Suppose you are discussing an issue with someone on facebook and you write a reply to their comment. Read back you own words before posting and imagine them being spoken is Stephen Hawking's voice. If your statements sound like something Stephen Hawking would say, then it is probably a good thing to post.
As a youngster, I never went to church, apart from when I was very little and then only to Sunday school for a few weeks before Christmas so I could have an extra present. I always watched the films about Jesus that came on television but couldn't connect this story with the idea of attending a place of worship and singing miserable hymns miserably. While at university I happened to meet someone from the unification church who invited me to attend a series of talks so I could hear their views. Superficially, their ideas sounded plausible but I could easily pick massive holes in the arguments with only a little thought. But rather than argue with me they just invited me to go to the US and attend a more detailed series of talks so I would better 'understand'. I declined. I was in my early twenties when, through a friend of a friend, I met some Christians of my own age and after several interesting discussions, started to attend church. The people were very nice and welcomed me. I became 'born again' and increasingly interested in this theological aspect of the faith. I was surprised to discover that many of my initial assumptions had been false. The New Testament was not written by the disciples, the idea of the trinity is not explained in the Bible etc. Most of all I was taken aback when I met people who believed that the earth was created in 6 days, about 4000 years ago! I had assumed that no one believed this anymore. And then they said that I had to believe this too or I couldn't be a true Christian! Coming from a science and technology background I couldn't just say, "scientist's don't know what they're talking about", as these people did. I started to read the Bible, intending to read it from cover to cover but didn't get very far. My thoughts kept turning back to creation. If I can't believe Genesis 1, I thought, how can I believe anything in the Bible? It was a difficult issue. The more I thought, the more 'difficult issues' I found. Old Testament Law, women's rights, military service, human rights, natural disasters, civilian casualties in war, life after death, other faiths, other denominations, homosexuality, capital punishment, demon possession, speaking in tongues, sin, alternative interpretations of the Bible, etc. I had been led to believe that the Bible has all the answers but when I tried to find any, all I found were 'difficult issue' and 'mysteries'. I met an old school friend. He'd become a Jehovah's Witness. We talked about what we both believed. I was surprised by how well he could support his beliefs even with my Bible. I could have criticised his beliefs to the point of dismissing them but my beliefs would have to stand up to the same degree of criticism (that would only be fair) and I knew they couldn't. I continued to be very much involved in church life, becoming an Alpha course leader and the treasurer of my local Anglican church. I even experience being; 'slain in the spirit'. but everything seemed doubtful and the more I found out the more inconsistencies and alternative opinions I discovered. I started to write down my thoughts to try to resolve the many issues I had. My aim was to strengthen my faith. I read the book 'Jesus Interrupted' by Bart D. Ehrman. This was a real eye-opener. This gave a far more impartial view of the Bible and revealed how it's authors didn't agree with each other even on fundamental issues. It also described how preachers give only a 'positive' view and keep the more realistic view to themselves. The news was full of the religion of peace being at war with everyone and I was struggling with the religion of truth telling lies. Servitude is presented as freedom, poverty as riches, weakness is strength, speculative assumption as absolute truth. I was beginning not to love big brother quite so much and found myself committing thought crime far more often. I came across the case of the couple in the US who'd lost a second child because they'd chosen to prey rather than call for medical assistance. I must admit that this story scared me shitless! A few years before this, my eldest son had became ill. He'd had a high temperature. I was about to suggest to my wife that we spend some time praying for him but instead we decided to call for a doctor straight away. My son's temperature rose to within 1 degree of fatal. Had we delayed calling the doctor he could have died. (He spent 1 night in hospital and made a rapid recovery). I've never been an extremist or a fundamentalist and I've been doubtful about most of the beliefs I've held. But even in moderate churches they say things like, "Trust in the Lord" and "Believe in His perfect timing" and "Prayer heals" and "Just believe" and "Have faith in the providence of God" and "God is the good shepherd who cares for his flock" and "Take your troubles to the cross and leave them there". This is not extremism. such statements can be heard in the most moderate of churches. Extremism is not a different religion. The main difference is that the extremists are more enthusiastic about putting their beliefs into practice than moderates. Moderates tend to gloss over controversial issues and move on while extremists will promote one particular view. The actual theology is mostly the same.
I've been continuing to write my story 'Recovery'. I just keep thinking of new things to include and changes to make. It's now long enough to be a novel and has a totally different ending. I can't believe I won the competition with the wrong ending on the story! Now that the requirement for anonymity has been lifted, I can talk about it. I don't know if a publisher would be interested in it since a version has already been uploaded and is freely available but by the time I'm finished, the text could be different enough. I'm not sure if I'm losing my way with it or not. Or even if I had a 'way' in the first place. I could do with some advice. So if anyone would like to assist me by telling me the blatantly obvious things that I've missed, please PM me and I'll send you the text.
I've just been amending my short story 'Tick T-Tock'. I had thought it was finished since I couldn't think of any way to improve it. I left it a few days and then returning to it for another look. Many little 'niggles' leapt out at me as the little voice in my head kept saying, 'that's not right' and then telling me what the characters would say next and what the reader might expect to be reading so the text would flow. I've gone through this process several times and each time the text has expanded. I can't see how this process can continue indefinitely though. There isn't enough plot here for a book, well not yet anyway. I could add extra scenes but they'd only repeat the story so far and I can't see how I might bring the whole thing to a satisfactory conclusion, explaining why the events occurred and fixing the problem that caused them in the first place. But this may make little sense to anyone who hasn't read the story. I'll upload it soon, when I've satisfied the forums criteria for uploading work.