The Dystopian Genre and The Bible

Disclaimer: In this post, I speak a lot about governments and even political ideologies. But, I am talking about *fictional* governments. In no way am I insinuating that the typical events/tropes in dystopian novels should happen in real life. In no way am I speaking about the current administration or political atmospheres anywhere in the world. We are addressing purely fictional stories, governments, and events, while using History and the Bible for context.

Dystopian:

• doesn’t give a positive message

• is so dark and depressing

• Is So Unnecessarily Violent

• teaches teens to rebel against Authority They don’t agree with

• Makes Government Look Oppressive

• Glamorizes War and Rebellion

Over the years, I’ve read a lot of debates when it comes to the dystopian genre. Among the most common arguments are the points made above, and in a lot of cases… some of them are true. Dystopian tends to be violent. It usually has an oppressive government, and readers can’t help but relate fictional governments to our own (just like reading about romance makes us think about our own relationships. Reading causes us to reflect on the world around us, and it’s the same with government.) A lot of the circumstances can be dark and depressing — these are all factors that are true in my own book.

But as for the other points… such as not giving a positive message, teaching teens to rebel against authority, or glamorizing war… I don’t agree with those. And I could go into so many reasons why I disagree, but that isn’t my main focus today. All I’ll say about that is I do think that dystopian can teach very valuable lessons, it can show that — in the right circumstances — authority might need to be challenged, and it can portray war in its truest nature: as an ugly, horrendous act that is sometimes necessary.

But the big point I want to talk about today is a question I have not heard anyone else ask — because quite frankly, Christianity and dystopian seem to always be two unrelated topics. So the question never comes up. But as a Christian, Bible-believing, dystopian author, I’ve asked it many times: Is Dystopian Biblical?

Several years ago, the dystopian genre was widely popular. Headed up by well-known series such as The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner, the dystopian genre went from fairly obscure to the coolest trend! — and that was just with the books. Every time a movie came out, more and more people were introduced to the “main character underdogs vs. corrupt government” stories. The high-stakes and yes, romance, drew in consumers of all ages. Everyone watched the movies. Everyone seemed to be writing the stories. Readers were devouring the seemingly endless buffet of dystopian novels. It was one of the fastest-growing genres out there, especially among teens and young adults.

And then… kind of suddenly, it just faded. I remember, multiple times (after reading The Hunger Games) looking for dystopian books to satisfy my wants, and there were not a lot of options. A lot of the time, the ones that were out there were either carried on unoriginal plots, filled with content I don’t want in my head, or poorly written or executed. Once you had the term “Christian” in front of “dystopian,” the options are even less.

Take an already dying genre and, then narrow it down to a very small, obscure niche… and you get the genre I’m most in love with. “Christian” dystopian barely exists. Even my favorite dystopian, Slave by Laura Frances, is a speculative dystopian. That means it’s from a Christian worldview with Christian themes and undertones, but not overtly “Christian” as in Gospel-teaching or portraying.

Either way — if it’s mainstream, speculative, or Christian, the question remains: is the portrayal of the overthrowing of a government, even a corrupt one, Biblical?

You might be wondering, “Why does it even matter? It’s just a story — just a book. Who cares?” But in reality, it does matter. Since God is the God of everything, He’s the God of our books — the God of what we read, the ideologies we have, support, or endorse through our writing. Therefore, He cares. Even when it comes to something as “trivial” or unimportant as a fake story. Everything we do should glorify Him… even our writing. Here’s the verse that causes me to pause and wonder:

Obey the government, for God is the One who has put it there. There is no government anywhere that God has not placed in power. So those who refuse to obey the law of the land are refusing to obey God, and punishment will follow. Romans 13:1-2

Do you see why I’ve asked the question I have? The Bible is pretty clear: government is set up by God, even the bad ones — not because God wants a bad government, but because, no matter what, He can use bad authority for good.

So… Is writing, reading, endorsing a dystopian scenario sinful? Is the fictional “overthrowing” of a government — even a bad government — something I should portray, as a Christian, who is under the authority of God and the government He appointed? Am I wrong for dealing with this genre???

