Timothy's Thoughts

G od, is he male or female? If you read the Bible, all references to God are in the masculine form. Some have argued that this has more to do with the male chauvinism the time when it was written than an indication of what God is. Some people have attempted to rewrite the Bible in gender-neutral form. Some have even decided that God is a woman, as the author of The Shack did. The argument of some people is that since there is only one God, it doesn’t make sense to say whether he is male or female. And they have a point, if we look at gender as merely the two parts of the reproductive puzzle. Before we decide whether God is male or female, let’s consider what it means to be male or female. Forget about the reproductive organs and the differences in appearance for a moment. Forget about the typically stronger nature of the male and the nurturing nature of the female. Let’s imagine that we have two beings that are blank slates. Essentially, they are equal in every way. Imagine that we...

M any of you have heard by now heard about the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization first indicating that they would no longer be providing Planned Parenthood with grants and then reversing their decision and offering an apology. The apparent reason for Susan G. Komen for the Cure cutting funding was that Planned Parenthood is under investigation. It should also be noted that Planned Parenthood doesn’t provide mammograms, which is a very important service in the fight against breast cancer. So, abortions or no abortions, it makes sense that Susan G. Komen for the Cure would spend their money elsewhere. So why then did they first say that Planned Parenthood would not be funded and now they are saying it is a mistake. The answer seems clear. This is an abortion issue, not a breast cancer issue. Susan G. Komen for the Cure was receiving a lot of flak about supporting the primary abortion provide Planned Parenthood . The policy that cut funding to organizations that don’t prov...

A ngels have wings. Some do anyway. We all know what they look like because we’ve seen so many pictures of angels. They always have these big wings sticking out of from their shoulders that are covered with feathers. How different that is from the image of the seraphims we see in Isaiah 6:2. They have six wings. Two are to cover their face. Two are to cover their feet. Two are for flying. Perhaps all could be used for flying, if they weren’t in the presence of God. What I really find interesting is that the word used for this six winged creature is also used for a venomous serpent. It is sometimes translated as dragon. How very different that seems than a beautiful woman with dove’s wings strapped to her back. I suspect that these creatures look more like a flying reptile than they do the images of angels we see. But some angels have the appearance of men. I don’t know that these have the ability to fly. Why would they need to climb Jacob’s ladder if they could fly? I suspect they ...

W hat is Christian Fiction ? There is a genre called Christian Fiction and it has several sub-genres, including romance, historical, women’s fiction, speculative fiction, etc. so it seems like it would be easy to define what is and is not Christian Fiction . Some people (including Christians) avoid Christian Fiction because of certain beliefs they have about the books in the genre, but Christian Fiction isn’t easy to define. But I can understand the reluctance of some people because most of what I see in Christian Fiction these days are either women’s fiction (including romance) or super dark stories about the end of the world. This is very different from the Christian Fiction of yesteryear that included such classic novels as The Pilgrim’s Progress , The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , Not My Will , and In His Steps . In part, the change may be because traditional Christian publishers and authors were more interested in the message than the money. Modern publishers of Christia...

“ G ood protagonists come from morally neutral places and move toward relatable goals, not agendas. That is why the best stories appeal to large groups of people across many beliefs, faiths and moral codes.” I saw the statement above in the comments of a blog. It’s quite the statement. I’m having a hard enough time figuring out what it means and a harder time figuring out if I agree. I think I don’t. First, I’m not sure what is meant by “morally neutral”. I suppose that means the protagonist doesn’t know what he believes. Morals are essentially the collective beliefs of society concerning what is right and wrong. On any moral issue, there are extremes on either side and almost no one who is neutral, but the statement above implies that our protagonist should be one of those people. Next, the comment mentions “relatable goals, not agendas”. I don’t see any reason why a protagonist can’t have an agenda. For that matter, I don’t see why an author can’t have an agenda. Where it becomes...

H undreds of times I’ve heard authors say, “I’ve got a good book, but I can’t get an agent to read it.” Or someone will say, “I know my book is better than a lot of the books in the stores, but no one wants it.” My first thought is that the author doesn’t have as good of a book as he thinks he does. I’ve read a few of these books and I know that’s the case, but let’s suppose that it isn’t. Let’s suppose that it is your book. You’ve seen sub-quality books too, but your book isn’t one of them. Still, agents and publishers aren’t interested. Why? As much as we would like to think that we can improve the quality of our writing to the point that people will be interested in our book, that isn’t the case. Once your writing reaches the point that it is “good enough” there isn’t much that improving your writing skill will do for you. There are thousands of authors just like you and me; their writing is good enough for publication. So what’s missing and why is it that authors with less writin...

I ’ve heard of people downloading free books and then leaving low star reviews because they were angry because they turned out to be Christian books. But I’ve also heard that similar things have happened to books in other genres after readers found out they were not what they were expecting. One idea is that books should be clearly labeled as Christian. I’m not sure that would help, since most Christian books are already labeled as Christian. It seems to me that readers are grabbing up free books as quickly as they can get them and they don’t bother to look at what they are until they already have them on their Kindle. I wonder if maybe the solution isn’t in adding even more labeling but in providing a better means for people to voice their frustration. The only reason we authors find it upsetting when they leave low star reviews is because it makes our book look bad when it is really just a case where someone didn’t like the subject. I’m not sure how many people pay attention to the...