Today I received a book in the mail that a writing friend sent me because she’d finished reading it and had too many books anyway, or so she said. Can one ever have too many books? She suggested I read the pages in the back after the end of the novel itself. The words, penned by Bill Bright, stirred me so that I wanted to share them with you. If you’re already familiar with them, allow them to stir you, inspire you again.

” . . . I have come to the conclusion that a good novel on biblical themes can reach many more people than most theological works. God Himself, upon coming to earth in the form of Jesus of Nazareth, chose stories as His primary mode of communication. He used fiction. We call them parables, but they are stories either way–the story of the Prodigal Son, the story of the Sower, the story of the Unjust Judge, and many other similar stories.

Fiction works in a unique way, of course. It’s more like a megaphone, trumpeting truth in grand terms to bring inspiration, than like expository teaching. Fiction uses major themes in a story to speak boldly, and I believe the truth woven throughout this novel is one for which the church is desperate.”

Bill Bright is referring to Blessed Child by Ted Dekker and himself, of course.

Before I admitted that the Lord was indeed calling me to write, He kept bringing this verse to my attention by way of that still small voice, or flipping through my bible, or a quote on the radio.
My heart overflows with a noble theme. I recite my verses for the king. My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer. Psalm 45:1.
When I finally stopped to question if he were trying to tell me something, that day I received in the mail a letter that began with, “Has God given you your verse today, confirming that He wants you to write.” Well, of course, I couldn’t argue with that.

Neither can I argue with the direction he has taken my writing. Yet there is a large community of Christians that are opposed to Science Fiction or fantasy, believing that it can’t tell the story of Christ. In Genesis 1:3 it says that he separated the light from the darkness. Since I was looking for a verse to apply to my fantasy novel, I read this with new understanding.

God divided the light from the darkness–in a spiritual sense. There is a spiritual battle being waged that we cannot see, but it is there all the same, and it can readily be displayed through the pages of a fantasy novel. Beginning in mid-May I will join another group of SFF writers in a blog tour, promoting this genre in the Christian arena.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a prayer by Bill Bright: Lord, may your light shine brightly on this world of
darkness.

Oh by the way, though the picture is not relevant to the topic, I thought it was nice!