Re: Betreft: Re: Steg's wonderful .sig (and a question)

Am 11/08 14:30  John Cowan yscrifef:
> Posting Tolkien's poem ("we make still by the law in which we're made") to a
> fantasy list that I belong to produced an explosion of such stories.
>
Odd.  I do not create because I am created in the image of the creator,
I create despite of it!  I create because God has not forbidden me to
create!  I exist in a state of blessed rebellion!

I am Presbyterian - that's one strike against me to begin with, most
Christian Conlangers on this list seem to come from the Catholic,
Eastern Orthodox, or Lutheran traditions, traditions that cultivate
liturgy, and in some cases, multi-lingual liturgies, or liturgies
outside their daily languages; not the Reformed tradition.  The church
that I developed my religious practice in was conservative, although not
calvinistic, and later began dabbling in the charismatic tradition.  It
was not an environment for cultivating a taste for the fantastic  How do
you dedicate a conculture to Jesus?  I never figured that one out, and a
lot of early stuff was sacrificed because of it, which occasionally hurt
my relationships with others, a fact I now continually regret.  The
alternative interpretation to being subcreators in the image of God, is
being subcreators in the image of Lucifer, what we do is in defiance of
God's created order, we rebel and try to do better, and equally face the
risk of falling.

But I am moving beyond this point.  Obviously I still want(ed) to create
the fantastic.  I did this by saying I will create to the point where I
can say in good conscience this far and no further.  Since then, I have
continued to push these boundaries, and I have altered my views on a lot
of things since I made that decision!  Still, it remains my starting
point.  I can say I create because I created in the image of the
Creator, but I exist in a state of grace in which the Creator allows me
to be free to imagine and create.

I'll stop now.  I'm not sure if my argument still makes sense to me
either - and it's time to make tea!  I'm getting hungry!

- andrew.
--
Andrew Smith, Intheologus                       hobbit@earthlight.co.nz

            "Death is an evil; the gods have so judged it;
                  had it been good, they would die."
                                        - Sappho of Lesbos.