I'm not sure there's really a difference between the two words, "author" and "writer", but they seem to convey something I've been thinking lately. I want to be an author; I'm not sure I want to be a writer.
That is, there are a certain number of works I want to write and finish, but there are other kinds of projects I want to do (such as building computer games). I'm not sure writing is my dream day job; I'm not sure I want to "live by the pen".
I do seem to have endless ideas for stories, though, at least more than I can write. :) And I want time to write them, so it -would- be nice to make enough money from writing to spend more time at it.
Maybe I just want to be a writer for a while, and not the rest of my life, but if I keep getting more stories I want to write than I have time to write, maybe it will happen that way anyhow. :)
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Evangelism
Evangelism is something I've been thinking about lately, and then discussions on the subject popped up on a blog I follow, The Pen and Parchment, which didn't dampen my enthusiasm. :)
The word "evangelism", aside from being hard to type this morning, has a relative connotation, in the sense that it's often applied to the hawking of any belief system. I discovered that's not what the word literally means, however. It's a Greek compound word, from "eu", meaning good, and "angelos", meaning angel, or messenger.
So, an evangelist is a good messenger, and evangelism is a good message, or good information. Of course, anyone might think their beliefs are good, but goodness isn't relative to people, but to God. I don't want to get into a discussion on whose God is real, or whether there's one at all; it's enough to say that perpetual motion and God are the same thing. That is, God is Incorruptible, and everything else wears out. Perpetual motion versus entropy is good versus evil, and redemption from the power of entropy is the good news the human race needs. (My upcoming non-fiction book, The Quest of the Incorruptible, is all about this topic.)
Anyhow, I realized that an evangelistic story is simply a story that has good information in it, regardless of how it's labeled. That is, the book doesn't need to include an altar call, or explicitly state Christian core beliefs, or even say it's Christian. If it has something of the mystery and wonder of Incorruption in it, it's evangelistic. George MacDonald's The Golden Key is an excellent example.
So, while I've tried to avoid what would be called evangelizing in my fiction, the whole point of my writing all along has been to express good information through stories (however well I've achieved that). Despite my best efforts, I'm evidently doing some evangelizing. :)
The word "evangelism", aside from being hard to type this morning, has a relative connotation, in the sense that it's often applied to the hawking of any belief system. I discovered that's not what the word literally means, however. It's a Greek compound word, from "eu", meaning good, and "angelos", meaning angel, or messenger.
So, an evangelist is a good messenger, and evangelism is a good message, or good information. Of course, anyone might think their beliefs are good, but goodness isn't relative to people, but to God. I don't want to get into a discussion on whose God is real, or whether there's one at all; it's enough to say that perpetual motion and God are the same thing. That is, God is Incorruptible, and everything else wears out. Perpetual motion versus entropy is good versus evil, and redemption from the power of entropy is the good news the human race needs. (My upcoming non-fiction book, The Quest of the Incorruptible, is all about this topic.)
Anyhow, I realized that an evangelistic story is simply a story that has good information in it, regardless of how it's labeled. That is, the book doesn't need to include an altar call, or explicitly state Christian core beliefs, or even say it's Christian. If it has something of the mystery and wonder of Incorruption in it, it's evangelistic. George MacDonald's The Golden Key is an excellent example.
So, while I've tried to avoid what would be called evangelizing in my fiction, the whole point of my writing all along has been to express good information through stories (however well I've achieved that). Despite my best efforts, I'm evidently doing some evangelizing. :)
Sunday, July 8, 2012
The Foundation: Jesus Christ
My dad has released his latest book: The Foundation: Jesus Christ (What Every Christian Should Know), both as a Kindle ebook and as a paperback. This is volume two in his Friends of the Living God series.
How do we begin to build eternal gold, silver, and precious stones upon the foundation of Jesus Christ? In the book of Hebrews we find the instructions:
That list of the foundational principles of the doctrine of Christ is what is known as the milk of the Word, and every Christian should understand those principles. If they are built on the foundation of Jesus Christ in our hearts, we may go on unto perfection.
The Foundation: Jesus Christ explores each principle in order, clearly presenting the milk of the Word.
Volume one in the Friends of the Living God series, Great Signs and Wonders: What is Wrong with Christianity?, is also available, by the way, as an ebook and a paperback.
"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble..." (I Cor. 3:11-12)
How do we begin to build eternal gold, silver, and precious stones upon the foundation of Jesus Christ? In the book of Hebrews we find the instructions:
"Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." (Heb. 6:1-2)
That list of the foundational principles of the doctrine of Christ is what is known as the milk of the Word, and every Christian should understand those principles. If they are built on the foundation of Jesus Christ in our hearts, we may go on unto perfection.
The Foundation: Jesus Christ explores each principle in order, clearly presenting the milk of the Word.
Volume one in the Friends of the Living God series, Great Signs and Wonders: What is Wrong with Christianity?, is also available, by the way, as an ebook and a paperback.
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