Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Pairing Cherry Coke with Filet Mignon in Worship



Would you pair this with Cherry Coke?
“Beautiful music,” said Luther, “is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.” Polarized as we are in the church over what music qualifies as beautiful, I do wonder what Luther would have to say after he had a good listen to some of our sung worship today.  
In the last fifty years church music has undergone a radical metamorphosis. While most Christians applaud these unprecedented changes, I sometimes feel like many efforts to blend the timeless truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ with pop music modeled after the entertainment industry work about as well as pairing Cherry Coke with filet mignon
Not surprisingly, in response to the tendency of worship leaders to prefer music composed in the last fifty years, there are those who want to recover the beauty of what is often termed classical music. I have the highest regard for composers of great music like Bach and Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Mahler (and Luther); my music collection is full, among other things, with their music. I would love to see another generation of God’s people develop a renewed appreciation of the splendor and beauty of music that strikes the chord of eternity in worship (regardless of genre). But I wonder if our zeal to bring this about at times consumes our wisdom.
GAZING ON THE MUSIC
In my church experiences over the years, I have found myself jolted out of meditation on the Living God in worship by a liturgy feature that worries me. While I attempt to take the words of the silent prayer to heart—“Turn my heart to you, O Lord.”—I am deftly steered clear of that by a prominent text identifying the music being played, “Prelude in B-flat major, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847).” To be blunt, it strikes me as intrusively academic and, dare I say it, elitist, to be confronted with this information so prominently. While attempting to quiet my heart before the Lord in preparation for worship, I am diverted by details straight from the syllabus of a music appreciation course. 
Furthermore, I wonder how it strikes an unbelieving visitor. There’s already plenty of high register elements surrounding an unbeliever in Christian worship, and then we club him with this wholly unnecessary one. Whereas the music itself might have helped lift him above the ordinary and commonplace, the labeling in the bulletin creates a Berlin Wall, one that in all likelihood will appear to be a snub. “We are a sophisticated church of elite music snobs,” the labeling appears to be saying. “You’re welcome here if you become one too.”
HIGH-BROW MEDITATIONS
For believer or unbeliever, the placarding of the music and composer has shifted us from high thoughts of God to high-brow thoughts of Western art music. The prominent music labeling in the bulletin reminds me of the derailing distraction that happens in a liturgy where worshipers are pointed to a sculpture or painting of Jesus instead of to JESUS himself. So in this case, art enshrined on a pedestal inadvertently trumps the true Object of worship. 
The prominence of the music and the composer is made still more preeminent by what is sometimes left out. Oddly, in some bulletins we do not identify the author of the poetry in the hymns—Newton or Cowper, Watts or Wesley—yet we contort ourselves placarding the music and composer.  Oddly, as I prepare to sing, “Take my life and let it be / Consecrated Lord to thee,” I am confronted with the important fact that Franz Liszt who was born in 1811 and who died in 1886 wrote the music Consolation being now played by the musician (while poet Francis Havergal’s name is never mentioned).
WORDS COME FIRST
But what’s so wrong with drawing attention to the music and the composer? After all, in the opening pages of Genesis (4:21) it says that “Jubal was the father of all who play the lyre and pipe.” And we learn about the Sons of Korah and their important role as musicians and composers of music for worship. And don’t some Psalms lead off telling us the actual name of the tune, for example, “Doe of the Dawn” (22)? What’s the problem? It’s all right there in the Bible?
The problem is precisely because it isn’t all right there in the Bible, not in the way it is in some of our printed worship guides. In the Bible the music is only very rarely identified in the inspired liturgy of the Psalms. While the vast majority of the Psalms identify the poet who, under Divine Inspiration, wrote the poetry of the Psalm, very few of the 150 Psalms identify the name of the tune, and fewer still identify the musical composer. What's more, the smartest OT scholar on the planet does not have a clue what "Doe of the Dawn" sounded like; as much as me may wish they had, not a riff from an original Psalm tune has survived--but ever jot and tittle of the words of 150 Psalms has.
Why are the Psalms so frequently attributed to the poets but so seldom to the musicians? Likely it is because Christianity is all about the Word of God, revealed to us in a book filled with words, including the most glorious poetry ever penned. While “…music is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us,” and ought to have a central place in Christian worship, the Bible and Christian worship is first and last all about the words. 
The way some of our worship guides identify music and text, however, one would think it were the reverse. Music comes first, the words come after. I don’t believe this is our priority in worship, but simply looking at the order of service in some bulletins on a Sunday morning and it feels like this: “Turn my heart to the Sonata quasi una Fantasia Op 27. No. 2, O Lord, and turn me to Ludwig van Beethoven, and to his birth year in 1770 and to the year of his death in 1827, O Lord.” When we do this, our zeal to recover classical music has become the Cherry Coke of the metaphor.
THE SOLUTION
In the interest of doing everything we do in word and deed as we sing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs in the name of Jesus (Colossians 3:16-17), a Christ-centered liturgy would do well to include neither the composer’s name nor the poet’s name in the progression through the printed guide to worship.
Let’s stop thinking of our printed liturgy as a polemic on our theology of worship in which we showcase our sophisticated classical music taste. If we do choose to identify artists, we would do well to be Psalm-like in our priority, never subordinating poetry and poet to musical composition and composer. The simplest solution? Identify hymn writers and composers in footnotes at the end of the bulletin—back page, small print, after the announcements and notifications. Soli Deo gloria!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Should Christian Authors Use Strong Language in Their Books?

