I'm not afraid of sin
Response to a blog post by Natalie Vellacott: Can a Christian Author write for the secular market?
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
Actually, the question was if a Christian author should or should not use profane language and describe sex or violence. I have thought and prayed seriously about this topic in response to the blog post and have come to the following conclusions.
Being an avid reader of the Word of God one thing stood out for me right away: God has never been afraid to name things for what they are. The Bible is full of descriptions – yes, even detailed, graphic descriptions – of all sorts of violent and sexual behavior. There is nothing you will not find in the Bible: murder, rape, incest, beatings, drunkenness, fraud… the list could go on and on. What you will also find is friendship, love and sexual longing for a lover, life-long marriage full of devotion and all the wonderful things that are born under God’s loving care to those who trust in Him.
“There’s sexual longing in the Bible?” I hear you wonder. Let me quote:
“Your lips cover me with kisses; your love is better than wine. There is a fragrance about you; the sound of your name recalls it. No woman could keep from loving you. Take me with you, and we’ll run away; be my king and take me to your room. We will be happy together, drink deep, and lose ourselves in love.” No, I’ve never heard a sermon preached about that passage, either. But it is written in the Bible, Song of Songs, chapter 1, verses 2-4.
So, what I deduct from that is that sexual longing or fantasies are not a sin as such. God created sex, he placed the longing for it in our hearts and minds and that’s perfectly fine – if we abide by the rules. You might also say that drinking is not a sin as such. There are passages in the Bible where God explicitly encourages us to celebrate with strong drink. Does that mean we have to get drunk all the time? No. Of course not. We abide by the rules.
I believe the same goes for creative writing.
If I write a love story about two young people and their yearning and struggle to remain chaste until marriage, why shouldn’t I describe the wedding night when all this yearning is finally fulfilled with love and tenderness? I see nothing wrong in that.
But if I were to write about a married woman willfully deceiving her husband to be with another man and this new couple would then live happily ever after – that would be wrong, because God abhors adultery. It is my responsibility as a Christian author to make that clear.
The same goes for violence. I would never write about violence to glorify it, but I’m not afraid to describe it. And I wonder: if I wrote about a gangster or a street kid and they would only use the cleanest language, how believable would my characters be?
A storyteller must tell the story to the best of his or her abilities. If God has made me a storyteller, I will not do anything less. And to me, a story must have believable characters or the reader cannot relate to them. The people in my story must have real feelings and thoughts; they must go through real situations and then I can show the reader how they deal with these situations following biblical principles. I will achieve nothing if the story feels fake just because I cannot describe everyday occurrences for fear of making other people sin.
Let’s look at it from the reader’s point of view. I read a romance novel and the described sex scenes inspire me to grab my husband and drag him off into the bedroom. Is that a sin? My husband doesn’t think so! (Watch him run to the next book store to supply me with fresh inspiration.) If, however, I feel inspired to run off with the postman, it’s definitely a sin. But I cannot possibly hold the author responsible for that! It is my decision. And I honestly ask: what kind of a person would start taking drugs or committing acts of violence after reading about it in a novel?
For many years I have watched Christians place any number of restrictions on themselves. Some of them make sense while others seem to do more harm than good. I don’t know about your church, but in mine nobody ever talks about sex. Or about problems inside a marriage. It is almost as if sex and marital difficulties cannot possibly exist. And if it is addressed – wonder, oh wonder – it is usually with the tag “Well, we all know how it should be, don’t we?” On the other hand the Christian book market is overflowing with marital guidebooks. Why? Because people don’t know who to turn to!
Christians are afraid of sin. No matter whether it is our own sin or the thought that we might lead someone to sin – the fear of sinning immobilizes us. We are afraid of displeasing God and doing some irrevocable harm.
Well, I’m not. I have written an honest story that includes sex and abuse, violence and heartache, love and friendship, joy and redemption and I deeply trust my Lord and Savior to use it at His will. He is able to point thoughts in the right direction. He is able to meet people in the unlikeliest places.
