Facebook). Heaven gets a new little angel when someone dies. Someone sells his soul and becomes a tortured...what... soul? (I thought he sold that? What is he, and what's being tortured exactly, if he's sold it and lost it?) Aren't bodies required to properly feel pain? And he can eventually become a demon. Because the devils used to be human, apparently. Not spirits at all. Embodied creatures. In Hell, not on earth.
In the bible, humans are odd hybrids. Earth and water with fire/air breathed into all that. They are/have spirits, just like God and angels and devils are spirits (spirit is a word that means attitude, willpower, resolve, breath, fire, wind and emotional state. And alcohol.) But like regular animals, humans also have a collection of molecules called a "body" associated with them too, which they require to truly be themselves. Spirits don't need bodies. Angels don't even have brains. They don't need to be wired to molecules which they are daily in the business of shedding, and seeking to acquire more of (e.g. food). People need brains to make their bodies work, and to take in and process sensory data.
In the bible, angels and demons can't, but people can, die. This means their body stops working, and stops being associated with their spirit, making their soul have nothing to do, and no way to connect to anyone or anything either. So there's a resurrection mentioned in the bible. You can't be tortured nor feast and celebrate, can't drink a the wine of celebration in a new way in Heavenly mansions with the resurrected, fully embodied and therefore human Jesus, if you don't have a body. Humans deal in molecules. Spirits are among the molecules without associating for any length of time with any, in any particular place.
But in the Hollywood stories, angels can be killed, and so can devils. Angels have bodies and so do demons. And so you can kill the bodies (for example, with a magic word, or holy water, or a magic blade), killing them permanently. In some stories, if you cut off an angel's wings, it becomes a human being.
In the bible, no angel ever cut off its wings and became human. In fact, no angel ever became human, not even the ones who impregnated human women because they were hot. (oh yeah. In movies like Dogma, angels amusingly have no nads when co-opting some molecules (rather more suddenly than we acquire our own molecules) and manifesting as an embodied creature. In the bible, they sometimes enjoy seducing human women and making them pregnant.) God Himself needed to be able to die though, so an aspect of Him became human in the usual way: In blood and pain; gasping for breath, at risk of immediate death. Via a vagina.
In the bible, no angel ever cut off its wings and became human. In fact, no angel ever became human, not even the ones who impregnated human women because they were hot. (oh yeah. In movies like Dogma, angels amusingly have no nads when co-opting some molecules (rather more suddenly than we acquire our own molecules) and manifesting as an embodied creature. In the bible, they sometimes enjoy seducing human women and making them pregnant.) God Himself needed to be able to die though, so an aspect of Him became human in the usual way: In blood and pain; gasping for breath, at risk of immediate death. Via a vagina.
There Are No Feelings In Heaven
I am watching episodes of Supernatural to while away the time, and that's what reminded me that, just like back when I listened to Meat Loaf's first two Bat Out of Hell albums, one could make a chart. Hell/Bad stuff goes on one side with all the fun, and Heaven/Good/Safe stuff goes on the other. With all the nothing.
I actually drew up that chart back in the day. In red pen, at a job when I was supposed to be working. The only thing Heaven had going for it, in that typical theology, is that it is safe. The only possible thing Hell had against it at all was that there was an eventual price to pay for fun. "Good girls go to Heaven, but the bad girls go everywhere." You could enjoy the fun, but one day, you'd be punished for it. By demons. Who must surely hate fun. Working for that fun-hating God, no doubt, whose employees they must be, staffing Hell, which was designed primarily as a place warm enough for demons to feel at home, and to work 9-5 punishing humans who had dared enjoy themselves in ways demons don't approve of.
I blame Dante and Milton for this nonsense. None of the character motivations make sense. God makes fun, and creates Hell and staffs it with demons to punish human beings for enjoying any. And Heaven, blank white sheet of paper that it is, is a nothing place where you can go, if you erase from yourself any passion or pursuit of much of anything, if you say no to fun, if you don't live a life.
And in stories Satan has an original thought one time, or refused to bow down to a human (what?) or had a question, which God hates and didn't create a capacity for, so God casts Satan down to Hell, to rule down there, which seems suspiciously well laid out to be used in precisely that way. For Satan to run the whole facility. To supervise the acquisition of souls to punish, all for heinous crimes like being a hugely influential blues guitarist.
