In Defense of InuYasha

In Defense of InuYasha

Why a devout Christian watches a show about demons

This lesson does not come from any particular episode but the whole show, and is more of an introduction to my blog than a lesson itself.

InuYasha is a show about the half demon Inuyasha, the human Kagome, and their friends Sango the demon slayer, Miroku the monk and Shippo the fox demon. Together they go around slaying demons in pursuit of the sacred jewel shards. Their ultimate enemy is the demon Naraku. Spoiler alert, they do eventually defeat Naraku, fall in love, and get married. There is a lot of violence in the show as they are battling demons most of the time. There are also some adult themes including a little bit of nudity, and some cussing.

I have heard it said that Christians should not watch something so demonic. We should stay clear of such brainwashing; that there is no such thing as a good demon and that humans and demons cannot live together. Let me be clear: those things are all true, but let’s keep in mind this is just a TV show. It is not real, but the lessons we can learn from it are. Although these things are true, I am going to defend this show from every angle I can.

#1 God’s name in vain. Not once in this whole series have I heard any of the characters takes the Lord’s name in vain. For a long period in my life I would not watch anything that used the Lord’s name in vain whether it be GD, OMG, or JC. I agonized over what I would do if my beloved InuYasha ever did, and to my amazement, I was never in that position because they never did it. Anything that can pass this test is worth giving a chance in my book.

#2 Fighting Demons. While it is true that Inuyasha himself is a half demon, he fights his demon nature throughout the show. They are constantly slaying demons and saving humans. Every time someone makes a deal with a demon things turn out horribly for that person. This show does much more to promote the slaying of demons than it does befriending them. The concept of humans and demons not understanding each other and being from separate worlds also comes up a few times.

#3 Strong Women. InuYasha was written by a woman. I love how this show has so many strong female characters and warriors without being a “girl’s show.” They make it natural for the priestess to be the most powerful person in town. Kagome the mere mortal girl gets the credit for saving the day multiple times. Sango, the only female demon slayer, was the best from her village. The female Kagura is one of the top antagonists almost until the end. People need to watch something like this and get it through their heads how powerful women can be.

#4 Salvation. In the Inuyasha universe there is a Heaven and a Hell, and there is the idea of finding salvation and that some actions could send you to Hell. No, this is not the Biblical account of salvation. I am not pretending it is. However,ust to breach the subject of souls finding salvation is enough to get people thinking which gives us an opportunity to share the true gospel. Give people every chance you can. Let them watch and start to wonder about these heavy spiritual topics.

#5 The Lessons. This is the most important one for me because that is what this blog is! There are so many lessons to be drawn from InuYasha. So many! I have touched on a few already, but there are so many more: compassion, forgiveness, purification, discipleship; even heavier, more spiritual parallels such as being reborn, fighting the old self, and choosing life. Even Biblical parallels could be drawn comparing Inuyasha to King Solomon and to Jesus (dangerous I know) and Naraku to King David and to Satan himself (obviously).

Nothing is sacred. God can use anything to teach anyone one of His truths. Something like InuYasha that is so rich with spiritual truth should not be dismissed on account of being demonic. Of course, it is demonic; demons are real! And the spiritual realm can affect the earthly realm as we see in every episode of this show.

Stick around and enjoy all that the Lord has revealed to me through the show. I hope at least some of these lessons encourage you on your own walk.