Maureen Lang's Blog, page 20
June 13, 2011
Celebrating the Life of Stephen Bly
Recently I featured Stephen Bly and his latest book (Throw the Devil Off the Train) here on my blog. As many of you know, Steve passed away last week after a five-year battle with prostate cancer. He was one of those select few able to glorify the Lord by working right up to the final stages of his life. Although he surely is even now meeting with many precious friends in Heaven, those of us who wait to join him have lost the company of a talented and gifted brother.
Please click here to see a brief interview with Steve on my friend Mindy Starns Clark's blog. She's taken the time to feature many Christian authors, but offers a video of Steve to share with the rest of us who knew him only through his work. In a separate interview, Steve and his wife Janet recall how their romance began, leading to a nearly 48-year marriage. Click here for a look at that sweet story.
Please join me in lifting up Steve's wife Janet and their family in prayer, and I hope you'll take a closer look at the work he left behind for us to enjoy. Visit Steve and Janet's websites at:
http://BlyBooks.com or blog http://BlyBooks.blogspot.com
This week, let's be reminded that everything around us is only temporary—except the people God brings into our lives. Let's do life with an eye on eternity!
June 9, 2011
New Fiction!
SECOND CHANCE DAD
ISBN: 978-0-373-87673-0
Love Inspired
June, 2011
Roxanne Rustand
He Was A Challenge She Couldn't Ignore...
The minute she steps foot in his dark, miserable house, Sophie Alexander knows Josh McClaren is not her usual patient. But the single mom and physical therapist is desperate to make a life for her and her young son. And she's definitely no quitter! It's obvious to Sophie that handsome, cantankerous Josh hides his pain behind a wall of grief. Little by little, Sophie and her son, Eli, do more than help Josh find his faith again. They make Josh wonder if there's a family in his future after all....
Aspen Creek Crossroads: Where faith, love and healing meet.
This book is available at :
and fine bookstores everywhere.
Drop by Roxanne's website and get a free downloadable cookbook. http://roxannerustand.com/cookbook-and-recipes
Here's one of Roxanne's favorite recipes as a tease.
CARAMEL BLONDE BROWNIES
1/2 cup melted butter (no substitute!)
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp REAL vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup M&Ms
Combine first four ingredients and beat really well, then stir in dry ingredients. Don't overbeat. Add the M&Ms last.
Pat into a well-greased 9×13 pan, then bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Do not overbake–these should be nice and chewy, so watch them carefully!
Hope you enjoy these, and come back again for other recipes. And if you'd like to share a favorite, that would be great!
Roxanne Rustand can be found at www.roxannerustand.com and her "All Creature Great and Small" blog, http://roxannerustand.blogspot.com. If you'd like to see the foal at her house (or barn), drop by http://roxannerustand.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-baby-at-our-houseand-it-nickers.html
To subscribe to her quarterly e-newsletter, which offers prize drawings, family recipes and news about her books, go to: http://roxannerustand.com/newsletter-signup
June 7, 2011
Commercial Break
June 2, 2011
New Fiction for the Midweek
Greetings a little late! This is what comes with summer around this house—flipped schedules, no sense of date or time. I'd follow that description with long lazy days but I never seem to get many of those!
This week, however, I'm so pleased to bring your attention to a new book that sounds like fun from the very title. Happy Reading!
FINDING LOVE IN A CLASSIC WESTERN
Stephen Bly
Copyright©2011
"Hmmm. . .a compliment from Mr. Race Hillyard. Should I be suspicious?"
"I'd be disappointed if you weren't."
Catherine studied the faces in the train car window beside them. "You know, yesterday I held you in deep disgust."
"Has that changed?"
"Yes, today I hold you in mediocre disdain."
From Throw The Devil Off The Train
The kernel plot idea determines how much the love element majors in my westerns. Will women play a significant part at all? If so, how much? Will there be hints or scenes of romance? If so, what portion does it play?
