A youth ministry initiative by RBC Ministries
where you can find devotionals and resources for youth.
A youth ministry initiative by RBC Ministries
where you can find devotionals and resources for youth.
By Chia Poh Fang
I’m currently reading Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson and I was greatly challenged by the author to strive for greater heights in my writing.
Below is a writing creed that I came up with. Much of the thoughts are borrowed from the book.
My writing creed:
1. Holy Scripture is the source document, the authoritative font. I believe the Bible contain living words that are intended, whether confrontationally or obliquely, to get inside us, to deal within our souls, to form a life that is congruent with the world God has created, the salvation that He has enacted, and the community He has gathered.
2. I must write in such a way as . . .
i) To provoke life changes and not just stuff some information into the cells of brains.
ii) To convince many Christians that the Bible gives a truer, more accurate account of what is going on in their seemingly unraveling world than what the media is telling them.
iii) To demonstrate how presently alive the Bible is, and how differently it is from books that can be “handled”—dissected and analyzed and then used for whatever we want them for.
iv) To showed, clearly and persuasively, that the Bible must be read receptively and leisurely instead of standoffishly and efficiently. German poet Rainer Maria Rike paints a beautiful picture when he wrote: “[A reader] does not always remain bent over his pages; he often leans back and closes his eyes over a line he has been reading again, and its meaning spreads through his blood.”
Hence, I must write in the biblical style involving readers in life-transforming responses. I must write in a revelatory and intimate manner as opposed to being informational and impersonal.
To achieve the aforementioned aim, I must become a Christian reader, reading words in order to be formed by the Word. Only then can I become a Christian writer.
[As I penned this article, I’m 50-days to finish reading through the Bible for this year! 加油！*These Chinese characters mean "you go girl!" *]
Filed under Writing and tagged with PohFang, Writing Skills.
