Regarding a previous post, A reader named Vicq Ruiz writes:
What I would like to ask you is this. Do you continually confront non-Christians, using the same phrasing and sense of urgency in this article, in your face-to-face encounters with them?
…Do you often explain to your seat mates on the panel at a con (or better yet, the audience!!) how they are living in “the degrading slime and shit of sinfulness”?
If appearing at a book signing, do you make it a point to remind those in line at the table that “a perfectly just, loving, and benevolent super being can and will inflict a eternity of torture on you, and that you deserve it”???
If you can unhesitatingly answer “yes”, then my hat’s off to you. You have truly taken the argument made in your post with the deadly seriousness it deserves.
Mr Ruiz, I am not sure I understand the point of the question. The article you just read was a reaction or response to a statement I found shocking, namely, that one could agree in part with Christ and disagree in part. If someone said that to me on a panel, or while waiting in line for a book signing, or in an audience at a con, I would most likely say something along these lines, yes.
Would I bring up the topic out of the blue? Hm… (cue flashback harp music)….
Customer: “Hello, Mr Wright! That is a nice hat you are wearing. Why did you put a spanking scene in ORPHANS OF CHAOS?”
Me: “There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.”
Customer: “I liked your portrayal of Oberon and Titania in MISTS OF EVERNESS, but I had a question about the ending. What ever happened to the changeling boy from India? Did you intend a sequel?”
Me: “By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God’s mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment.”
Waiter: “Sir? Did you want a refill on your triple espresso with extra caffeine?”
Me: “There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men’s hands cannot be strong when God rises up.”
Fire Marshall: “We will have to clear the building. Proceed in an orderly manner to the fire exits.”
Me: “The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands.”
… So was that the point of your question, sir? My answer is that I talk about Christianity about as often as James Morrow talks about Atheism, or Harlan Ellison acts like a jackass. A fair amount, but perhaps not constantly.
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