Nobody claims to like “hate.”[1. Image credit: Christ Washing the Disciples’ Feet by Garofalo, c. 1520/1525 (public domain, source: National Gallery of Art).] That’s bad. Everybody claims they want to “love their neighbor.” That’s good. Should the best Christian-made stories repeat these messages so that readers know Christians are good and not bad? Or could stories with this goal end up actually harming our neighbors?

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Mission update

• Lorehaven action: North! Or Be Eaten book quest starts March 4
  
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Concession stand

• Our neighbors need beauty, goodness, and truth from great stories.
  
• That’s the pivotal (and biblical) assumption we make behind all this.
  
• We’ll need to presume these definitions as we explore flawed stories.
  
• Beauty: artistic excellence, craftsmanship, reflection of God our Creator.
  
• Goodness: moral virtue, righteousness, reflection of our perfect Jesus.
  
• Truth: biblical doctrine, natural reality, imitation of the Holy Spirit’s word.
  
• We do know many critics add more heat than light to these critiques.
  
• So in critiquing stories directly or otherwise, we don’t fault their makers.
  
• In fact, with one exception, we’ll avoid specific examples on this show.
  
• Creators have backstories that lead them to emphasize one or the other.
  
• Yet we still need to “stop the cycle” and emphasize all three at once.
  
• More than our stories’ excellence is at stake; so our neighbors’ lives.
  
• Also, many stories only emphasize one of these, ignoring two at once!
  
• For the sake of brevity, we’ll focus on those who try getting 2 out of 3.
  

1. Stories try to show goodness+truth, not beauty

• Most of us who think of bad/shallow evangelical stories think of this.
  
• For instance, many Christian social dramas want to show good behavior.
  
• And many of these movies also want to show characters extolling truth.
  
• Readers see these emphases in many works of Christian-made fiction.
  
• But if they’re not made with creative excellence, beauty, they suffer.
  
• They also fail to meet the needs of our neighbors who need beauty.
  
• Stephen once debated a friend who seemed to be getting this all wrong.
  
• Friend thought Christians should “sell all we have” and live communally.
  
• This ignores the God-given human need for beauty even in our homes.
  
• Similarly, a story author could say “only the story matters, not the cover.”
  
• But in fact the cover does matter. God wants excellence in all our works!
  
• Without this excellence, our stories inactively harm our neighbors.
  
• Such stories are bad and even lie by saying “God’s work is not beautiful.”
  
• So by ignoring beauty, these stories also ignore goodness and truth.
  

So what should we do?

• Look for stories that value biblical beauty, celebrating our Creator!
  
• Read both Genesis 1 and Exodus 28, ordering “for glory and for beauty.”
  

2. Stories try to show beauty+truth, not goodness

• Many people struggle with Christian creations that ignore goodness.
  
• We would group this under the biblical commands to love other people.
  
• This is more about bad artist behavior that you do not see, covered up.
  
• For instance, a huge cathedral may proclaim truth and look magnificent.
  
• But behind the scenes, they exploited people and laborers to build it.
  
• Similarly, a book may look amazing and even reflect biblical orthodoxy.
  
• But if the author does not act like a faithful Christian, that’s hypocrisy.
  
• Worse than hypocrisy, the story’s author is failing to act like Jesus Christ.
  
• Without this goodness, these stories inactively harm our neighbors.
  
• Such stories are ugly and even lie by saying “God is not actually good.”
  
• So by ignoring goodness, these stories also ignore beauty and truth.
  

So what should we do?

• Look for stories that value biblical goodness, following our Savior!
  
• Read from 1 Corinthians 13, Paul’s view of what goodness/love truly is.
  

3. Stories try to show beauty+goodness, not truth

• Now we come to the part where we talk more about that Big Game ad!
  
• The ad wanted to show that “Jesus didn’t teach hate. He washed feet.”
  
• While many found the ad beautiful and good, it’s based on several lies.
  
• Read the whole text of the account, John 13:1–20, hearing Jesus’s words.
  
• He does not leave this vague, but explains why he did this act at all.
  
• For instance, Jesus washed the feet of 11 apostles and one enemy.
  
• He foregrounded his reasons as part of His death and based in the Law.
  
• Foot-washing was not simply a decent act, but a ritualistic purification.
  
• He spells out the one exception: Judas. “Not all of you are clean” (v. 11).
  
• There is no place for revising this story as “Jesus did nice things for all.”
  
• That tells our neighbors a great and harmful lie about Jesus’ reasons.
  
• And by the way, the “teach hate” line also lies about other Christians.
  
• Unfortunately, other stories attempt similar lies for “good” reasons.
  
• Without this truth, these stories inactively harm our neighbors.
  
• Such stories are ugly and bad by saying “God is not actually truthful.”
  
• So by ignoring truth, these stories also ignore beauty and goodness.
  

So what should we do?

• Look for stories that value biblical truth, listening to the Holy Spirit!
  
• Read from 2 Timothy, especially 3:14–4:5, about why we proclaim truth.
  

Links:

• “He Gets Us” ad
  
• “He Saves Us” response video
  
• A Tale of Two Ads, by Joe Rigney
  

Com station
Top question for listeners

• Have you benefited from stories that valued beauty, goodness, and truth?
  

Next on Fantastical Truth

Hand-washing. Social distancing. Fired employees. Air transmission. Four long years ago, the 195 nations lived together … then, everything changed when the COVID-19 virus attacked. How did lockdowns change culture? How did our reality’s upheaval affect our enjoyment of fictional worlds?