For some western writers, especially those who focus on the romance market, those are big questions. In fact, I would presume that they factor the love interest first thing in their plotting. Me, not so much. If my main character's a woman, which it has been for a number of my novels, then her relationship with the men, or her main man, will be key, of course.
A time or two I've written about strong women who turn down the potential love interest because of other considerations, such as a career (i.e. Miss Fontenot, Book #3, Heroines of the Golden West Series). My fans and a few editors screamed about this. But that was the way Miss Fontenot decided it. I had to respect her wishes.
Then out pops the idea for my new release, Throw The Devil Off The Train.
It's a road story inside a train headed west. The grandeur of the West from a train window. The very slow journey, compared to modern transportation, yet cramped, crowded, at times chaotic conditions.
Later, a theme evolved. . .that people are much more complex than first meetings reveal. The hurts and pains, victories and defeats of the past, affect responses in the present. My observation is that most of us hide spiritual and emotional hurts from others. . .and sometimes ourselves. We must be open to what God is doing around us, even through flawed people, to receive the help he sends.
That lead to. . .what if I tossed two cats into a burlap bag, then watched to see how they'd survive. . .or not? This had to be a male and a female. With a long train ride, sparks are going to hit the track. . .somehow, somewhere. Will it be eternal hate or meld into love?
The gal on the train. . .she heads west to escape from her past in Virginia, to a prosperous fiancé in Paradise Springs, a childhood friend. To get a new name. She's desperate that no one knows her real last name.
She can be as honey-sweet as any southern belle, if she wants to. She and her twin sister, Catelynn, spent the war years in the north at an aunt's house. While they missed witnessing the violence and ravages of the Civil War, they lost their parents and their estate. Catherine is not glamorous like her twin sister, but her good looks and confident air capture much attention. She's willing to use her beauty and personality to get things done. . .her way.
He travels west to get justice for his brother's death. His blunt, stubborn ways leave no room for charm or diplomacy. Independent, with focused courage, he's in the habit of success at whatever he attempts. His set glare keeps most folks scooting away from him. That suits him fine. He has no use for a woman he considers shallow and manipulative. He also has no fear of dying, because he's not sure he wants to live. When he sets his mind on a goal, he expects everyone to get out of the way.
After a few gouges and bites between Catherine Draper and Race Hillyard, I could see the trail markings of their story. That's how I knew Throw The Devil Off The Train was a western romance first, front and center. In fact, my original working title was "Throw Away Heart." But my editor objected. The Bly fans for this publisher look for a western first, romance optional.
Yet a question still remained right up to the end. Will the Miss Fontenot type independence reign? Of course, that's up to Catherine. . .and Race. Romance comes late for them. . .perhaps too late. Yep, they hate each other on sight. Meanwhile, traditional western stuff happens. A holdup, hijack, kidnapping and gold mine swindle swirl around them. . .and something else evil's on board. Fiery, opinionated and quick to react, can they make a truce long enough to throw the devil off the train?
Stephen Bly is a Christy Award finalist and winner for westerns for The Long Trail Home, Picture Rock, The Outlaw's Twin Sister and Last of the Texas Camp. He has authored and co-authored with his wife, Janet, 105 books, both fiction and nonfiction. He and Janet have 3 married sons, 4 grandchildren, and 1 great-grandchild and live in the mountains of northern Idaho on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. Find out more about the Blys at their website http://BlyBooks.com or blog http://BlyBooks.blogspot.com
ON GETTING PLOT IDEAS
for Throw The Devil Off The Train
I don't have a clue how I derived the idea for my newest release, Throw The Devil Off The Train. Sometimes plot ideas seem to fall out of the sky for me. When I recognize one that I like, I pick it up and run with it, to see where it leads.
I've set stories in Colorado and Arizona, in New Mexico and Nevada, in Montana and Idaho, in Wyoming and Nebraska, in Texas and South Dakota. The old western Stagecoach was a road story in a stage. Throw The Devil Off The Train is a road story inside a train headed west.
