Probably the most famous New Zealander in the world, Sir Edmund Hillary, died today. He was a major hero when I was a boy. We all heard the story of how he conquered Mount Everest in the company of his faithful Sherpa, Tenzing Norway. (It’s not generally known that Tenzing Norway was a cousin of the author Neville Shute Norway.*)
I finished Dean Koontz’ The Taking today. This one was pretty much straight horror, so I didn’t like it as much as some of his other stuff. (That’s personal taste. I find horror oppressive.)
Nevertheless, I ought to add that The Taking appears to be a somewhat different take on a topic covered more extensively (and not as well) in some recent fiction on the Christian market (I won’t mention any names). This book handled the subject far better, and without preaching. There was also a twist at the end that I liked a lot.
In slightly related news, this awful story has been reported all over the web. A man in Idaho, apparently convinced that he bore “the mark of the Beast” on his hand, cut the hand off with a circular saw and cooked it in his microwave. A literal reading of Matthew 5:30 is to blame, I suspect.
I hate it when things like this happen. Not only because it makes Christianity and the Bible look bad, but because of the tragedy of a man who (apparently) sincerely believes, but has gone far off the rails.
I don’t know the man’s spiritual history, but I have a guess. I’d bet he’s not involved in any kind of consistent Christian fellowship. I suspect he’s a loner, reading his Bible alone and interpreting it alone, relying on his personal feelings.
I know—I don’t have a right to criticize. I’m a loner myself, and getting more alienated with each passing year. But perhaps that makes what I’m saying “testimony against interest,” and more valuable.
The Bible is very clear. We aren’t meant to be Christians alone. Every Christian should study 1 Corinthians 12. Verse 27 says, “Now you [in the plural] are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” We were meant to function together as a body, doing together the things none of us can do alone, and restraining one another’s excesses.
Going it alone is like—well, it’s like being a hand that’s been cut off with a circular saw.
May the Lord have mercy.
*This is a gag. And a very tasteless one.
“Don’t go it alone”? And yet every time I ask you to come down to Texas and go trolling for big-haired waitresses with me you tell me “No!”
*Sigh*
Seriously, though, I do despise horror movie theology. It works a lot of damage in this sad old world.
Just out of curiosity, have you ever read the Dresden Files novels of Jim Butcher?
In the first place, he’s got an incredible talent for innovative and very dangerous-feeling noir-adventure writing (something the fantasy elements, humor, and pervasive allusions just makes better.) But as I continue to read the series, I find something very interesting. The protagonist may not start off as a Christian (and as far as I can tell isn’t one even in the most recent book), but this has to have the most positive (though nuanced) presentation of Christian secondary characters and their faith that I can remember.
For me, Christian themes/characters aren’t enough to make a book worthwhile–but it’s incredibly refreshing to see in a series I already loved. Particularly in a genre (urban fantasy) that tends typically rather towards despair and criticism of “narrow-minded” Christians.
(I mention the Dresden Files, btw, because in a lot of ways the protagonist reminds me of an older, slightly more cynical and world-wise version of Koonts’s Odd Thomas.)
Those sound very interesting. I’ll have to try to look for them.