Gayle White, Staff Writer The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, asked Bishop T.D. Jakes: "We[journalists] have arguments about whether we're a Christian nation. ... How do you advise your congregants?"How Big God is?
Jakes: "I don't think we are a Christian nation. And I don't think we were meant to be. ... As we continue to try to politicize God, or market God, or say that America is Christian, or that God is with one (political) party, or that God is here and not there, it only further points to the fact that we don't understand how big God is — and how great God is.
This revelation spoke to me. Outside of my agreement with Jakes statement I thought this issue of what is God or limiting God is relevant to christian fiction as well.
In what ways do we limit our writing?
A while back I used to only write with African American characters, but when I thought about my life and the fact that I have white, moroccan, egyptian prayer partners, confidants,friends and cousins(married into the family,) a latino ex(Selah's father is Puerto Rican,)catholic sister-in-laws, muslim brother-in-law, dating a french speaking panamanian, and even had a filipino college roommate, who prayed to a golden buddha that set next to her constant supply of Jack Daniels in her clothes closet and who used my hair relaxer on her very straight hair... If you live in Atlanta long enough you can't just stick with people that look and beleve as you do. So I've tried to incorporate other ethnic enclaves and other religious beliefs in my stories.But i still fall short. I would love to write a story about a religious right white business man trying to find his place in a pc world and trying to find a quiet spot in his teenage infested home to decipher the secret codes and maps in the Book of Revelations that John Hagee has mapped out. I see this man feeling uncomfortable everytime he has to gas up at the pump or buy a dip cone at Dairy Queen. Then HR hires him a new administrative assistant-an angry black woman, who is one boot away from kicking her no-good evangelist husband out on his holy ear except for the fact that she has made her new bosse's plush office her temporary lodging until her husband either gets a paying job or move out. One night she finds the businessman's realms of the spirit map tucked away in his inbox and she deciphers the code. But then he fires her once he realize that she's been sleeping there. And then after she's gone he sees the decoded map. And now he needs her back. Wouldn't that be great?
I digress...
What ways do you find yourself limiting God in your writing?
Writing to see what the end's gon' be,
Dee
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