Idea germs that evolve
The grandeur of the West from a train window.
The very slow journey, compared to modern transportation.
The theme that people are much more complex than first meetings reveal.
The hurts and pains, the victories and defeats of the past form a part in acts and responses in any given situation.
I tossed two cats into a burlap bag, then watched to see how they'd survive. . .or not. After a few gouges and bites between Catherine and Race, I could see the trail and markings of their story in Throw The Devil Off The Train..
Setting A Scene
You'd think after more than a hundred books in print, most of them set in the Old West, that I'd have exhausted every possible location. I've used cabins, saloons, dance halls, jails, hotels, cafes, sandbars and most any other place you could name. All, except one. In my newest book, Creede of Old Montana, I set a whole scene inside an outhouse.
As much as I like telling western tales, it was not the time for me to live in. Two reasons at least: health care and sanitation. That doesn't mean a cowboy never used soap. Some even shaved every morning. Living in a wild and primitive land doesn't mean you have to look uncivilized.
And I don't want you to think I'm weak-willed and pasty skinned. I can survive just fine for days, weeks, even months in the wilderness. But I know that sooner or later I'll be back in civilization that boasts hot showers, waste treatment plants, and flush toilets.
I wouldn't even mind a footed bathtub. Many fun western movie episodes have centered on bubbly bathtub scenes. But hot baths were a real luxury and only the nicest of hotels would offer such an amenity. Some of the more modest hotels would advertise: Baths 25 cents; Used Water 15 cents. Which, in my opinion, is a great motivator to save up your money when on the trail or hang with friends who smell like you do.
Which brings me back to…setting a scene inside an outhouse.
On a trip to Yellowstone with our teen grandkids, Zachary and Miranda, we stopped to explore at Garnett, a Montana ghost town. One structure that captured the kids' curiosity: the double set of outhouses behind the old hotel. There was a two-seater for gals and a two-seater for guys. Quite the deal on a busy Saturday night.
Ah, the romantic Old West.
And about that scene in the outhouse…you can read about it yourself after October 1st in Creede of Old Montana. I promise…it won't be R-rated. That's the thing about the classic western genre. Good triumphs over evil. There's little or no bad language. And sensual details are relegated to the fightin' and shootin' only.
WRITING EXERCISE for you:
Create two strong characters. Make one the type the other tends to dislike. Make them so disgusted with each that cannot exist in the same room for several minutes without being at each other's throats. Then, stick them in a place where they have to co-exist for hours, days, weeks: a cabin, a mine shaft, a train car, etc. Then, write the dialogue. Start out with no descriptions. No identifiers. No narration. Just two voices conversing. Make the words authentic as you can. Then, edit it later.
Do they wind up killing each other? Or total estrangement? Or a truce of some sort? Or a breakthrough to relationship?
STEPHEN BLY'S SPICY ELK CHILI
Many of you have asked me. . .well, only one, maybe two. . .for my world famous recipe for chili. This is an expected and anticipated dish at every Wild Game Feed potluck at our northern Idaho church each November. It's also a staple at our Broken Arrow Crossing events in the summer. Broken Arrow Crossing is the false-front town I've built beside our house. Wife Janet calls it our 'theme yard.'
So, now the secret's out. You can create your own chili sensation, Bly-style.
Ingredients:
2-4 pounds of elk meat (for my pals in Quebec, that's Wapiti meat)
1 16-ounce jar of Pace salsa ("medium" for most gringos; I prefer "hot")
2 cans of Hormel Chili With Beans (life is too short to wait for beans to soak)
1 green bell pepper (make sure it's crisp…the red or yellow bells will work good too)
Several fresh jalapeno peppers (don't wimp out; leave the seeds)
An unending supply of Montreal Steak Seasoning
Red Tabasco Sauce
Directions:
Apply for an out-of-state elk tag from the Idaho Fish & Game Department. Clean your Winchester 1895, 405 caliber rifle. Fly to Idaho and camp deep in the forest along the upper stretches of the north fork of the Clearwater River. Shoot your elk (whether you taxidermy the head or not is your decision). Pack meat in dry-ice and take it home with you on the plane. OR. . .accept that package of wild game meat your brother-in-law keeps trying to give you every Christmas.