Now, if you don’t know the context of Romans, and specifically, this verse, it was written by the Apostle Paul while he was imprisoned, under the authority of the Roman Emperor, Nero. Nero was a horrific man — we’re talking about using human bodies as garden torches and persecuting Christians. In fact, he is considered one of the first people in history to specifically target Christians and the Early Church. His reign was marked by mercilessness and tyranny. And yet, Paul still said to obey the law of the land. Government is not a man-appointed authority, but a God-appointed authority and it should not be dishonored because one simply does not like or agree with the government in authority.

But… is that always the case? Should we always obey the law of the land?

No. The exception comes with God’s authority — the Highest Authority. God has set laws in place — of course, the most notable being the Ten Commandments. His laws are divine. When the government wants you to disobey God’s law, that’s when you can no longer obey the government, because the government’s authority does not transpose God’s authority. Therefore, when the government asks you to recant your faith or murder or steal or lie… you, as a Christian, should say no. In the words of Jesus Himself: …“give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” Mark 12:17 So yes, we are to follow the law of the land, but we are, even more so, to follow the law of God.

Great. So now we have sort of an idea of when it’s okay to “disobey” a corrupt, anti-God government. But a major trope in the dystopian genre is the overthrowing and/or direct challenging of a corrupt government, which is not the same as just saying, “No.” It’s actively trying to tear down a “bad” regime and build up something better. It’s a goal that is prevalent in my Christian dystopian, Collector. But I’ve asked myself several times throughout the years… is this Biblically correct? Moses - Calling To Repentance…

In the right circumstances, the direct “challenging” of a corrupt government is not wrong. There are dozens of Bible stories relevant to this subject. And I know that just because it’s in the Bible, doesn’t mean it’s something to emulate. The Bible does use stories to show us how bad the world was or the measures that needed to be taken due to the severity of the environment. But… that’s also my point.

“Revolution” can be done in the most extreme circumstances when there is no option within the law of the land to bring about positive change for the people. Doing it prematurely or without proper due diligence to avoid a revolution is yes, in fact, wrong.

We can look at the story of Exodus for this…

Moses, in defending one of his own, got into a fight and killed a man. He wasn’t wrong in what he was trying to do — trying to help a fellow Israelite who was being abused. But what was wrong is that he took punishment into his own hands and killed the Egyptian. He didn’t do things within the law of the land. He skipped all other “steps” you could say for diffusing a situation like this, and went straight to “revolution.” That’s where the wrong is.

Now, fast forward to when God calls Moses to free the Jews from the Egyptians… does hothead Moses go straight into revolution? No. He goes to the Pharaoh and tells the Pharaoh to do the right thing — free the Jews. And how many chances does Pharaoh get? Every time Moses performed a miracle, every plague… it was all God’s display of patience and calling for Pharaoh to free His people. This isn’t a revolution; it’s the protesting, the march for change if you will.

Elijah - Challenging Authority…

I’d like to look at another Bible story, one that has some overt dystopian themes, and that would be the story of Elijah. Talk about a violent, dark, depressing at times, heavy story. We are currently watching a Bible study in Elijah by Pastor Mark Driscoll — that’s where a lot of this wondering has come from. We see a real-life, Biblical example of one person challenging a very corrupt government. And by a corrupt government, I mean King Ahab and Queen Jezebel who murdered God’s prophets and set up “High Places” where their followers would commit sexual sins and offer child sacrifices to the demon gods, Baal and Asherah. Very sinful, dark, demonic stuff.

Elijah, the last prophet of God, faces off with the 450 prophets of Baal. The followers of Baal cry out for their “god” to send fire down from Heaven and ignite his own burnt offering. But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. (27) And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” (28) And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances... (29) but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention. Finally, it was Elijah’s turn. He poured water multiple times on the alter he made, cried out to the Lord, and: (38) Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. (39) And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” (40) And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there. What we see here is God’s judgment on the prophets of Baal, the men who had devoted their lives to a demonic, self-proclaimed god. The people, who had repented, were spared. (We also see this example in the story of Jonah and Ninevah.) When there is change, God withholds His judgment. But when it comes to the prophets of Baal, there is no indication of their repentance, and they had exhausted God’s patience.

We see a reoccurring theme in God’s master plan…. patience, patience, patience, patience, lasting for years upon years even, a long call to repentance… then judgment. And He often uses people to carry out his judgment — that can even look like the overthrowing of the government. If you were to read further on in II Kings, you would see this through displayed through Elijah and, especially, Jehu.