In the bible, the one description of an arrogant "Lucifer" having a falling out with God is certainly speaking of a historical king, and may or may not have anything whatsoever to do with the biblical devil character. The term "morning star" applies not only to this historical king, but Jesus as well.
Apart from that perhaps possibly Satan-related backstory, he's just around. Talking to people, having a chat with Jesus, betting God about Job. All that. After God made him. He's not cast down to Hell, or even to earth, it doesn't seem. If so, he can go into the heavenlies and chat, so it's not really clear what's going on, in typical biblical fashion. The bible tells readers stuff on a "need to know" and "only if you'd understand anyway" basis.
And in stories Satan has an original thought one time, or refused to bow down to a human (what?) or had a question, which God hates and didn't create a capacity for, so God casts Satan down to Hell, to rule down there, which seems suspiciously well laid out to be used in precisely that way. For Satan to run the whole facility. To supervise the acquisition of souls to punish, all for heinous crimes like being a hugely influential blues guitarist.
In the bible, the one description of an arrogant "Lucifer" having a falling out with God is certainly speaking of a historical king, and may or may not have anything whatsoever to do with the biblical devil character. The term "morning star" applies not only to this historical king, but Jesus as well.
Apart from that perhaps possibly Satan-related backstory, he's just around. Talking to people, having a chat with Jesus, betting God about Job. All that. After God made him. He's not cast down to Hell, or even to earth, it doesn't seem. If so, he can go into the heavenlies and chat, so it's not really clear what's going on, in typical biblical fashion. The bible tells readers stuff on a "need to know" and "only if you'd understand anyway" basis.
In season 4 of Supernatural, the intrepid Dean Winchester gets to ask a woman who used to be an angel but is now human (see above), why she prefers living a human life to being an angel. The conversation goes like this (look for things that are supposedly not part of Heaven):
That's another question. Why would you fall? Why would you want to be one of us?
ANNA
You don't mean that.
DEAN
I don't? A bunch of -- of miserable bastards... Eating, crapping, confused, afraid.
ANNA
I don't know. There's loyalty... forgiveness... love.
DEAN
Pain.
ANNA
Chocolate cake.
DEAN
Guilt.
ANNA
Sex.
DEAN
Yeah, you got me there.
ANNA
I mean it. Every emotion, Dean, even the bad ones... It's why I fell. It's why... why I'd give anything not to have to go back. Anything.
DEAN
Feelings are overrated, if you ask me.
ANNA
Beats being an angel.
Amazing. To forgive is human, to hold endless, emotionless grudges, divine. And there's apparently no loyalty in Heaven. Or...love? God isn't love and Satan is sex. Makes sense?
It's not just in supernatural stories. In stories in general, I have seen something very consistent. It really took off from the 90s forward, building on the excesses of Milton in Paradise Lost, which most people got infected with through the very best of the Star Trek stuff. I speak of nothing less than the continual robbing story-God (and goodness itself) of all His/its virtues, and the reassigning them to human or demonic forces. Which makes them more interesting and appealing. Eloquent demons. Funny devils. Creative imps.
Vampire/human hybrids (or vampires with a soul, or Slayers born into every generation, created by prehistoric occult rituals) are now what's required to fight vampires, where once an old man of faith, with some courage and knowledge and connection to God, could prevail over the undead, if he kept his wits about him. Now angel/demon hybrids kill the manifestly unfair, cowardly selfish God/save the day, or both. What's the last movie or TV show which depicted a priest hero, who could actually do anything worthwhile? Or allowed the hero to believe in much of anything?
Vampire/human hybrids (or vampires with a soul, or Slayers born into every generation, created by prehistoric occult rituals) are now what's required to fight vampires, where once an old man of faith, with some courage and knowledge and connection to God, could prevail over the undead, if he kept his wits about him. Now angel/demon hybrids kill the manifestly unfair, cowardly selfish God/save the day, or both. What's the last movie or TV show which depicted a priest hero, who could actually do anything worthwhile? Or allowed the hero to believe in much of anything?
