Table Of Contents
Introduction
Hey readers,
Nothing to really add here.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram,
Thanks. Enjoy reading.
Literary Quote
“There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature.”
― P.G. Wodehouse
Original quote found here on Goodreads
Book Deal
Writing Prompt
Write a story where God shows up to save the day.
Email us your response, or share it with us on one of our social media profiles.
The best responses will be featured in a future post.
Literary Meme
Book Giveaway
We are having a book giveaway of a boxed set of The Iliad and The Odyssey for the month of March.
Join our site, follow us and comment on one of our pages to enter to win this book.
Social Media Shout-out
Janice Chapman had this to say on our Facebook page about our article about the pope.
I’d be interested in what he has to say.
Thanks Janice. We would be interested in what he has to say too. We hope you enjoy the blog.
Comment on one of our social media pages if you want to get a future shout-out.
Actual Pen
Writer's Birthday
All of these writers were born on March 26th.
Edward Bellamy was born in 1850
Élémir Bourges was born in 1852
Richard Church was born 1893
Mahadevi Varma was born in 1907
Information found on Born Glorious
This Day In Literature History
Literary-related events that happened on March 26th.
1940 - "The Fifth Column", a play by Ernest Hemingway and adapted by Benjamin Glazer premieres in NYC courtesy of the Theater Guild.
1967 - Pope Paul VI publishes encyclical Populorum progressio.
Events found on On This Day
Literature Fact
There are only four words in the English language which end in ‘dous’: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
Fact found on Fun Facts About
New Book Release
Literature Trivia
The answer to yesterday's question was hyperbole.
Today's question - How many plays did Shakespeare write?
Come back tomorrow for the answer.
Do Stories Prove The Existence Of God? - Op-Ed Piece
This piece is definitely one of those posts where I can already tell I am on thin ice with some readers. Like why the hell am I even writing about this topic. This blog wrote of political stuff awhile back, but that was only because of the election. What’s my purpose for this piece that I know will rub some of you the wrong way. Can’t I just write about something less controversial, like characters or literary classics on TV? That would be more fun. That would be better for us all. And here I go, writing another piece about God. You’re welcome.
Every story seems to be the same if told long enough. The hero saves the day from the bad guy. Then (if the story is really popular and making money), the hero has more adventures and bad guys to kill. Not all of these other bad guys are as tough as the original, though, and we are more or less following the hero because we enjoy him more than any real threat he has to face. Eventually, the hero will come across another powerful bad guy, someone as strong as the first one. Then the hero beats that bad guy. And then what happens? The same thing again. The bad guy arrives who is stronger than the other guy who claimed to the strongest and gets his butt kicked by the hero, who is much more different than when we initially met him, and the pattern continues until the hero is faced with such a large threat that the original villain seems like child-play now, and the audience doesn’t know why there was much drama behind it at all. And everyone, the characters in the universe where the hero is going around heroing it up, and the audience who is enjoying his successes and sometimes failures are left wondering just how big can the bad guy get. When will the ultimate bad guy show up? When will evil itself arrive in the story? Cause there is no going back in a story after a hero defeats a powerful foe.
Sure, technically, there is, but those minor foes are side-stories then. The fans of the character who just saved the day don’t want to hear how the first fight he had was the only fight of his career. Then he retired and became a farmer living his life in happiness. Yeah, that is not interesting, nobody wants that, and most importantly, it won’t make any money for the publisher or creator. No hero can only save the day once. For some stupid reason, in stories, once the hero saves the day once, he has to do it again, probably a few more times. The hero has to one-up himself because saving the day once isn’t good enough.
This gets to who the world the hero lives in, views as the ultimate evil that will be his biggest baddest opponent. Of course, in each story, this character is given different names. He could be called something like “World Destroyer” or “Life Ender” You get the idea, though. This dude isn’t really a dude. He is the incarnation of evil as a dude or being. This character isn’t really as much about a person but a concept. He represents evil. Sometimes the stories flat-out tell you that is the case, which makes it easy to follow. The guy that was formed from bad stuff is the bad guy, got it? If you haven’t figured out who I am talking about, then let me introduce him to you. He is the Devil, a man of wealth and taste, at least according to the Stones. Every story gets to the point where the Devil is basically the only bad guy that the hero hasn’t beaten yet. The only thing that he hasn’t done yet is defeat the thing that can destroy everything. The hero is left trying to kill something that is not human since he killed all the other dangerous life-forms already.
