How to Pick Your Fantasy World

When I decided to write a fantasy, the first thing to decide was this: Do I set it in a purely fictional world, or one based on our own?

Most go the “completely fictional” route. And I can appreciate that, absolutely. I can appreciate that then, all the theology is allegorical or else assuming that God will have made a way of salvation for these other worlds and people too, and would make himself known to them.

I love that method and will likely use it for some future books. But it just wasn’t how Awakened came to me. The entire premise began for me as a “What if…?” in our world. What if Christ delayed in returning, what if the world suffered through a Great Cataclysm, what if God sent gifts to help mankind claw its way out of a new dark age?

I knew as I created this world, with its Christianity still intact (but in which language had changed here and there), that there would be those who loved it and those who hated it. I did it anyway because that was how the story unfolded for me, and while I will absolutely change most things about a story in edits to make it better, there are always key, core things that I do not change from the way they came to me, not unless God makes it very clear to me that I should.

But I’ve received some feedback from some concerned readers about some of the things in this story, so I wanted to take a moment to address them…without giving anything away. 😉

Theology in the World of the Awakened

Blood Ceremonies

First of all, there is a blood ceremony that’s critical to the society, how the “magic” (which is a combination of “ancient” nanotechnology and gift from God) is Awakened. One reader pointed out in dismay that the Bible forbids blood ceremonies, so why would I choose to do that?

My response is that we should always ask why God forbids something. In the case of blood, He makes it clear: Life is in the blood. That’s why the Israelites were strictly told not to consume blood…and it’s also why it was such a key part of Israelite sacrifice, where blood was sprinkled on the altar and out over the people as well. Blood was in fact KEY to ceremonies, but it had to be done in proper form by the correct people in order to not be an abomination. It was to be treated with respect and dignity, and when NOT treated in that proper way, it would make one unclean.

From my childhood and teen days onward, I have been drawn in my thoughts over and again to the power of Christ’s BLOOD. A Stray Drop of Blood, my debut novel set around the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, explores this when a drop of His blood lands on my heroine and changes her forever.

Blood is powerful. So powerful that Jesus, in John 6, shakes his listeners’ minds and hearts when He tells them they MUST do what was strictly forbidden to them–they must DRINK HIS BLOOD and EAT HIS FLESH. This was earth-rocking, friends. This was in direct contradiction to the Law. Or rather…to their understanding of it. As followers of Christ, we know that as the perfect, eternal sacrifice, He fulfilled that Law and was that lamb, slain for us all. And His blood? I fully believe in transubstantiation–it’s what drew me to the Catholic church. I do not believe communion is symbolic, because Christ was very, very clear in His way of speaking of it. He did something miraculous, and He offered His blood as salvation to us all.

This is why I chose to use blood as the means by which “magic”–remember, gift directly from God in my world–is brought forth. It’s this God-given power that became a physical salvation for people in the days following this cataclysm, and that’s meant to be symbolic of eternal salvation as well…which comes from His blood. “Blood ceremonies” are only forbidden when they are in opposition to God’s will and use for blood. They were in fact ALWAYS a key part of Israelite tradition in the days of the tabernacle and temple, and are also the key part of Christian tradition as well, through communion. 

Next, angels.

Angelic Beings

Without spoiling things, let’s just say that in the world of the Awakened, it is posited that the method by which God gave His gift of “magic” to humanity involved a few select angels taking on human flesh, marrying humans, and creating offspring.

Now. Yes. I know that Genesis 6 says this is an abomination. Sort of.

Here are the verses in question:

When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. ³ Then the Lord said, ‘My spirit shall not abide in mortals for ever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’ ⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterwards—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.

So, first…most Church Fathers did not read this as talking about angels. The traditional view is, in fact, that angels are beings of pure spirit and could not procreate with men, as they are of completely different substance. The traditional reading of these verses is that “sons of God” referred to the righteous offspring of Seth and “daughters of humans” were the offspring of wicked Cain. If this is the proper reading, then the problem is not mixing with angels but mixing with the unrighteous people who had turned their backs on God.

