SEEDS: I Hate Your Characters

I got a message from a reader that said this:

"I hate Cory. I hate Blaine. I hate Joni. I hate Holden. I hated all of them. Hate them and you have lost a reader."

I found this funny for a two reason:

First of all, there are four stories and seven main characters. All of the stories are about the reality of sexual sin. Sin is ugly so, yeah... if you clearly know the line between right and wrong... you weren't SUPPOSED to LIKE what they were doing. Most of the characters were behaving really badly but I wrote it for a purpose... to show the ramifications, not to glorify it. So to that comment I say, "Bravo... you have a decent moral compass. Congrats!"

Secondly and MOST IMPORTANTLY, the main moral of the story, the one I really wanted the reader to catch was this: As Christians it is our job to HATE the sin yet LOVE the sinner. Yep, it's hard... but that is what we are called to do as Christians. Choosing to HATE a particular sin to the point that you HATE the sinner is not bringing glory to God, at all. Christians (who are ALL sinners) who do this make other people (who are ALL sinners) not want to embrace Christ. Think about it!

This reader obviously missed the point entirely since she felt so much hatred for fictional character (not even real people) that she HAD to message me to let me know how displeased she was.

*SIGH*

I tried.

CONCEPTIONS: For Being Christian, It's Funny

I had a scene I was working on for "Conceptions" and I thought it was really funny. I wanted to get some opinions from some of my readers so I asked a few people to read it. One of the ladies was a non-Christian.

NC Lady: "For being a Christian book, it was funny but not laugh out loud funny.

Me: "Wait... what? 'For being Christian...' what does THAT mean?"

NC Lady: "I just mean that... Christians don't really have a good sense of humor..."

I think I would have rather her just tell me it sucked as I find this to be extremely hurtful. Christians don't have a good sense of humor? I want to thank all those pious Christians out there for ruining society's idea of who and what we are. THANKS for pretending to be perfect so we all look like a bunch of boring slugs.

I will have you know, Christians are JUST LIKE everyone else. We laugh, we cry, we fail, we curse, we yell, we fail, we try, we fall, we sin, we get back up and try again, and yes... some of us are very funny, despite being CHRISTIAN.

Most importantly... when we try and fail... we are forgiven when we ask to be. It's actually a pretty good deal. I have no complaints, especially since I'm allowed to laugh.

That is all.

SEEDS: Christians Don't Have Affairs

Here is a conversation I had with a Christian in response to my book Seeds.

Person: "You shouldn't classify your book Seeds as Christian fiction because it is obvious you wrote it for the secular world."

Me: "Why do you think that?"

Person: "Well, the book has an affair in it..."

Me: "Yes, it does."

Person: "The only people who have affairs are secular people. Christians don't have affairs."

Me:  ***Can't respond, overcome with loud laughter and a few unintentional snorts***

Okay people... this is insane! Christians don't have affairs... are you KIDDING me? Of course Christians have affairs... Christians do all sorts of things they aren't supposed to do! Does that make it right? NO! Does it make it okay? NO! It makes us imperfect... it makes us need forgiveness but guess what: God is a forgiving, loving God.

While Seeds does have an affair in it, it does not glorify this behavior. It shows it as the sin it is. I included an affair in the book because the book is ABOUT sexual sin. If it happens in the real world... expect me to write about it.

That is all.

SEEDS: How Dare You!!

Today I received a message on my Facebook author page from a person who called themself a "Good Christian". This was in response to my book Seeds.

"How dare you write a book with a homosexual character and call it Christian Fiction. Stay in secular where you belong, no real Christians want to read your work!" 

Thank you for sharing your intolerance with me... if you are a "Good Christian" then I long to be an EXCELLENT Christian. All kidding aside, Jesus gave us a new command... John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

I choose to live my life as best I can under the new command!

Blessings...
Wendy