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To become a hero following your God-given destiny, you’d best stay out of jail.¹ Yet some Christian heroes do get caught in bad habits that keep them pacing in their tiny cells rather than practicing wise discipline as they go on adventures. How do Christian creators, in particular, fall into the traps of “cage stages”?

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Concession stand

• Some people and personalities are more prone to certain obsessions.
• Here we make no judgment about motivations; these things happen.
• Seeing someone in a “cage” should prompt pity, not anger or mockery.
• Still, you may want to keep a distance from cages or point the way out.

1. ‘Everything is about my distinct doctrines’!

• This is the original “cage stage,” referring to folks who find “Calvinism.”
• That’s a nickname for a particular Christian view of God’s sovereignty.
• It’s often tied with strong beliefs about local church leadership.
• The late R. C. Sproul, himself a Reformed teacher, wrote in 2013:

My friend Michael Horton often comments on the phenomenon of “cage-stage Calvinism,” that strange malady that seems to afflict so many people who have just seen the truth of the Reformed doctrines of grace. We’ve all known one of these “cage-stage Calvinists.” Many of us were even one of them when we were first convinced of God’s sovereignty in salvation.

Cage-stage Calvinists are identifiable by their insistence on turning every discussion into an argument for limited atonement or for making it their personal mission to ensure everyone they know hears—often quite loudly—the truths of divine election. Now, having a zeal for the truth is always commendable. But a zeal for the truth that manifests itself in obnoxiousness won’t convince anyone of the biblical truth of Reformed theology. As many of us can attest from personal experience, it will actually push them away.²

• But we’ve known folks who found any new beliefs and became intense.
• Sometimes it feels like a fandom, often associated with famous leaders.
• In fact, you may have this story when you found Jesus or a new church.
• But what feels new and thrilling to you may be dull or familiar to others.
• It’s a challenge to preserve our enthusiasm while also respecting others.

2. ‘Everything is about this fandom I found!’

• This one covers a wide spectrum, including Christian doctrine fandoms.
• But this also covers fantasy franchises, authors, worlds, games, hobbies.
• Stephen recalls finding the amazing wide world of adventure anime.
• Even back then he compared this growing awareness to a “cage stage.”
• Others get trapped in talking about their feelings or personality types.
• Some won’t stop talking about psychology or self-studying buzzwords.
• Often this overlaps with a tendency to slap labels on all the things: not just story genres and tropes but also personality codes and conditions.
• This is a form of creativity, yet also might require some self-”caging.”
• That way we can better integrate the new fandom with all of reality.

3. ‘Everything is about my political causes!’

• Finally, this one may be the worst and the most annoying stage.
• In our view, this certainly requires some “caging” until folks cool off.
• Many creative Christians feel very deeply about issues like injustice.
• When some recently discover, say, “Government is bad,” they go nuts.
• They’re often vulnerable to alarmism, fake news, and emotive-ism.
• Some merely dabble in “political” issues, or rather, ideological notions.
• But if you’re in for a penny, you’re in for a pound. This stuff is totalizing.
• And that’s why many talk more about politics than their creative work.
• This, above all, marks a grave threat to faithful Christian creativity.
• Sociopolitical causes are certainly part of Christians’ work in the world.
• But if you talk about nothing else, even on socials, that’s a cage stage.
• That goes double if you anger easily at legitimate policy disputes.
• Allie Beth Stuckey says, “Politics matter because policies matter because people matter.”
• So prove that you first value people, then policies, then the politics.
• If you don’t value people, then you’re forgetting our human purpose.
• With doctrines, fandoms, or politics, you’d confuse the means for ends.

Com station

Top question for listeners:

• Which ‘cage stages’ have you managed to escape?

Next on Fantastical Truth

Since the late 2000s, children and grownups have been getting drawn into their mobile devices and tablets. Before then, some were also hooked on TV and video games. Yet how could anyone create those devices without training their imaginations on great works of art? Carolyn Leiloglou, author of The Restorationists fantasy series, returns to help us recall the biblical purpose of art and stories, and how we help children learn to love them.