All The World's A Stage...

I often look at the Bible from two different directions. As a writer, I find myself trying to picture the mindset of the people writing the Bible. This is much harder than you think. It suggests that I can put myself into the mind of someone who not only lived thousands of years ago, but who also spoke a different language, came from a different culture, and had an entirely different knowledge base. But, ultimately, I think its safe to say that people are people and that though cultures, languages, and time may change our perspectives, at the core we are all human beings. And so, I imagine myself as a writer living thousands of years ago trying to create a story about Moses for the masses.

We in the modern world assume we know things from History and Science. We picture Moses reaching the shores of the Red Sea, raising his staff, and mumbling magic words - and the waters part - and we say to ourselves, "Faith made this happen, because there is no historical evidence, and science says it can't be done." And that little kernel of doubt creeps in. As a writer, of course, I look at it and say, "Why did the writer write that? He must have known that nobody would believe it. Heck, they were all there. They walked with Moses. They talked with Moses. They know that the Red Sea didn't part." From a writer's point of view, it doesn't make sense. You've got blockbuster special effects but a real credibility problem. It'd be like me writing a story about George W. Bush leading the troops into Iraq and finding a huge cache of WMD's. We know that never happened. And, as a result, nobody would believe it and the story would never be repeated, passed down from generation to generation, and eventually printed. Unless... everyone agreed that that was what had happened. From a writers perspective then, we must assume that what the writer was writing was considered the truth back then and that we have no choice but to accept it today as having been truth back then.

The other perspective I have is of God - The Author. Writing is an act of creation. I create worlds, inhabit them, and compel the action to a certain extent by having characters act and react accordingly. A good piece of fiction will long outlive its creator, will take on a life of its own, and will be embraced and changed from generation to generation. The author of this piece will also be viewed differently from generation to generation. God created this world. God inhabited with all sorts of fascinating characters. God has His own story line, but for the most part, He lets the rest of the world ad-lib the story. We don't know about Jesus's best childhood friend, but we can be sure there was one. Just as we can be sure that Cain's wife was also created by God. As a writer I know that I don't have to spell out every detail for it to be assumed. To a certain extent, I give my characters free will to eat, sleep, breathe, and love one another when I'm not looking. I brought them into their world. I expect them to live in it, until I call upon them to further the story that I have in mind.

Shakespeare said it best, "All the world's a stage and we are but players in it." We are the characters in God's play. But we also are the creators of our own dramas. We have the power over these dramas and can end them in any way we are creative enough to consider. But our dramas, in the grand scheme of things, mean nothing because we are merely players. It is the Author's storyline that we must follow, and His directions that will lead us to a good and safe end.