Targeted for pre-teen and teen readers, these books have twists and turns that make the reader think. The books do not have Christian themes but reinforce Christian values. These books are great openers for group discussions in a youth group setting.
A brief explanation of the Biblical application for these stories.
Who has not gazed at the stars and wondered at the vastness of space, or seen a tiny insect, perfect in every detail, and smiled at the exquisite design and beauty of such a living marvel? All creation witnesses in this way to the living God our Creator. God speaks to us through what He has made, but He uses His creation to point towards Him. Creation itself is not God, it is merely an indicator and evidential display, something tangible and real for us to examine.
In the same way, literature can also speak to us. As the Bible says, in Titus 1:15 "To the pure all things are pure: but to them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." What this means is that, to the pure mind, even bad secular things can provide good things, even pagan things can be sifted through, and the good in them recognised. It was for this reason that Paul on Mars hill (Acts 17) quoted from three pagan poets as he began his defence of the gospel.
For many Christians the only literature they find acceptable is thick with overt references to God or the Bible, but to many other Christians, those who read with a careful eye, the image of God can be found in any book. As the saying goes, there are many roads to Christ, but only one road to God. By saying this I do not ever recommend that Christians read every book! Many books can defile the conscience and ought to be avoided. But ‘Literature’ can sometimes be a road to Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. God may use a book to bring a person to Christ, and then leave it with the Son to take the sinner the rest of the way. And God can sometimes speak to us through secular literature.
In my experience, and in the life-experience of most if not all people, God speaks to us through many different mediums. Sometimes it is through pain, at other times through beauty. God can use anything to teach us something true. Mountains remind us of God’s majesty – though a mountain by itself is nothing but rocks and dirt. A storm can tell us something of God’s power – though a storm is just wind and rain. Anything can become a signpost for God, if He chooses to speak to us through it.
I am not here claiming devine inspiration (!) but to the best of my ability, all of my short stories, and novels were inspired initially by something I read in the Bible, or by a Christian concept, ethic or principle. The idea was then embedded into a story, but the story itself appears to be secular. This I call ‘smuggling’, and it is deliberate. Its purpose is to deliberately carry a Biblical teaching into the heart of an unsaved person. It is not an original idea – many Christian authors have used the same design over the centuries.
I could go through many secular stories which God has used to speak to me. For example, the Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner – which shows the futility of conforming to Manmade rules without some higher meaning to life, or the Gormenghast trilogy – which shows the transience of life, the redundancy of tradition, and the weakness of human nature in the face of flattery – among many other things. Book after book could be mentioned, each with its own message – all subject to reasonable interpretation of course.
One other example is the book "The Pearl Fishers', which is entirely secular but carries several powerful themes. In the very simply-worded story there is a husband and wife and baby all living in poor conditions. The husband tries to defend his child from the bite of a poisonous creature. In an act of anger and self-sacrifice he shows how much he loves his child. Then, amazingly, the husband discovers a wondrous pearl. He takes it to the city to sell to buy many good things. The man he sells it to is greedy and full of avarice. The positive moral side of the story stands out in stark relief - the love of the father for his child, and his desire to bring home blessings to his family, against the cunning, indifferent pearl-buyer, who wants to increase his bank balance and girth through exploitation. The reader loves and admires the poor fisherman, and hates the greedy city man. Will justice be done, will the fisherman escape with his life, what values has he learned from his visit to the city? It is a gripping story, and with a little tweaking it can easily be turned into a sermon.
The same could be said of every single character in the Bible. They are just men and woman who did and said things, but the Bible presents their lives as examples from which we can draw lessons.
I recall several times at a Christian school I went to for 3 years,
how teachers would read secular material to the class and then add the Christian world view. This helped me understand the different views, and it lifted the secular story up as a vehicle for teaching me more about Christ. We are all like fish, swimming in the water of God’s presence. We cannot breath or move without finding Him there. Even the secular world, including all its literature, is soaked through and through with God.
In the story 'The Suck', I ask many questions of the reader. For example, what would you do if you had the chance to live through yesterday again? (and) Did the bully, who was prepared to drown one of the boys, deserve the same treatment on himself? Was his fate fair or foul justice? The story challenges the reader to make a moral decision. It opens up a debate about ethics.
Without openly stating it, I've tried to present many Biblical views in my stories. I have used secular vehicles – time travel, chalk dust ghosts, the supernatural – but these are just devices, in the same way C.S.Lewis uses a talking lion and many creatures from classical mythology to present the story of redemption. I hope and pray that no reader is offended, or misled by my use of symbols and secular motifs. These are just the window dressing, the outward shapes, the decorations, to hide the inner story, which I hope will be a bridge or a signpost pointing towards my Lord and Saviour. In the right hands it can be used that way, and that was ever my intention.
I also hope these stories will be used as ‘talking points’ or the focus of discussions, just as Paul used pagan poets to set the stage for the gospel, I have written these stories to set the stage for the gospel – but some people are a long way down the road and need a little help. Maybe my stories will be useful in that area?
Richard Gunther
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