by
miss goldenrod The Spirit of the Lord spoke in and by me, and His word was upon my tongue. 2 Samuel 23:2, Amp.
For the past few weeks, I have felt what I can only describe as a heavy weight hanging from my writing. Written words have power and longevity, and I'm lately seeing the import in choosing wisely. In The
Bonesetter's Daughter, Amy Tan illustrates this point through the voice of one her wise characters:
[E]verything, even ink, [has] a purpose and a meaning. Good ink cannot be the quick kind, ready to pour out of a bottle. You can never be an artist if your work comes without effort. That is the problem with modern ink from the bottle. You do not have to think. You simply write what is swimming on the top of your brain. And the top is nothing but pond scum, dead leaves, and mosquito spawn. But when you push an inkstick along an inkstone, ... you ask yourself, What are my intentions? What is in my heart that matches my mind?Today instead of inkstones or even ballpoint pens, we have the internet and text-messaging. We aren't buying pens, paper, or typewriter ink. We don't have to grind an inkstone, sharpen a quill, or make our own parchment.
Writing is too easy for us. Likewise, so is reading; we have to be very careful at what we put into type and what we take in. Any blogger has been in at least one fight because quickly chosen words can't always convey the proper gestures, expressions, and inflections. They can be misinterpreted and people can be hurt or angered. Over mere
words.
I'm beginning to fall into the practice of asking the Holy Spirit for guidance before I write
or read. I realize that if I dare to write in Jesus' name, I need his help. John Milton, in writing
Paradise Lost, was preparing to put into words certain assumptions about Jesus. Note how he seemed to begin by requesting God's assistance:
I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventrous song, ... And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know'st; ... what in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That, to the highth of this great argument, I may assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men. Perhaps the weight I've been feeling is that of responsibility. Anytime I publish to the internet something with Jesus' name in it, I had better heed the voice of the Holy Spirit. My words are representing his Kingdom, and they're immediately available for the entire world to read.
Do you ever feel responsibility or concern for what you share in writing, especially about your faith or Jesus? How do you try to keep yourself accountable?
Comments (11)
I love that part of Milton. If I remember correctly from lit class, he was using the same format as ancient epic poetry, but instead of invoking a Muse, as was traditional, he invoked God's Spirit.
Great post! It's easy to write without thinking about the importance of what I'm really saying. Thanks for the reminder.
Thank you for a thought provoking well written post. I can be quick to "speak" as well and know exactly what you mean! When it comes to writing about my faith though, I'm especially zealous - especially when being attacked. Your last paragraph contains pretty loaded questions. I always feel great responsibility over what I write concerning God and my beliefs. I just believe that when I'm defending His Truth, His Word - my responsibility/accountability is to God. In person and on the internet, I will not apologize for my beliefs and feel that it IS my responsibility to God to stand up for what is Truth according to His Word.
i try to convey the notion of typing it out as if I talk... which isn't good writing... but more or less to make it so the air of what's written or the "tone" of what's written is light and airy... convey a personality of a coffee house conversation where debate (oh sorry, conversation because we can't debate or else ppl blog about it)... but wording it in such a way where emphatic words aren't used... too much
but i think you can only take that too far because a few issues arise... like for some people are just people who walk around w/ a stick up their rear and will read into words a little to closely and forsake the entirety of the post altogether... other people just don't have the capacity to understand the notion of the words written at hand and get mad anyways because it touches a nerve... and lastly, whoever writes something, whoever reads what's written is read by choice, not by default... you can choose to read whatever you want... and if someone is offended by it, then it is their own fault for choosing to read what's written...
you can't force someone to read what you wrote... but conversely one shouldn't be offended by what they choose to read either...
yes, when i write something that is about my faith, i send up a little prayer. i want God to help me write the right thing. :P
this is a very good post! there is something about a pen and paper. if i want to do creative writing, i usually sit down with pen and paper and write in cursive, savoring it.
