Should Christians Enjoy Fantasy?

I taught a workshop on writing fantasy last year at a conference. I opened up for questions at the end and got hit with a biggie. A woman asked if Christians should be writing or enjoying fantasy as the Bible teaches us to avoid sorcery, fortune telling and other such dark arts. She was genuine in asking as she wanted to write fantasy and but felt troubled. I find this a fascinating topic since I’ve always enjoyed fantasy and never had a doubt of whether I should or not.

I believe great truths can be told in a good story. Jesus Himself, told stories, many with fantastic elements, like a camel going through the eye of a needle (Matt. 19:24) or the vision between heaven and hell (Luke 16:19-26.)

I also think there’s a difference between using magic and wizards and sorcery to move the plot along and glorifying the practice of them. As Christian writers, we must be on guard so we don’t make the dark arts appealing to our readers. But a good fantasy includes these things. There has to be something for the hero to fight against.

So, let’s talk about this. What are your thoughts? Examples? Reasons? Let’s get some good discussion going!