Inspired By the Word

INSPIRED BY THE WORD
Bringing the Word to Our Words

Using the Bible’s Truths to Strengthen Personal Creative Writing

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INSPIRED BY THE WORD

The Holy Bible, also called the Word of God, collects the writings of early servants of the faith to bring its principles and truths into a single volume to hand down through generations. Today, there are writers among Christian believers, who have talents such as those of earlier times but while today’s Christian’s may not be called on to write words with the same level of impact as the Word, they still can use words for bringing the teachings of Jesus to the world.

The question arises for some as to what defines Christian writing, in particular Christian fiction writing. Some people feel that unless they are direct mention or hints at phrases of scripture, then the work isn’t Christian writing. Others say as long as characters exhibit Christian principles or are instructing other characters in Christian ways (whether blatantly or not) then that fits the definition.

Ultimately, this definition in the end seems to fall on a very personal level, just as each Christian has a personal walk with Christ. Also, for a Christian writer, it depends on what Christ leads that Christian to write about as to what will “feel” Christian to him or her.

When scripture references do appear in writing, the key is not to make scripture or tenants of Christian faith feel forced or preachy in any work. The elements should naturally flow from and on the page. A piece of writing must first and foremost be a solid piece of writing, as non-believers are far less likely to follow the message if the story itself is not engaging and credible enough for them.

That said, we should always turn to scripture to daily enrich ourselves as Christians – which in our busy world can be hard to do and I confess is still a struggle for me. In turn this should enrich us as we approach our daily walk in life and filter down without effort to our writing.

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES TO CHALLENGE YOU:

1) Read and reflect on James 1:5-7. What attitude should we have as Christians turning to God according to James? How can this apply to writers?

2) Look at 1 John 1: 15-17. John speaks about not loving the world or anything in it. How do Christian writers struggle with needing to understand the world while not being of the world in order to be relevant? Have you struggled with a personal experience about this? Pray or journal about it.



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CREATIVE WORDS TO SPREAD THE WORD

Coordinator: Shannon Muir
email: creativewordstospreadtheword@gmail.com

BROCHURE #9
Last revised: October 2008

Brochure text by
Shannon Muir
Original Artwork on Printed Version by
Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

[The above is a modified Internet transcription of the text of a print brochure originally released by Creative The Words to Spread the Word. This transcription released by Creative Words to Spread the Word. All rights reserved.]