Why write?
My wife asked the question on her blog, The Chosen Child, “What is a blog?” I recently read the following article, “Why Write?”, in the delightful book, A Cup of Comfort for Writers, and thought that it answered the question nicely.
Why Write?
Some questions do not lend themselves to easy answers. “Why do you love him or her?” “How can you tolerate that?” “What are you doing in there?” and “Have you been drinking?” are examples of queries that make us stop and stare, our mouths hanging open. My favorite responses to these types of personal probes are, “Because!” “Nothing!” and “No!” This proves that the training of my adolescence was not a complete waste of time.
Recently, a close friend asked me why I write. Because he, too, is a writer, I assumed the question was rhetorical. After a few seconds of silence I realized he was serious and expected me to cough up an answer. Quickly reaching into my memory bank and rushing through the file marked “No-Fault Responses,” I blurted out, “Because!”
He was not impressed.
Why write? If “Because!” is not a suitable answer (which it obviously isn’t), then why? Having learned the danger of answering for anyone but myself, I will attempt here to give a reasonably coherent explanation of why I put myself through the scary, frustrating, exhilarating ordeal of regularly eviscerating myself on paper for all the world to see.
This is my cue to begin with the tale of my unhappy childhood, the demons that drove me and frenzied my escape into Fantasyland. Not only is that shamefully convenient, it is untrue. Yes, my childhood was unhappy. Yes, I escaped into Fantasyland. However, I could just as easily have become a serial killer, a prostitute, a child-beater, or a politician. God, in His infinite mercy, spared me, and I instead became a writer. I do not write because of my warped past; I write in spite of it. It gives me grist for the mill, but it is never anything more than grist. My passion, alone, keeps the wheel turning.
Young girls often fall in love with horses and festoon the tops of dressers and desks with the miniature likenesses of golden palominos, black stallions, or spotted appaloosas. I loved words with the same dreamy, irrational passion. The surface of every piece of furniture I owned was crowded with books and notebooks filled with my own scrawled creations.
I told stories to my sisters and wrote poetry for my grandparents. My mother would ask me to read my latest adventure to her while she soaked in a hot tub at the end of a day that had been too long. I’d sit cross-legged on the bathroom floor, my notebook in my lap, and read. Every now and again, I’d glance up at my mother, her naked shoulders resting against the back of the tub, her eyes closed. Sometimes she looked dead, and I would stop, hold my breath, and wait. Then, her sleepy voice breaking the silence, she’d say, “‘The fairies made a boat of old pine needs.’ Go on.”
My mother was my first critic. However, as we all know, mothers make lousy critics. If I’d read Dostoevsky to her for forty minutes, she would have proclaimed it “Wonderful!” and “Exciting!” Anyone who has ever read Dostoevsky needs no further explanation.
I write because I need to write. I write because I am at the bottom of a deep well and I am trying to tell you something. I am trying to make you hear me, to be heard. I am trying to get your attention, because there is this flame inside me and I am trying to tell you about it. I want you to know the fire I feel and the hunger that eats at me.
I write because I am standing at an intersection in my life and in your life and, while you hurry past, I am recording the world around both of us. I am taking note of everything, and I want to hold it up to you, mirror-like, so you can see what I see.
I write because there are screaming things in my head, and they will not be still unless I am a witness for them, unless I tap the microphone at the top of the world, lean forward, and say, “The intensity of all that you feel cuts right through me; I feel it too. Being human is a glorious, hideous business! You are more magnificent than you ever hoped and more horrible than you ever feared!”
I write because, if I don’t I will explode. I will start banging my head against the floor and, when the night comes, I will do a Goya and paint monsters on my walls, I write because the words pack themselves so tightly inside my head—with all their energy, dread, joy, hope, and abject misery—that if I cannot get them out, they will consume me.
