When was the last time you were reading a story or hearing music, and you felt those chills and sense of wonder that made you think, “Oh, wow, thank you, Lord”, or consider that the Holy Spirit was active in this artwork?[1. Photo by John Price on Unsplash.] We might say the story was “inspired,” similar to how we believe the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit. But as we celebrate stories #MadeByHumans, do we also believe God Himself does special work to help make these stories?

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Mission update

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• Lorehaven reviews: Winter’s Maiden and After Moses
  
• Subscribe free to get updates and join the Lorehaven Guild
  

Quotes and notes

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• What does it mean that the Bible is inspired? | GotQuestions.org
  
• Is “Paradise Lost” by John Milton biblical? | GotQuestions.org
  
• ‘God Can’t Spell and Has Bad Grammar’?, Speculative Faith
  
• Has God Spoken? By Mike Winger
  
• Reach Teenagers Through Cru (spoken word video)
  

1. ‘Men spoke from God as they were carried along…’

1. The Bible. Scripture is our only inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient word of God. Men wrote the Bible by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Each book reflects its human author’s personality, language, and genre choices, yet flows into a single narrative called the Gospel. The Bible consists of sixty-six books in Old and New Testaments. (Good translations give us confidence to know God’s intent.)

from the Lorehaven Sacred Scrolls faith statement

Open discussion

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:16–21 (ESV)

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• For generations, Christians have referred to this as the Spirit’s inspiration.
  
• Other statements of faith refer to Scripture’s inerrancy or perfection.
  
• But this word, “inspiration,” also has some linguistic creep for creativity.
  
• And in Scripture before, God’s Spirit also did some unpredictable things.
  
• For example, 1 Samuel 19:18–24. This isn’t taught in Sunday school!
  
• Sight and Sound Theaters’ “David” dramatized this scene so wonderfully.
  
• It cleared space for loud expressive worship of God as Scripture shows.
  
• Yet this scene also warned that some people who do this aren’t of God.
  

2. ‘God can’t spell and has bad grammar’?

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• The phrase comes from Christian fantastical author John B. Olson.
  
• Aspiring authors would excitedly present him their ideas or manuscripts.
  
• “God laid this on my heart. It’s so amazing. God told me to write this!”
  
• So that phrase was his response. And the heart of it does remain true.
  
• The Holy Spirit inspired (past tense) the inerrant written word of God.
  
• Our stories, however, contain some errors in substance, style, or both.
  
• Stephen can testify, now that he’s coming to the end(?) of novel edits!
  
• Many authors are highly skilled, yet can’t claim to be “inspired” this way.
  
• For that reason, to avoid confusion, Stephen avoids using that word.
  
• We mus not elevate other works as if they’re “inspired” like the Bible.
  
• And we’ve heard the stories of “God told me to date you” manipulations.
  
• Some indeed use the “God told me…” line sincerely yet with aspirations.
  
• But we need not say this in order to value the Spirit in us, or our work.
  

3. ‘Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit’

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• That phrase comes from the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:19.
  
• Even now we hear unbelievers fake-quote this “body is a temple” phrase.
  
• Christians do, however, believe the Holy Spirit is God Himself in us.
  
• He’s cleaning up the place, changing our thoughts, making us like Jesus.
  
• And that does mean He’s equipping us to do good works for His glory.
  
• These good works would surely include reading/making creative works.
  
• And because these works are worship, we’ll likely feel much the same.
  
• Sometimes it’s rest. Or simple satisfaction. Or conviction. Prayer. Bliss.
  
• And sometimes the feelings get heightened to a “worship experience.”
  
• Stephen felt this way watching that amazing/faithful “David” stage epic.
  
• Or even riding a roller coaster. Endorphins? Yes. Gift of God? Also yes.
  
• God works through physical means that we dare not discount either way.
  
• When we thank Him, and enjoy these gifts, let’s not skip a thinking step.
  
• And for writers, maybe we can be more biblical/careful in our processes.
  
• Instead of, “God gave me this idea,” we can say, “God, thank You for Your gift of the Holy Spirit, changing my heart to love Your beauty, goodness, and truths, which I pray will help to inspire these ideas.”
  
• E.g., we’re not inspired like Scripture is, but inspired by the Scripture.
  

Com station

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• When did you last feel that magic sense some call “inspiration”?
  

Kinsey Holt enjoyed ep. 225, celebrating Middle-earth fandom:

Great podcast! I love LotR, and I’m so glad to hear a common-sense discussion about how the left is treating it these days, and to hear the stories so beautifully applied to life today.

Next on Fantastical Truth

Space. The next-to-final frontier. So what’s the final one? It’s the future. As sci-fi fans, Stephen and Zack enjoy debating space travel possibilities, Moon stations and Mars colonies (likelier now after the liquid water finding?), and of course those armies of the aliens. Now we’ll ask whether today’s scientists and speculators recognize Christianity’s crucial role in their disciplines, and whether they see a place for Christianity in their vision of the future.