Now, we all see this pattern in stories and accept it as. We don’t question it. We go for the ride. Why shouldn’t our favorite character beat the baddest thing that there is? He has done it so far with every other opponent. But there is one other part of every story that is included in all of this hero-killing adventure. Since the hero is going up against the world-destroyer (not his actual name, but it is what he is there to do), then who is the one that created the world? A fair question to ask, and one that a character in the story may even ask. We don’t think the world-creator is the same guy as the world-destroyer (The Devil) since that doesn’t make much sense. Why would he destroy a world that he created, out of hated and evil too? And if he is the thing that created all of life, why is he working so hard to destroy all of life? Didn’t he create everything? Shouldn’t it be easy for him to destroy everything? Clearly, the world-destroyer is not into reverse engineering. The hero, you know the guy that has been facing more and more sophisticated villains as the stories go on, doesn’t claim to be the world-creator either. In fact, that is why we all like that hero. He isn’t the world-creator. So who is? Something had to have created the world that the hero is saving. That thing is God.
I should clarify when I say, God. I am talking about what is commonly known as The Father. The one who was there at the beginning of the universe. You know when scientists and theologians sit at a table and ask how the world begins, and the scientist starts to shout “Big Band Theory! God of The Gaps! Big Bang!” And then the theologian responds with the same passion “But who started that! Huh? Who started the Big Bang?” And then an hour later goes by, and both agree that they wasted their time. Oh, sorry, I mean, they wasted my time. Seriously I could have written a blog post, in that time, instead of hearing two dudes get nowhere with their beliefs. I never heard a scientist make such a good case to convince a theologian that God doesn’t exist, and I never heard a theologian make such a great claim to get the scientist to start believing. Stubborn bastards. And I never get my hour back of my life either. They don’t mention that when they start the discussion. But I digress… That is the God I am talking about here, and that is the God that the stories think can match up against this world-destroyer, who may be too powerful for even the great hero we have been following.
When stories mention a God-like character, they are not talking about the Christian God particularly. It appears that way since they are discussing what can only be described as The Father. He is the being that created life itself. All of the world is from him. Before him, there was nothing. But there is a major part of the Christian God that the modern stories we learn of, don’t mention; the other two parts of him. According to Christianity, God is The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. (It doesn’t matter whether you agree with their theory on this, what matters is that the stories don’t talk about the other two parts, so they are not talking of the Christian God. By only mentioning part of him, The Father, it is safe to conclude that they are not describing the Christian God.)
I already told you who The Father was. Who is the Son? Jesus. He is the son of God, or basically what God would be like if he was a man. He is God as part of human history. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of God that takes hold of people to help them through certain times. It helps the saints perform miracles and can be seen as the intermediate between The Father and people. It is the most mysterious of the three, in my opinion. (You should note that this very theory of 3 in 1 and 1 in 3 is still very controversial today. Christians can barely even agree on this.)
Modern writers have to admit that they are, at the very least, theists. They believe in a being that created the world, of one supreme being. Because why else would they even need to include a character like The Father in the story? The hero could be God. Even the world-destroyed could be God. As a writer, it is bad storytelling to have a character appear late in the story and be the hero of the event. There is no buildup or development for The Father, yet every story eventually gets to this edge.
This doesn’t change a major point I am trying to make, though. Even if something else takes on the role of The Father, that doesn’t change the fact that there is a Father in the story. A writer could make the hero the creator of the world he is in, which is why he is so powerful. Or the writer could fool us all and make the world-destroyer actually the world-creator in disguise.
At a certain point, every story is the same, The Devil shows up, and then God defeats him, saving the world. The names for these two may change, but the concept that they represent can’t be ignored. If the concepts are universal, then how are they not? The world-creator is accepted as the one being that can beat this world-destroyer. There is always one being that way, and in every story, the universe accepts this powerful being.
Somehow while following the adventures of your favorite hero, through all his fights and battles, with ever-growing powerful enemies, you have learned the answer to one of life’s greatest questions. And you thought you were just learning about over-powered humans in silly costumes fighting while making funny faces.
Now, where was Jesus during all of this? Why didn’t he come down and save the day? That is a question for another day.
Ending
Hey readers,
I know that I generalized a lot here, but that was only to prove my point.
Follow us on social media.
Thanks for reading.
If you do like this post, please share this on social media. It means a lot to us. Thanks.
Read more
Sarah Beach pieces - Anastacia Walden pieces - Alonzo Cortez pieces - Brooke Smith pieces - Joey Carneiro pieces
Read the Current Theme - Read Past Themes - Read New Year pieces - Read Valentine's Day pieces - Read Halloween pieces - Read Election pieces - Read Thanksgiving pieces - Read Christmas pieces
Check These Out
Follow This Blog On Social Media
About The Blogger
Greg Luti is an editor and blogger on pensandwords.com. His favorite writers are Robert Frost and Charles Bukowski. He enjoys reading up on history, watching comedies, and playing video games, when he is not writing down a few notes for his next piece. He started this blog out of his love for literature and hopes that the reader shares that same passion.
Learn More Of The Blogger
Comments