I write because I have something to say … about me, about you, about being alive. I write because I am a writer. I was born that way. I was also born with brown eyes. What is one to do? You play the hand you are dealt. When I think of a painter, I see someone watching the colors and shades of the world and putting them to canvas. When I think of a musician, I see someone listening hard to the rhythm of the human heart and wrapping it in melody. When I think of a writer, I see someone on his hands and knees, leaning over the spilled blood of his soul, pooling in the dirt like the blood of Abel, and hearing his lifeblood, his lifework, cry out to God, “Here is my story! Here is my truth! Someone bear witness of me!”
I write because I love to write.
Why write? Because.
Camille Moffatt, A Cup of Comfort for Writers: Inspirational stories that celebrate the literary life, edited by Collen Sell, pp. 27-31, Adams Media, Avon, Mass.
What to do when a Mormon comes to your door
One of my first forays into the world of blogging was through the outstanding apologetics ministry of James White and Alpha & Omega Ministries. In May 2005 Dr. White recommended a new blog that was being set up by one of John MacArthur’s associate pastors, Phil Johnson, who had just launched the phenomenal Pyromaniac blog.
This blog, which later became the team blog, Pyromaniacs, has become my absolute favorite blog.
That’s a long introduction to a fantastic post at that blog about preaching the good news. Check it out and if you haven’t seen Pyromaniacs before, be prepared to bookmark it. It is the best blog I’ve ever been to.
Evangelical Idolatry
We are so prone to worshiping idols. Even in the Church, we are prone to this ancient sin against God. I have heard many preachers reference the obvious idols in our culture—cars, sports teams or athletic heroes, even our family—but I think the most common form of idol worship in the evangelical community is the worship of a god of our own making.
Jesus told the woman at the well that there was coming a day when those who worshiped God would worship “in spirit and in truth.” Our worship of God must hold in view the God of truth. In other words, we must know who God is and worship Him. We cannot grope about in the dark, inventing a god in our own image.
The French Enlightenment writer Voltaire once said, “God made man in his image and likeness, and ever since man has been returning the favor.” We love to “create” a god that suits our desires and our whims.
The most obvious presentation of this in evangelical circles is the over-emphasis of God’s love to the overshadowing of God’s other attributes—including justice, wrath, and holiness. We sing songs about how much God loves us (“Above All Else”) and we regularly tell folks around us “God loves you.” And this is true. But what is missing from the equation is the fact that God is holy and he demands payment for our sins. We must repent or we will be condemned. These are not concepts that sit well in today’s self-absorbed culture.
In his book Now That’s a Good Question, R.C. Sproul answers the question: What is the average Christian’s understanding of God? I think his comments should be taken to heart by all of us who call ourselves “God worshipers.”
I don’t know what the majority view of God is in the Christian world. I can only guess from the small universe in which I live and the exposure that I have to various groups of people.
I certainly encounter a view of God that is widespread in the Christian community whereby God is somewhat reduced in scope from the biblical portrait that we have of him. He is seen as a sort of celestial grandfather who is benevolent in every respect and whose chief characteristic—and sometimes only attribute—is the attribute of love. We know that the Bible certainly puts an emphasis on the love of God and even goes so far as to say that God is love.
But I think we are in grave danger of stripping God of the fullness of his character as it is revealed in Scripture. This becomes a not-so-subtle form of idolatry. For example, if we obscure the holiness of God, or the sovereignty of God, or the wrath of God, or the justice of God, and sort of pick and choose those attributes of God that we like and then deny those that frighten us or make us uncomfortable, we’ve exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and we are worshiping a god who is in fact an idol. It may be a sophisticated idol—it’s not one made of wood or stone or brass—but, nevertheless, the concept of God we worship must be a concept that agrees with the God who is.
I’ve been on a crusade for years to focus attention on the doctrine of God—the character of God. Three of my books deal with the doctrine of God the Father: The Holiness of God, Chosen by God (which focuses on God’s sovereignty), and the latest one, The Character of God (which deals with the attributes of God). I wrote them intentionally as a trilogy to emphasize the character of God the Father because I think we are in grave danger of his being overlooked or distorted in the contemporary Christian world.
