Whenever I see something creative though, I really want to be creative too--even though I can't. The other night, my wife and I watched "Stranger Than Fiction", one of the best movies ever. I love it because it is so unlike any other movie I've ever seen; plus it's about a socially hampered guy who gets a totally awesomely fun girl. I guess I identify a bit. Anyway, every time I watch it, I want to write my own story.
(If you haven't seen this movie, stop reading right now and go rent it. Seriously. Do it now.)
(You seen it? Ok, continue reading.)
(I'm not kidding here, you'll kick yourself if you keep reading without seeing the movie.)
My story would go something like this. There's this guy who is a CPA and he has a cell phone that would someday save his life. He suddenly starts seeing phantom film crews everywhere that are filming him, but no one else can see them. There's also a director that keeps explaining the next scene to him, but no one else can hear or see him. He thinks he's going crazy. So he finds a local movie buff who helps him figure it out because somewhere along the way he discovers that the movie is going to end with his death.
Meanwhile, he decides to take up the piano and falls in love with one of his clients who is a french chef. In the end, he jumps in front of a tractor (the whole thing is based in Iowa) to save a little girl from being run over and breaks a whole bunch of bones. He doesn't die though because a piece of the cell phone gets lodged in his leg and it keeps him from bleeding to death.
Yup, this is the story that Stranger Than Fiction makes me want to write. But it wouldn't be as good as the movie. Also, its a complete rip-off of the original, so that's kind of working against it as well.
Today I got an email from my pastor with an interesting quote. Its from some guy named Dallas Willard. I don't actually know who that is, but knowing my pastor, Dallas is probably some amazing guy that would change my life if I'd read anything by him. I'm just saying my pastor likes all the same stuff I do. Here's the quote:
"The acid test for any theology is this: Is the God presented one that can be loved, heart, soul, mind, and strength? If the thoughtful honest answer is; "Not really," then we need to look elsewhere or deeper. It does not really matter how sophisticated intellectually or doctrinally our approach is. If it fails to set a lovable God--a radiant, happy, friendly, accessible, and totally competent being--before ordinary people, we have gone wrong. We should not keep going in the same direction, but turn around and take another road."
This is interesting to me because I'd been having much of the same thoughts recently regarding theology and God. Those of us who care to worship God are convinced that he is worthy of worship. How we are convinced of this seems to be different for each person, but whatever happens, we can't let go of this deep down feeling that there is something there that is worth it in the end. Something amazingly beneficial to us and the world; something worth thinking about; something BIG and GOOD. And in our efforts to explain this person to ourselves and to others, we basically end up writing bad knock-offs of the real thing. They all come close--some come really close, but we're always left with something that just doesn't fit. Some piece of God revealed to us in the Bible that just doesn't fit into our story.
But being the wishfully-creative-but-not-actually-creative person that I am, I can totally understand the desire to create a God just like the real thing. I meet him and think, "Man, how awesome would it be to be the one that came up with that!" So I sit down and work something out that sounds just like him and its entertaining and useful and makes me feel good about who I think he is. But what I've created isn't Him.
Its also very frowned upon by copyright laws.
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