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@wordsmith

I saw your last post, and I actually wrote out a response, but never posted it because it was late at night and I had no idea whether it was actually coherent speech or nonsense. XD

As for this one, it really does clarify things.

Presuppositions laid out, I believe that once God starts a work in someone’s life, he will bring it to completion. His growth in us is something that happens over time, from one degree to another. He is healing our ability to reflect his image. To bear it in perfection. That is not something we attain in this life though, but after death. Even so I believe that it is a work that applies to us, helping us grow. I believe that we can have faith in His healing of our state. Even though we remain fallible creatures.

Yes, we sin. No, humans are not innately like Christ, in His holiness. But we have The Holy Spirit indwelling in us. This brings the assurance of our growth. And we are also told in Proverbs that those who seek wisdom will find it. So we are active in growth, but are only able because of The Lord’s grace and healing.

Where does this apply? Because in writing, we as Christians should always be seeking to learn truth, to grow in holiness, and work to do His will. And that means that in our writing we are to do our best to reflect the truth of scripture, of both special and natural revelation. It is something we are to seek. And yet, in seeking we have faith that it will be given to us.

This was my whole point in the post I never posted.

So why can we use so many different images to represent one thing? Where does this come from? If we think about God, He is consistent, unchanging in character. Morality never changes. His truth is consistent. It exists all around us.

Amen. I loved that. That is one of the things I am most grateful for as a Christian; that I have an absolute source of truth in God’s word and that God never changes. I am so deeply grateful for that, especially right now in the culture we live in.

Because God’s truth is so consistent and integrated in parallels all through creation, spiritual and physical, we can find an object in just about any part of creation, and see how it can take the place in representing another area of creation. It doesn’t replace in actuality, but can allow us to see things from a view of clarity.

That is metaphor. It is characterization. And everything we write, when we put the pieces together in a cohesive web or weave, says something. Usually many things. It has a conclusion. It, as a whole, is a metaphor. A characterization. A representation. It says something about life and truth. Not a new truth, but reflecting the truth that is there.

That’s exactly why I write fantasy. That is the power of fantasy, I’ve heard people say that fantasy is not an escape, it is a mirror in which we see the world. Fantasy has impacted me more than any other type of story, and that is why I write it.

If I’m working with someone who is uncertain that their theme is working, I’ll tell them to look at the story, look at the characters, look at the arc, look at the world. Don’t worry about your theme. That word is throwing you off. Just tell the story with these tools you’ve been given. With prose, with poetry, with periods, and commas. With strength in verse, with powerful sentences, whether flamboyant or not. And as you tell the truth in your characters, your presuppositions will come out. Your beliefs will be shown. You will grow.

This is where I know for me, I see truth, but this also is not a one-size-fits-all. Take somebody who does not have a good grasp on worldview and has grown up with a lot of misrepresentations of truth. If they are newly saved Christians, or even some Christians who have just never spent a lot of time understanding their worldview, how can they write something grounded in truth if they are not grounded in truth themselves? This is where the first part of what you wrote comes in. They need to be grounded in truth. For me, I began work with fantasy that was heavily themed and very preachy. Then I realized over a year ago that I couldn’t do that. It didn’t have power, it was just preachy. That’s when I realized that I could use metaphors to make it powerful, much more powerful. That was when I spent a huge amount of time worldbuilding, but with that worldbuilding, I made sure to weave truth into the very basic fibers of my story. I believe now it is so much more powerful. I think that I had to also spend a lot of time before that understanding my Christian worldview. I think listening to speakers who do a lot of critical worldview analysis and doing a Bible study about God were the two things that prepared me to use metaphors in the right way. I agree with you that your idea works, I totally agree, but it goes hand in hand with being grounded in truth, and I would take it a step further saying that not every Christian is going to be well equipped enough to do this. I know I wasn’t two years ago. I think our stories (especially fantasy and speculative fiction) need to be redemptive and God glorifying. I would argue this doesn’t just happen without the Lord’s help. How can we do anything for his glory without his strength? We as writers MUST rely on him, I believe that my most powerful writing is the writing that I do for him and full of truth. I can’t do this on my own. Yet do I believe that I need to turn my writing into a sermon? No way. I think of The Lord of the Rings, Narnia, The Wingfeather Saga, and The Seventh World Trilogy, how they used metaphors, but have impacted me in my faith and given me hope. I am so grateful for those authors and how much they have blessed me and helped me to understand truth.

But sometimes I feel like a hypocrite. I may look down at my own stories and see them bleak. I may not see a clear theme. It sometimes makes me wonder if all my past works have been trash, just because I didn’t end on an obvious “THIS IS CHRISTIAN” note. But then I remind myself… all of truth comes from God. All of life comes from God. And I think to myself, where is God in my story? And often it’s subtle. Often it’s not blatantly Christian. Sometimes I’m telling a story of people who may or may not be believers, but they’re doing the right thing, they’re acting in truth, they’re working under the common grace of God. Something that actually happens.

O.K. this… I love your writing, and I think the majority of what I’ve seen has been more speculative-ish. I’m actually giving a go at some writing that is more… modern? I don’t want to say superhero, more of modernish with abilities. I’ve been wondering how to make it God-glorifying in that context. I think I’ve decided that I will use something similar to what you said. Yet I do think I need a source of hope. What are our stories if they don’t have hope? That is the biggest thing in stories that I believe we need. I think if we’re writing stories set in our own world however… I think we should be a little more careful that there IS a difference than secular fiction. Martin Hospitality, I really loved the way that was written, or my best friend’s brother’s book, When Stars Go Out. That was the first dystopian (it actually didn’t seem too dystopian to me) book I’ve ever read, and it was really awesome!! I absolutely recommend it!!! Writing modern fiction is so much trickier than speculative because I still don’t want to sound preachy, but I do believe there should be a difference between my work and secular fiction. I also think it’s possible to write stories set in modern day that are allegorical or metaphoric. I just still say that whatever a Christian writer does, they should have SOME sort of difference between their writing and secular fiction.

Yes, it is true that you and I still have lots of growth to do in our writing. In our life. But much of that is personal, growth between the individual and God. It many times involves other humans (maybe always, in one form or another). It’s not something I can accomplish in you. But I can point you in the write direction (wordplay intended). I can do my best to guide you, by the grace of God. . And it won’t be through forcing a theme, but telling the truth about people, characters, worlds. To seek how to better do that. For one plants, one waters, but God causes the growth.

So then I talk to myself and ask, am I telling the truth? How can I do it better? Where is God in my characterization? In my metaphor.

So let’s not get hung up on the word theme. It’s something that comes from a story. Woven together. And once again, remember that God works through the means of natural revelation and special. Many times He inter-melds them.

I agree yes, it is so much better that the entire story is woven seamlessly with truth rather than that we write a story and post little THIS IS CHRISTIAN notes in disruptive ways through the scenes. And yes, as we grow in the Lord, I believe that he grows us in our writing as well.

And the theme of the Christian life? I dare to say it is about God’s works, His providence, His love, His truth, His disciplining us as a father. His truth and healing in us. His conquering death and slavery to sin.

And our learning, and growing. An intricate path, that only he knows, but one that he knows perfectly. To the end and beyond. He will equip us for the path, now and forevermore.

May God bless your writing, and in so your life, and the life of others.

Buddy, this is why I love your writing. That was said so beautifully. I might need to turn that into another quote, I absolutely loved that. XD Seriously, this is super encouraging, thank you for that.