The Impotence of Myth

I’m a Tolkien fanatic. I have mounted on my wall a replica of Sting, Bilbo’s sword (inherited by Frodo), given to me by my son on Christmas Past. I love Tolkien’s fantasy world and the many layers of history he gave it to make it seem real. I read the trilogy (quadrilogy??) while backpacking through the Rockies in my youth—and I have read it many times since. It is inspiring, and the wonderful productions of Peter King and his merry band of movie-makers have done a wonderful job of bringing the Tolkien myth to the big screen in a canonically faithful fashion. It’s almost, . . . lifelike.

But there is a clear delineation between that which was, and that which was not, and Tolkien’s work belongs to the latter. It’s myth—not history—and only those with nothing else to cling to will confuse the two.

There’s not much power in myth. There’s some, to be sure, but not much, and it is but a faint imitation of the power of reality—the power of God.

Myth wears thin in the Emergency room, or the hospital bed, or the funeral home. Myth loses its pizzazz when the family is self-destructing around you. The power of myth is powerless to mute the angry, self-condemning voices of conscience in the early hours when you desperately need sleep. It is too impotent to control the raging desires of addiction. Myth distracts, but does not deliver confidence when you’ve lost your job and the rent is due. Myth fascinates, but it cannot change the heart.

In short, the inspiration of a myth is like the fog; impressive until it meets with the heat of the day. Only truth transforms. The power of the Gospel is anchored in twin realities: the inexplicable power of the Holy Spirit, and the facts of history. It-actually-happened.

Think about it. Liberal theology has turned the Gospel to myth, because the purveyors of this deficient theology deny that the supernatural God actually invades history and performs miracles contrary to natural law. It is an assumption of rationalism. It is frankly a contradictory notion to the idea of the existence of a personal God. When your God stops invading history, He no longer exists in any real terms.

But what you really need, in that hospital room, that funeral home, in that broken family, is for God to invade history, real life, on your behalf and perform real miracles contrary to natural law. May it be unto you according to your faith.