Okay here is a piece from my book that I am especially proud of. This dialog takes place near the end of the book between two major characters. Tymon is a priest, among other things, and is trying to explain to Abby why she is in danger. The point of the dialog is tying together the Christian and Pagan mythologies that I have in my story. One problem I faced is how a Christian would deal with so much of the supernatural world being “real”. I needed a Christian rationalization for Pagan gods, spirits and demons. I think this sums it up nicely. No spoilers for anything other than Abby and Tymon live at least 3/4 of the way through the book.
“Souls,” Tymon said quietly. “Your soul is at stake, eternity is at stake, for you and everyone else this Succubus infects with her vileness. Do you believe in Heaven?”
“Yeah, I’m Catholic of course I believe in Heaven. I believe in God too, a loving and just God. God does not damn innocent people to Hell just because they did some drug or walked through a door.”
“No, He does not. God does not damn innocent people, but He did give us free will and with that gift he created the Darkness to test us.”
“Not my God. My God loves me know matter what I do. Jesus loves sinners. For a priest you have some twisted views on God. My priest always told me that Jesus was here to save us from our sins. He died for us on the cross so we could all go to Heaven. No spirit or demon or whatever can defeat Jesus’ plan.”
Tymon smiled and his eyes lit up. Not with fury but with love, she felt his love pouring through his eyes, it was disarming. “You are correct, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ did die for our sins. He does love us, protect us and shelters us through the darkest nights.”
“Then why all this? Why is there this demon preying upon us?”
“That is what I am trying to explain to you. Modern religion focuses only on the peaceful passages of the Bible. Christianity is a religion of hope, and the message has been distilled over the centuries until only hope remains but there is more in that book than hope. There are warnings, dark and dire, for no matter how great the love of Son may be, the wrath of the Father is equally harsh.”
“They are the same thing.” Abby said, she learned the Trinity in catechism every school kid knew that.
“No, they are not.” Tymon shook his head. “They are not the same. They are different aspects of our Creator, but they are not the same. If they were the same they would only have one name.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” She knew some people who had problems with the Trinity but it was always so simple to her. They were the same, period, end of story.
“I do not pretend to understand the mind of God.” Tymon said. “But listen to me and see if you can follow my logic. I have had a long time to contemplate this, and much reason to.” Abby nodded and he continued. “The Lord created us to love us and for us to love Him. But what value does love have if it is forced? Have you ever gained pleasure from unearned praise? Is it satisfying to have someone tell you how great you are because they have to?”
“No.” Abby shook her head.
“So it was with the Father. He had to give us free will, in order to receive what he desired. He gave us the will to choose for ourselves, the freedom to love, so that He could truly be loved in return. But that is not enough, there had to be an alternative, and an adversary. For what good is the freedom of choice without an alternative? What is the value of choice without a penalty for choosing poorly?”
“None.” She was intrigued with his words. Nobody had ever spoken to her about God like this, not even her priest.
“So the Creator made other beings. He created angels, demons, gods and spirits. Some of these beings he charged with our protection, knowing that we would need assistance in our fight. Others he made to rival Him, to give us options for our love, so that we could rightly choose Him over all others. So that the love we offer up to Him has meaning. The rest He charged with our destruction and subordination. They were put on this world to test us, to try us, and tempt us, to make us worthy of His love. The Father tests our love and even the love of His only Son. Jesus was constantly beleaguered by the powers of darkness, for the Son, being a man, had to prove that his love was true, just as we do.”
Abby was shocked at how much sense he was making. “But what about souls, you said that my soul is in danger? How can my soul be in danger?”
“I am getting to that.” Tymon tisked, “In order to make these other creatures worthy adversaries and rivals they would need power, so he gave it to them. To some he even gave power rivaling His own. With all this power the others could have destroyed us, enslaved us, or used us up in wars upon each other but the Lord in his wisdom created a caveat. Their power came not directly from Him, nor did they have power of their own like He does.”
Tymon crossed himself and continued, “No, their power comes from us, from the one thing that we can give freely, the one thing He desires from us, our love and our souls. They need us to love and worship them, in the very least believe in or fear them, to use their power. They cannot destroy us or they will destroy themselves, they need us. The more we believe, the more we worship, the stronger they become, which is why Lucifer made sure that his name is in the scripture. We all know about the devil and while we do not worship him, we believe in him and he is stronger for it.”
So there you go.
Tell me what you think.
