This Story is NOT a Fake!

At the Montrose Christian Writers Conference, a faculty member said in her morning challenge to us writers:

“This is NOT a Fake Story.”

Novel writers heap conflict upon conflict upon their characters, raise the stakes, twist the plots, and take their hero/heroine on journeys and quests. The stories they write often bid us join them.

But our story is NOT a fake story, and neither are the stories in our Bible. Let’s look at the types of conflicts writers consider and those we find in Scripture.

Types of Conflict

• Man vs. Man

Movie goers love a good superhero story. The villain brings havoc upon a city of unsuspecting citizens. The people freak out and run hither and yon. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, the hero swoops in to save the day. Man versus man.

In Scripture, we read many such stories. Every child loves the story of David defeating Goliath (I Samuel 17) with a stone and a sling. Older folks see the wisdom in the story Jesus told of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) who went out of his way to save his “neighbor,” a man with whom his people didn’t associate. This story is not a fake!

• Man vs. Nature

Why do people flock to watch or read about natural disasters? What fascination does the destruction from earthquakes hold over the general public? Yet, we turn the news on to find out the “body count.” We choose a movie with a tornado on its poster. Man versus nature.

Not far into the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we read the story of Noah and the flood. God sent that first “natural disaster” to rid the world of the evil that began in the Garden of Eden and spread throughout the planet. That story ended in a rainbow promise. That story is not a fake!

• Man vs. Self

Have you heard the saying about man being his own worst enemy? In A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, Scrooge isn’t battling the ghosts, but the selfishness and greed in his own heart. Man versus himself.

Scripture tells many tales of man versus self. We often think of the tale of Peter fighting and losing the battle against “his own worst enemy” as he denies knowing Jesus, after His Lord, the one Peter swore to follow anywhere, was arrested (Luke 22:54-62). This tale is sadly not a fake!

• Man vs. Technology

Um … let’s NOT talk about that one. It hits too close to home! Suffice it to say I once considered throwing away my computer and becoming a hermit in a cabin in the woods rather than wait five more minutes for the blue circling dot on my screen to materialize into a website! That man … er, woman versus technology story is NOT a fake!

Rising Stakes and Twisting Plots

• Rising Stakes

When the reader thinks our characters have had enough conflict, we raise the stakes. Maybe a once-upon-a-time friend betrays her, and she must prove her innocence. Maybe a boss tests him with a hard task because he wants to hire his brother. He must accomplish said task or lose his job. Real life is filled with rising stakes.

The quintessential Bible character with stakes rising every time he turns around is Abraham (Genesis 22:1-15). First, he must leave his country, then he’s asked to sacrifice his beloved son. God often raises the stakes to add to our character. He toughens us for a future that will not be a fake story.

• Twisting Plots

Plot twists provide interesting outcomes to change unbelievable stories even more so. Remember Luke Skywalker in Star Wars battling the dark side trying to take hold inside him? The writer raised the stakes and made Darth Vader, Luke’s nemesis, his father! Talk about a plot twist!

Let’s go back to the story of Abraham, who has placed Isaac on an altar and has his knife held in two hands above his son, not daring to look his scared son in the eyes. A voice from heaven stops him at the same time a bleat from the nearby bushes provides a lamb for the sacrifice. Talk about a plot twist! And remember Peter, who hung his head in shame when the cock crowed thrice? He became one of the first major church leaders of the Christian church! Those are not fake plot twists!

The True Hero’s Journey

At writer’s conferences, faculty who teach fiction-writing often use the “Hero’s Journey” steps to guide the conferees through plot and character development. These steps provide a framework to design the story around, ensuring the hero gets from “Once upon a time” to “The End.”

But one Hero’s journey stands out above all the others. Let’s consider the steps in His journey.

Step 1 – The Ordinary World

This Hero’s ordinary world couldn’t get much more ordinary—a bustling town in Judea, a sweet mother, a carpenter “father,” a birth in a stable.

What? Wait! Born in a stable? Plot twist! There’s more to this Hero’s story which might surprise you.

Step 2 – The Call to Adventure

Our Hero has grown up. He goes to the Jordan River where a cousin has been baptizing people in representation of repentance and cleansing of sins. Though His cousin doesn’t believe our Hero needs to be baptized, He insists. He deemed this step necessary in His journey.

Step 3 – The Refusal of the Call

After surviving conflict upon conflict—from an evil king trying to kill him to a serpent-turned-devil trying to trick him to the “dark side”—our Hero’s mother asks him to refill empty water jars. He tells her the timing isn’t perfect, yet our Hero not only fills the water, but heals a young girl without needing to go to her house!

Step 4 – Meeting the Mentor

Our Hero often removes Himself from the presence of others and goes into the hills. There, he centers Himself with His Father’s love and His will. His Father’s Holy Spirit mentors Him, strengthens Him, guides Him, prepares Him.

Step 5 – Crossing the Threshold

Talk about leaving a “comfort zone”! Our Hero not only travels around the country, but He does so by walking everywhere! One round-trip from Nazareth and back totaled over 255 miles! A 30-minute trip by airplane today!

Step 6 – Tests, Allies, and Enemies

While our Hero traversed the country, Pharisees and others tried to trap Him with questions He’d answer in ways that trapped them instead. He chose twelve men to teach that traveled with Him. As they learned His ways, they took on assignments for Him throughout the country. Many enemies tried to waylay our Hero, but He always managed to get Himself and His friends to safety.

Step 7 – The Approach to the Goal

On Passover one year, our Hero found an upper room in which to join His friends for the sacred meal. He surprised them by instructing them to consider the bread His body broken for them and the wine His blood spilled out to wash away their sins. Then, He told them to do this regularly in remembrance of Him. Remembrance? Why would they forget Him?

Step 8 – The Worst Ordeal

They soon found out what He meant about their need for “remembrance.” Soldiers arrested our Hero. In the courts, He experienced shame, beatings, whippings, and more. And all His friends left Him, denied knowing Him.

The Reward

While hanging on the cross His abusers nailed him to, our Hero whispers, “I thirst.” They offer Him wine vinegar, thought to dull the senses to the pain.

The Road Back

Raising Himself with heroic strength, our Hero cries out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And then, “It is finished.” And He dies. His body was laid in a borrowed tomb with a huge stone blocking its entrance.

The Resurrection

On the third day, our Hero’s tomb stood empty! He had risen from the dead! Hallelujah!

The Return with the Elixir

Forty days later, our Hero’s friends and many others watched as He charged the gathered to spread His gospel story worldwide. Then, with all the love He held for us, Jesus (yep, you guessed it) ascended to heaven with the promise to return and take His believers there to live with Him eternally! What an amazing ending!

AND THAT IS NOT A FAKE STORY!!