The Mysteries of God in the Fantasy-verse

by M.D. House @real_housemd

The modern world is awash in fantastical speculations about a multi-verse. In part, this is driven
by natural human curiosity and creativity, but it has also become another off-ramp for those who
still contend, despite advancements in modern science, that God (or an intelligent designer) can’t
exist and that life popped into existence through random processes.

Note: You may enjoy Eric Metaxas’s book called Is Atheism Dead?, which offers a fascinating
treatment of this subject, or some of Stephen C. Meyer’s work, such as Darwin’s Doubt.

Regardless, it seems to me that there is a tendency toward keeping an all-powerful God out of
most of our science fiction and fantasy stories. That’s okay, I suppose, if the purpose is pure
entertainment. I have enjoyed the Marvel Universe as much as most. But given the alarming
decline in religiosity in the world, and the growing animosity toward Christ himself, I feel
compelled to follow in the footsteps of people like C.S. Lewis … as best I can, anyway.

I’m working on my first fantasy novel, and I’m finding that I need to consciously push back on
the inclination being inculcated into me by modern society to keep God out of fantasy worlds. I
want my story to exist not just as an escape from reality, but as an enabling, inspiring journey
centered on faith in God … across multiple worlds.

Trying to define the “Good”—which almost all science fiction and fantasy authors try to do in
some fashion—reaches a hard cap when God is excluded, and the application to our real, mortal
lives is naturally limited. Indeed, such attempts also tend to cause confusion as authors introduce
and defend ideologies with no firm tethering to God’s merciful, liberating, and truly progressive
commandments.

One of the counter-arguments is that including an all-powerful, infallible God in the setting
inhibits what you can do in your universe. But why should that be true? If God is all-knowing
(and therefore all-powerful) and perfectly loving in respecting our agency and potential as his
children, how is that in any way limiting?

Happily, I haven’t found it to be inhibiting at all. Clearly, C.S. Lewis didn’t, either. We need
more great, faith-inspired, Christian fiction in the world, across many genres. Our primary goal is
to bring people to Christ; indeed, in the end, that is all that will matter.

Together, we can make that happen. Thank you for all the great work you do, and for your firm
and growing faith in Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

M.D. House is a recovering corporate cog. As an author, he started out writing science fiction, but became fascinated with the stories of Barabbas, Cornelius, and the Apostle Paul, among others, which has led him on an amazing and faith-affirming Christian fiction writing journey. He still writes clean, faith-based science fiction, with some fantasy coming soon as well. You can learn more about him at mdhouselive.com.