If a fictional book or movie portrays a real person, that person can sue for libel if his character behaves in ways that misrepresent him. In fact, people can win libel suits if a fictional character closely resembles them even if the character doesn’t bear their name.
Saying the character it's “just fiction” doesn’t cut it with the law because there’s great power in the written word, whether fictional or true. The written word can damage, deceive, mislead, and endanger.
If my husband was misrepresented in a fictional book, you can bet I’d be there to defend his honor. And there’s only one person more important to me than my husband – my Lord.
That's why it saddens me to hear so many Christians justifying and excusing errors in popular entertainment with the excuse “It's just fiction.”
But it gets even worse because this excuse is almost always followed by the claim that's its drawing people to God.
What a perfect example of illogical hypocrisy that only God's enemy could inspire (2 Corinthians 11:3-4): it's only fiction, so it's okay to misrepresent God and Scripture, but on the other hand, it's a wonderful tool for the gospel. That's like saying that cults tell lies about Jesus and salvation, but at least they're sharing parts of the gospel.
God says those who change His Word are interested in unhealthy controversies (1 Timothy 6:3-5). We should point out these errors even if we're ridiculed.
Let's promote things which carefully and accurately share God's character and His Word (Jeremiah 23:28-32).
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Thank you for this!
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the posts you have written on The Shack! Thank you for standing up for our Lord God and defending His blessed, gracious and Almighty Name! Any sensible and reasonable person can see the legal argument you put forth in this post and all your other posts are so well backed up by the Word of our God Himself! God bless you as you continue to serve Him! Rosemarie Reiss
ReplyDeleteAmen!
DeleteThank you so much for this and all your other posts on The Shack! Any reasonable and logical person can clearly see the point you are making here! I can't see how you would be getting so much kick-back from Christians relating to your other posts. Especially since you back up everything you say with the Word of our Great and loving God Himself!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work you have been called to do by our God, the one and only Creator, Sustainor and Redeemer of our Souls!
thank you for all of this. my eyes are opened. i read this book as a child and haven’t read it in a while. i think that you are brave and courageous for stating the truth.
ReplyDelete