Lewis’s mentorship and impact on my own life, and indirectly on my ministry has been profound, and I’m grateful to God for him.
C. S. Lewis’ advice to children on writing is good advice to pastors on preaching, or anybody on talking.
Evidently it was the custom of the pastors of the Northamptonshire Baptist Association in England in the late 1700s to meet periodically for prayer, fasting, and reading to each other.
I’ve been thinking again about the importance of reading and writing.
In my book In Light of Eternity I tell several stories related to my mom’s death 19 years ago, the death of my closest friend about 10 years ago, and my father’s death three years ago. There were many people who meant a great deal to me and to whom I was very close, as well as many people in my congregation while I was in pastoral ministry, who faced terminal cancer situations or whatever it might be. I found myself doing a lot of memorial services and spending a lot of time with people who were dying, and my heart and mind just sort of moved over to this arena of what really does happen on the other side of death. And when I think of my loved ones who have died and what they are currently experiencing, what should I think about heaven?
A publisher asked me last week what my distinctive mission as a writer is. I think it's to probe beneath the surface into the deep longings of people, then to open a door into the invisible spiritual realm so people can see ultimate realities (including God, angels, demons, heaven and hell) with the eyes of faith and imagination.
Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries, a nonprofit ministry devoted to promoting an eternal viewpoint and drawing attention to people in special need of advocacy and help. He is author of many nonfiction books including Prolife Answers to ProChoice Arguments; Money Possessions, and Eternity; and six novels—Deadline; Dominion; Edge of Eternity, Lord Foulgrin’s Letters, Safely Home and The Ishbane Conspiracy (written with his daughters Angela and Karina). His nonfiction book In Light of Eternity talks of the realities of eternity and what we can expect in heaven. Christianbook.com spoke with Randy about ...
I am painfully aware that the subjects I address in this article are uncomfortable and controversial.
Imagination and truth go together in good literature. Because a story is “made up” does not necessarily mean it is not true. It means it is imaginative. Fiction is basically literature about imaginary people and events (and includes mysteries, fantasy, drama, science fiction, and more). The definition of fiction is to shape, to fashion, to feign. Feigning is imagining-making visible images for invisible things. Why should I read fiction if it is just made up? I read it because it helps me pay attention to life. Reading good fiction is not simply a frivolous activity for those who aren’t ...
Some people seem to think that I began by asking myself how I could say something about Christianity to children; then fixed on the fairy tale as an instrument; then collected information about child-psychology and decided what age-group I’d write for; then drew up a list of basic Christian truths and hammered out “allegories” to embody them. This is all pure moonshine. I couldn’t write in that way at all. Everything began with images; a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion. At first there wasn’t even anything Christian about them; that element pushed itself in of its own accord. It was part of the bubbling.
©1991 - 2013 Eternal Perspective Ministries. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy
