Christian Themes in Fiction

Any avid reader of my work will tell you that my stories are replete with Christian themes and messages. I am guilty as charged. I lifted ideas, themes, passages, entire verses, and whole scripture stories out of the Bible and the Book of Mormon and spliced them into A Rather Large Adventure, The Thousand Changeling Warriors, and Sure, Sex is Nice... The scriptures are the most important books in my life, and without them I would not be the uplifting, funny, talented, empathetic, and inspiring person I am today. They are wells to quench my insatiable thirst for inspiration when I am stuck in the limbo of writer's block. Most of my other stories are comedy stories that I was laughing all throughout, or feel-good ASMR fics that allowed you to feel warmth and love. And both laughter and love are good for the soul.

Even my darkest and scariest stories are scripture-oriented. The Pony of Vengeance actually teaches you about mercy and the value of loving others, or else they'll turn out to become bitter and hard. Brotherhood and Betrayal is a tragedy of Scorpan accepting friendship with Equestria, even if Tirek abandons him, representing the pain of family members who get torn apart by going to different churches. The Vision of Equestria was actually my frustrations about knowing (what I believe to be) the truth, but being unable to properly present it to people without looking weak or foolish. Longing is a cautionary tale of letting our desires and greed control us, instead of us controlling them. And heck, even my most evil, demonic, horrifying story yet, The Cult of Faust, is telling you that if you don't think you're on the right path, all you must do is ask, and you'll be corrected, even if it's not what you wanted.

Now, this may come as a shock to most of you, but I'm not the best writer on the site. I'm also not the one with the greatest story ideas. But I strove to be unique and talented, which I can safely say I accomplished. With that said, I can also safely recognize that I'm one of the best well-known Christian storytellers here. That is, the best at taking scriptural themes and splicing them into fiction in a compelling way that can be appreciated by even non-Christians. I wanted to see more examples beyond what I was able to find, but all I found were fics that fell into one of the following categories:

1. I'm an original character that came to Equestria, and my only defining feature is that I'm Christian. That's the only reason I'm even here. Everyone will want to hear about the word of the Lord! *touches rosary*

2. God/Celestia/Faust will take care of everything bad that happens to me, because I'm special and different because I believe in God and no one else does. That's why no one likes me. Not because my storytelling is bad. It's because no one likes Christians.

3. The ponies all of a sudden found God! And the ponies of Equestria are now astounded by Christendom and sympathetic towards everyone they meet! Because friendship wasn't enough for My Little Pony! They needed the joys of Protestantism or Catholicism in their lives! (Depends on the author)

It's not that the efforts of these guys are bad. Kudos to them for trying to be daring. Really. Truly. But I think they would be better off by introducing religion into a story more subtly. People don't want to read stories about My Little Pony because of that. They want to read about ponies because of (guess what?) the ponies. People do not want to read a heavy-handed preaching message of religion with paragraph upon paragraph of doctrine the author wants to give to the reader, rather than as one character in the story telling it to another.

One of the best stories in the above categories was a story I read about Jesus Christ having tea with Fluttershy on a normal day. (Which I wasn't aware I needed until I read it) It was simple, it was sweet, it was light and kind and not preachy or singling out at all.

When you create exclusive Christian stories right from the description and cover art, only Christians will come. It's a niche form of art. When you create good stories, however, everyone will come, and by the time you do put religion into the art, everyone will be so entranced by the characters, plot, setting, and development that atheists and Christians alike can read it and enjoy it, only the Christians will find deeper appreciation for it. Some people's focus is so high on the religion part of making a story that they completely forget to do anything about the plot, character development, or any other likable aspects of the art. And that is why, I think, those stories fail. Not because the message was bad, but because it was poorly executed.

Comments

[AntiBronyBenSwolo]

This is an interesting development, to see you taking reference from the Bible for your own fanfics. It isn't a bad idea.

[Babroniedad]

Like Tolkien and Lewis - when you create something beautiful and paint it with the truth that inspires you, people will enjoy what you create. When you create something sermonizing and fill it with fire, brimstone, and recriminations, people will enjoy something else.
I enjoy your work - thanks for sharing it!

[Golden Fang Ryu Shenron]

Wow, this is quite the development you’ve put up Brady. I’m a Christian myself, and while my stories aren’t exactly Christian related, I do my best to find inspiration and focus on the plot and development of the characters. I have so many characters I put into my first series story alone, and while I’m having a bit of trouble with the plot, the characters are a different story. Still though, with some practice and inspiration from outside sources, we can make it better, right?