Whenever someone discovers I’m a writer, the next question that pops out is “What do you write?”
Sometimes I give a broad term like “Christian fiction” just to see what their reaction might be. Will they be turned off by the Christian part of my answer? Will they want to know more? If they are unfamiliar with Christian fiction, often I can see the wheels turning in their head as if they are processing that piece of information and as they figure out how to respond.
The Paradox Idea
It may be hard to believe for those of us who have come to love the genre, but there are some who think that Christian Fiction is a paradox. To their way of thinking, because the Christian faith is based upon truth, there is no such thing as Christian fiction. It doesn’t make sense to them. How can you be Christian and write something that isn’t true? Some believe that Christians should only be writing non-fiction and religious books explaining biblical concepts.
Parables are Stories
In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Jesus teaches through parables. These parables are used as scripture to teach us today. What is a parable?
The fourth edition of the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language describes a parable as: A simple story to illustrate a moral or religious lesson.
In the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, a parable is: A usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious attitude.
Therefore, Christian fiction is like a parable. The difference is it isn’t short or brief. It is a long parable in the form of a novel. The reader gets to know the characters, experiences their emotion, and throughout the novel there are moral and spiritual values and lessons based on biblical teachings in Christianity. The characters have flaws just like the rest of us, and may make bad decisions, but they learn and grow from these mistakes. It must be very much like life in order for it to be believable, possible, and for it to matter to us – to make a lasting impression.
While the characters in my Christian fiction are not real and the plot is fictitious, the biblical and spiritual lesson is one of truth. Even if the reader doesn’t realize they are learning a biblical lesson, I have faith that God is using my work to plant a seed inside that person. And God will choose when to water and harvest that seed to bring forth fruit and life to that individual.
“So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.” I Corinthians 3:7