Fiction Writers are Teachers Too

Christian nonfiction writers receive all the credit for being the biblical and spiritual teachers. If we want to learn the truth then we are told to pick up one of those boring nonfiction books written by a preacher, but that is not fair because fiction writers are teachers, too. Actually learning is accelerated far more through narrative than simple prose therefore we learn more from fiction writers than we even realize.

Education experts and our own experience tell us that we learn best through watching examples than hearing a lecture. As famous author Henry David Thoreau once said, “If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see.”

Your stories in your fictional writings teach. They teach far more than a sermon or “how-to” book does. Therefore, you must understand you aren’t just a story teller — you are a teacher.

Your writings teach a lot of practices, doctrines, and values — but most of all you teach worldview.

You don’t just teach worldview you create worldviews. You create whole worlds and then you teach how that world should be viewed and understood.

So how do I know this? Because I am trying to instill a Christian biblical worldview in my children, but that worldview is constantly being challenged through the fiction books, movies, televisions, and clichés that fill their lives.

We guard the shows and books that my children see and hear. We find stories that convey solid values and don’t introduce “bad” things. But even in those good stories a different world view is presented. Even in the good stuff my kiddos see people who are good people, but do not walk with the Lord. The self-sufficiency of man is championed. In many of those stories, the world just appeared and was not created by an almighty God. The characters live their life and do not worship God. In the stories the characters chase their own dreams and don’t let the Holy Spirit guide them. Nature may be worshiped. The list could go on. Here are some of the worldview challenges that has come up:

“Daddy, do you think Daniel the Tiger knows Jesus? He doesn’t go to church.”

“Daddy, do you know that at that princess castle with the tea cups you can ride that all of our dreams will come true. Can we go?”

“Daddy, do you know that the ponies (My Little Pony) can make rainbows, too?” (Meaning in addition to God).

“Daddy is Jesus like Superman?”

“Daddy on Dinosaur Train I heard that dinosaurs were here millions of years ago.” (Did I mention I am young earth proponent?)

I could go all day. None of these are terrible. There are all good shows, but they portray a worldview of life without God or a reality where something is a god.

Not only do they portray things, they shape worldviews.

So what kind of worldviews are you creating?

Please be creative and tell amazing stories, but how about still portraying the biblical worldview and values you hold dear.

Refer to the one, transcendent Creator. Refer to an afterlife. Have your hero still reliant on the Creator. Have your character carry out spiritual disciplines. Again know that you are shaping your reader’s worldview.

Author Brian Godawa wrote, “Every story is informed by a worldview.” I would add that every story shapes our worldview.