I should know. I met him in the cinema. And it was a secular movie.
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
Actually, the question was if a Christian author should or should not use profane language and describe sex or violence. I have thought and prayed seriously about this topic in response to the blog post and have come to the following conclusions.
Being an avid reader of the Word of God one thing stood out for me right away: God has never been afraid to name things for what they are. The Bible is full of descriptions – yes, even detailed, graphic descriptions – of all sorts of violent and sexual behavior. There is nothing you will not find in the Bible: murder, rape, incest, beatings, drunkenness, fraud… the list could go on and on. What you will also find is friendship, love and sexual longing for a lover, life-long marriage full of devotion and all the wonderful things that are born under God’s loving care to those who trust in Him.
“There’s sexual longing in the Bible?” I hear you wonder. Let me quote:
“Your lips cover me with kisses; your love is better than wine. There is a fragrance about you; the sound of your name recalls it. No woman could keep from loving you. Take me with you, and we’ll run away; be my king and take me to your room. We will be happy together, drink deep, and lose ourselves in love.” No, I’ve never heard a sermon preached about that passage, either. But it is written in the Bible, Song of Songs, chapter 1, verses 2-4.
So, what I deduct from that is that sexual longing or fantasies are not a sin as such. God created sex, he placed the longing for it in our hearts and minds and that’s perfectly fine – if we abide by the rules. You might also say that drinking is not a sin as such. There are passages in the Bible where God explicitly encourages us to celebrate with strong drink. Does that mean we have to get drunk all the time? No. Of course not. We abide by the rules.
I believe the same goes for creative writing.
If I write a love story about two young people and their yearning and struggle to remain chaste until marriage, why shouldn’t I describe the wedding night when all this yearning is finally fulfilled with love and tenderness? I see nothing wrong in that.
But if I were to write about a married woman willfully deceiving her husband to be with another man and this new couple would then live happily ever after – that would be wrong, because God abhors adultery. It is my responsibility as a Christian author to make that clear.
The same goes for violence. I would never write about violence to glorify it, but I’m not afraid to describe it. And I wonder: if I wrote about a gangster or a street kid and they would only use the cleanest language, how believable would my characters be?
A storyteller must tell the story to the best of his or her abilities. If God has made me a storyteller, I will not do anything less. And to me, a story must have believable characters or the reader cannot relate to them. The people in my story must have real feelings and thoughts; they must go through real situations and then I can show the reader how they deal with these situations following biblical principles. I will achieve nothing if the story feels fake just because I cannot describe everyday occurrences for fear of making other people sin.
Let’s look at it from the reader’s point of view. I read a romance novel and the described sex scenes inspire me to grab my husband and drag him off into the bedroom. Is that a sin? My husband doesn’t think so! (Watch him run to the next book store to supply me with fresh inspiration.) If, however, I feel inspired to run off with the postman, it’s definitely a sin. But I cannot possibly hold the author responsible for that! It is my decision. And I honestly ask: what kind of a person would start taking drugs or committing acts of violence after reading about it in a novel?
For many years I have watched Christians place any number of restrictions on themselves. Some of them make sense while others seem to do more harm than good. I don’t know about your church, but in mine nobody ever talks about sex. Or about problems inside a marriage. It is almost as if sex and marital difficulties cannot possibly exist. And if it is addressed – wonder, oh wonder – it is usually with the tag “Well, we all know how it should be, don’t we?” On the other hand the Christian book market is overflowing with marital guidebooks. Why? Because people don’t know who to turn to!
Christians are afraid of sin. No matter whether it is our own sin or the thought that we might lead someone to sin – the fear of sinning immobilizes us. We are afraid of displeasing God and doing some irrevocable harm.
Well, I’m not. I have written an honest story that includes sex and abuse, violence and heartache, love and friendship, joy and redemption and I deeply trust my Lord and Savior to use it at His will. He is able to point thoughts in the right direction. He is able to meet people in the unlikeliest places.
I should know. I met him in the cinema. And it was a secular movie.
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