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@daeus-lamb

I am WAAAY late to this conversation, and I both agree and disagree with the statement “you shouldn’t worry too much about how to write a story that glorifies God because if you’re a Christian you can’t help but express your love for the God you know.”

Here’s why:

I DISAGREE because you can’t ‘drift’  or ‘coast’ into a God glorifying anything. If you are drifting or coasting as a Christian, your life as well as your writing will contain sketchy or incorrect theology at best, and at worst will be directly opposed to the Gospel.

However, I also AGREE because a Christian author who is already living an intentionally God-glorifying life in every other area will find that their faith and beliefs filter into everything they do, including what they write.

I am probably splitting hairs and fussing with semantics, but my main disagreement here, I think, is with the implication that only truly committed Christians can write God honoring stories. There are musicians, artists, preachers, and teachers who write, sing, and teach things that are theologically and Biblically correct, but their lives are far from connected to Christ. People are drawn into true worship, learn Biblical truths, and genuinely commit their lives to Christ through the voice or pen of a person who is completely lost.

And – conversely – there are committed Christians who do and write things that are far from God honoring things. They turn people away from Christ with words and or actions that might or might not be intentional.

My point is – If you judge the work or the person simply based on whether or not the work is Biblically sound or clearly presents the gospel, you could come to the wrong conclusion.

In my humble opinion, God is much less concerned (but not at all unconcerned!) with the work being created than He is with the heart and motive of the one creating it. Now – Before you label me a complete heretic, let me remind you of what I said when I disagreed with the original post.

“I DISAGREE because you can’t ‘drift’  or ‘coast’ into a God glorifying anything.”

If you are already living a life that is intentional about glorifying God in not just your writing, but also in every other area of your life – your motive will be to bring glory to God in everything you do, which means your worldview, your beliefs, and Biblical truths will bleed into your writing, because that is the theme of your life – not just your writing. Making sure those truths are solid and accurate may take a bit more intentionality and research, but in general the premise and content will be in line with a life lived for Christ. The rewards for such motives are eternal!

Those who are not living a God fearing, God honoring life can still produce God honoring things, but they will receive no eternal reward for them. Their reward will be the money, fame, and applause they gain here, though in the end, they will be the ones to whom Jesus says, “I never knew you.”

I tried to read through most of the thread, and may have missed the entire point of the discussion…it does happen often enough. If so, please disregard my wandering off topic.