Into the Fire

Passionate thoughts about the world of writing and the Power of God

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Passionate: right or wrong. Writes love stories with a passion. Raw Romantic Redemptive

Just tired of it!

You know what? I’m just really tired of hearing about Jesus “hanging out with sinners”. Did He have any choice?! It goes back to establishing degrees of sin. He hung out with the human race. Sinners. All of us—equal in the fact that we are all with sin, and He is/was/always will be without sin.

Interesting, too, that when those who whine about faith fiction not being “realistic”, or “edgy”, or apparently “profane” enough to reach the world, they site Jesus hanging out with sinners as the reference point. Do you really think Jesus was knocking back drinks with them, cussing and using his Father’s name to condemn people, making snide jokes about Mary Magdalene’s profession or the size of her breasts?

The Pharisees came to hate Him because He lived what He spoke, clarifying for them their undeniable sinfulness, and pointing them to God through Himself and what He was about to offer up as a sacrifice for their reconciliation with the Father. He was perfect. They were not. Like them, we will never be. Nor has or will any other human being ever be. A Pharisee was no better, no worse, in the sin category. Equally in need of His saving grace. Since they professed to know the Scriptures, it must have been especially disappointing for the Lord to watch them cling to the law as if it offered their salvation, as if they could actually keep it. Perhaps that was the reason he was the harshest with them. When those who lead in ministry fall because they fail to take the warnings seriously, we hold them up to special account because we know that “those who teach will be judged more strictly”. But why should we be any more surprised by their failures than we should be at our own?

The world will not embrace us for how well we fit in with them. “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” (James 4:4) “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8). “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you His Holy Spirit.” (I Thessalonians 4:7-8) “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’” (I Corinthians 15:33) “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.” (Ephesians 5:6-7)

Write the real stuff, but don’t write like the world writes. You don’t have to—you can write better. You can be creative enough, compassionate enough, realistic enough to portray this life in all its folly or joy, lustfulness or purity, banality or beauty, travesty or triumph without imitating how the world writes it. And done well, it will accomplish exactly what it’s supposed to do. It will bring glory to the One who gave you the talent in the first place.

Father, help me to write your words, your pictures, your portrayals. Expand your gift in me, teach me your ways, calm me to listen to your instruction and trust in your plans. Help me not to lean on my own understanding. Make me better, Lord, in every possible way, I pray and ask in the Name of Jesus, Amen.

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3 responses to “Just tired of it!”

  1. Heather Goodman Avatar
    Heather Goodman

    For me, it’s not writing like the world, it’s writing in the world. We are just like the world, we’ve just set up our own little station. For me, it’s not putting in curse words just so that I can be “relevant” or “edgy.” Anytime someone writes in order to be something anything less than true to the story, to the character, and to our God (not necessarily in that order), it’s wrong. But, sometimes, in being true, yucky stuff comes out (like almost the entire Bible). Or sometimes it’s about re-evaluating our classifications of sin. Like – is it wrong to drink any alcohol or to be drunk or addicted? Is it wrong to curse in itself or is it the temper or attitude we display (which means that it would include substitute words and those looks and thoughts)?
    Life isn’t always pretty, but God brings beauty as He establishes His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven bit by bit.

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  2. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    Good points, Heather, and I’m fairly sure I know what you mean.
    However, with writing, a person has so many options to be true to character and story. Life can be downright ugly since people are involved, but you can write them and their situations realistically without giving an account of the explicit acts of fornication or naming the specific cuss words, expletives, etc. I would probably cite Ephesians 4:29; Eph. 5:3-4.
    The scriptures are very specific about our conduct, certainly not so we can lord it over anyone else, but instead so we can be more like our Lord.
    Angry or as an everyday adjective, is there really any logical justification for using the f-word? (Believe me, I used to use it.) Yet we can allude to it in our writing if it fits the character, and we don’t have to make it any less effective.
    I used to drink before I was saved. When I met the Lord, I asked Him about it, and He pointed out the alcoholism in a lot of our friends and associates and told me not to be a stumbling block. And I always remember Pistol Pete Marovich’s testimony (pro basketball player, alcoholic, then born again), who said he became addicted from his very first taste of beer. No one takes a drink and intends to become addicted to either alcohol or drugs. What is the intent of the heart in pursuing anything with potential dangers to us? Those are the questions each one of us has to ask ourselves and ultimately the Lord.
    “Our own little station” is an act of obedience, of being set apart by the Blood of the Lamb, not so we can be prideful for our lofty position but so we can give it the eternal significance it has to a hurting and depraved world. If not us, who? We were there. We should know.