We have some idea of who Jesus is, and the charismatic renewal has brought much more attention to the Holy Spirit in recent years. But we almost systematically ignore God the Father. You also find that many Christians ignore the Old Testament. The whole history of the Old Testament is the revelation chiefly of God the Father. Everything we read of God the Son and God the Holy Spirit—so amplified in the New Testament—presupposes the knowledge of God the Father that is given to us in the Old Testament. I think it’s a priority for the Christian community to develop a higher understanding of the character of God.
Peace amidst slander
Wise words from Charles Haddon Spurgeon:
I have often admired Martin Luther, and wondered at his composure. When all men spoke so ill of him, what did he say? Turn to that Psalm—”God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble; therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” In a far inferior manner, I have been called to stand up in the position of Martin Luther, and have been made the butt of slander, a mark for laughter and scorn; but it has not broken my spirit yet, nor will it, while I am enabled to enjoy that quiescent state of—”So he giveth his beloved sleep.” But thus far I beg to inform all those who choose to slander or speak ill of me, that they are very welcome to do so till they are tired of it. My motto is cedo nulli—I yield to none. I have not courted any man’s love; I asked no man to attend my ministry; I preach what I like, and when I like, and as I like. Oh! happy state—to be bold, though downcast and distressed—to go and bend my knee and tell my Father all, and then to come down from my chamber, and say—
“If on my face, for thy dear name,
Shame and reproach shall be;
I’ll hail reproach, and welcome shame,
For thou’lt remember me.”
C.H. Spurgeon
From the Sunday evening service, March 4, 1855
Sam Shamoun Debates Nadir Ahmed
If you have the time to watch a full debate on internet video stream, check this out. Very interesting.
The great hope for our nation
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| Barack Obama | 940 | 38% |
| Jonathan Edwards | 744 | 30% |
| Hilary Clinton | 737 | 29% |
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| Mike Huckaby | 39,814 | 34% |
| Mitt Romney | 29,405 | 25% |
| Fred Thompson | 15,521 | 13% |
The votes in Iowa have been cast. The polling data gave way to the actual vote counts. Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Mike Huckaby are the big winners—REALLY big winners. After the tight polling data in the past few weeks, the political pundits were all calling a very tight race for both the Democrat and Republican nomination races. It did not turn out that way. There were decisive victories on both sides. Obama took 38% of the votes to the second- and third-place runners: Edwards with 30% and Clinton with 29%. After polling relatively close to Mitt Romney for the past few weeks with a few ups and downs on both sides, Huckaby won decisively with 34% of the votes to Romney’s second-place finish with 25%. Fred Thompson came in third with a mere 13%.
I’m pleased with the process. It can be frustrating and annoying at times—especially when the seemingly never-ending political ads begin to hit the television and radio stations. But it’s good to see that our country decides these things in an orderly fashion with few, if any, hiccups and without civil unrest.
I am a part of what has been called “the Religious Right.” And I have accepted that moniker in the past proclaiming that it’s true, “I am religious … and I’m right.” But when the dust all settles and the news agencies report how strong the Religious Right is in the American political scene, we Christians must realize that politics is not the great hope of the people in our nation. Political figures are not the great hope for our future. The great hope for the people of our nation and of all the world is the news that Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, died to pay the penalty of our rebellion against God.
Christians should be involved in the political process, even to the campaign and political activism levels. But we must not allow ourselves to place our content, comfort, and hope on the instability of the American political process. We must place our hope, our comfort and our joy in the immovable Rock, Jesus Christ.
It’s not conservative or liberal, however they’re defined.
It’s not about interpretation or the judgments of the mind
It’s the opposite of politics, power or prestige
It’s about the risen Savior, and whether we believe
It’s still the cross; it’s still the blood of Calvary
That cleanses sin and sets the captives free
It’s still the name, the name of Jesus
That has the pow’r to save the lost
It’s still the cross
Happy New Year!
How wonderful it is to have friends! Two years ago we moved from the Northern Virginia/Washington, D.C. suburbs to semi-rural Lynchburg, Virginia. We left the familiar faces and familiar places to go 200 miles away to make new friends and discover new places. God has blessed us through this process and has brought wonderful people into our lives. We love living in Lynchburg. But we still miss our Northern Virginia friends.
