Mixing Message and Story - Part 2

In response to one of my previous posts, Nathanael spoke about how Christians have a tendency to infuse our stories with our own distinct brand of political correctness and how this hinders our ability to connect with an audience.

Here's my response:

I think people of all philosophical and ideological stripes have a tendency to reduce their ideologies into over-simplistic narratives. Any evidence or anecdote that fits the narrative is embraced. Any evidence or anecdote that conflicts with, or challenges, the narrative is dismissed or explained away. Then, people bring this mindset to the movies they make or the movies they watch. And truth is discarded for a simplistic narrative, which I do think is some kind of political correctness (conservative and liberal).

Job comes to mind. At the beginning of that story, everyone has a false, over-simplistic mindset of how a life with God works. Job’s friends fear God and want to do His will, which is a good and truthful thing, but there’s a greater (and more painful) truth that they (and many of us, I suppose) have yet to realize: to trust in God means something totally different than counting on Him to keep everything okay....

You can read the full article here.