Fictional battles between light and darkness mirror the story of the world.

Any good Christian can tell you that.

But there’s something vital about the way the Bible handles darkness that I don’t see in much clean fiction. 

You can practically tell the entire gospel based on just the verses about light and darkness:

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” – John 1:5

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” – 1 Peter 2:9

It’s not spiritual warfare…

But these verses aren’t talking about spiritual warfare.

When the Bible talks about spiritual warfare, it doesn’t use imagery of darkness and light. It uses images of armor. Prowling lions seeking to devour. 

And our instructions are:

• To stand firm in God’s power
• To put on the armor of God (love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, etc..)
• To resist the devil
• To focus on the cross

When we’re attacked, we’re not told to fight the darkness. We’re told to practice love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, and self control.

We’re told to shine a light.

And the Bible itself, all sixty-six books and two testiments, almost never mentions Satan. 

The word Satan is only used 19 times in the entire Old Testament and the word devil isn’t used at all.

All this points to something important: we’re not called to find some rusty sword and fight the darkness on our own power.

We’re called to something higher.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

– John 1:5

My testimony…

I tried focusing on the darkness. It was my battle strategy for awhile.

I thought that I could get rid of it in my life…I thought that I was finally facing my demons.

But it didn’t work.

Eventually I got tired of chasing the darkness with a broken sword and started filling my life with light.

• I worshipped Jesus
• I studied the Word
• I started living like what he said was true more than I ever had before

Not only did that “beat” the darkness in my life so much faster, it also aligned my actions with what God says.

I wasn’t listening to music with curse words in it, but the sad Christian music I was listening to dragged down my mental health. So I created a new playlist.

I wasn’t reading books with spice in them, but books about grieving characters overwhelmed me with emotions that I wasn’t ready to carry. So I took a break from them.

Can we try this…

Can we inspire a deeper revolution for clean fiction?

Good stories still need conflict, so I’m not voting that we ignore the darkness entirely.

The Bible doesn’t ignore it completely. In fact, the biblical books of Judges is one of the most R-rated things I’ve ever read.*

But the Bible brings me into God’s presence.

What if there was a version of clean fiction that doesn’t just cut out the graphic depictions of darkness, but brings people into God’s presence in an effective, moving way?

Because that, in my opinion, would be worth reading.

Is my vision of clean fiction tantalizing? Unachievable? Has it already happened and I missed it? (If so, please share your recommendations.) Leave a comment with your thoughts, I’d love to hear them.

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I try to write fiction like this. Download a FREE short story from my book, Fantastical Summer, to see if it’s for you.

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