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148. Why Do Some Christians Revile ‘The Chosen’? | with Josiah DeGraaf and Jenneth Dyck
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Into the Darkness
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The Chosen Succeeds Where ‘Woke’ Stories Fail
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148. Why Do Some Christians Revile ‘The Chosen’? | with Josiah DeGraaf and Jenneth Dyck
Fantastical Truth, Feb 7, 2023

147. Why Can Christians Celebrate Stories about Merlin and King Arthur? | with Robert Treskillard
Fantastical Truth, Jan 31, 2023

146. How Did Animators Adapt The Wingfeather Saga For Streaming TV? | with Keith Lango
Fantastical Truth, Jan 24, 2023

145. How Did Edmund Spenser’s ‘The Faerie Queene’ Shape Christian Fantasy? | with Rebecca K. Reynolds
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144. Which Top Six Fantasy Franchises Gave Fans Grief in 2022?
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143. Which Top Ten Lorehaven Stories Proved Most Popular in 2022?
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Into the Darkness
“Charles Hack’s Into the Darkness summons a close-range science fiction story, focusing on the personal challenges of space warfare among alien cultures with a steady pace and serious tone.”
—Lorehaven on Feb 3, 2023

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“A Crown of Chains creatively retells a biblical tale to explore themes of providence, racism, faith, and fidelity.”
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Lander’s Legacy
“Lander’s Legacy stacks modern thrills and complex characters on a foundation of biblical what-ifs.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 20, 2023

Prince Caspian
“Pacing starts slow but creature lore grows in C. S. Lewis’s sequel, introducing practical tyrants and talking-beast politics into a Narnian resistance.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 13, 2023

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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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The Terror Of Light

When I watch “Sunshine,” I get an inkling of how terrifying God’s righteousness would be to our frail eyes and souls.
Mark Carver on Feb 24, 2016
2 comments

I like dark, brooding sci-fi films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Europa Report, Solaris, Pandorum, Moon, etc. Movies like these hum with a deep, disturbing energy, churning slowly through the vastness of space while flaying open the fragile human psyche. This is in fact one reason I didn’t enjoy The Martian as much as I wanted to: there was hardly any emotional depth to Mark Watney’s plight. He almost seemed to be enjoying his lonely years on Mars, handily fixing one problem before moving to the next. He spent the same amount of time on an alien planet as Tom Hanks spent on the island in Castaway, though Tom Hanks’ mental state was in tatters by the time he was rescued. I guess Watney was just too full of can-do American spirit to get bogged down in emotional turmoil.

One of my favorite psychological space thrillers is Danny Boyle’s Sunshine. The premise of the movie is simple (and scientifically shaky): in the near future, the sun is dying, plunging the Earth into a new Ice Age. A diverse crew jumps on a ship called the Icarus II and flies directly towards the sun to deliver the biggest bomb ever made right into the solar center, theoretically reigniting the fusion process and warming the Earth back to life-sustaining temperatures again. As with films like Trainspotting, The Beach, and 28 Days Later, Boyle undercuts everything with a razor-sharp edge of madness, which is easy to accept since the crew of the Icarus II (there was an Icarus I that met with misfortune) are flying straight towards a boiling nuclear fireball. The ship has mechanisms that should allow the crew to get out of harm’s way once the bomb is sent on the proper trajectory, but we know from the beginning that not many are going to make it out of this alive. During the journey, tempers flare, fatal mistakes are made, and things eventually go totally off the rails.dbfuvw3ghrauhi24jgeu

What makes this film such a treat are the striking visuals of the sun. For such a dark film, this movie is extremely bright. A scene where the planet Mercury does a fly-by is jaw-dropping, and some close-up views of the sun seem downright hellish. There is a room on the Icarus II where the crew can sit and look at the sun, though the window darkens the sunlight to a tiny fraction of its true strength. Even at 3% brightness, one crew member is left breathless and shaken by the sun’s power.

This and other moments of solar fury affect the crew members with an almost religious terror and awe. The sun is a monstrous, infernal entity that eagerly awaits their arrival in order to swallow them up. There are only a handful of scenes in the movie where we see the other stars in the deep blackness of space. For those on board the Icarus II, the sun fills up their universe with its blinding light. The shield that protects the ship and its payload is the size of a city and is mercilessly assaulted by sunlight and radiation. The crew know that at any moment, they could be vaporized.

When I watch this movie, I get an inkling of how terrifying God’s righteousness would be to our frail eyes and souls. To witness His glory would mean utter devastation, and I get the feeling that the moment before we dissolve wouldn’t be particularly pleasant. We wouldn’t have giant smiles on our faces and eyes wide with joy; our hearts would wither in our chests as our faces melted from our skulls. God’s holiness is absolutely terrifying to us as mortal, sinful creatures. Our bodies would disintegrate and our souls would shrivel. Experiencing the power and glory of the perfect Being who created the universe with mere words would not be a rapturous moment.

Yet it would be the greatest moment we could ever wish for. I don’t know about you, but I would gladly surrender myself to a soul-shattering death if it meant that I could be in the presence of God. What on Earth could compare to the blinding light of pure holiness? The blazing power of the sun would seem like darkness compared to the light of God’s glory. With Sunshine, I get just the barest taste of what such a moment might be like, and it makes me look forward to the day when that moment becomes truth.

Mark Carver
Mark Carver writes dark, edgy books that tackle tough spiritual issues. He is currently working on his ninth novel. Besides writing, Mark is passionate about art, tattoos, bluegrass music, and medieval architecture. After spending more than eight years in China, he now lives with his wife and three children in Atlanta, GA. You can find Mark online at MarkCarverBooks.com and at Markcarverbooks on Facebook.
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  1. Dane Tyler says:
    February 24, 2016 at 8:35 am

    Great points. If the power of a small star can overwhelm our psyche, how much more the Holy and Living God Who spoke it into existence. If the sun’s power is beyond our ability to handle with sanity, how much more the terror of facing the God of the Universe, Righteous and Holy, staring at us not without intellect and sentience as a star, but with the glaring and piercing eyes of Lord of All, the Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent God.

    *Shudder* Even knowing my Savior and being safe from His wrath won’t stop the sight of His glory and majesty from crushing me.

    Reply
  2. Lisa says:
    February 24, 2016 at 11:59 am

    Yes. I often think about this when our church is singing worship songs that have lines like, “I long to see You”. Seeing God is not the fuzzy-wuzzy experience we evangelicals sometimes try to make it out to be. The Israelites who followed Moses into the desert pretty much were terrified of seeing God. That should tell us something, right?
    I have never heard of this movie – sounds like a good one!

    Reply

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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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