What are the biblical boundaries for strong language in fiction?
I received a gentle, respectful, and heartfelt rebuke from one of my readers recently regarding the "strong language" used in my books (he gave no specific examples of the strong language so I am left to speculate about what exactly he is referring to). Here was the reader's email to me. My reply to this sincere and thoughtful reader follows (with a few expansions from my original reply).

Hello Mr. Bond, 
I am a huge fan of your books, and have enjoyed reading them with my younger brother very much. While reading your books I found that some of them use strong language. I would never want my brother to repeat such words. I do not know why you decided to use strong language. I know that the way we speak is powerful, and very important to God. It is my hope that you will prayerfully consider writing without such words in future books. Once again, I am a huge fan of your books, especially your historical fiction, and am looking forward to your next book.

Dear Reader,

I appreciate your concerns and that you have taken the time to write me about strong language used in my books. I also appreciate the fact that you are obviously taking God's will and way, as revealed in his Word, seriously, that you clearly want to please him with your words, and you want your younger brother to grow up speaking and acting in a manner that honors the Lord Jesus. By way of reply, there are several important things I need to explain to you about why I use strong language and why I am forced to portray evil deeds as well. There is a parallel to be drawn between words and deeds.

Firstly, my guide to the language I use in my books comes from the language used in the Bible, some of which is very strong language. So I do in fact use words like damnation, hell, even the word bastard (the equivalent is used in our Bibles). The Holy Spirit in the inspired pages of the Word of God, has chosen to have recorded not only evil words said by blasphemers and haters of God (Goliath's blasphemy--strong language--Job's wife telling her husband to curse God and die, and that of many others), but evil deeds committed in rebellion against God and his people, even, alas, by God's people (Herod's slaughter of baby boys, the Danite's neglect of and then dismemberment of his concubine, Judah and Tamar's adultery, David's adultery and murder--and a host of other sinful deeds committed). It is not possible for us to separate words and deeds; the Bible records sinful words and records the sometimes graphic account of sinful deeds.

Secondly, there is a parallel with strong language and evil deeds that occur in my books. Strong language used by some of my bad characters, including individual words as well as hateful and unkind things said to and about others (hateful and unkind things they say but I would certainly not want my readers to say) is exactly parallel to evil deeds done by characters in my stories, sinful deeds like murder, betrayal, and theft. Though I portray these evil deeds in my books (many of them historical facts) none of these would I want your younger brother or any of my readers to do, anymore than I would want them to use the sinful language that some of the evil characters in my books use.

Thirdly, there is a clear distinction we must draw between the words and deeds of my protagonists and my antagonists. Just as I would not want my readers to emulate the behavior of sinful characters in my books, I would not want my readers to use the strong language (hateful words, lying, etc.) that some of my sinful characters use, just as they do in the real world and just as they are specifically portrayed as doing in the Bible. Just as in the Bible when sin is portrayed, whether in word or deed, it doesn't invite us to participate. The Holy Spirit portrays sinful words--strong language--and sinful deeds in such a way that we hate sin and love righteousness. That is precisely what I want to do in how I portray sinful characters' words and deeds in my books, something that a writer of historical fiction must do if he is to write with any integrity about the history. But by the end of the book, I want you and all my readers desperately to hate sin and absolutely not want to do it or say it.  