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  3. Mark Goodyear Avatar
    Mark Goodyear

    Nicole, I haven’t posted a response here because I have so many conflicted thoughts.
    On the one hand, I agree completely that Christians must demonstrate a higher level of integrity.
    On the other hand, I agree with Mick Silva that too much of Christian lit is saccharine and sugary sweet.
    I like Phil. 4. Whatever is true, whatever is noble… A lot of people use this to talk about keeping ourselves pure. But Paul starts the list with whatever is true.
    And we all know the truth is often ugly.
    Here are some thoughts from one of my favorite books called And It Was Good. These quotes come from the chapter on depicting evil in Christian art. The last one is especially interesting in light of the name you have given your blog. Please, don’t take this post as any kind of indictment against you. I’m just interested in the discussion. (Drop me a comment on my blog to let me know if you address this here, so I’ll know.)
    “C.S. Lewis once said that the Christian writer should have blood in his veins, not ink. What he meant was that if an artist sets out to make a Christian statement in an art object, the chances are it will not be art, but a contrived pronouncement. Rather, the believer, like anyone else, should first be passionate about his chosen medium, work in it, and let any ‘message’ emerge almost as a by-product. If one is a writer, then let him be captivated by words. If a painter, let him be fascinated by colors and shapes. Living in the real world, being human, knowing about life and people, believing in truth, and wrestling honestly with the troubles and sufferings that inevitably come along, these are the best ways to prepare to create.” (27)
    “Artists often fall into one of two extremes. For simplicity’s sake, we could call them optimism and pessimism. The optimist arrives at a happy ending, so to speak, without honestly passing through the valley of the shadow of death… The pessimist is realistic about evil but has little or no hope. The element of redemption is the missing dimension… In contrast, the biblical worldview is neither optimistic nor pessimistic. It begins with God’s Creation as good (‘very good,’ according to Genesis 1:31), because God the creator is good. But then it confesses there has been the introduction of evil into the world by the treasonable revolt of mankind. The Fall, then, brought both sin and misery, evil committed and affliction received. This is a crucial distinction…” (28)
    “This biblical worldview tells us to look evil in the eye. It is real, though not some substance or thing. Because of the great fault there will be oppression, struggle, doubt, tension, so that with the Psalmist we often may ask the questions, ‘Why, O Lord?’ or ‘How long, O Lord’? But unlike pessimism, it proclaims genuine hope because Christ has inaugurated a great reversal of the fault, centered in the Ressurrection.” (29)
    Blaise Pascal said, “Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because he shows us both God and our own wretchedness.” (45)
    Both Brahms and “negro spirituals” are “looking squarely at death, yet seeing it as a release from the burdens and injustices of this life, hope in the mercy of God, a quiet confidence in the world to come.” They even share “the soulful way of singing about [these themes].” (46)
    A Call for Candor
    “Perhaps because there is so much confusion and hostility in the surrounding culture followers of Christ have been tempted either to retreat into tribal safety, or worse, to lash-out in a winner-takes-all fundamentalist assault on the enemy. The reason for this is simple. We don’t quite dare walk between the flames trusting that God can guide us and deliver us. We refuse to admit of tension and ambiguity. Because of that we can’t honestly ask with the Psalmist, ‘Why, O Lord?’ Our artistic production is not surprisingly one-dimensional. Being real in art is only possible when we can be real with God. Brahms was. The slaves in the antebellum South were… They are among the many in ‘misery’ to whom the light has been given. And so they have asked, ‘Why?’ When we have recovered their candor we may be able to say it in our artworks.” (47)

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