Polls for Christian Writers discussion
Why "Christian" Fiction Fails
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Conversion in "Christian" Fiction
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Thank you for sharing! This gives me some ideas about my own writing. :)
Raevyn wrote: "Thank you for sharing! This gives me some ideas about my own writing. :)"Glad to be of service in any way.
And nice about the "Christian" novel too. It needs to be re-defined.
R. E. Banks wrote: "Very refreshing!"Thanks. I've been kinda worried about posting these, so thank you for being encouraging.
This is why I love Sarah Sundin! Her books deal with "little" sins like pride and "little white" lies and stuff like that and wow ...
Very good points, Elsabet!!! I whole heartedly agree with the "blandness" of what is passed off as "Christian"-qualifiers in media, book, film, etc.
There should be much more "gut punch" to the tale, or else... why is it there?
Fiction should be able to grip us in a deep and meaningful way... but the trope you describe is neither, and I hardly think there's much great use for it in either those who believe or those who don't! It is unlikely to "convict" either one... and feels entirely to superficial to really challenge anything.
E. wrote: "Very good points, Elsabet!!! I whole heartedly agree with the "blandness" of what is passed off as "Christian"-qualifiers in media, book, film, etc.
There should be much more "gut punch" to th..."
Thank you!
My first reaction: "...whoa..." deep breath, moment of silence, and then..."Well, Amen, honey. You go girl! End conversation. She blew it out of the water. What more could I add?"After thinking about it a little more, not only do I absolutely love what you've said and your initiative to bring it out into the open, but I'm hungry to improve my own work. I've never written a conversion scene. I'm much more into fantasy writing. I adore C. S. Lewis and J. M. MacLeod. Not to say that it can't be done, just that I haven't done it myself. I typically prefer the more subliminal approach, but I'm working my way up. Baby steps.
But all that's beside the point. I have no experience writing these kinds of scenes, but as a reader and fellow believer, my issue with them is the instantaneous nature of them. It's not an overnight thing. It comes off as ingenuine. People are relational creatures. It takes time to develop relationships and I think a relationship has to develop before one accepts Christ into their lives. The other thing that I think is important to note is that new believers aren't going to have it all figured out. The change in their hearts takes time too. They're going to screw up-just like we do-and they're going to be blissfully ignorant a lot of the time. They have so much to learn still that writers often forget to incorporate the curiosity and the blunders. I only know what I do know of the Bible because I've read it. If you're fresh off the press, many times, you haven't read the scriptures so you only know what's commonly circulated, the "famous" stuff, if you will, and what people tell you. Yes, accepting Christ as your savior is joyful and beautiful, and meaningful, but many people forget the incredible temptation to stay the same old person, to go back to the normal routine of life and ignore the depth of the world you've just signed up for. Many writers don't give their characters time to properly develop and deepen. It takes a lifetime to refine your relationship with God and no one is going to get it on day one.
Coralie wrote: "My first reaction: "...whoa..." deep breath, moment of silence, and then..."Well, Amen, honey. You go girl! End conversation. She blew it out of the water. What more could I add?"After thinking a..."
I'm glad you liked it!
I agree with your point about new Christians not having things figured out and that Christians still make mistakes. I want to write something about that too...but I got slowed down by the holiday season. Hopefully I'll have the next post in the series up fairly soon.
Elsabet wrote: "Coralie wrote: "My first reaction: "...whoa..." deep breath, moment of silence, and then..."Well, Amen, honey. You go girl! End conversation. She blew it out of the water. What more could I add?"..."
Take your time! Thanks for sharing! And thanks for making it a conversation, specifically.
Coralie wrote: "Elsabet wrote: "Coralie wrote: "My first reaction: "...whoa..." deep breath, moment of silence, and then..."Well, Amen, honey. You go girl! End conversation. She blew it out of the water. What more..."You are very welcome.
Okay, so, talk about timing. I'm reading a Blackstock book right now and it's a murder mystery. Two women were murdered, one a devout Christian and active participant in the local church, the other...not so much. Both husbands asked the preacher to officiate the funerals. Cale is the husband of Jaime, who wasn't involved with the church, a former drug addict but sweet lady. Martha was the other woman and Nick is the preacher. Here's a phone conversation:"Still..." The silence hung like a cloud over the phone line. "Don't you think the way she died would have been hell enough? I mean, wouldn't a lovin' God--the kind you preach--have mercy on somebody who was..." His pitch rose and his voice cracked. "...murdered like that?"
