Could use some help with evolution argument...

[The Lady Kate]

I have no wish to try to correct the thinking of creationists... OR theistic evolutionists. I am only trying to present an accurate depiction of a creationist. In fact, the dinnertime conversation between Randy and his father backfires... because his father is so caught up in the "issue" that he does not notice what the real problem is...

It would seem that for a moment, I did the same... my apologies.

that Randy is having problems with his friends. But this is shown in the scene that follows, not in the one I posted here.

Ah.

Lady Kate (and others), please trust me on this. I am 51 years old, and so I know a few things about life. I have been writing for a long time and so I know how to paint characters as real-seeming people, not chariacatures. This book is not about the evolution/creation debate, and in fact, there may be only one other scene where it is even mentioned. But I CANNOT change a character's thinking just to please certain people... the character has to be true to what is necessary to the story.

It would seem that I wasn't seeing the big picture... Certainly it is important to be accurate... but a post in this forum usually means a point to be debated.

What concerns me, however, more than anything connected to the story, is the antagonism I see between people on both sides of this issue. I've just read another thread on this board where this attitude was addressed... and the discussion very quickly degraded into more bitter argumentation which resulted in the thread being closed.

All too common, I'm afriad.

WHY???

We're all brothers and sisters in Christ. And if we disagree with each other, can't we still respect each other? Unfortunately, what I've seen in this thread is people telling me that creationists are fools, that THEY are responsible for people leaving the faith... that I MUST write my story giving consideration to theistic evolution -- whether now, or to "correct" the character's thinking later -- regardless of the actual purpose of the story.

My mistake was thnking that the debate would play a much larger part in the story then it apparantly does. Again, my apologies, I fear I've been following the Dover trial a little too closely, and chose to focus on only one thing.

That happens a lot on this particular board.

As for Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LeHaye, I don't know if it's accurate to say that they got into "hot water." Yeah, there are people who disagree, often passionately... but does that mean they shouldn't have the right to present their point of view?

Of course not! but it is a good example of why religious fiction is always a very touchy subject... because it's always personal.

Science fiction, historical fiction...these things need to have at least enough truth to make them credible. How much more so is this with religious fiction, when the background topic is that which we base our lives and souls on! And how much more so is this with fiction based on current events, in which many of your readers may be living through the very events you describe!

The problem is that by adding in the C/E debate... even as a minor issue... you've added in the worst of both worlds: religious issues and current events. It can feel like walking through a minefield.

We are ALL brothers and sisters in Christ! Let's have a little charity toward each other.

Diana

Fair enough.

 

[dianalee4jc]

Lady Kate...

I very much appreciate your comments in your last post. Thank you for being a person of grace who can set aside personal feelings to appreciate those of another.

I do realize that I may be walking into a number of "mine fields" with my writing. I feel strongly that it is a path I must take. In the end it may be inevitable that my own views will come through, but also there will be occasion that I will have to present views opposite my own in a charitable light. There are a number of current issues that will come into play in these stories, because our children are facing those issues right now, and the fiction they are reading for entertainment very often teaches them things that are not in accord with Christian values. I recently visited a large secular bookstore and browsed the teen section, and found books that I personally would not allow my daughter to read... books with titles like "French Kiss." I have found that a lot of teens are reading science fiction and fantasy... and not so coincidentally (since God's will be done), I come from that background, and I KNOW some of the problems inherent in that genre. Aside from J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (both of whom are from a former "age" of the genre), it is, in general, not very friendly to Christ. So I am trying to address a seemingly untapped market with much needed subject matter... and I will be walking through quite a lot of "mine fields" to accomplish this goal.

However, I do want to apologize for one thing. Being new to this board I am still learning how to navigate it, and it is clear now that I placed my original post on the wrong board, and inadvertently stepped into a "mine field" that I didn't know was there.

For whatever it may be worth, while I hold Creationists views, in general (although I have not devoted a lot of research in the matter, which is why I had to make this post make sure what I was writing was accurate), my husband holds theistic evolutionists views (in general... again, he hasn't researched it either). We are sympathetic to the views held by each other, even if we do not agree. So... it CAN be done!

Cheers,
Diana