Joshua - The Time of Judgement…

In addition, we see this again in the story of Joshua and Jericho. This story is very dystopian in nature. We have a corrupt government/city (Jericho) and a “rebel” group (Joshua and his soldiers) facing off. There’s war and violence, and the very brisk overcoming on Joshua’s part. For a better understanding, you can click the link read the full story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho.

And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. (3) You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days... And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. (17) And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction..."

Under the command of God, Joshua and his soldiers caused the immense wall surrounding Jericho to fall. They came, they destroyed Jericho’s defenses, and they took over the city, killing everyone inside except for Rahab and her family. Why? Because Jericho was a bad, corrupt place full of sin, and it was time for judgment. And God used Joshua and his men to carry out judgment.

The stories I’ve mentioned have three things in common:

1. Corrupt societies — oppressing the “good” people and endorsing sin.

2. God’s patience — the call for repentance and change.

3. Judgement — often coming in the form of battles, war, and death. This can even look like the overturning of government.

So… when we look at the Bible, we can recognize the way government should be challenged. Rebellion is not and should not be the very first step. Rebellion and war should be a very last resort, when there is no possibility of the people being able to make changes or when the leaders have no interest in change, even after dozens of chances of repentance.

Now, here’s another point I would like to discuss: I have emailed several spiritual authorities that I trust about this very subject. Some discussed examples like David when King Saul was trying to unjustly kill him. David didn’t rebel, David didn’t “overthrow” the king. Instead, he respected the king’s authority.

I would also like to note, again, that any time there was a rebellion in the Bible, it was based on the command from God directly. It was an explicit order from the Divine Lord, not from a man and rash, finite understanding.

In modern times, we don’t necessarily receive direct orders from the Lord — not in the same way as back then, in a strongly theocratic government. But in fiction, it would be possible to depict a “divine revelation,” of sorts — not as a scapegoat for portraying unbiblical rebellion, but in a situation when all other options have been exhausted. I think it really comes down to personal convictions, revelations in studies, and the situation in your book.

Do I think that portraying rebellion in cases such as The Hunger Games is sinful and going to cause you to go to Hell? Absolutely not. I think that, as Christians, we can look at a situation and see the Biblical solution, but understand that the majority of political affairs are not going to be Biblical. (That’s just the nature of the world we live in.) We can look at history for this, even with our own Revolutionary War. It might not have been a Biblically-correct move for the Patriots to revolt against the King of England. In fact, the more I study the situation, it’s seeming less-and-less so. Even still, God can absolutely use a “sinful” or “unbiblical” act for His good and as a positive aspect of His plan.

There are so many different ways one could respond when dealing with sinful, corrupt authority, and a lot of the Biblical examples — especially in the new testament/early church time — show the subverting of authority, not challenging. Much like what I explained above: following the law of the land until it violates the law of God.

I think the more recent and perhaps more relatable responses to bad government (quietly subverting, helping other Christians, etc.) are things we should explore more in dystopian novels. We don’t have to stick to the widely-accepted trope of, “Bad government = let’s revolt.” Both responses do have their place, and I’m not saying revolution is bad (again, talking purely fictional — real-life situations are an entirely different matter.) I look at stories like The Hunger Games, The Rogues Series, and The Slave Series — these are not awful stories you shouldn’t read. I’m just saying that having different tropes that are more biblical and more relatable to current situations today would be a good thing for Christian dystopian authors to explore in the future. I certainly have my own ideas brewing!

In Conclusion: Both responses to a fictional, corrupt government are “biblical.” One is based on Old Testament precedents and the governmental atmosphere, and one is based on the most recent teachings and examples of the early church. As Christians, before we depict anything that gives us pause… we should pause and pray. Dive into the Word, ask questions, and pray for guidance. I am doing a lot of praying on my end trying to decide the direction of my story, because I want to make sure that everything I write glorifies God. Because… in the end… it isn’t my story to tell.

Anyways, I hope this post has given you a lot to think about and has helped you answer some questions maybe you didn’t even know you had! Be sure to comment and let me know your thoughts! I’d love to hear them!

Keep Writing! Until Next Time, Elizabeth Mae Wolfram