Titles and Honorifics

Titles and Honorifics

Okay. I am going to go ahead and say it. I was up this evening at 2:30 am upset about the events of last night. Right now, I am just writing to sort out my thoughts and try to make sense out of this situation.

I went to prayer meeting last night in Second Life. Among the persistent prayer requests was the pastor of a church whose congregants visit us weekly to pray. What was once thought to be stage 3 renal failure was in fact the result of a bad reaction to certain medications. So, we were all very happy to hear this person had recovered. This is a lady who took over the ministry of the church her husband previously served at before he passed. I will call her Carlotta.

She and many of the people in this church have titles attached to their names, which one can read above their heads. Senior Pastor Carlotta. The folks who come to visit also have titles along with their names, too. Senior Deaconess Desiree. Assistant Pastor Lindsay. Whatever. I generally ignore the titles and just use their first names. Which is fine. Or so I thought.

Before Carlotta came down with her illness and had to be hospitalized several months ago, she confronted me in prayer meeting about why I did not use the titles before the names. I said the answer is quite simple. You are not my pastor. I thought the matter was settled. When Carlotta returned last night, within two minutes, she started asking me in front of the group if I call my doctors “Doctor,” when I go to visit them. I could see where this was going really fast. She was trying to pin me with accusations of why I did not address her and others with these pretentious titles. I said, “No, this is wrong. How rude!” I then logged out before I could say things I could not take back.

I never expected to be chased out of my own church’s prayer meeting. I gave a little cheer “yay!” when I first arrived and saw Carlotta was attending prayer again, after being gone for over two months. One might think that her initial response might be “Thank you for your prayers and steadfastness on my behalf while I was ill.” Nope. It was to sling crap at me. I am truly hurt because I counted these folks as my friends. People who have visited our prayer meeting weekly for nearly a year now. People I had prayed for, and who had prayed for me.

There are a couple of things going on here, and some things I think may be going on behind the scenes. First, this particular group has been asked to leave more than one ministry in Second Life when they visited, for various reasons. Most often it was because they were being overbearing. They have a reputation.

Second, and I strongly object to this, Carlotta was insisting on putting words into my mouth (hers and her followers titles) in order for them to feel good about themselves. She was injecting her church's practices upon us in doing so. This is the precisely what the alphabet crowd does with pronouns. “You didn’t call me ‘they’ which is a microaggression.” It is the exact same thing, and like Jordan Peterson, I absolutely will not stand for anyone putting words into my mouth that I did not choose. I don’t care who they are.

Third, Carlotta did this in front of everyone there. This is not biblical correction. The first time one confronts another Christian, they are to speak one on one with the person they have a grief with. (Which was not done the first time, either.) The second time a Christian confronts another, they are to bring an elder with them for corroboration. This was not done last night, as well. It was a public attempt at correction and coercion, and it was wrong. Even as a teacher, I know to praise in public and correct in private. For a “pastor,” Carlotta does not seem to be following scripture in this regard. I use this word in quotations since a pastor, biblically, should be the husband of one wife.

This got me thinking. Since this accusation of “not using titles” came out at the very beginning of prayer meeting last night, I wonder if the group from this other church had a meeting ahead of time and discussed what they were going to do. In other words, I wonder if the others were in on it to set me up. If, so, this would sadden me greatly. Because it means their titles and honorifics are more important than friendship, than fellowship, than being humble, or treating others respectfully. Which is interesting in that that is what they are accusing me of being- disrespectful.

If this is true, if Carlotta decided with others to go ahead with this planned confrontation, it means that she is in sin, not just for insulting me at my own church’s prayer meeting, but also for leading others in participation of this deed.

This whole situation is absurd. I should not be writing this. I guess they cannot leave it alone. I can’t help but consider that perhaps Carlotta has been wounded in some way that keeps her from giving up her precious titles, for her and for others. It’s hers, her one, her own, her only, her precious... title. In case you are wondering, I do not respond well to being asked to compromise my internal thoughts and values. In this case, being asked to suck up to a prideful and grandiose heirarchy.

To sum it up, I think it is wrong for a church... who is visiting another church's service on that church's land, to demand that they observe the peculiarities of the visiting church's doctrine, and to question and belittle one of the host church's members.

So, this means that I should pray for Carlotta. I will. This also means that I need to examine myself, and my thoughts and actions. I need to beware lest I go down a similar road. What is my own title, my own honorific, that I cannot do without? My only answer to giving this up should be “Yes, Lord.” My prayer is that I yield myself to You in all thoughts, all things and in all ways.

Olympic Issues

 

Olympic Issues

This column has been a long time coming. I have had it on the back burner for a while now, because words, once uttered or written, are hard to take back. I have had to think and consider. Then turn it around. I have had to listen carefully, then shut up, then listen some more. Astute persons will note on my face book page I entered one word on July 28^th, 2024. That word is iconography. By itself, it does not mean much. Behind it is a plethora of thoughts and feelings, brought to the forefront by a tragic display of rudeness, which some people not only defended, but supported. I’m talking about the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in France.

There are three reasons why I am certain the event was done purposefully as an insult to Christianity.

