I've often stated when debating the relative literary merits of these fringe genres that the human condition and experience is more easily exposed and examined in speculative fiction than it could ever be in more "realistic" works. Contrast is the key. A red object placed on a white background is immediately noticeable. It stands out because it contrasts with the background. Place it against a red background, and it is more difficult to discern. There is less contrast. The object is surrounded by things very much like itself.
I believe there is a similar effect in literature. When you take something familiar like another human being and place it against a backdrop that is entirely alien -- a fantasy world, an alien planet, or an alternate reality where the undead stalk the earth, to name a few examples -- the unique characteristics of that human being and its struggles and passions jump out at us from the page. We instantly recognize ourselves in the character because that which we understand is so starkly contrasted against that which we don't understand. By contrast (hee-hee), if we take that familiar human element and place it in a world much like our own, the contrast is lessened, and the humanity begins to blend it with the backdrop. The author has to work much harder to bring it back to the forefront.
I digress...but at least now you know I like Anne Rice's work and vampire fiction in general, and you have some idea as to why I like them.
If you read and enjoy enough of an author's work, you can't help to begin to feel connected, as if you have come to know the author -- if only a little -- through their work. As I read about the moral, physical, and spiritual struggles of Rice's vampire protagonists, I could not help but speculate how many of these elements were autobiographical. And since every work of fiction has autobiographical elements to one degree or another, it became clear to me that Mrs. Rice was struggling with her spiritual identity. Reading interviews and background pieces about her only served to confirm this.
So when back in 2005, Anne Rice published her novel, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, and proclaimed her return to the Christian faith, I was overjoyed, much as I would be if a family member who had lost her faith found her way back to the fold. I was amazed and touched by the testimony included in the Author's Note (You can read it in its entirety via Amazon's reader by clicking here. Scroll to pages 305-322.), and any doubt I may have harbored regarding God's ability to reach the unreachable instantly evaporated. Later, when I read the second Christ the Lord novel, The Road to Cana, and Rice's memoir, Called out of Darkness, I was even more convinced that Rice's return to Christ was no mere whim or passing phase. This was a true and permanent reconciliation. Her heart had been wooed and won by Christ, and she was devoted to Him. What's more, she voiced her desire to devote her writing to Christ going forward, regardless of the career ramifications of such a decision. A brave statement, considering that those sympathetic to Christianity likely comprise only a small percentage of her loyal readership.
So when, on July 29th, 2010, Anne Rice made this statement on her public Facebook page, I was very interested and intrigued. And judging from the firestorm of responses across the Internet, so were a lot of other people:
For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being "Christian" or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to "belong" to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten ...years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.
Wow. As a Christian, let me first say that I completely understand Mrs. Rice's decision, or at least the motivation behind it. Far be it from me to presume to fully understand the heart of Christ, but I think it is safe to say that few things grieve His heart more than the atrocities and sin committed in His name all over the world every day, and throughout history. I believe it is a poignant milestone in the Christian walk when one is able to separate Jesus Christ and the faith one places in Him from the actions and failings of those proclaiming to be his followers. I applaud and respect Mrs. Rice for being able to do just that, reaffirming her faith in Christ while simultaneously denouncing Christianity. It is a testament to how far God has brought her in her walk of faith.
We live in a fallen world populated by fallen people. A true Christ-follower (a much better term than "Christian", in my opinion) is redeemed by the shed blood of Christ, has hope of life eternal through the resurrection, and is empowered by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit here on earth. But despite all of this, there is a sinful nature that, though weaker than the Spirit placed in us, is constantly battling for attention, seeking out weak spots, and waiting to capitalize on our complacency. Even the most mature, stalwart believers struggle with this. The Apostle Paul felt this internal struggle acutely, as we read in this passage from Romans 7:
14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Organized Christianity, by definition, means putting a lot of people -- along with those sinful natures, suppressed to varying degrees -- together. There are bound to be clashes, and there are bound to be decisions made out of sinful motivations. There is bound to be hurt.
And yet God's Word commands us to meet together (Hebrews 10:25). You can read the Bible from cover to cover to and see that the Church as an organized body is established by God, and later affirmed by Christ, who is, according to Scripture, the head of the Church (1 Cor 11, Eph 4 and 5, Col 2, and others). And yet Christ reserved his most fearsome ire for the hypocrisies of so-called church "leaders", and for practices permitted by the church that defiled God's house (see accounts in Matt 12, 16, Mark 11, John 2). Anne Rice's frustration and disgust with the Church was shared by Jesus Himself to a degree, and yet He still is the head of the Church, the divine bridegroom who loves his wayward bride, the Church, and seeks to woo her back to Himself.
I believe that this is why we see Christ at His most tender and forgiving when he encounters "wayward" women. We read accounts of Christ with the prostitute about to be stoned, the woman who "wastes" the precious oil to anoint Christ's feet, and the adulterous Samaritan woman at the well, and we see incredible tenderness, understanding, and grace. Perhaps in these moments when the human Christ was encountering these human women, the Divine Christ was seeing shadows of his Divine, wayward bride, the Church, and responded with the love and grace He has extended to her since the dawn of time.
We are told to keep meeting together. To stay in community. To serve and worship corporately, as well as in our families and alone. God has, does, and always will work mightily through the Church as a body.
Perhaps the most poignant and convicting words that Christ has for us regarding our attitudes about our fellow Christians are these from John 13:35: "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." If we cannot love our fellow Christians, how will a hurting world know who we are? And how can we love our fellow Christians, if we are apart from them?
The Apostle Paul, and the Disciple Peter, the patriarchs of the Church, expound further upon this admonition of Christ. In Romans, Paul says "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves" (12:10), and in Ephesians he says, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
Peter writes in 1 Peter, "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart" (verse 22). And later in chapter 3, "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble" (verse 8).
These guys knew what the church was like! They were establishing groups of believers all over the known world. We would not need Scripture to tell us over and over again to be humble, gentle, patient, loving, and to "bear with one another" if Christ, Paul, and Peter didn't all understand that it would be tough!
This is why Jesus, when asked by Peter how many times you should forgive someone who wrongs you, said "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times!" (Matthew 18:22) He knew our capacity to forgive others would be put to the test, because humans beings fail. Human beings hurt one another. And we hurt the heart of God. But God forgives, and so should we. Make no mistake, He holds us accountable and desires, deserves, and ultimately will have our obedience one way or another. And sin has consequences the He will allow run their course in our lives. But He forgives, and He commands us to forgive and continue to be devoted to one another.
It is my hope and prayer that Mrs. Rice will be able to temper the understandable anger and disgust she has voiced regarding organized Christianity enough to forgive where it is needed, and to not remove herself from a community of believers. It doesn't have to be in a church building or belong to a denomination. But I believe that fellowship, community, and corporate worship are vital components of following Christ. For the Bride of Christ has a body made of many parts (1 Cor 12), and I believe that the fullness of the love of the Bridegroom can only be experienced to the fullest as a part of the Bride, the Church.
It's hard. In my walk with Christ over the years, I have been both the offender who made others want to leave the Church, and the offended who wanted to leave. But by His Grace, God is teaching me the importance of the Church and what it means to be a part of it, warts and all. And more importantly, He has given me glimpses of what He desires to do in and through His Church to reach a hurting world.
He has reached out to me in the midst of my pain. And he reached out to Anne Rice in the midst of her pain, and called her out of darkness. I think Mrs. Rice would agree that if He can reach people like us, He can reach anyone.
So that's the vampires and Christians, but what about the homosexuals? Well...
This is already a very long post, so that part will have to wait until the next post. Check back in a couple of days!
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