Lastly, it is important for me to note that I do not use swear words for sinful characters who might very well have taken the Lord's name in vain in real life; nevertheless, I have chosen not to have them swear in my books precisely because swearing is swearing, taking the Lord's name in vain is taking his name in vain. It is important to note, however, that the Bible does record the words of sinful characters who are specifically taking the Lord's name in vain: When Satan tempts Eve in the garden and says "Did God actually say...," he is taking the name of God in vain, yet the Bible records his actual words. When the Bible records the sign placed above Jesus' head on the cross, "The King of the Jews," and when the Jewish leaders curse Jesus and the Roman soldiers mock him as they beat him and crown him with thorns, all this is blasphemy, taking the Lord's name in vain, swearing, yet the Bible does actually record the strong language of this swearing and cursing--and the evil deeds unfolding. I'm sure you can think of many other examples of this kind of strong language used in Sacred Scripture.

www.bondbooks.net
Is there swearing in this book?


I hope this helps you understand why there is strong language in my books, and equally why there are sinful deeds depicted in them. Thank you again for your message and concerns. Please pray for me as I write. I want to be intensely biblical as I write; in both word and deed, I want to write everything I write to the glory and honor of Jesus Christ. To do so, I need and appreciate you praying regularly for me.

 
I received another respectful objection to the use of a favorite RC fashion of swearing using Jesus' mother's title given her by the RCC in my 8th-century Anglo-Saxon book HAND OF VENGEANCE. It was my corrupt monk antagonist Elaphius who used the phrase. The critic considered it to be taking the Lord's name in vain on the basis of the word "God" being in the phrase. What do you think? Is this swearing, taking God's name in vain? Do you agree or disagree?

Friday, October 10, 2014

Did Reformation really begin in Germany? VIVE LA FRANCE !

Giles & Gillian while I was writing on the Huguenots 2013
When we think of the Protestant Reformation, what is the first country that comes to mind? Almost everyone would say Germany. Who is the first person that comes to mind? Everyone would say Martin Luther. Intending no desparagement of the irrepressible Martin Luther or of Germany, is this strictly accurate? I will make the case at the Reformation Faire in my keynote address in Peoria, Illinois, October 17-18, 2014 that it's not at all accurate to say that the Reformation of the 16th century began in Germany. There was, to be sure, a wonderful and powerful work of the Spirit of God in Germany and through the ministry of Luther, but let's get this right. The Reformation began in France. Period.
Why then do we persist in crediting Germany and Luther for the Reformation? I plan to unpack this more thoroughly in my three address, but it has a great deal more to do with how difficult French names are to say for Anglos than with any solid historical evidence. And it has to do with how horrifically oppressive the French government and the papacy were in crushing the Huguenots, the enigmatic and difficult to pronounce name given to the followers of Christ and justification by faith alone in France.
Don't get me wrong here, I love Martin Luther; I just don't think it's historically accurate to think of him as the prototype Reformer. I'll unpack more reasons for this in my addresses at the Ref Faire, Peoria, but here's one: University of Paris professor Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples (there's a mouthful for any English speaker) was converted to Christ long before the great German Reformer, and was preaching the "Ineffable exchange" of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ alone for sinners in Paris more than a decade before Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. If that doesn't begin to shake our confidence in Luther as the vanguard of Reform, surely this will: The first Protestant martyr burned at the stake in Paris was in 1512, almost a decade before Luther would take his valiant stand for the gospel before Emperor Charles V in Worms.
God would raise up some of the most intrepid and gifted servants of Christ in France, including John Calvin, William Farel, Renee of Ferrara, Joanne of Navarre. and Pierre Viret. Like so many Christians in the world today, believers in France in the 16th century would be brutally hunted down and tragically slaughtered by the enemies of the cross of Christ, yet the gospel would continue to spread and flourish in nearly every corner of that once great land. May our exploration of the lives of some of these valiant saints fix our eyes more clearly and more lovingly on Jesus the author and perfecter of faith. 

Join me next Friday and Saturday at Providence Presbyterian Church Peoria if you're in the neighborhood!

