I just had a letter to the editor published in my favorite newspaper (its really a magazine, but it is cooler to call it a newspaper). Pretty neat stuff. I was pretty pumped.


I hope this is not my literary high point.

After much commentary, further clarification...

The whole theologian's writing stories thing was just and idea, a thought, a meditation, a speculation. I was advocating that you all change your lifestyles or anything. Simply giving you something to think about. Perhaps we underestimate the power of stories, how they influence us and change our affections. I want to invest story-telling with a new weightiness, that we may take great care when we tell them.

At any rate, I am rather offended to hear it called "stupid" by a certain unmentioned co-blogger.

So...it was written as a reaction to my participation in a Christmas Musical designed towards evangelical ends, which I found to be silly and uninspiring. Since it was written by the daughter of our elders, I know it wouldn't have been ordinarily staged. But it was, and of course it probably did nothing other then make a certain population of our church feel better about themselves, and also waste valuable time and money.

The interesting thing is that the previous year I had had a similar feeling about a professionally written musical that we staged. I felt like the story itself was long on certain characteristics...how much God loves everybody, how amazing it was that he came to earth, how painful his death was...and short on others...the work accomplished on the cross, the gravity and universality of sin, the helplessness of man. It was utterly inoffensive.

So the remedy, thought I, would be to have a really fine man of God with a good grip of Scripture to write a story. Otherwise, we are wasting our time with an immature understanding.

This got me thinking about secular stories, and how powerful they can be; yet they are not even designed with a pretense of making Christ known.

So there. Think about these two things...

A) Stories are extremely powerful.
B) In the hands of the world, they are marshaled towards worldly ends.

This is primarily geared towards the visual story-telling, which I believe to be inherently more powerful. And David's comments nonetheless, I am attempting to monitor and limit what I take in.

My five favorite Science Fiction books, in no particular order.......

1. A Deepness in the Sky
by Vernor Vinge

The plot is deep and complex. The charcters are rich and nuanced. The vision of the future is vast and fascinating. The villains are dark and wicked. The ending is triumphant.

2. Hyperion
by Dan Simmons

It takes you by surprise, luminously literate. Stuffed to overflowing with planets. Also...the datasphere is looking more and more realistic by the day.

3. Dune
by Frank Herbert

Reading it the second time, I realized it was a retelling of the beginnings of Islam. Funny how I missed that the first time (of course, I was in sixth grade at the time).

4. Heir to the Empire
by Timothy Zahn

I love Timothy Zahn. I love Star Wars. What else do you need? By the way, I have yet to fully comprehend the damage that Episodes I-III did to my love of Star Wars. Perhaps this is for the best.

5. The Caves of Steel
By Isaac Asimov

To fully appreciate Asimov, since his ideas and writing are really rather unimaginative, you have to view his books as a whole. This book, and the three after it are his finest works. At once mystery novels, psychological studies, and a fascinating commentary on human freedom, they far surpass anything in the Empire or Foundation books.

There is so much junk in the Science Fiction realm. Much of it is unreadable, some of it is diversionary, and a few books, rare as in any genre, are transcendent.

These are good ones. Read them!

(David is going to be mad that I left of Midshipman's Hope. Once, I wouldn't have. But by the time I got to Patriarch's Hope, the whole series had soured for me.

You guys are all crazy.

I admire my brother David, for asking for no Christmas presents, and my sister Jane, for her bright intelligence. I admire my Dad for his uncomplaining nature, and my Mom for her diligence in all she does. I admire Mark for his ability to relate to everyone. I admire Adrienne for her sense of humor, and Caroline for her un-12-year-old-like depth of wisdom.

I pray this prayer for all of you...

That out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you by his Sp iritin your inner being that Christ may dwell in you heart through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the grace to know the height and depth and length and width of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses all knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Christ's love grows deeper in us when we see our sin more clearly, and when our need becomes therefore more apparent. This is when the name of Jesus becomes sweet to us, because we cast off hope in some other salvation.

You are a nice family.

Now then, for the explanation of my previous post, which I wrote late after arriving home from performing in my church's annual Christmas Dessert Theatre.

Theology is defined as "the study of God and of God's relation to the world." So a theologian is someone who claims knowledge in this area. I am not referring to formal theologians, such as occupy the ranks of our seminaries, disputing over all manner of issues, but rather to any man, laymen or otherwise who is well-versed in the knowledge of God, both through the Scriptures and through the mixing of these Scriptures with faith in holy obedience.

"Best" is used in the normal sense.

"Stories" also, although with special emphasis on allegorical and illustrative stories.

Does my meaning then become clearer?

Why do I say this? It was just a passing thought, on the power of stories, and their use and misuse in society. All stories (meaning invented ones) contain within them a specific worldview. The events in the story correspond to this worldview.

So I think only those with a deep experience of God, knowledge of his ways, and an understanding of his character should tell stories.

The End. I don't think anything is offensive in that.

I think that....

...only our best theologians should tell stories.

I just played in a piano recital.

Why? I do not know. How did I end up taking piano lessons and playing in recitals for no reason? I don't know that either.

Especially since I am pretty rank at piano.

But it was interesting to get nervous for a music performance again. I haven't done that since high school.