To Magic or Not to Magic

1 Corinthians 10:23-24; 32-33, “‘Everything is permissible,’ but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible,’ but not everything is edifying. No one should seek his own good but the good of others. . . . Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God- as I also try to please everyone in all I do. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, that they may be saved.”

To borrow some lyrics from a musical: just because it’s magic, doesn’t mean it’s easy. Actually, magic is never easy. And I’m not just talking about stage magic. (Although, that’s hard to perform too.) I’m talking about fiction magic. You want to open a can of worms? Ask a group of Christians whether or not magic is acceptable in entertainment. On the one hand, we do want to be God honoring. Thus, including or indulging in magic within our imaginations sounds rather anti-Biblical. Especially since God opposed it so much. However, magic feels so appropriate to fantasy and adventure genres, it feels like omitting magic carves a major hole out of its fun. Besides, invisible powers and presences is part of daily life anyway. So is there a Biblically right way to portray fantastical magic? Or is adding magic in general just plain wrong?