Is Fiction Unscriptural?

Someone posed that question to me a couple of years ago. After all, the Bible says “whatever is true, whatever is honorable…dwell on these things.” Phillipians 4:8.

So what about Christian fiction?

Now if anyone has attended Susan May Warren’s seminars, you’ll remember how she teaches you to consider the lie your characters believe and the truth that sets them free. Watch for this in Susie’s books, and you’ll find a lot of depth woven in the story.

But we still haven’t addressed the question. Does fiction, for the Christian, go against God’s Word?

I first thought of the stories Jesus told to illustrate a point: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. But who’s to say those stories weren’t true? A sheep really could get lost.  A woman might sweep to find a coin, and sons go astray every day.

Is there any place in the Bible where God used fiction?

Then one day, buried in the Old Testament, I found it! 

In Judges 9, a man named Jotham tells the story of the trees who went out to anoint a king.

 Seriously? Trees choosing a king?

Yep. And they talked to each other too! The olive tree said one thing, the fig tree another. Even a bramble bush joined the conversation.

Now, I don’t think anyone would argue that trees actually talk. But Jotham used the story, a fictional story, to illustrate a point.

Whether the stories about the sheep and coin were true or not doesn’t matter. God does use story to illustrate something He wants to bring home to us.

Does this confirm to you that Christian fiction has a place on your shelf? Can you think of another place in the Bible where a fictional story is used for illustration?

Photo from istockphoto.