The Pendragon's Hall

Every now and then a TV show comes along that makes you think. CW's "Supernatural" is just such a show. The series follows two brothers and their father who have dedicated their lives to hunting down the demon that killed their mother. As could be expected from such a premise, the show is dark and contains horrors neither for children or the faint of heart. It would be tempting for many Christians to dismiss the series as occultic and probably do another pointless boycott. The Pendragon sincerely hopes they won't--"Supernatural" has become my favorite TV show, and it's not because of gory death scenes featuring ghosts and spirits. It's because of the worldview it promotes. A curious viewer asked series producer Eric Kripke if he intended to give angels and saints the same extensive treatment he gives demons, ghosts, spirits, and the like. His response was that he wants to communicate that evil is real and tangible while angels are "more elusive." Following up this interesting statement, he suggested that God doesn't work through angels the way the devil uses demons. "God works through humans," Kripke says, "sweaty, flawed humans." The worldview promoted by this show is that evil is real but that God is equally real and using fallible human beings to fight it. The Pendragon is about to report a very rare disagreement with his mentor C.S. Lewis: focus on the supernatural is not "an equal and opposite error" on par with ignoring the supernatural altogether. TV shows that deal at all with the subject try to trivialize it. Another new show, "Reaper," tells how the rascally old devil uses a couple 21-year-olds to hunt down escaped souls and return them to Hell. There is no God, but equally there is no sense of evil. The devil is just a good ol' boy who is actually doing the human race a favor by keeping evil people in hell. There is no sense that he is trying to drag the whole human race there, he even gamely admits, "I've seen how this all plays out. God wins in the end." But the area of the supernatural is not an area for comedy. It is a serious thing, an epic battle for the souls of mankind. "Supernatural" captures the truth in a way few TV shows have ever done. Let's hope people are really listening.