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The Written Word: Friendship Love

September 21, 2018 By Author John Leave a Comment

Friendship Love

Third of Four Greek Words for Love

The Written Word

Numerous people viewed last week’s post, but I did not get much feedback. Two weeks ago we looked at eros, the love shared between lovers. Last week we looked at storge, the love shared within a family. Also, for those who may not have read the previous blog posts, I would once again note that when I refer to the written word, I am referring to words put in writing, whether God’s words (the Bible) or the written words of this blog or my books, etc. And my desire in writing this blog is to pique your interest and stimulate your mind.

Revisiting the Four Loves

The Written WordAs previously mentioned, three of the four loves are found in the New Testament. Eros is not. Besides eros there are storge (pronounced store’-gay), which is family love; philia (pronounced fill’-ee-uh), which is affection or friendship; and agape (pronounced a-ga’-pay), which is a selfless, sacrificial love of choice.

And once again, here are links to several articles on the four loves: truthortradition, faithgateway and mcleanbible

Third of the Four Loves

Philia is not chosen as the third love as relative to order of importance. Each love is important in its own right. As we will see next week, from a biblical perspective agape is the highest of the loves. Not necessarily more important, but certainly the highest, although I have heard one Bible teacher argue that philia is the highest. After reading next week’s blog you can let me know your opinion on the matter.

Philia is defined as “affectionate regard, friendship”, usually “between equals.” Strong’s Greek Dictionary defines it as, “to have affection for (denoting personal attachment, as a matter of sentiment or feeling).” It is the love of intimate friendship, of warm fuzzies, of shared enjoyment. It is often expressed in terms of, “You know, I really like so-and-so,” or when using it to refer to a thing, it would be like the expression, “I love chocolate!”

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Filed Under: Author Blog Tagged With: C.S. Lewis, family love, sacrificial love, the four loves

Source and Purpose of Story Writing

August 15, 2018 By Author John Leave a Comment

Story Writing

The from Where and Why of Story

The Source of Story Writing

I maintain that the source of story is God. He set his-story in motion, and story is rooted in history, in the story of man, whether the true story or the warped story. Furthermore, the source of story writing is God. He “wrote” the original story, and He is the One who gifted mankind with imagination, with the ability to write stories. What He has given can be used and abused, but it comes from Him.

Christian FantasyThere are those who would throw out God and replace Him with the great evolution story. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis from his book of essays, Weight of Glory, evolution is the majestic myth, all lifeforms coming from an “energized” primeval soup, rising to greatness—ameba to man—and the flourishing of story! Yes, and as he says, we cannot stop the reality of the second law of thermodynamics. The myth will come to a flaming end, the grand story meaningless, forever gone with no one to remember any part of it. In essence, no God, no meaning; no God, no story! Mankind’s supposed achievements are in truth but an absurd charade. The following poem that I wrote back in 1966 illustrates my point.

DEATH BEFORE DEATH

A little leaf fell from high in a tree
And floated about on a frolicking breeze
As it neared the ground a gust thrust it high
It reached and touched the edge of the sky
Its yellow and red in the sun’s bright rays
Gave it presence of life adding joy to the day
But then in a tumult the leaf fell, and alas
The leaf that seemed living lay dead on the grass
When the leaf first fell from high in the tree
What its life really was had ceased to be
Being lifted by winds, it knew life though dead
Thus it seemed to have died on that grassy bed.

Yes, the source of story writing is God. “In the beginning God created,” and so the story and the writing of stories began.

The Purpose of Story Writing

God is the source of story and story writing, but from our perspective, what is the purpose of story writing? Why do people write stories? Why do I write stories?

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Filed Under: Author Blog Tagged With: C.S. Lewis, human story, purpose of story, story of man, write to entertain

Searching for God in a Godless Culture

February 3, 2018 By Author John Leave a Comment

Searching for God in a Godless World

Our Godless Culture and Godless World

“Godless culture?” you ask. “But religion is everywhere!” Yes, and even religion often leaves out God—just so much feel good drivel. Furthermore, Christianity has become largely isolated from our culture. We have kicked God out of our schools, out of our social dialogue, and for the most part out of our national conscience. Yes, ours has become a godless culture.

Searching for GodFurthermore, ours is a godless culture in the midst of a godless world. Oh, the “god” word is floated around in the context of numerous religions. But even the world at large doesn’t want anything to do with the God of the Bible. The god of individual spirituality is Ok, but not Jesus and the God of the Bible. I know of numerous cases where pastors were asked to pray to open some community meeting but were told not mention Jesus in their prayer. That appears to be the attitude of much of the world.

The Soul’s Search for God

God-shaped HoleIn Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis wrote: “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” Numerous people down through the ages from Augustine, to Pascal, to modern writers have referred to there being a “God-shaped hole” in every man, a place within that only God can fill, the soul’s search for God.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Author Blog Tagged With: C.S. Lewis, Christian fantasy fiction, Christian writers, fantasy fiction, finding God, spirituality

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John Edgell, Author

John has experience as a school teacher, a pastor, and has been a writer of stories since his two sons were knee high to a gnome.

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