I find this 100% reasonable. In the real world, I think that’s likely a sound interpretation, even if it wasn’t my own original reading. The plain text can definitely be read as “angels,” though I absolutely get why many/most theologians decided it wasn’t the only or perhaps best way to read it.

But.

But. Then we have the Book of Enoch.

Let’s be clear. The Book of Enoch is not Scripture. BUT…Paul did refer to it in the book of Jude in a way that hints that he considered it a relevant prophecy. And taking Enoch into account would change everything about how Genesis 6 is read.

If you’re not familiar with this ancient text, it was known of but lost to history until the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered and a copy was found in them. It provides more information about those early days leading up to Noah, written by Enoch, Noah’s great-grandfather and known to us as the man who “walked with God and then was no more,” implying that God caught him up into heaven without him first tasting death.

In Enoch, chapters 6-9, we get an expanded story of these “sons of God” and “daughters of men.” In this version, it states explicitly that they were angels, and that there were 200 hundred of them who decided to do this evil thing and swore an oath together, so that only one wouldn’t take the blame. They chose human women, took them as wives, and sired children.

But that’s not the only thing they did. They also taught these humans things they weren’t supposed to, and the list is as follows:

• charms
• enchantments
• the cutting of roots
• familiarity with plants
• how to make swords, knives, shields, and armor
• metallurgy, including how to use antimony (which hardens other metals)
• cosmetics
• gemology
• dyes and paints
• astronomy and astrology
• meteorology
• understanding the signs of the earth
• understanding the signs of the sun
• understanding the course of the moon

Take a look at that list. While it includes things like charms and enchantments that we identify with witchcraft, it also includes things that are the foundational elements of what we call “culture.” The basics of art, of medicine, of all fields of science, of technology.

Were these things the sins? Is it an affront to God every time we look at storm clouds gathering and say, “Huh, looks like rain”? When we calculate when the moon will be full or new? When we chop our root vegetables with knives? Or take a cutting from one plant to grow another? Wear jewelry? Dye fabric?

Obviously not. If God simply hated these things and didn’t want mankind to have them at all, He certainly wouldn’t have sent His Spirit to fill the craftsmen creating the Ark of the Covenant and tabernacle with knowledge and skill of these very things, and the ability to teach it. So what was the sin here? What qualifies as the abomination?

I posit that it was disobedience that was the true crime. That these creatures acted without permission, without instruction. They chose their will above His will.

God, being God, could have stopped them, just as He could (but does not usually choose to) stop humans in our sins. He chose, instead, to let them give their gifts to humankind, even if it was out of turn. And when He soon after sent the flood, that flood did not wipe out the knowledge these angels brought with them. Did it wipe out their bloodline? We can assume that it did, but we can’t actually know, because it doesn’t ever tell us. For all we know, a bit of it could have been preserved in one of Noah’s daughters-in-law, and that could have been allowed for a purpose of God’s that He didn’t make explicit to us. This is 100% pure speculation, and again, based on a text that isn’t Scriptural…but which is the only text that makes explicit what “Nephilim” (the race of people descended from these angels-and-humans) are. Again, the traditional reading of Genesis was that “sons of God” were not angels, and that “Nephilim” should not be interpreted as “human-angel-hybrid” but rather its other definitions of “tyrant” or “powerful person.”

Reasonable…but not as interesting, right? 😉 I know when I read those verses as a young woman, my mind went immediately to the more supernatural reading, and for the sake of a fantasy novel, I found that more fascinating to explore.

So if the angelic reading is what Genesis 6 means (and again, I’m NOT saying it is, it’s just a fun “what if” to play with), then who’s to say God wouldn’t, at some point in time, will this thing He didn’t will then? That He wouldn’t have instructed angels to come and give of their blood to mankind? And if your answer is “God doesn’t change His mind,” that’s a blatant lie–or at least, it is from our perspective.

God sent a plague to wipe out the children of Israel who were taking wives from among the pagans as they wandered in the wilderness.

God also instructed someone to marry Rahab, a pagan prostitute, and she’s in the lineage of Christ. And this happened very soon after that above-mentioned plague. As in, the plague cleansed the camp of the unfaithful right before they began their final march to the Promised Land, which led them to Jericho. (The “But…!” will be explored momentarily.)

