Christianity in your writing

. . . . I was just using the Satan example to segue back to on-topic... ;;

Nothing gets people back on topic like Satan.

Kind of tried to get back on topic too with Buddhist/Christian contrast, but whatevs

Might be rude for me to take the lead (again), but what do you guys think about Christ figures in stories? As I usually focus on 'test of faith' kind of thing, I'll say that it's kind of weird to have a Christ figure that isn't, well Jesus. What about good vs evil? (And yes I would like to give readers opportunities to take a side, just because the main character tries to stop this guy doesn't mean he's your average bad guy)

Got any examples (in addition to Narnia)?

I tend to not like them, because few writers really understand the concept well enough to pull it off. Tolkien was one of the few who could, primarily by splitting the role among three characters to make the concept more manageable and also put a different spin on it.

I cant think of any literary examples that pulled it off well, although I can think of a few movies that did ok: Being There, and Jesus of Montreal were decent attempts.

The problem with the Messianic Archetype is that they tend to be rather shallow. For example, comparisons to Superman and Jesus tend to fall flat because the similarities between the two are rather superficial. Namely, they're heroes from another world. Even making a Heroic Sacrifice shouldn't be associated with Jesus too much.

Personally, I prefer the opposite of "visitor from another world" and emphasize Christ's humanity. Make the Messiah out to be a God Of Human Origin, a living testament to human potential. Humanity in the setting should face a very old, existential threat of some sort, especially if it's one that's self-inflicted. In the Bible, the problem is that Humans Are Bastards. However, Christ is the living incarnation of everything right about humanity and all that we can achieve. Also, having them escape death in some manner helps, too. Again, this shouldn't be arbitrary but rather something that makes sense symbolically.

Basically, to get to the root of the problem: A Messianic character can't just symbolize Jesus, but should symbolize the same things Jesus symbolizes.

Very well put. Also, Jesus is a savior figure who does more than save humans from the Big Bad or any immediate death, but intends to remove the cause of death itself. Superman can only save people from immediate threats and submits to earthly authorities, so the comparison is incomplete.

Oh boy, I just hit HUGE Reality Subtext in my fantasy story Moonflowers. A Filipino moon-goddess shows up about two days before the climax to help my mixed-Filipino protagonist survive The Wild Hunt, and when the Irish pantheon asks where she was when Persephone went to the Philippines asking for help weeks ago, she points out that 1) most Filipinos don't even know her NAME anymore, and 2) her power is greatly diminished thanks to the Spaniards forcing Catholicism onto her people, so it genuinely took her weeks to get to Ireland.

I LEGIT FORGOT ABOUT MY OWN CULTURE'S INDIGENOUS TRADITIONS.

And hilariously enough, I turned it into a Deus ex Machina because I've been putting moon imagery ERRRRRYWHERE in my story, so that's discount foreshadowing.