Since it is so likely that [we] will meet cruel enemies, let [us] at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage.
~ C.S Lewis
Jesus answered, “The most important commandment is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’”
Mark 12:29-30
We injest an amazing amount of stories in this day in age. In fact, we have built an industry around stories. This year approximately one and one half billion people will file into a movie theater to watch a story. Over eight million people bought the latest Harry Potter book on the first day it went on sale. Stories are a part of our culture. They stick to us like glue long after we leave the theater or set down the book. The characters and situations become a part of us and — even if we remind ourselves that they are only stories — they profoundly effect us. We will staunchly decry a non-fiction athiest book like The God Delusion but popular fiction that opposes God slips by us unprotested.
On the positive side, stories can strengthen us and encourage our hearts when cold logic and reason fail.
The greatest commandment orders us to love God with our minds. I would like to organize a book club where we read fiction with our mind engaged. Every story teaches us something — let’s examine the lessons of fiction in light of scripture. The goal of this club will be to learn how to enjoy good fiction of all types and discern lies and truth in-between the lines.
Why Fiction Snobs?
Snob: One who affects an offensive air of self-satisfied superiority in matters of taste or intellect.
I think some people are snobbish towards fiction-readers because they think we’re wasting our time on fantasy or something like that. So I propose that we turn the tables and become fiction snobs. It will be a glorious revolution of snobbery.
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