On Werewolves

I stand outside, looking up at the night sky. The moon shines down, not quite full, still waxing to its greatest girth. Appearing to be only a few inches from the great silver orb is a small light, valiantly bright yet apparently not big enough to truly compete with the earth's only natural satellite. But this tiny light, seemingly insignificant, is the greatest of the planets in our solar system: Jupiter, the King of the Planets, dwarfed by the distance between it and our own home. Around the pair is a great circle in the sky--an area of darker night carved out of the lighter sky. A long stratus cloud slowly slides across the moon and the planet, and I can't help but marvel at the beauty of this cold, silent, sphere that is too small to truly escape the gravitational field of the earth. How can it be that the great light of the evening sky illuminates us with nothing but borrowed light, stored up from the sun? How can it be that an object one fourth the size of the planet we live on has captured the imagination of generations of humans on the earth? Perhaps it is that the moon reigns over the night, as documented in Genesis 1:16. Certainly, it isn't as great as the sun, but perhaps its lack of "pretentiousness," if one can use the term in this instance, makes it all the more attractive to mankind, for it can neither burn nor blind us, as the sun does. The lesser light, the sharing of responsibility between the moon and the countless stars, the greater darkness, all these make the night a time of great beauty and quiet, a time when much of life goes to sleep, and the rest of the world comes awake. The night has always been mysterious in this respect, and perhaps this mystery has translated to the moon in the same way a habit can rub off on a family member or a close friend. But this mystery should add to the moon's beauty, not detract from it, and so the fact that this mystery is so often translated into fear is a terrible misfortune.

And so I feel that one of the greatest crimes of classic folklore is the creation of the werewolf. The idea that, on the night that the moon attains its full beauty, an otherwise normal human is transformed into a great evil, is hideous. That terror should be associated with the waxing of the moon is sorrowful to me in a very intrinsic way, because it speaks to the story of mankind. The story of the common werewolf is as follows: a kind, peaceable man is in the midst of doing great deeds when a terror strikes his community, typically wreaking property damage and near-death experiences throughout the town. Eventually the man comes to realize that he is a werewolf, the creature doing this terrible thing. He tries many methods of repression, but when the full moon rises, he transforms into the beast again and again, inflicting greater and greater destruction on his fellow man. The story ends in one of three ways; two tragic and one happy. In the first ending, the town eventually bands together and kills the werewolf, only afterward recognizing him as their friend. In the second ending, the werewolf manages to find a cure for his disease and can live in internal and external peace once more. In the final ending, the werewolf realizes that the only way for him to save his town is for him to flee, and so he retreats into exile in the wilderness, sacrificing himself for the good of his friends.

In this tale I see the story of the Christian. For who am I but the chief of sinners? I live in a constant struggle between the sinful nature passed down to me from my father Adam and the righteous self given to me through the sacrifice of God the Son. Outwardly good, I struggle to keep contained the vengeful thoughts, spiteful words, and wicked actions that spring from my sinful flesh. And all too often such filth breaks loose and I become someone I fear and despise. But there is a cure to this disease, a way to slowly tame the werewolf. It's called sanctification and is a critical component of our faith as believers. Through trials brought about by our own foolishness or the stress of our daily lives, God is slowly crafting us into His Image, purifying us and cleansing us from unrighteousness. Through prayer and daily immersion in the Word of God, we can arm ourselves to better contain the sinful nature that, sorrowfully, we must all live with.

This work of sanctification will never be finished until we die, and so we must bear the dual nature of the werewolf all the days of our lives. But God is faithful, and we no longer have to fear the world, the flesh, and the Devil, all of whom seek to destroy us. Through God's grace, there will come nights where we can gaze upon the moon without terror, knowing that, in the arms of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we have the strength to resist the nature that comes from within, not from without.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (Hebrews 12:1-3)