This is a good post. I suppose I write and speak off the top of my head too often. I tend to surround myself with objective, and aggressive people who aren't afraid to say, "hey you're out of line" or "maybe you should clarify this". There are times I offend people through my lack of clarity or thoroughness. This is simply because I lack time or the patience to hold my writing a while before pressing the "submit" button . It's a good idea to pray and take writing seriously especially when a lot of other people are reading it.
Also this mention of writing with pen and paper...it's an art I once did well but have become rusty at. But don't we all value those hand-written letters a whole lot more than a quick email?
I don't write about my faith very much, (and I try to be very careful when I do). I feel if I'm going through a time of great difficulty trying to walk the talk, I'm not as likely to write about my faith.
yes. I feel responsible for how I represent myself. in writing and in action.
this,
I think, is one of the reasons why I am somewhat concerned with the
emergent/emerging church movement. its leaders (though they would say
they represent only themselves), well then, its most listened-to
followers seem almost too eager to question tenets of the Christian
faith publicly.
concern and discernment should be used in
studying the scriptures and that sometimes leads to questions about why
we believe what we believe, yes; and humility ought to be a factor in
our response to doctrine and learning b/c no human is going to
understand it all.
but to what extent - particularly in our
writing which is recorded for posterity - are we responsible as
Christians for presenting to the world a surety in Christ, who He is
and what He has done for us?
how public should our studies and
struggles with doctrine be - am I not a witness to the unbeliever every
time I voice (or write) what I believe or don't believe or (in the case
of the emergent/emerging movement) think I might believe?
these are concerns with which I struggle.
I always try to give myself time for considerate thought before hitting that "submit" key. I LOVE the way Xanga has given us the ability to edit for 15 mins after posting, too. I have fixed something once I was able to see what it sounded like on more than one occasion.
And boy o boy - do I pray! I am not theologian, not a Seminary Student, nor have I attended any Bible Schools. I am just a warrior on the journey, and I have been wrong LOTSA times before. Not standing for something is one thing I won't be wrong again on, though
@camdenjoneses@xanga - I like your response. Writing has so much value and meaning that I think is often lost on people today, whether writing about faith or not. I will say that I consider myself part of the emergent/emerging movement, but I still have many questions. I think for me the biggest issues I have with traditional doctrine is I don't know where the human derived stuff ends and God's starts. I guess I am a victim of having too much knowledge or something. Coming from a Catholic background we learned much about Church and Christian history. I read the Bible often but I struggle to find the doctrines in it. What is your advice? How can one know what truly comes from God and what is tradition handed down, ultimately derived from people and their experiences centuries ago?
i know that we should consider what we write when communicating in words to someone; however, in a blog e.g. xanga, i believe in free flowing writing; i.e. writing whatever is coming to your mind at the time. isn't that the point of a journal? it is suppose to capture your mood and thought at that time and the reader is suppose to be taking everything in cautiously
@anewbys@xanga - I
really doubt that I'm the best person to go to on advise. like you, I
have a lot of questions - and I think that's ok.
but
the point of questions is to, eventually, find that there ARE
definitive answers. I do so want to find that there are answers to my
questions. and I believe there are, and I believe that God will direct
me to them through the guidance of the Holy Spirit while I study the
Word of God. (which is what I believe the Bible to be).
I can
sympathize with your struggle in finding what the doctrine is, in
searching to know whether the Bible in its entirety is inerrant. like a
scoffer may point out, apart from the Bible saying it is, itself, true,
what proof do we have? The proof I have is the experience that I've had
when I've truly followed God's Word.
so I think the question
is, it's not an either/or kind of situation. we don't have to say
"EITHER the Bible should be my guide, OR the Holy Spirit should just
tell me what's right in this particular situation." I believe
that both are absolutely necessary in forming our doctrine. how
that's done - I don't know. I'm not the best scholar or whatever to
explain it.
I would recommend a book to you that I'm reading
right now - "Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be)" by
Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. they've got a website too,
www.notemergent.com (but I haven't had time to peruse it much).