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Author-Interview with fellow P&R author Brock Eastman

  1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?  
I always liked to create stories. My first big winner with readers was Zog in fifth grade, but it was short and didn’t take a lot of effort. As word counts grew on my homework, my desire to write
Meet author Brock Eastman
waned. It wasn’t until college that I sat down and wrote my first book. Then titled
Evad it was actually what is now Taken and Risk in The Quest for Truth. I’m not sure I ever ‘wanted’ to be a writer as much as God opened some awesome doors and I walked through them. 
  1. How long does it take you to write a book?  
Well I write quickly, I just sort of let the ideas flow from my brain to my fingers and then onto the screen. I like to let the story take me and let the characters come to life and lead the action and dialogue. Granted this can cause for a lot of rewriting or additional writing as I get my characters out of situations they get themselves into. But usually I can hammer an 80k word book out in a few months if I dedicate myself to it. It’s the rewrites and edits that add time. HowlSage was actually written in one month. I made a commitment to write one chapter a day, as the book itself goes day by day from October 1st to October 31st 
  1. What is your work schedule like when you're writing? 
When I can,” is the best way I can describe it. Life happens and my family is first, so I just grab the moments that I can and write then. It can make it harder to get momentum at time. 
  1. What would you say is a unique quality of your writing? 
Quick, fact paced action. I like to write to make my readers sweat. I try to write chapters that make them want to read just one more, then one more after that, until 7 hours later they’ve finished the book.  
  1. How do your books usually get published? Tell us more about the Kickstarter crowd funding approach to publishing your newest book? Why did you choose this method? What are the advantages or disadvantages? 
All three of my series originally started on the traditional publishing route, a proposal, a contract, an advance, writing, editing, printing, promoting. But one of my series, Sages of the Darkness, hit a bump along the way. The series’ publisher made a decision to stop releasing fiction, which left the Sages of Darkness series incomplete. It left my readers without the conclusion to Taylor’s story. Having worked in the product marketing department for Focus on the Family, I had firsthand knowledge of book promotion and creation from the publishing side. And the other two of my series, The Quest for Truth and a book in The Imagination Station series were published with traditional publishers, P&R, Focus on the Family, & Tyndale, which had given me a good readership. So what I really lacked was funding. I didn’t have the resources to pay for the editing or revised covers for the books. Aside from flat out asking for money or borrowing it, I had heard of KickStarter which is a crowdfunding platform. Crowdfunding is unique in the way that it allows creators to connect directly with consumers who are interested in their work and raise money to finish a project. It’s really a win-win for everyone. The creator gets the needed funding and the backers, as they are called, get cool rewards, like exclusive opportunities and the final products whatever they might be.  
I have a slew of rewards for my KickStarter. $5 will get your name in the acknowledgements for all the books, $35 gets you all three ebooks, $250 gets your name as a minor character, or $750 and I’ll dedicate one of the books to you and there are many more to choose from, dust jacketsm paperbacks, writing a book with me, etc. The exclusive opportunities motivate backers to give more and claim special unique rewards. Crowdfunding also creates a relationship between the author and the reader unlike ever before. My backers will always know they were responsible for the series Sages of Darkness being released and for that I will forever be grateful. It also allows me to self-publish which in the end gives me more control over the series and ultimately more revenue that I can sink back into more projects down the road. I’ve launched my own little imprint to handle my projects called Crimson Pulse Media. You can check out the KickStarter campaign by clicking here or you can go to KickStarter.com and search for Sages of Darkness.  
  1. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books? 
It’s all in my noggin, lots of God given imagination at work. I do read articles about space and technology that act as inspiration and when I wrote Showdown with the Shepherd the book of Samuel was the key to telling that story. 
  1. When did you write your first book and how old were you? 
Well I was officially published in 2011 (contract in 2010) at age 27. But I wrote the manuscript in 2005 when I was just 22. Taken was the title of the book released in 2011, and Evad was the title of the manuscript in 2005 which would later become Taken and Risk. It’s fun to look back and think about sitting at my desk writing that first story. I had no grand dreams of getting published, I was simply pounding out 100k words because I’d felt God inspiring me and that He had a story for me to tell. I guess it was an act of obedience and faith. 
  1. What do you like to do when you're not writing?  
Spend time with my wife and my three kids. There is nothing I like to do more than be with them. In fact sometimes it’s hard to want to go and write, because I’d rather be with them. Usually I write when everyone else is in bed so I don’t miss out on time with the family. 
  1. What does your family think of your writing? 