The night before. . .put one cup of water, 2-4 pounds of elk (steak or roast) in the crock pot. Season with Montreal Steak Seasoning to taste. Turn that sucker on low, then go to bed.
Sometime the next day. . .drain most of the juices off the meat (yes, you can make elk gravy for breakfast, provided you don't put it on biscuits that come out of a tube). Place meat in very large pan (the one on the bottom shelf at the back that takes forever to yank out). Dump in your two cans of Hormel Chili Beans (or more if you're feeding the starting offensive line of the Green Bay Packers, or their equivalent). Important note: never use cheap canned beans that taste like they were soaked in fast food restaurant catsup.
Gut out your bell pepper and carve it into ½ inch squares, then sauté (that means fry 'em in a skillet, but don't burn 'em black or let 'em get mushy). Toss them in the big pan.
Cut the stems off the jalapenos, quarter them and toss them in. If your fingers blister while cutting the peppers, you have to invite me over for supper. Add a bunch more Montreal Steak Seasoning (bunch=6 tads) and red Tabasco.
Stir everything together and simmer the chili for an hour or so. (Simmer is what happens when you ought to throw another log in the stove, but you wait until half-time of the football game and the fire almost goes out.)
Now, it's time for the taste test. After stirring the chili again (wooden spoons seem to be less susceptible to corrosion), take a small taste. You may want to add more Tabasco. (Note: if an obnoxious nephew is visiting, let him test the chili. It's about right if he spends the rest of the day out in the yard with his head buried in leaves, sand, or snow.)
Serving size: this varies. Most times, the bowl is scraped clean with only 10 to 12 people. But, with luck, there will be some leftovers and you'll get to have it cold for breakfast for several days.
NOW AVAILABLE! Throw The Devil Off The Train, western romance by Stephen Bly
Order through your local bookstore, your favorite online bookstore such as www.Amazon.com or get an autographed copy from http://BlyBooks.com/store.htm
May 30, 2011
Which Way Is Up
This is not the picture any homeowner (or their neighbors) likes to see, but this is what our front yard looked like in the dead of winter.
Here is what it looked like after the digging was done:
(Kind of looks like a grave, doesn't it? But all that's buried there are pipes.)
After the pipe was repaired, the workmen filled in the area with the same dirt, and when the weather warmed up a bit my husband cleaned it up, flattened out the mound (which, incidentally, also looked like a grave). He saved our burning bushes but never once gave a thought to the hostas that used to fill the area. I assumed they'd been lost with the initial dig, so imagine my surprise when three of them started popping up a few weeks ago.
Do you see the ones in the foreground, the ones that are a bit smaller than the ones farther back? Granted, their arrival is later than the ones that hadn't been jostled, but after all they must have been tossed and turned with all of the upheaval. I'm just amazed they showed up at all!
Somehow they still knew which way was up. Well, at least three of them did.
I'm sharing this incident because it reminded me of how I feel with my writing sometimes. I must admit there are times I feel like I don't know which way is up.
I just typed "The End" on my current work-in-progress. I started it months ago with the same high hopes and great expectations, lots of enthusiasm and deep gratitude that I get paid to have so much fun. As usual, I had a vague idea of how the story would end, that the characters would have a happy ending, but as usual getting to that point sometimes seemed impossible. In fact, one day when my husband came home and I'd had a particularly unproductive day, I told him I wasn't sure I was going to be able to save my characters, after all.
But like those buried plant roots, even though the plot twisted unexpectedly, the story revealed itself after all. On another day when my husband came home, after a "breakthrough" I told him the story was saved, after all. To which he just looked at me with a sort of perplexity and told me I should never, ever try to teach someone else how to write a book. Clearly I don't even understand the process myself. (Which is of course true.)
