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@taylorclogston Well, I do think the Bible tells us why to live in addition to how to live, but I am fine with open-ended questions. For instance, I’m considering someday writing a Christ-era biblical novel or maybe a musical which asks the question “who is Jesus?” without answering it. Of course, I think the events of the gospels naturally support the truth, but I won’t be explicit about it. My goal would be simply to help people realize that deciding who Jesus was is the most important question they could ever ask. I think if I can get people to study this question for themselves, I’ve done a lot.

However, I’m sure you know that sometimes no answer is an answer. I think I personally made this mistake. At least, I think it could have been taken that way. I feel like, unless reader understood a somewhat mysterious and poetic paragraph I wrote, they could have come away with the idea that I was saying the meaning of life is a mystery but just keep trying anyway because that’s just what heroes do. Now, that wasn’t what I was trying to say, but through ignorance and some degree of spiritual apathy, I believe that particular story turned out thematically weak.

As for Christian stories being set apart, I’ve always thought that what sets them apart is the worldview that leaks through. Cleanliness and respect can be part of that, imo, but I don’t think every Christian story needs to be “clean”. The Christian novels that don’t appeal to me are the ones that could have easily been written by a moral atheist. If a story could have easily been written by a moral atheist, does it really glorify God? Maybe a little just because nature itself points to God, but I don’t see how it could glorify Him very much.

@theinconceivable1 Sure. This may be helpful. Also, (and this is once again stealing an Andrew Murray quote I can’t find) I doubt it would surprise you to find in a love letter the words: “I think of you always”. The words do not mean the writer only thinks of their fiancé and nothing else, but that they cannot get their fiancé out of their mind. They are always consciously aware of the one they love, bring other thoughts into the captivity of that thought, and of course consciously thinking about their lover too. I think this is a good analogy of abiding.

@hope-ann Yes, I’d have to agree.