Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash
When announcing the release of my Christian fantasy romance, Dreams and Dragon Wings, I was hit with this particular question:
I was so glad this got brought up, because it gave me the opportunity to talk about it.
Let’s go to the original Greek translation (the language in which the New Testament was originally written) to better understand this as the poster was specifically referencing Satan’s depiction as a dragon in Revelation as opposed to the Hebrew word “tannin” that is sometimes translated as “dragon” in the Old Testament (but has also been translated as leviathan, sea monster, whale, jackal, serpent, etc).
In the apocalyptic literature of the Bible (in Revelation) it does literally use the words “great red dragon” to represent Satan. It also uses horses to represent death and Hades, and a lamb to represent Christ.
But that doesn’t mean that horses or dragons are inherently bad or that lambs are inherently good.
A lamb in the field is no more Jesus Christ than a fictional dragon in a fictional book is Satan.
The important thing is that we always seek to understand what the author is representing with the symbols they use (both within the Bible and within fiction).
Though there are dragons present in Dreams and Dragon Wings, I don’t use them to represent Satan specifically as in Revelation. Instead, the heroes within D&DW wrestle with the draconic side of themselves just as we all do.
I’m very grateful to that poster for asking the hard questions.
But I think it’s important for us as Christians to not become so focused on literally translating every symbol depicted in the Bible that we lose sight of the message of the Bible as a whole which is:
To love one another (both our neighbors and our enemies). To share the good news. To care for the poor and the orphans and the widows. To be the salt and the light and to shine His goodness for all the world to see.
I hope this was helpful.
Have a blessed day,
