Who You Calling an Oxymoron?

My very first solo airplane ride took me to my very first writer's conference where I pitched my very first story. . . you know where this is headed, don't you? Yep. My very first rejection. The interesting thing about it, though was that the editor listened to my pitch, smiled, then proceeded to ignore everything I told him and instead talk about the upcoming genre of Christian horror.

What the flippity-flap? Should Christian and horror even be used in the same breath? Isn't that like combining matter and anti-matter? Peanut butter and sardines? Plaids and polka-dots and zebra stripes?

Yeah, it took a bit of stretching and I think I might've snapped my hamstring, but that, folks, is my segue into today's topic. I'm currently reading a "Christian" horror story, Ghostwriter by Travis Thrasher.

The genre is controversial, so it raises a lot of hackles on otherwise nicely coiffed Christians. . . which is really interesting because doggone if the Bible doesn't have some freakishly supernatural whizz-bangs going on in it. Fingers writing on walls. Dead people coming to life. Ghoulish murders with tent pegs. So is the fuss about reading horror really just a knee-jerk reaction to appear all pure as the wind driven snow and I don't read Harry Potter thank you very much?

Or is it something deeper? A fear to look at things unseen. . . evil with a side of squiggly, gooey, ugliness convulsing like the legs of half a smashed centipede? Sorry for the visual. My point is that in reading this particular book (Ghostwriter), I'm forced to consider the possibility of demons around me -- or worse. In me.

Don't worry. My head isn't spinning and I promise not to projectile vomit pea soup, nor am I about to wade into the murky waters of if a spirit-filled Christian can really be possessed or not. I don't have to. There's plenty of creepiness in my own heart without being prodded by a red pitchfork.

I understand that this genre isn't for everyone, but the concepts sure are because wickedness abounds on this side of heaven. It is healthy to take a good look at our own hearts now and then, and acknowledge the wickedness that resides within.

Only God is holy. Everything else is truly horrific. Good news, though. Jesus conquered all that yuck on the cross, and because of that, our lives don't have to be a horror story.

I'm not saying that horror is my new favorite genre, but it has raised some questions that have caused me to flip open my Bible ~ and that's always a good thing.