Elliot Kessler

Fiction is a ton of fun. There are so many worlds to explore, so many characters to meet, and so many things to experience. Everyone loves fiction. But the one thing these stories have in common is that they’re not real. They never happened. That’s why they’re called fiction. But just as there is a bit of truth in every lie, so it is with fiction.

But what does that mean, exactly? Do I mean we use truths to construct characters? We do, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about. Do we use memories of images in reality to imagine new locations? Also true, but also not my point.

There’s a little bit of truth in the raw stories we make. Each plot has some truth sprinkled into it. Some have more than others, but the best stories always resonate with us because of the truths they pull from.

For some extreme examples of truth in fiction, take C. S. Lewis’ works. The Chronicles of Narnia are filled with plot points that mirror biblical events and illustrate godly messages. The lion, Aslan, sacrifices himself to forgive the betrayal of one of the children in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, only to be resurrected. In the second novel of his space trilogy, Perelandra, Lewis gives us the story of a world who hasn’t experienced the Fall yet, but things are in motion to corrupt the world’s two inhabitants.

These truths make the stories resonate with audiences much more. There’s something inside us that helps us see truth in things, even when everything else is fiction. Have you ever noticed that, in almost every single story releasing today, the hero (heroes) reach their lowest point. Everything is going terribly, and all hope seems lost, only for the hero to rise up and defeat his adversary in a last-ditch effort. But the best stories are the ones where the hero loses something in order to give others what they want.

This is sacrificial love, and it’s the most powerful thing anyone can do. This resonates extremely well with us because of Jesus’ sacrificial love for us. He suffered and died to save us. He could have lived a full life, performing miracles and healing others. But he chose to give everything up for us.

Because of this, we all understand sacrificial love. It resonates with us so well because it’s what our savior is filled with. That’s the biggest truth that can be found in fiction. But that doesn’t mean the others should be neglected. All truth is powerful when applied to a story properly. But sacrificial love is the greatest truth of them all.

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.