God told the Israelites not to eat unclean food.

God also told Peter that He’d made all foods clean now.

God abhors dishonesty and lies.

God sent a lying spirit to the prophets of Ahab in 1 Kings 22, to convince him to do something.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. God’s Word is not stagnant, it is living. I nearly wrote “it adapts to different circumstances,” but that’s not quite right, is it? Circumstances are subject to it. HE IS the Word. HE IS the Law. HE IS the definition of right and wrong. So while we might occasionally not understand why something is blessed in one circumstance and not in another, we can trust that it makes sense from His heavenly perspective and assume it is not, in fact, a contradiction…but we cannot deny that He gives these seemingly-contradictory instructions.

The Rahab example makes that clear, doesn’t it? Those other pagan women, they were bringing their idols into the Israelite camp with them, they hadn’t forsaken their gods. Rahab, however, did. She chose obedience to God above her own people. And so, she received the gift of being grafted into the family of God.

So if (again, yes, big IF) God were to decide to send angels to earth for this purpose, in order to bestow something new on humanity, this is neither God changing nor a sin. This is God saying, “NOW is the time I intended it. Not before, not after. NOW. Who will obey?” Much like God chose to call clean what He’d previously called unclean.

Why Did I Choose to Write the Story This Way?

In part, because of trends in the general market romantasy space. Now, hear me out.

In some very, very popular books, we see all sorts of magical and supernatural creatures, including angels. Including, even, the specific types of angels mentioned in the Bible. But in these stories, these characters are as fallible as humans, as given to lusts, as perverse, as self-serving. They are power-hungry and sinful.

Friends, this is the image the world is consuming about what a seraph or cherub or other angel is.

And it’s a striking resemblance to what the versions talked about in Enoch are. But we know their true name. They are fallen angels. They are demons. They are creatures of awe-inspiring power who chose their own will above God’s will.

But they were the minority. And there are other creatures of the same substance who chose instead to align their will perfectly to God’s. These are the angels who remained in heaven. Who are God’s messengers to us on earth. Who fight for us, alongside us, who go to war with the fallen.

I wanted to show this. That where, if Enoch is true, some angels in the beginning days did this thing in a way that was an abomination, it would look very, very different if God were the architect of the unions. If God were the direct Giver of the gifts. That what could be a curse upon us, when stolen, can be a blessing when given rightly.

Because this, my friends, is how God has shown himself to work time after time, year after year, epoch after epoch. When we take against His instruction, as Adam and Eve did in the Garden, we receive a Curse. But did He never give knowledge of good and evil? Is that not in fact discernment, one of the Gifts of the Spirit? Did He not give it to Daniel? Even to Solomon (who then misused it)?

In my Awakened world, my prayer was that through the words of these angelic characters, we can in fact get a glimpse of what true submission to His divine will looks like.

It looks like sacrifice.
It looks like selflessness.
It looks like love.
It looks like purpose.

Now, if you still have a problem with the theology in these fantasy novels…that’s fine. 😉 I do invite you to remember that this is not just FICTION, but FANTASY. I’m assuming things that it is utterly ridiculous to assume. Things that seem contradictory to some ways of reading Scripture (but which are not necessarily, when you dig deeper into passages that are incredibly mysterious and look at reasons, not just instructions). I hope I’ve at least explained why I started from these perspectives, and of course I hope that you can enjoy the story as pure fiction. But if you can’t, I understand that too. Skip the series. That’s okay.

Thank You, Readers!

And thank you, my lovely readers, for always being willing to reach out to me when I present in my fiction something that gives you pause. I’m certainly not infallible, and chances are I’ve unintentionally messed up fine points of theology before and will do so again. I appreciate your care for me and for my understanding and your willingness to engage rather than judge. In this particular case, I hope my explanation proves that I was not dismissing Scripture, but rather digging to the “why” of very mystical texts in ways that I am not saying are really true, but which make for a fun story. Is it speculative? Fantastical? Yep. By its very definition. But I do not believe these interpretations are heretical. Simply…implausible. 😉

Now just wait until I tell you how I once read Revelation as science fiction and imagined the New Jerusalem that was descending as a spaceship… 😉