Around Christmas, we received a phone call from some friends there in Northern Virginia. They invited us to a New Year’s celebration. It was so great to see them again after almost a year for one of the couples, almost two years for another couple, and more than two years for the rest of the people who came to the party.
We don’t deserve the blessings God gives to us. And many of us think of things like the beauty of nature, health, and our spouses. But the dear friends that God brings into our lives who love us, mentor us, motivate us, and rejoice and cry with us are one of the amazing graces of our wonderful God.
This year I’m going to work on being a good friend. In spite of my deficiencies in that area, God has blessed me beyond belief with wonderful friends.
Oh, yeah … Happy New Year!
The ghost of Christmas past
Many of us feel a bit of letdown after Christmas has ended. The month-long excitement of the season ends suddenly with almost no decrescendo. The anticipation begins to build around Thanksgiving and increases steadily and seemingly exponentially with each day until Christmas Day arrives. The surrounding events (visits with family and friends, Christmas pageants, special church services, Christmas caroling, etc.) increase as the big day approaches.
But then the day is over. The presents have been unwrapped. The wrappings and bows have been thrown away or stored for next year’s use. And although the tree remains in the living room and the lights still shine on the houses for a few more days, they seem to be simply a leftover and to not have any true reason for being there.
As with everything else, our son’s version of the “Post-Christmas Blues” is extreme. It displays itself with a severity that is almost impossible to describe. And I tend to react to this each year rather than remembering that it happens each year and being prepared for it. Can this annual post-Christmas emotional meltdown provide an opportunity for teaching?
Jon Bloom of Desiring God Ministries provides some solid insight into this question with his post, “Hopeful Post-Christmas Melancholy.”
Peace On Earth
Hush, All Ye Sounds of War
Hush, all ye sounds of war,
Ye nations all be still,
A voice of heav’nly joy
Steals over vale and hill,
O hear the angels sing
The captive world’s release,
This day is born in Bethlehem
The Prince of Peace
No more divided be,
Ye families of men,
Old enmity forget,
Old friendship knit again,
In the new year of God
Let brothers’ love increase,
This day is born in Behtlehem
The Prince of Peace
William H. Draper, 1855–1933
Mike Huckabee for president
I am getting excited about the political campaign of Governor Mike Huckabee. I met Gov. Huckabee about a decade ago through my involvements in pro-life activism and was very impressed with him at the time. But I have been cautious regarding his current campaign for nomination by the Republican Party.
The more I watch him in this campaign season, the more excited I get. Today I read an article from almost a decade ago that reports a speech he gave to a group of evangelical ministers in Salt Lake City. The quotes in this article reveal Gov. Huckabee to be right on the money about some very serious issues facing the United States today. Read the article. I hope it excites you as much as it excites me.
Go Mike Huckabee!
Theological depth in a Christmas carol
James White has begun a series of blog posts based on the Christmas carol “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.” Read the first post in the series
Another Auld Lang Syne
Just for a moment I was back at school,
And felt that old familiar pain
And as I turned to make my way back home,
The snow turned into rain
Dan Fogelberg
Defense against slander
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
I have always thought that 1 Peter 3:16-17 referred to non-believers speaking evil of believers. As I read this today, I realized that I may have been narrowing the field of slanderers more than the text calls for.
The context of this Scripture passage seems to indicate those of faith, not non-believers. In verse 8 we are given the directive to “be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing….” This is quite clearly speaking of the household of faith, in spite of the fact that it mentions evil against a brother and reviling against a brother.
I have at times been the recipient of such evil, reviling, and slander. And I have been the originator of such things as well. This scripture tells us how we are to handle such things when we are the victim: “be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.”
It is hard to not seek revenge against those who have slandered and misrepresented you. It is hard to maintain a humble and meek spirit when brothers in Christ commit evil against you. It is even harder to to bless them during these times—but that is exactly what we are commanded to do (v. 9).
By His grace - For His glory 