Pagan Stories

The Bible does not forbid storytelling that involves characters holding to other religions or depictions of mythological beings such as the Greek Olympians.  If this was the case, God could have easily commanded the avoidance or destruction of all entertainment featuring or focusing on pagan entities, the wording addressing all media formats even if some had not yet been invented.  Something like "Do not create or promote a story with other gods" would have conveyed all of this fully.  All kinds of pagan practices, from fashioning images to represent God (Deuteronomy 4:15-20) to sacrificing children in fire (Deuteronomy 18:9-10), are condemned, but not merely telling or engaging with stories about some form of paganism.  While the extent of pagan influence on entertainment or what is considered "church" doctrine is sometimes exaggerated, there is a lot out in the open.

It is easy to encounter entertainment, for instance, that is inspired by paganism today even if it is not being promoted as a valid worldview.  Video games like those in the Hellblade franchise deal with a version of Greek or Norse mythology, with classical texts like The Iliad and Beowulf also exploring or alluding to the same general metaphysics.  Films and their source material such as Percy Jackson tell stories that are not from their respective pagan mythology, but are permeated by elements of them.  Other fiction, like the the Legend of Zelda video game series, feature spiritualistic metaphysics or religious philosophies that are pagan in the sense of reflecting non-Christian spirituality despite not being direct presentations of something like Islam or Greek mythology.

As if the days of the week are not already supposed to be named after pagan beings—for example, Thursday is "Thor's day" and Friday hints at the name of Frigga, the wife of Odin—plenty of other literature, video games, films, and television shows include aspects of overt paganism.  The nature religions in the game Horizon: Zero Dawn, like that of a tribe regarding the sun as if it is a deity that has (according to some of the Carja) demanded human sacrifice much like in the Aztec religion, are not named after specific pagan religions and yet are pagan all the same.  Parts of Lovecraft's cosmic horror stories, like the word Dagon from the short story of the same name (a Philistine deity mentioned in the Bible itself, including in 1 Samuel 5:1-3), are very blatantly references to pagan beings as well.

In addition to the likes of the laughably false idea that rock music is demonic, however, the idea that it is inherently wicked to interact with pagan media, or more specifically, even media that is explicitly or loosely based on pagan philosophy is incorrect.  This is not condemned itself, as with murder (Genesis 9:6, Exodus 20:13, 21:12-14, etc.), or by logical extension, as with voluntary nonmedical intoxication with drugs being condemned by categorical equivalence to becoming drunk (Deuteronomy 21:20).  Analyzing paganism as a rationalist and a Judeo-Christian and writing about it for nonfiction or fiction purposes is not evil on its own by Biblical standards, and the same would by necessity be true of using/viewing depictions in visual media like paintings, movies, or video games.

Moreover, the Torah only says to never reflect on or investigate paganism in order to accept its philosophies or carry out its practices rather than oppose them (Deuteronomy 12:29-31).  The "snare" mentioned in Deuteronomy 12 of inquiring about other gods and religions is only present if someone actually seeks to ideologically adhere to paganism or imitate behaviors tied to worship of other gods.  It follows that, as long as one's motive is not to glorify pagan philosophy, portraying the metaphysics thereof in works of fiction is not sinful whatsoever.  There is also the unnecessary but helpful command to not add to God's instructions in Deuteronomy 4:2 and 12:32—unnecessary in that it does or does not logically follow from what is already detailed in the wording of the Torah that a given thing is sinful, but helpful in that these verses plainly acknowledge the stupidity and sin of thinking more is immoral than what is really contrary to God's nature.