Worldview

Authors tend to give their main character at least, their own worldview and concepts of theology. It creeps in even when we think we are not doing it.

I got to thinking; I know I was deliberately giving my heroine aspects of my own relationship with God, but what theological worldview points does Ruthe live by in my first novel? Which ones crept in without me noticing it?

Since I have not been in the midst of writing it for a few years, (I'm mentally working on a sequel) I think I can be more objective now, and can analyze just what worldview my heroine has inherited from me. In doing this I have made some intriguing discoveries.

We'll look at some passages, and I'll explain the premises made, and answer some questions of consequence.

(On another page I'll add my overview of what I understand is yet to come in God's agenda for the human race. This may help you decide whether you want to read my book or not. I know now that these things could sway me in such a decision).

Clearly, the most obvious worldview beliefs Ruthe is convinced of and lives by, are that there is a God, an all-wise, all-powerful Creator-God, who cared enough to give up His only born-on-earth Son for the sins of the whole world. Each individual who reaches the age of accountability, (that is, one old enough to grasp the difference between good and evil, and be responsible for personal decisions), MUST repent and be converted to faith in Christ to become a Christian.

Now this conversion is not complicated. While it is simple, many people who think it is difficult get all mixed up and tied in knots over it. In my novel, Ruthe's Secret Roses, Ruthe, a young high school grad who is commuting to her job in the city as a telephone operator, meets various people, and soon finds herself in conversations where she recommends coming to her Best Friend for salvation, and this new life that will provide grace to deal with their problems.

At the very beginning, as she rushes to the city on her grad night to see Pearl O'Brien who is dying, Ruthe flashes back to recent weeks when she charged into a discotheque and brought out a younger teen who had been attacked. While parked on a quiet street, Ruthe guides Muriel to repent and pray a prayer accepting Jesus as her Saviour and Lord.

When Ruthe drops by their upper class home a few days later, to pick up the sweater she loaned Muriel, she meets her mother, and in a matter of minutes is helping her to meet and receive Jesus personally too.

That same grad night, while Ruthe wants to comfort Muriel and her mother, she dashes off with Muriel and her younger brother to go find their older sister Cathy before their mother dies. Within an hour or so, Cathy is also convinced that she needs this kind of intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus that her sister and mother have.

This is all very important and thrilling to Ruthe!

You'll find that she meets many other new city friends, and takes them through some very basic simple truths they must believe and then pray to begin their own personal, spiritual, moment-by-moment Friendship with Jesus.

In case you're exclaiming, "What nerve!" or wondering how you could share your faith with others and lead them in these steps, you would do well to read this novel, Ruthe's Secret Roses. Just reading how she handles each situation, appropriate to the individuals involved, should give you a little seminar in doing this, and give you a new worldview.

(Any fears you experience come from lack of trying, and from the enemy who doesn't want you to do it at all!)

One lesson Ruthe learns as she thinks about a number of those experiences one day, is that if the element of repentance is missing, the new convert has trouble progressing into the garden phase of the relationship. Using her garden/friendship analogy, this refers to that wonderful time, when you feel like you are really walking and talking through your life with a close Friend.

So yes, Ruthe is learning and growing from her own experiences. She does not pretend even to know everything or have all the answers. She's just burning with zeal to share what she does know and understand thus far.

Another key theological concept she tries to transfer to her new friends, is that this intimate friendship with Jesus must be nurtured. It is done by spending time alone with the Lord, telling Him every thought and decision, and asking for wisdom and guidance. This is very precious to her! it certainly colours her worldview.

Some Christians are quite self-confident and feel that God only cares about the major decisions of their lives, or when a family member gets hopelessly sick - that's when they start begging God to step in and help them. Those people, I've found, usually do not approve of the above lifestyle of asking God, or Jesus, to help with every little decision or attitude problem I sense in my heart or spirit. If you are one of those, you will most likely not approve of Ruthe in the novel.

But if you are open to seeing how this theological worldview is lived out in a practical way, you might want to read and see how Ruthe copes, and uses it in her lifestyle.

Ruthe also gets into conversations with people who have other worldviews, and they want her to answer some profound questions. Since she hasn't had formal seminary training at all, she relies on the things she's learned from listening to sermons and reading her Bible and some other books.

There is a conversation she has with Granny O'Brien, the wizen, and bitter old woman who is up in a bed on the second floor of a mansion, spying on her family. Granny has a question about the cause of suffering and pain on earth;