The lesson of Babylon 5 as I saw it was that the angelic race of aliens (Vorlons) were forces, more of order and structure than life, and the demonic beings (Shadows) were forces of competition, wheeling and dealing (that's making covenants, for observant bible readers, something only God does) and that humans needed a middle ground, and needed to be left alone, having outgrown the "angel" aliens who'd interfered in their lives long enough. "Get the hell out of our galaxy!" are the words spoken to the "angel" aliens and "demon" one alike, at the climax of that show. It was pretty cool. Great story work. In the Babylon 5 universe, humans aren't the most powerful beings, but they are moderate and flexible compared to the two extremes, and they are boundlessly alive, full of creativity, vim and vigour, and need to be left alone. You can't deal with the "angel" aliens. Not really. They can't bend. And the "demon" aliens can't be trusted either. They're very tempting, though. Dealing with the Shadows will make you strong, rather than just making you a Vorlon's pawn or servant.
I think J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the few writers who depicted good/order angel creatures (wizards and elves) interacting with flawed, virtuous, honest folk (humans, dwarves and hobbits) in such a nuanced, ambiguous and interesting way. Wizards, elves, humans and all the rest are all people, and not just extreme order/chaos archetypes. All are tempted, and each can do good. Even Gollum. Not that I don't love Babylon 5.
I think J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the few writers who depicted good/order angel creatures (wizards and elves) interacting with flawed, virtuous, honest folk (humans, dwarves and hobbits) in such a nuanced, ambiguous and interesting way. Wizards, elves, humans and all the rest are all people, and not just extreme order/chaos archetypes. All are tempted, and each can do good. Even Gollum. Not that I don't love Babylon 5.
In the bible, God is the one who strikes deals. And honours them. Even with the Satan, who He appears to be playing like a Hammond Organ, Him being God and all. In the bible, God doesn't simply judge humans for not being divine, but shows up (via vagina), limits Himself in every single way we are limited, and does "being human" up right. He never does a single thing, the point of which is "only I can do this, because I am the Son of God." He's always saying "You're human. Any human who knows God ought to be able to do all of this and more. Now try, people!" Then He puts Himself in our place when it's about judgment, and says we and He are one. And we can live under His full approval, as being part of Him. And have our lacks and flaws not matter. Maybe even grow out of them, or have our incomplete attempts to do things completed.
In the bible, dealing with God makes you more Him, which in turn makes you more you. Upgrades. New apps. In the bible, God deals willingly with sinners, mistakes, immaturity and stupidity. Rather than with pious religious people, who get not a moment of His time, apart from a bit of name-calling. The only thing He does not lightly forgive is cheating on Him. Betraying Him. Shutting Him out of your life. Refusing to acknowledge or work with Him. Feeling you're alright and don't need Him.
A bit of adultery or murder? Read the bible. He will actually continue to work with and through those people, so long as they are willing to continue to work with Him. It's when they run off or hide that He can't do much for them.
A bit of adultery or murder? Read the bible. He will actually continue to work with and through those people, so long as they are willing to continue to work with Him. It's when they run off or hide that He can't do much for them.
In the bible, you don't have a soul to sell. You are a soul. Created in God's image, with a God who insists upon, not perfection, but maturation. And how does God bring good into the world? Not through a pristine, magic shaft of white light, or a choir of angels, quietly cooing like harmonious pigeons. It's louder, sweatier, crazier and more messy. If you want to be reminded of how God brings good into the world, have a look at sex. Better yet, have a look at childbirth. That's how life and growth work when God's working. There is pain and blood and fear. There is even the risk of death. But life happens. Sometimes it even lasts for a while.
In stories, you reach out and enjoy fun and hedonism on earth, and you pay for it later by suffering pain in Hell. In the bible, if you flee and numb yourself from the work, fear, suffering and temptation to despair that presage growth and maturation, you don't grow. That's your punishment. You stunt yourself. You are less. You become nothing much. Ever.
Cliff Claven perpetually spouting off inaccurately in a bar, with no one's respect. Dying of cirrhosis of the liver.
Bible stories are bad fiction. They are too complicated, with too much left out besides. And they don't really end. Not properly.
Bible stories are bad fiction. They are too complicated, with too much left out besides. And they don't really end. Not properly.
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