These plants (which I can see from my desk) will certainly come in handy when I start my next book and somewhere past the middle but still far from the ending I'll probably feel this way again. Sometimes my book ideas get twisted and turned and I'm not sure where the end is, much like those tossed and turned roots might have temporarily forgotten which way was up. I'll recall how something innate kicked in and the process worked itself out.
All I'll need to do is look out my window for a bit of hosta-inspiration.
May 25, 2011
New NON-fiction Wednesday - for writers!
Welcome to the mid-week! As prolific as so many of my friends are, I don't have a new book to share with you this week. But I was contacted by a blog reader, Larry Dignan, who pointed me to an article he'd recently composed in which he compiled a list of 50 books for writers. The list is extensive, and many titles are familiar. Of course some of them I'm not endorsing, such as the intriguing but probably not-along-my-line-of-a-life-best-lived as Naked, Drunk and Writing, or the Communist Manifesto which I have read and didn't see the literary value, but there are others I definitely would recommend, like Strunk and White's classic The Elements of Style and Browne & King's Self-Editing for Fiction Writers (two of my favorites).
The list is worth a peek.
Click here to see it, and happy reading to all of you out there who are like me and always interested in improving the craft of writing!
May 23, 2011
When "Shirley" Enters Your Life
For the past few years my husband and I have marveled—in horror—at how quickly our youth seems to be deserting us. We thought things started to go downhill after age 35, but how naïve we were! Aging after 50 is like the downside of a roller coaster compared to the more leisurely downward trend we experienced after 35.
It's through aging that we met "Shirley." Shirley is, of course, from the movie Airplane with Leslie Nielsen. In one memorable scene Leslie Nielsen asks in the deadpan style he became known for if the afraid-to-fly character Striker can fly and land this plane. Striker says: "Surely you can't be serious." To which Nielsen responds, "I am serious. And please don't call me Shirley." (To watch the YouTube clip, click here.)
As my husband and I get older, we're saying the following more and more:
For me:
Surely I can walk in any kind of shoe.
Surely I can read without my glasses.
Surely I locked the front door before coming up here to bed.
Surely I can remember why I came into this room.
For my husband
Surely I can still play basketball/volleyball/baseball.
Surely I can recall where I left my glasses, so I can read the newspaper. (Should I tell you about the time he was looking for his glasses and they were on his head?)
Surely I can do pilates to ease my back pain without experiencing vertigo.
Surely I can consume pees, shrimp, and wine all in one meal without getting gout…(Well, that only happened once, but ever since he's been careful about certain combinations.)
These are just a few of the "surelys" that have become the "Shirleys" in our life. We surely know we can no longer do what we could do even a few short years ago. Most of the time we still feel far too young for so many surelys. What will it be like in ten more years? Or, gulp, twenty or thirty?
Sigh.
Oh well, at least we get to face our Shirley moments together. And we both look forward to Heaven a little more, when the surelys will turn into things like:
Surely we can rejoice in seeing so many of our loved ones.
Surely we can visit with so many other Saints.
Surely we can listen to the angels sing.
Surely we can see God.
So welcome to another week. Surely we can get through another one with more praises than complaints!
May 18, 2011
New Fiction Wednesday!
Dining with Joy by Rachel Hauck
Thanks for having me today!
I'm no genius in the kitchen, but my heroine, Joy Ballard, finds herself doing a job she can't do for all the right reasons. She's a cooking show host who can't cook!
When I started this book, that premise got a good laugh from those who heard it. Then, I'd ask, "But what's that story about?"
The person would shrug. "I don't know."
"Yeah, me neither."
I had to ask a lot of questions about what a woman hosts a cooking show when she can't so much as fry eggs. I didn't want an insincere, lying heroine. She's not a manipulator or conniver.
Joy simply found herself filling a job she was asked to do – by her father. She was great in front of the camera. Just not behind the stove.
