Is novel writing ethical in Christianity, or is it a form of lying? If not, how might a Christian novelist ethically practice their trade?

linux.poet · Jun 18, 2026

The title pretty much explains it.

13-year-old me in the 6th grade wanted to become a novelist, and like most things that I wanted to do, I actually sat down to do it, producing several drafts that would have horrified any agent who had the misfortune of reading them. Unfortunately no agent ever did, mostly because I had no money or connections to find one.

Now I'm an adult, several mental health experiences and a lot of doubts later. I have a lot of scars from novels I read in my childhood and teen years that left me with a lot of false hope. Overcoming evil is easy, they suggested. They sold me on the idea that adult life is a paradise and that adventures are fun. Now I know better: being an actual novel protagonist in real life is a miserable experience that the human body can barely handle or tolerate. There is no glorification of stress.

Isaiah 5:20 said:
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

I am wondering if novel writing can be done without committing this sin of glorifying adversity and pain, or if it would be better to accept that my writing talents are best used elsewhere and burn my old dream along with these drafts. Does storytelling and novel writing have any ethical place in Christian ministry?

Aldebaran · Jun 18, 2026

linux.poet said:
The title pretty much explains it.

13-year-old me in the 6th grade wanted to become a novelist, and like most things that I wanted to do, I actually sat down to do it, producing several drafts that would have horrified any agent who had the misfortune of reading them. Unfortunately no agent ever did, mostly because I had no money or connections to find one.

Now I'm an adult, several mental health experiences and a lot of doubts later. I have a lot of scars from novels I read in my childhood and teen years that left me with a lot of false hope. Overcoming evil is easy, they suggested. They sold me on the idea that adult life is a paradise and that adventures are fun. Now I know better: being an actual novel protagonist in real life is a miserable experience that the human body can barely handle or tolerate. There is no glorification of stress.

I am wondering if novel writing can be done without committing this sin of glorifying adversity and pain, or if it would be better to accept that my writing talents are best used elsewhere and burn my old dream along with these drafts. Does storytelling and novel writing have any ethical place in Christian ministry?

I think it would depend heavily on what the subject matter of the novel. It could be an adventure, science fiction, or something of a historical nature. I think the assumption is that a novel is based on romance and issues that go along with that. I suppose a great many novels are based on romance, but there are plenty of other subjects that a novel could be written for.

2PhiloVoid · Jun 18, 2026

linux.poet said:
The title pretty much explains it.

13-year-old me in the 6th grade wanted to become a novelist, and like most things that I wanted to do, I actually sat down to do it, producing several drafts that would have horrified any agent who had the misfortune of reading them. Unfortunately no agent ever did, mostly because I had no money or connections to find one.

Now I'm an adult, several mental health experiences and a lot of doubts later. I have a lot of scars from novels I read in my childhood and teen years that left me with a lot of false hope. Overcoming evil is easy, they suggested. They sold me on the idea that adult life is a paradise and that adventures are fun. Now I know better: being an actual novel protagonist in real life is a miserable experience that the human body can barely handle or tolerate. There is no glorification of stress.

I am wondering if novel writing can be done without committing this sin of glorifying adversity and pain, or if it would be better to accept that my writing talents are best used elsewhere and burn my old dream along with these drafts. Does storytelling and novel writing have any ethical place in Christian ministry?

I don't think there's a prohibition in the Bible against writing a novel. If you feel inspired to use the mind and life that God has given you to be creative, then take your best running shot at it. You never know. You might soar!

linux.poet · Jun 18, 2026

Aldebaran said:
I think it would depend heavily on what the subject matter of the novel.

Given that two of my main characters in my first fantasy novel draft casually murdered the leader of a neighboring nation without much provocation, I think some ethical revisions are on order. I'm not sure that I even want to go back to my old drafts as a basis for what novel I want to write.

Apparently my younger self had some progressive ideas about factory working conditions and believed the solution to harsh working environments was just murdering the people in charge of them. Needless to say, adult me has had to learn a thing or two about the petroleum economy and complex societal problems.

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Another novel draft has two Christian characters and two non-Christian characters in a slice-of-life setting, and featured parental sexual assault and fears of gun and gang violence. That got me a remark from my novel writing prof that my villains weren't realistic enough. Seriously?

Not sure how to do this in a God-glorifying manner instead of having my novels basically have "I was traumatized, please don't judge me" as a subtitle.

Delvianna · Jun 18, 2026

You can have elements of sin if the point shows consequences. Even Jesus's parables had elements of sin. Drunks and evil servants and such. Just don't glorify sin. And I would say it's only a lie if you try and pass it off as a true story. If someone believes its fiction, I personally don't think it's a lie.

Pythagon · Jun 22, 2026

' glorifying adversity and pain ' is this a genre specific issue. And how is this different from writing / acting a movie. Can a christian a be screen writer or an actor?

Tuur · Jun 22, 2026

The main question is whether writing fiction constitutes lying. Maybe the difference between fiction and lies is one of intent to deceive. Fiction is understood by the author and reader not to be true even before the book is opened, so there is no attempt to convince the reader that these were true.

The next question is the content of what we write. My second novel started with the protagonist having a dream that test readers found downright terrifying, which I didn’t realize. Ended up cutting out the entire first chapter. And though I’ve written pagan characters, I’m careful not to write what I think would contradict Christian doctrine, lest some be led astray.

Add to this that fiction is supposed to follow certain forms, depending on the genre. Good winning out over evil may not happen in this life, but we call stories like that tragedies. When that happens to people who are innocent, it becomes horror. People tend to want to read stories where the protagonist is triumphant, whether in battle or on a quest or ending up with their true love. When that doesn’t happen, the reader feels cheated and that book ends up tossed against a wall.

