Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Religion in the Hallowedspell Universe

When dealing with monsters, demons, witches, elves, and magic - often writers tend to skirt around the question of God. One of the questions asked is if all these things exist, is there a God?

 
When I look at all that I have to ask - "How could there not be after all this evidence????"

So the next question is "What kind of god is the God in the Hallowedspell Universe, then?"

To be honest, it is a really sticky question as so many readers believe in different kinds of God - and that is just within the Christian set. So, for the record, the Hallowedspell Universe will be strictly non-denominational. Why? You might ask...

Well, to avoid a fight, really.

The Hallowedspell Universe will not be a venue for teaching religious doctrine which I hold sacred. I have another location for that. However, I will say that the God I will present here will definitely have the attitude of the God I believe in. That is, one of Love. Also, one that is quiet that gives mankind freewill.

That said, what the characters believe and stand for will not be my standpoint, but their own. Lots of my characters are rather ambiguous in their religious beliefs - or undeclared.  However, I do have a few with definite stances. For example, Andrew Cartwright is the grandson of the pastor of the Middleton First Church of Christ. So he is a definite mainstream Christian. The McAllisters regularly attend their local non-denominational church in California and wear crosses - something I don't do. And Hanz Johaansen is a Mormon.

The rest I leave ambiguous because, like with most people, we each have to decide what we believe on our own time. And characters like Rick Deacon (who is both wolf and human) and Tom Brown (who is half imp [a little devil] and human) find it harder to reconcile their places in the universe.

Which leaves me to Eve McAllister. Born a demon. Not human at all, Born to kill 7 chosen warriors for God... Where does she stand?

As a character, she intrigues me because it asks two big questions:

1. Are we what we are born as, or do we choose our future?

2. Can anyone be redeemed?

I like Eve. She is at the core good because she can see so plainly the choice between Good and Evil - and she has willfully chosen good despite knowing she was born for the side of Evil. She is one of those people that does not sit on the sidelines and go with the crowd. She was rejected by the crowd anyway. And I think I will explore the serious choice Eve has made in a later novel...plotted out, but yet to be written.

For how will the Angels of Heaven react to a demon on her way to redemption?



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