Fighting Evil in This World

 

 

I reread this in the last two days. 

It is about fantasy in the real world.

 

1. Evil lurks in this world.

            Both the uber-evil, and the run-of-the-mill occurrences of life that don’t seem so evil.

            Nimiane and Endor is the uber-evil.

            But just as damaging: hostility to friends – when Henrietta and Henry fall out, and later repent to each other in the kitchen, this shows the need for unity in the fight against evil.

 

2. We are exasperatingly clueless to this evil

Henrietta and Frank are great examples of this.  Both run headlong (or let others do so) into evil far more powerful than they can endure.

 

3. God has set up this world so that it helps us fight the evil in it.

This is the unique and redemptive message of the book.

            Zeke’s bat is one example.  He’s been studying baseball all his life, and it helps him take out the witch.  Just like David had been throwing rocks as a shepherd all his life, and it helps him take out Goliath – 1 Samuel 17.

            Another example is Richard.  The ounce of compassion Henry shows for Richard turns out to be Henry’s salvation/