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112. How Does Fiction Help Us Love Our Enemies Even If We Must Defeat Them?
Fantastical Truth Podcast, May 17, 2022

Clawing Free
Reviews, May 13, 2022

How Spider-Man Saved My Marriage Before It Even Began
E. Stephen Burnett in Articles, May 12, 2022

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Vivid, Ashley Bustamante
My Soul to Take, Bryan Davis
Into Shadow's Fire, Mark Castleberry
Deceived, Madisyn Carlin
Arena (2022 edition), Karen Hancock
Kurt Nickle-Dickle of Whiskers, N. J. McLagan
"In a city where debts are paid in blood, one young man will learn that everyone needs help sometimes if they want to survive." New in the Lorehaven library: A Matter of Blood, Lauren H Salisbury
Son of the Shield, Mary Schlegel
Maxine Justice, Galactic Attorney, Daniel Schwabauer
Mordizan, Alyssa Roat
Prentice Ash, Matt Barron
Etania's Calling, M. H. Elrich
The Choice, Bradley Caffee
The Obsidian Butterfly, Lani Forbes
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Clawing Free
“Clawing Free is an absorbing tale that seamlessly joins modernity and myth.”
—Lorehaven on May 13, 2022

Vivid
“Ashley Bustamante’s Vivid paints a world built on secrets and carefully controlled color palettes.”
—Lorehaven on May 6, 2022

Prophet
“If great fiction dares explore culture wars, it must show more than perfect people smiling before a flat backdrop. Frank E. Peretti’s 1992 novel Prophet reflects this reality.”
—Lorehaven on May 4, 2022

Realms of Light
“Author Sandra Fernandez Rhoads creatively uses classical art and Milton’s writing to give Cera necessary information to fight the darkness, drawing readers deeper into this urban fantasy world.”
—Lorehaven on Apr 29, 2022

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112. How Does Fiction Help Us Love Our Enemies Even If We Must Defeat Them?
Fantastical Truth, May 17, 2022

111. Why Do Your Kids Need Fantastical Stories for God’s Glory?
Fantastical Truth, May 10, 2022

110. Could We Enter a ‘Golden Age’ of Christian-Made Fantastical Fiction?
Fantastical Truth, May 3, 2022

109. How Should Local Churches Support Christian-Made Fantasy?
Fantastical Truth, Apr 26, 2022

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Yes, Speculative Faith Is Closed, At Least For Now
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Last Stands, Custer, General Gordon, and Being a Christian Warrior
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How Christian Must Christian Fiction Be?
Rebecca LuElla Miller, May 24

Gender In Fiction: The Implication Of Failure
Rebecca LuElla Miller, May 10

Making a Story Visual UPDATE: Behind the Scenes of the Animal Eye Comic
Travis Perry, May 9

What Does “Woke” Culture Have To Do With Christian Fiction?
Rebecca LuElla Miller, Apr 26

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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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55. Should Christians Embrace Cultural and Digital Enclaves? | with Austin Gunderson

Christians fleeing cancel culture should consider becoming “Amish cyberpunks” and build cutting-edge digital enclaves.
Fantastical Truth on Mar 16, 2021 · No comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:32 — 63.2MB) | Embed

Cancel culture is making many Christian readers and creators feel unwelcome in “mainstream” culture. Christians may need to retreat and create separate, digital spheres. But what does that look like, and will it work?

Characteristics of cancel culture

  • Driven by safetyism and paternalism.
  • Powered by authoritarianism.
  • Enabled by militant secularism.
  • No presumption of innocence, due process, or transformation.
  • Results in purity tests and purges.
  • We have to look in more distant history for comparable movements.

Sun Tzu famously said that knowledge of the enemy is the most powerful asset in warfare:

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

We are in a war of cultures; not just a war within a culture, but a struggle for supremacy between competing worldviews. What this means for Christians is that it’s swiftly becoming socially and legally unacceptable to publicly acknowledge God’s authority to define human nature, human relationships, or any other aspect of reality.

From “We didn’t start this culture war,” an article on spiked:

The claim that critics of cancel culture are obsessing over random examples might hold some water if there weren’t so many examples. Since the Black Lives Matter protests exploded last year, the hitherto esoteric idea that all culture must be cleansed in order to bring about a just society has gone mainstream and led to countless ‘cancellations’. This has created a climate in which companies are either folding instantly to absurd demands or scrubbing their own output without anyone really having to ask. Which is handy for the cancel-culture deniers, who get to proclaim that ‘no one called for this to happen’ while also basically supporting it.

Recent cancellations:

  • Dr. Seuss Is Canceled
  • Ebay Is Removing Listings for Discontinued Dr Seuss Books, Citing ‘Offensive Materials Policy’
  • When Harry Became Sally: The Book Amazon Does Not Want You to Read

An excerpt from “Let Loose the Seuss,” by Bret Weinstein of the Dark Horse Podcast:

Like everyone else Dr. Seuss had his flaws.
He made some missteps, he got dirt on his paws.
But he owned his mistakes, made amends, and grew wise.
Illustrated his growth, as his heart grew in size.

Seuss was a model of how we should behave.
In confronting our flaws we should all be so brave.
And if we are able, put the lessons to rhyme,
For a rhyme drives a point with a rhythm through time.

Three approaches to cancel culture:

  1. Stay and fight
  2. Embrace alternative domains
  3. Create uniquely Christian networks
  • We have a tendency to act as though “real freedom’s never been tried,” even though “cancel culture” was born out of just such a classically-liberal society.
  • The reality is we are facing cultural conquerors, so we must actually fight for what we believe. How do we wage this battle as Christians?
  • There are many other platforms that would love our business and offer more freedom and control. But are centralized networks still doomed to fail?
  • We could be like the Amish, retreat to our own communities, and build our own advanced systems. What is the cost/benefit analysis of this?

Alternative networks mentioned and discussed:

  • Gab
  • Parler
  • MeWe
  • Minds
  • Urbit
  • Solid, from Inrupt

 

  • On Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the internet: “He Created the Web. Now He’s Out to Remake the Digital World.“
  • Five Blockchain-Based Social Media Platforms To Watch In 2020

Books discussed:

  • The Silmarillion, by J. R. R. Tolkien
  • A Shattered World, by Lelia Rose Foreman. “This is the Puritan space colonization epic you never knew you needed.”
  • The Mark (Left Behind #8), by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
  • Amish Vampires in Space, by Kerry Nietz
  • Svaha, by Charles de Lint

Meanwhile, let’s love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Love doesn’t mean accommodating or excusing sin, but speaking the truth. Love our own families and children. Connect with other Christians who have the same priorities. Wean ourselves off convenient services that have made us dependent on gatekeepers. Focus on depth and multiplication, the same way that the church has done evangelism, discipleship, and missions.

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    In the Fantastical Truth podcast from Lorehaven, hosts E. Stephen Burnett and Zackary Russell find the best Christian fantasy, and apply the wonders of these imaginary worlds to the real world our Creator has called us to serve. Join the best Christian fantastical authors and other creative friends on this joyful journey, to find the happiness and holiness of Jesus through his gift of truthful imagination.
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    Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.