Aldebaran · Jun 23, 2026

When I watch a movie, it's almost always fictional and I never feel like anyone lied to me after I watched it. That's because fiction isn't meant to be taken as fact, or it would be labeled as a documentary. As for books, it's really no different. A novel is almost never viewed as factual, but a story meant for entertainment for the reader.
However, if I were reading an instruction manual, I'd expect that to be factual. Same with a news article. But not a novel.

ViaCrucis · Jul 11, 2026

A lie is an intentional deception.

Fiction involves telling a story about something that did not actually happen, but it is not about deception.

If all forms of fiction are merely lies, then every parable Jesus taught is a lie--since Jesus wasn't talking about real people and events, but telling stories--fictional stories--to make a point.

johansen · Jul 11, 2026

ViaCrucis said:
A lie is an intentional deception.

Fiction involves telling a story about something that did not actually happen, but it is not about deception.

If all forms of fiction are merely lies, then every parable Jesus taught is a lie--since Jesus wasn't talking about real people and events, but telling stories--fictional stories--to make a point.

I think we will find out everyone of them was real.

ViaCrucis · Jul 11, 2026

johansen said:
I think we will find out everyone of them was real.

Unlikely.

Parables were an ordinary method of teaching employed by Jewish teachers. Jesus regularly employed rabbinical tools, as He was, after all, regarded as a rabbi--a teacher. Jesus was 1) Jewish 2) a teacher. Obviously not just any teacher, but THE Teacher; but He still operated within His contemporary Jewish context as a Jew Himself.

johansen · Jul 12, 2026

ViaCrucis said:
Unlikely.

Parables were an ordinary method of teaching employed by Jewish teachers. Jesus regularly employed rabbinical tools, as He was, after all, regarded as a rabbi--a teacher. Jesus was 1) Jewish 2) a teacher. Obviously not just any teacher, but THE Teacher; but He still operated within His contemporary Jewish context as a Jew Himself.

With a billion people having lived by that time God has sufficient examples to choose from

ViaCrucis · Jul 12, 2026

johansen said:
With a billion people having lived by that time God has sufficient examples to choose from

When Christ speaks about a master with servants in the Parable of the Talents, if He was talking about a literal person who really had these literal servants, it would undermine the whole point of the Parable. In the Parable, Christ is the Master, and His followers are the servants.

As such, not only is your proposition based on nothing; it actually undermines Christ's own teaching and use of parables.

Not The One · Jul 13, 2026

For crying out loud, even Jesus made up stories to make a point. We call them parables. I think we Christians, in an attempt to be "pure of heart", overthink some things.

Sabertooth · Jul 13, 2026

linux.poet said:
Is novel writing ethical in Christianity, or is it a form of lying?

For me (as an amateur author), being fiction was not a sticking point. I was more disturbed if I had to get into the head space of the villain, particularly if their scheme included murder, torture or rape. Equally, I did not feel comfortable promoting sexual promiscuity in my hero.

Jesus parable, The Shrewd Manager, can be cited to defend a bloodless caper story and
one could arguably repeat a historical criminal event in their narrative.

Bob Crowley · Wednesday at 7:31 AM

Christ often used fictional parables to make his points. I don't think the Good Samaritan was a real character for example.

Novels are fiction writ large. They can be used for whateve purpose we want, whether that purpose is good, bad or indifferent.

We can use a car to drive from A to B, or we can deliberately drive into a crowd of people for an evil purpose.

That paradox applies to just about everything we create.

I think the OP needs to consider the purpose of his or her proposed novel and then decide whether to write it, change it, leave it as is or do something else.

johansen · Wednesday at 10:45 AM

Bob Crowley said:
I don't think the Good Samaritan was a real character for example.

of all the parables, that is the one that was most likely real within Jesus' own lifetime.

Sabertooth · Wednesday at 10:49 AM

Bob Crowley said:
I don't think the Good Samaritan was a real character for example.

johansen said:
of all the parables, that is the one that was most likely real within Jesus' own lifetime.

Being God, He could have easily retold stories that He was privy to.

Bob Crowley · Thursday at 8:07 PM

Bob Crowley said:
Christ often used fictional parables to make his points. I don't think the Good Samaritan was a real character for example.

Christ was using the animosity between Jews and Samaritans to make a point. He seized on the Samaritan to show the difference between the practical help (by an enemy) and the religious hypocricy of the Pharisees and Levites he was talking to at the time.

Christ was being challenged by a lawyer.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan - Luke 10:25-37

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”

28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

The animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans was so intense the lawyer wouldn't even use the word "Samaritan" when he was asked who was a neighbour. He replied "The one who had mercy on him."

Christ made the story up to make a point. Not everything in Scripture is literal.

Niels · 2026-07-25T12:23:58-0500

This might be an unusual angle, but I don't think God sinned by authoring existence. We creations aren't the author of the universe. Likewise, the characters that we create aren't us. Although they might be inspired by ourselves or the things that we've experienced.

It's possible to write without giving false hope or calling evil good. In fact, an author can write a novel that addresses such themes. For instance, a character might become disillusioned because their life didn't turn out the way that they had hoped. Or maybe a character who regards evil as good winds up on the receiving end of evil and reconsiders their position. There are many possibilities.

Is novel writing ethical in Christianity, or is it a form of lying? If not, how might a Christian novelist ethically practice their trade?

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The Parable of the Good Samaritan - Luke 10:25-37​

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