Not long ago, I stood on stage at church with my worship team praying before the service started. Head back, eyes close, I said in my heart, "Lord, help us. You have to help me. I'm so weak in leading worship. I cannot do it without You."
While I'm a decent singer, and I can lead the people to worship Jesus, I'm not a musician. I'm not one who can skillfully bring the band and the worship sound together. And until I found myself with a "starting over" band, I never realized how gaping this weakness was for me.
A few days later, I was thinking of all the great worship leaders, singers and musicians. Of great writers. And I just felt weak and inadequate in the two main callings of my life.
Again, I went to the Lord. "Why can't You find a good worship leader for church? Why can't you help me be a more successful writer? I see people who are good at what they do, succeeding."
This is what He said to me. "… most people won't give me their weaknesses."
I was stopped cold. I understood that a lot of times God invites us on a journey to participate with Him in some aspect of our lives or others, but because we are not good at that thing, or because we are weak with fear or shame or whatever, we say no.
It's in our weaknesses His strength is manifest. God is not looking for mighty men and women, He's looking for weak men and women in which HE can show His might.
Don't misunderstand, God loves excellence, skill and devotion. While leading worship practices, I have to be excellent as I can be to bring the team and songs together.
I'll never have a recording or national ministry as a worship leader, but for our little church in Florida, I'm God's girl. For now.
That, in some ways, is Joy's journey. She said yes to her father's desire.
Can we say "Yes?" to our Father's desire for us? Offer Him all of our strengths AND weaknesses? He's more than willing to overcome.
In my story, Joy's secret is revealed and takes a pretty good tumble, but love is waiting to catch her. In the form of cowboy chef and hero, Luke Redmond.
Sigh… Love wins.
One of the things Joy discovers along the way is her father's banana bread recipe. It's delish!
Here it is:
Charles Ballard's Banana Bread
From Connie Spangler
1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1t. baking soda
1/2t. salt
1/2t. cinnamon
2 eggs
3 mashed ripe bananas
1/2 cup oil (I use canola)
1/4 cup plus 1 T. buttermilk
1t. vanilla
1/2 cup choc. chips
1/2 cup p.butter chips
In a large bowl stir together flour, sugars, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, combine eggs, bananas, oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Fold in chips. Pour into a greased 9-in. x 3-in. loaf pan. Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until it tests done.
Cool on a rack 10 minutes before removing from pan.
Tips for baking banana bread:
DON'T over mix the batter, just until moistened. Banana bread is always best if after it's cooled to wrap up and serve the next day.
ENJOY!
ABOUT RACHEL:
Rachel lives in central Florida with her husband and writes books from the second floor of what she calls her "turret tower." A gift from the Lord. Besides "Dining with Joy," Rachel has written fourteen other novels. Also out is "Softly and Tenderly" which Rachel wrote with country artist, Sara Evans.
Visit her web site at www.rachelhauck.com
Blessings!
May 16, 2011
Arguments and Reason
Have you ever had an argument you knew you couldn't win? I'm not talking about defending yourself against an unprovoked attack, or (like one of my current characters) defending yourself even if you know you're guilty. I'm talking about a real, honest-to-goodness debate where you've laid out your side with logic, clarity and evidence—only to have the other person just shake their head and say no, they will still hold to what they believe instead, and cannot accept what you're saying.
I'm sure this happens with matters of faith, politics and social issues more often than we realize (particularly if we isolate ourselves from such topics). Two sides can look at the same situation and come up with completely different solutions or opinions on how to respond. Suddenly the sites are no longer set on the issue but on those who oppose the way they would approach that issue.
I suppose this is part of the human experience, part of what it means to have free will. We have the freedom not only to choose or reject God, but to choose or reject the opinions of those around us. And in America, that freedom has been protected by the blood of our servicemen and women.
