What Does Light Have to Do With Darkness?

When I was a little girl, I was obsessed with all things scary:  Dark Shadows*, movies, books, ghost stories, etc.  I don't know why, because I have such a sensitive spirit and these things...disturbed me.  My parents forbid me to watch Dark Shadows, so I would watch it at my friend's house.  None of these things helped me.  They only served to feed any fears in my heart and embed images in my brain that I cannot erase.

I did not grow up in a Christian home.  My mom and dad were good parents and wanted the best for their kids.  I credit them for wanting to keep me from things that only fueled my unrest.  But I was given neither the reasons for needing to avoid these things, nor the tools to deal with them.

The Lord delivered me out of darkness of futility and sin when I was 24.  When the light of Christ showed up in the prison of my heart, I was unshackled and freed.  When I say shackled, picture the ghost of Jacob Marley: miserable, directionless, fettered.  Charles Wesley explained it best in his hymn "And Can it Be":

"Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray -
I woke, the dungeon filled with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee."

Those of us who are truly born again can name a specific time in our lives when Christ set us free. We can vividly recall the circumstances, and how we were noticeably changed.  Gone for me was the desire to have anything to do with things that were stressful, such as scary books, movies, and such.  Why add stress to a life that has its own share by default?

It grieves me that many Christians try to justify their engagement with such things.  "It's just a story."  "They bother some people but they don't bother me."  But do these activities glorify God?  We can all agree that most publishing houses and film production companies are not in cahoots with the Lord, so why should they at all be interested in what He cares about?  We Christians who study the Word know that prior to the fall, Adam and Eve lived in perfect union with God in His paradise.  There was nothing to mar His reflection in anything He made because it was all good.  Pride and independence cost them their very lives, and God cursed all of creation.  We can be sure He is grieved about having to do that, but we are given the good news that He is anxious to redeem it.  Romans 8:19-20 says, "For the anxious longing of creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope..."

How do we obtain that hope?  Only through the Cross, where Christ has defeated sin and death.  That does not just mean the redemption of men, but the future removal of anything accursed when the old heaven and the old earth pass away.  When I, for the sake of entertainment, set my eyes on and take into my brain the things that are accursed - that can never be erased from the hard drive once they're in there - I am spitting into the face of the Savior Who died to free us from all darkness.

Why seek fear when Christ tells us that He has cast it aside?  "There is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out fear: because fear has torment.  He that fears is not made perfect in love."  I John 4:18

Why do we seek anything other than the peace of Christ?  "For He Himself is our peace..." Eph. 2:14

Why dance with the prince of darkness in a wedding dress?  "Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?"  2 Cor. 6:14

I cannot honestly sit and enjoy a horror movie with Christ and expect that He will engage Himself.  I don't think He would leave the theater and tell His friends that it topped the box office sales for the weekend - the same Christ Who defeated sin and darkness and Who is coming again to put an end to this present curse.  I cannot look into His eyes while digging through the garbage looking for something to eat when He has prepared good food for me.

*Dark Shadows, for all you youngsters, was a soap opera back in the 60's and 70's about a vampire and his family.