Since he'd become a preacher, Nick had often wished that he didn't have to be bivocational, that he could devote all of his time to shepherding his flock. But right now, he wished the opposite--that he were just a fireman, and not a preacher at all. He was supposed to give honest truths to people who asked him spiritual questions, but this was a tough one. The man was in the depths of grief and needed comfort desperately. And Nick wasn't sure he could give him any.
"Cale, where are you? I'm on duty right now, but as soon as I get off, I'd like to come talk with you, face-to-face."
"That's it, then, huh? You do think she's in hell, but you don't want to say it over the phone."
"Cale, I can't pretend to know where Jamie's soul is."
"You know where Martha's is, don't you, Preacher?"
"I knew her better than I knew Jamie." It was a lame, weak response to a complicated question, and he wished he'd studied more, gotten deeper into Scripture this week, prayed harder this morning...
"It all boils down to the sentence, don't it, Preacher?"
"Sentence?" Nick asked. "What sentence?"
"The prayer sentence. The one where you say you accept Jesus as your Savior. I grew up in church, Preacher. I know all the rules. And you expect me to believe that if my Jamie didn't say that one sentence some time in her life, that she's burnin' in hell right this minute?"
Nick rubbed the tears from his eyes and realized that his hands were trembling. He closed his eyes and asked the Lord for an extra helping of wisdom. "Cale, the gospel has little to do with a bunch of words strung together. It's a heart's commitment, an emptying out of self, and being filled, instead, with the Holy Spirit. It'not about repeating a sentence. I don't know what condition Jamie's heart was in, and I would never pronounce her to be in hell. Besides, Cale, neither of us knows what might have happened in her heart and soul in her last moments."
"That's right," Cale said. "We don't know." He grew quiet again, then asked, "Preacher, do you think if I got my heart right, that I could pray and ask God to put her in heaven, just in case she ain't there, after all?"
"We're each responsible for our own souls, Cale," he said sadly. "The only person you can pray out of hell is yourself."
"Yeah, that's what I figured." Cale drew in a deep, shaky breath, then sniffed hard, and said, "She was a good person, Preacher. She loved me. She had a lot of friends, and loved to laugh. She was a good person."
"I know she was, Cale. I know she'll be missed."
"You don't know the half of it." Cale was sobbing now, and Nick wished they were face-to-face so that he could offer the man more than hollow words. Handling needs such as this over the telephone made Nick feel so awkward, so helpless.
"Cale, I'm so sorry all this happened." Nick's own voice cracked, and he rubbed his face. "If there's anything more I can do for you--if you need to get away, I can borrow my uncle's boat, and we can go sit out in the middle of the lake for a few hours, and think and talk..."
"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind," Cale said. "I'll get back in touch."
I love this scene because Blackstock hit the nail on the head for me. Not only did Nick realize that his comfort was shallow and his position incredibly influential at this point, but he put aside his agenda-while still sticking to what he believed to be true-to act toward his friend. I think it's incredibly telling that Nick offered to take Cale out on his boat, just as a friend. He's more concerned about Cale's hurting heart than he is about guilting him into anything. Through being there for Cale and being his friend, he (I hope; haven't finished the book yet) will bring Cale closer.This is so much more realistic and believable to me than the stereotype that Cale and Nick discussed. It's not about the sentence and in our writing, we have to show that. It's more than words. It's a change in our very being, a slow change sometimes, but a change nonetheless.
Coralie wrote: "I love this scene because Blackstock hit the nail on the head for me. Not only did Nick realize that his comfort was shallow and his position incredibly influential at this point, but he put aside ..."That's a good scene! It doesn't sidestep the important things. What book is this from?
Elsabet wrote: "Coralie wrote: "I love this scene because Blackstock hit the nail on the head for me. Not only did Nick realize that his comfort was shallow and his position incredibly influential at this point, b..."Private Justice
I just started it today, but it's one of her older books. I've been reading Blackstock's books for years. I highly recommend her!!
Coralie wrote: "Elsabet wrote: "Coralie wrote: "I love this scene because Blackstock hit the nail on the head for me. Not only did Nick realize that his comfort was shallow and his position incredibly influential ..."I will have to look into this.
Elsabet wrote: "Coralie wrote: "Elsabet wrote: "Coralie wrote: "I love this scene because Blackstock hit the nail on the head for me. Not only did Nick realize that his comfort was shallow and his position incredi..."I've always loved her Restoration novels and just recently totally fell in love with her newest book, If I Run. Mostly, she writes suspense novels, but books like Emerald Windows, Shadow in Serenity, and Covenant Child weren't murder mysteries or end of the world scenarios. Still just as excellent, though, if you ask me.