My girls are still really young, but they think it’s cool that daddy has written books. They love looking at the covers. We often make up stories together and Kinly my oldest loves sitting t my computer and typing her own stories, generally this consists of a stream of letters and her name, but I save each and everyone of them. My wife loves reading, though my stuff isn’t in her favorite genre. Still she’s very supportive of the work I am doing and always comes to my signings. I’m thankful to have  wife that puts up with a creative type. 
  1. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books? 
  1. How many books have you written? Which is your favorite? 
In The Quest for Truth I have written 4. 3 (Taken, Risk, Unleash) are released and 1 (Tangle) is being edited. There is 1 (Hope) left in that series to write, bringing The Quest for Truth to 5 books. Only 1 (HowlSage) of the books in Sages of Darkness has released, but if the KickStarter is successful, there will be 2 (BlizzardSage, CrimsonSage) more. I wrote 1 (Showdown with the Shepherd) book in The Imagination Station series and have self-published two short novellas; Wasted Wood and Coming Storm. 
My favorite series is The Quest for Truth. Partially because it’s my first story, but mostly because it’s futuristic and the characters are like family to me. Oliver, Tiffany, Mason, and Austin have come alive in ways I could have never expected. When I sit down and write, it’s like I am working with a team as their personalities rise to the surface and show me what direction the story should go in. The Quest for Truth is also action packed and I’ve been able to explore all sorts of ideas from my imagination. Part Indiana Jones, part Star Wars, the series has something for everyone, it even has dinosaurs! 
Sages of Darkness is up there though. I always wanted to tell the full story. It’s about spiritual warfare and how easily we take the battle between Angels and demons for granted. Every moment around us a battle rages that we can’t necessarily see. And I know that I don’t put on the full armor of God every day, yet I should because the battle doesn’t cease just because I don’t prepare. Satan wants to kill, steal, and destroy and the only way to stand strong is to arm ourselves each and every day as we serve the Lord. That said this series takes readers deeper into this world and reveals it to them. We see Taylor the main character struggle like we do, he’s just a normal guy. 
  1. Do you have any suggestions to help young writers become better writers? If so, what are they? 
Number one: JUST FINISH! I think the biggest problem I see, is kids have great ideas, but they don’t want to write the whole story. One chapter isn’t a book, ideas on paper aren’t a book, you need to write the story from beginning to end. Don’t even edit the first time; just write your whole story from start to finish When you have full story it’s easier to pull it apart and revise it into a great story. It’s like most anything you buy, version 1 is usually not as great as version 2 and 3. But version 2 and 3 wouldn’t be possible without a complete working version 1. There will be plenty of time to go back and clean it up. JUST FINISH!  
I’d add, don’t let your first critique get you down, don’t let any critique get you down. Use criticisms positive or negative to dig in and make your story better. I received some hard criticism when I first started writing; I took it to heart and stopped writing. Eventually I shook it off and continued to finished my book. And what do you know, I got published. I believe that if you tell the story God wants you too, then it’s going to find its place, its home with a publisher. If God is in it, success will follow. 
  1. Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say? 
Yes I do. I have a facebook, a twitter, a pinterest, and a website all of which receive comments and questions on a daily basis. It’s hard work keeping up sometimes, but the more engaged my readers the more exciting this journey is and the more I know my books are having impact. But this is again one of the top reasons I launched the KickStarter for Sages of Darkness. I have received so many comments, emails, and questions in regards to BlizzardSage the planned book 2 in the series. Finally after my last book signing and one reader asking for the fifth time, I decided it was time to take the plunge.  
The feedback for my books has been far and wide positive. I love reading the Amazon reviews for my books, because a lot of those readers aren’t connected with me through my author channels and it heartening to know that I am reaching more people beyond my sphere. 
  1. Why do you write books? What is your overall purpose for writing? What do you want to accomplish by doing it? 
I believe that God is using me to tell stories He wants written. It’s a form of evangelism, my mission perhaps. These stories connect with kids in ways other ministry might not and the books can get into the hands of people who may otherwise never cross the threshold of a church. Ultimately I hope God uses these stories to inspire and connect people to Him.  
  1. What do you think makes a good story? 
Characters that come to life and the reader can connect to, mixed with exciting locations and lots of action. But that’s me, I’m a guy, and I love action! Plus you need a dinosaur somewhere in the story to really make it sizzle. 
  1. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up? 
Great question, I wanted to be a paleontologist and I was the only second grader who could spell it. From the time I was a little little boy I loved dinosaurs and I wanted to spend time digging them up and putting them together. Then when Land Before Time, Dino Riders, and finally Jurassic Park came out I was obsessed. But as I grew older I decided spending lots of time in a hot desert slowly using a brush to clear dust off of bones wasn’t as appealing and I switched to something a bit more creative but yet practical; marketing. For this I am grateful, because that was God’s plan to get me to Focus on the Family, working on Adventures in Odyssey, and eventually published.