| | The Most Reluctant Convert (on truth in fiction) My past few journal entries have been fiction because of several reasons.  One: life is a story, not a list of ambitions or facts. There have been times when I wondered why the entire Bible wasn't written like the book of Proverbs: Do this, it's good. Don't do that, it's bad. But what is the majority of the Bible? A story, of course. This has implications for many things, but I'll name one - Sunday morning sermons. What are most sermons? They're like the book of Proverbs rather than, say, Chronicles, Job, Nahum, or Matthew. That is to say, they're mostly: Do this, it's good. Don't do that, it's bad. NT Wright says that most people want to wake  up with a general at the foot of their bed saying, "Go do this." The problem is that there's somebody at the foot of their bed saying, "Once upon a time."
Another reason my journal entries have been fiction is because it's easier to remember a story than a list of goals or random thoughts. A third reason is that fiction is subversive. A good novel doesn't say, "Here is the moral of the story"; the story should speak for itself. A fourth reason my journal entries have been fiction is that it causes me to use my imagination more; it stretches my brain and my creative juices, and being creative is a God-like thing to do, and I tend to look up to him. I am a convert. The most reluctant convert, in fact. Mat Kearney: you know you broke the hardest part
you know you broke the hardest heart
I was Saul of Tarsus, persecuting anybody who followed "the way." I was adamant in my beliefs: fiction is not real. Faketion, I would call it. We must live in the real world, not in made-up stories. Why read Harry Potter when you could spend that time reading the Bible? When I worked at the Tennis Club last year a woman named Gretchen came in often to play doubles with some other ladies. She studied literature in college, so I enjoyed talking to her about books. Of course back then I was still very non-fiction oriented so her comment irked me. I said something about fiction not being real and she replied in these words, which have stuck to my brain like a sweaty back to a plastic chair: "Fiction is more true than non-fiction." I don't think I responded verbally to her, but I know my face spoke my mind: "That's insane." A year later here I am, the most reluctant convert. It's been a long process. Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come, and I know I must continue to work out my own salvation with Faulkner and Rowling, but here I am, a convert. Fiction, I now believe, is real. |
