57. How Do Stories Help Us Imagine Suffering and the Hope of Resurrection?

In the past few months, your two podcast hosts have confronted the deaths of people close to us. Now, millions of Christians across the world just observed Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. We explore how Christ’s resurrection, and similar reflections in the fantastic stories we love, help us prepare for times of separation and suffering, and long for the eternal day when our Creator will unite all things under his reign and will finally make all things new. Central themes Scripture alone shapes our views of suffering and resurrection Behind the Word, fantastic stories can help us prepare for suffering. Behind the Word, fantastic stories can help us long for our resurrection. Scripture quotes include: “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’” —John 11:25–26 You yourself have recorded my wanderings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? —Psalm ‭56:8‬ All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. —Psalm 139:16 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. —Ecclesiastes 7:2 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. —1 Thessalonians 4:13 Fantastic fans Brenda wrote about episode 56, about strong female characters: I recently went on a deep dive into Scripture about biblical attributes of men and women. A fellow writer bases most of her understanding of gender roles and expectations on tropes. This is pretty foreign to me, so I went searching through the Word. I found five things that are consistent in how the Bible depicts women: Introspective Intuitive Compassionate Resourceful Brave None of these attributes have anything to do with meeting a beauty standard, wearing the right outfit, or conforming to the expectations of any given society. These were things I found in both “good” characters and “evil” ones in the Bible. Though what I noticed with the evil women in the Bible is that usually they emphasize one aspect and have a deficiency in another. (Jezebel, for example, uses her intuition and resourcefulness to manipulate, deceive, and destroy others at the expense of her compassion.) Next on Fantastical Truth As we regain plans following Stephen’s absence, stand by for future episodes on topics such as superhero films and possibly even the Mark of the Beast.