One of the biggest--if not the very biggest--problem I have with "Christian" novels is how they portray conversion.
Does this summary sound familiar: A girl in her late teens (lets call her Sarah) whose father is an alcoholic falls in love with the handsome new [doctor/sherrif/preacher]who has just moved to town, but feels that she is too plain and ordinary for him to notice her.
Something terrible happens (she falls deathy ill/gets lost/falls off of horse) and (surprise surprise) Handsome New Guy just happens to be at the right place at the right time to save her from this dreadful calamity. She stays at his home for a few days completely unchaperoned and unbeknownst to her he also falls in love with her.
One day he asks her if she knows Jesus. She says no. Handsome New Guy tells her, "Jesus is the son of God and he loves you." Sarah is shocked. Jesus can't love her! She is simply too plain and ordinary. How could he love her? After all, nobody else does!
Handsome New Guy carefully explains, "Why Sarah, God does loves you! He sent his son Jesus to set you free from your sins because he loves you so much. He loves you just the way you are. In his eyes you aren't plain or ordinary. Also, I think your kinda pretty." Sarah doesn't understand at first, but her heart is moved. There's a God who loves her! She wants to know more. "All you have to do is ask Jesus into your heart." Handsome New Guy insists. Sarah prays the prayer he tells her to pray and suddenly her heart is filled with joy.
The next day nothing is different. Over the rest of the book (in which the Handsome New Guy's old fiance is bound to turn up) she prays two or three times. She converts her drunken father and marries the Handsome New Guy.
This is the sort of conversion I have read over and over again. It's so tidy and uninspired.
What strikes me is how this conversion doesn't focus at all on conviction of sin. There is, of course, the mention of "Jesus dying for your sin" and in the initial "sinner's prayer" the character being converted is usually told to "ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins." But that is as far as it goes.
Let me speak a moment on sin. Sin is what separates us from God. Because all humans are born in sin and because each and every single one of us is inherently sinful we are eternally separated from God because sin causes death, physically and eternally (Romans 6:23 says "For the wages of sin is death"). The only thing that can atone for sin, that can in any way wash away the seriousness of sin, is the blood of the innocent. In the old testament new and perfect lambs were sacrificed, but even their blood couldn't wash away sin. Their blood was symbolic of Jesus and how he would die, it was a reminder that sin equaled death.
None of us would have been able to to pay the enourmous price of our sin. None of us is innocent. We have all sinned and we are all guilty. Only Jesus, the innocent, flawless son of God could save us by giving himself to die, giving his own blood for us, to pay for the sins we have committed. He came to us, sinners, each of us with evil in our hearts and lives and died to save us from that evil. Jesus who is one with the Father. If that doesn't tell you how serious sin is nothing will.
Jesus came to save us from sin it because it leads us to death and an eternity in hell. The bible says in Mathew 9: "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’ " it goes on to tell you to cut off your foot or put out your eye if it endangers your soul and makes you more likely to go to hell.
But these "Christian" novels just skim over the issue of sin and put the priority on the fact that "God loves you." Yes, God does, and the fact that he sent his son to die for you, his son, one of the co-creators of the universe, the beloved of the Father came to die for us, the sinful, filthy wretches that we are, that is love. But if a person don't realize the enormity of the crimes he or she has committed against God he or she cannot even begin to understand what that love is and how it affects him or her and why it is so important that God loves him or her. It is meaningless. If I went around telling people I didn't know that I loved them they would be confused and probably a little creeped out. Until a person understands the reality of sin and hell and how desperately they need a savior, that love doesn't mean anything to them.
I have never yet met a person who became a Christian because they were informed that "God loves you." I know a lot of people to whom the fact that God loves them is vastly important, but what really brought them to their knees was conviction of sin. My great grandparents became believers that way. By this time their children were grown up, but they have worked steadily to bring them to the savior. Through their efforts my dad's parents are now Christians and my dad himself is also a Christian.
I think the big thing with these storybook conversions is that they offer Jesus as comfort. And he is comfort, but he is so much more. Jesus is not our security blanket, he is our savior, and "Christian" fiction would benefit soooooooooo much if this was the message preached, instead of just, "God loves you very much."
Another thing that bothers me about storybook conversions is how little the conversion affects the person who just had his heart filled with the joy of the Lord. And this is, I think, because these "Christian" novels give the message "God loves you just the way you are. You don't need to change." People are changed if they have legitimately given their hearts to the Lord. They are radically changed. Sometimes they change so much that people they lived with and worked with don't even recognize them. They burn with a passionate fire. You never ever see this in a "Christian" novel.