But what is it that makes it so hard for someone to win over someone else, no matter how strong the argument? In digging in to the motivation behind my characters, I've often had to ask this question so their conversion to a new way of thinking will be believable. Art imitating life—or that's the goal, anyway.
Recently my husband came home with the answer to this dilemma. He'd been listening to the radio and something one of the guests said struck him, and then me, as profound. The guest said: "it's impossible to reason someone out of a belief they weren't reasoned into."
This explains so much, but it's also cautionary. It explains that often emotion is the deciding factor in what people believe, not logic. I recall hearing a Christian physicist talk about how he'd revealed evidence for a Creator to a group of naturalist scientists. While several of them were persuaded by the logic, evidence and explanation of the pieces science cannot explain—the origin of life, for example—relatively few were able to abandon their belief that there is no God. They did not want to accept the notion of a Being who might want to be involved in their life. Possibly they could accept the idea that a Creator made the universe then abandoned us rather than accept the loving God of the Bible who cares about every detail of our life. They weren't afraid of the facts, they were afraid their life must change if they had to redefine their worldview.
So that argument wasn't lost on the basis of reason or logic or evidence, it was lost on the basis of emotion. And emotion is the part that reason cannot touch.
But as I said, it's also a cautionary statement. If we don't know what we believe, and why, we may go to incredible lengths to protect our belief system but how, really, do we differ from those who believe something just because? Just because of the way they were raised, or their culture has taught them to think a certain way, or those they surround themselves with have fed only one kind of belief system into their head?
The next time you approach an argument, think about that. Are you on the side of reason or emotion?
Have you ever had an argument you kne...
Have you ever had an argument you knew you couldn't win? I'm not talking about defending yourself against an unprovoked attack, or (like one of my current characters) defending yourself even if you know you're guilty. I'm talking about a real, honest-to-goodness debate where you've laid out your side with logic, clarity and evidence—only to have the other person just shake their head and say no, they will still hold to what they believe instead, and cannot accept what you're saying.
I'm sure this happens with matters of faith, politics and social issues more often than we realize (particularly if we isolate ourselves from such topics). Two sides can look at the same situation and come up with completely different solutions or opinions on how to respond. Suddenly the sites are no longer set on the issue but on those who oppose the way they would approach that issue.
I suppose this is part of the human experience, part of what it means to have free will. We have the freedom not only to choose or reject God, but to choose or reject the opinions of those around us. And in America, that freedom has been protected by the blood of our servicemen and women.
But what is it that makes it so hard for someone to win over someone else, no matter how strong the argument? In digging in to the motivation behind my characters, I've often had to ask this question so their conversion to a new way of thinking will be believable. Art imitating life—or that's the goal, anyway.
Recently my husband came home with the answer to this dilemma. He'd been listening to the radio and something one of the guests said struck him, and then me, as profound. The guest said: "it's impossible to reason someone out of a belief they weren't reasoned into."
This explains so much, but it's also cautionary. It explains that often emotion is the deciding factor in what people believe, not logic. I recall hearing a Christian physicist talk about how he'd revealed evidence for a Creator to a group of naturalist scientists. While several of them were persuaded by the logic, evidence and explanation of the pieces science cannot explain—the origin of life, for example—relatively few were able to abandon their belief that there is no God. They did not want to accept the notion of a Being who might want to be involved in their life. Possibly they could accept the idea that a Creator made the universe then abandoned us rather than accept the loving God of the Bible who cares about every detail of our life. They weren't afraid of the facts, they were afraid their life must change if they had to redefine their worldview.
So that argument wasn't lost on the basis of reason or logic or evidence, it was lost on the basis of emotion. And emotion is the part that reason cannot touch.
But as I said, it's also a cautionary statement. If we don't know what we believe, and why, we may go to incredible lengths to protect our belief system but how, really, do we differ from those who believe something just because? Just because of the way they were raised, or their culture has taught them to think a certain way, or those they surround themselves with have fed only one kind of belief system into their head?
The next time you approach an argument, think about that. Are you on the side of reason or emotion?