The first reason I am certain this event was staged this way publicly is because of the positions of the actors on one side of the table. This is the same manner in which Jesus and the apostles are positioned in The Last Supper by Leonardo DaVinci. There is no mistaking these poses with the white cloth before the participants took a later picture showing off for the camera.

The second reason is the circular halo around the head of the central character on the table, with rays stretching out. This is supposed to be symbolic of holiness. While it is not limited exclusively to Christian paintings, it is most often associated with a stylistic form of art called iconography, which was used to emphasize a holy life. The paintings done in this manner are sometimes called icons.

The third reason are the words of the central figure in the picture. Immediately following the opening ceremonies, a picture was posted on Instagram by “Barbara Butch.” It stated “Oh yes! Oh yes! The New Gay Testament!” with a comparison picture above and below. Three hours later, this Instagram post was deleted and an excuse was concocted that the picture was meant to portray the Greek gods. Nope. Please see the illustration for this article which is posted.

If you know me and, in any way, shape or form you stuck up for those who did this, you really, really hurt me. More than I can comfortably put into words. I forgive you, but know that this is not something I can quickly forget.

There is a reason why Jesus said in Matthew 5 “Whoever says ‘you fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” The reason is they are calling out God’s creation in a way it was not made. (Thanks to Pastor Eb for his series on the Beatitudes.) When people lower the value of human life, they are demeaning the worth of people who were created in God’s image. God loves the entire world and gave His son for everyone. This portrayal calls Jesus and his apostles in a manner which they are not. This is sinful and shameful. The participants are dressed in a manner to mock gender (in my opinion) and the positions these figures hold in Christendom. All persons are worthy of respectful behavior. Even the thief on the cross received mercy and forgiveness. So yes, I forgive all the persons involved. This event should never be repeated or tolerated, however.

I have lost all possible interest and goodwill in the Olympics. It is no longer a celebration of mankind’s achievements. It has become something worse- a caricature of itself. I’ll post the references in the comments.

G.Houtchens

Armchair Coach

Amateur Historian

Mood and Tone

Mood and Tone

This topic is being addressed because two of my editors each had an issue with the use of tone in my novel. In one case, it was the inclusion of an antagonist which was monstrous, even titanic in size and appearance. In the other, it was the sparse use of dark humor found in my novel which usually takes itself seriously.

But before we begin to discuss these ideas and why I over-ruled my editors on these specific issues, what is tone in writing? And what is mood? How are they different and how do writers use them?  

Mood is how the writer describes the setting. It conveys feeling about the environment in which the story takes place. This feeling is something the reader picks up on, and it should never seem to be forced. If the reader feels like he or she is being manipulated, all cards are off the table, all bets are off, and everyone loses. The introduction of feeling through mood must be… subtle. If the effects are harsh, they must be built up to.

For example, I establish mood with four sentences leading up to an action scene early in the novel. Let’s examine how this scene occurred:

I rolled the driver side window down and let the cool wind blow my hair around.

Mist floated down from above like tiny wisps caught in sweeping currents. The few people who were about hurried along huddled under umbrellas. Headlights from vehicles reflected down into the pavement as if revealing a hidden world under the streets.

First, the hero is out for a late-night drive. The cool wind is a relief and a stress reducer, but it is a false one. The imagery of whisps caught in currents gives the idea of being caught up in events well beyond one’s control (which quickly occurs!) People hurrying huddled under umbrellas allows the mind to engage and turn on the movie projector of suspension of disbelief. Most everyone equates the idea of people huddled against the rain at night with their own memories. Finally, a hidden world under the streets is revealing and instructive of the environment in which the hero is found. All the ideas written in this paragraph are unconscious, but they are effective in creating mood. And the beauty of it is, I wrote the above lines without any of these subliminal ideas in mind. Mood engages emotion through the environment.

So, now that we know what mood is, what is tone? Tone is the author of a novel expressing his thoughts about events through everything else aside from environment. Through dialog, actions, motivations, events, feelings and thoughts, and how these ideas are expressed in words. Tone does not need to always be serious, nor does it always need to be resonant and consistent throughout. However, it should be understood by the reader in order to avoid confusion.

So, where is the Tone inconsistent in my novel and where does it change? There are two specific places that a tone change occurs. The first happens after the beginning of the drama heavy second act. I was not happy that while many events had occurred, all of them involved narrative drama without a lot of action. I needed to accelerate and change the pace, ramping it up. Without this accordion-like expansion and contraction of pace, things become stale and repetitive. The writer needs to engage the reader in more than one way. So, the pace of the story needs to contract and speed up, to give the reader a downhill movement of a roller coaster. Sentences become shorter. Emotions become tighter. The tension needs to be ratcheted up a notch. Then, after the action scene, the pace needs to expand and slow down, so the reader can relax, digest and absorb the implications of what has just occurred. This expansion and contraction of pace happens throughout the story until the end of the act where the tension hits a climax.

So, to incorporate action and introduce changes in the protagonist that were necessary, I introduced an intelligent creature which resembles the Kraken of ancient myth. It is in actuality a summoned being from a different plane of existence. The “Kraken” dwarfs a lighthouse that it grips onto, but is eventually disposed of, killing a number of people our hero has met before it dies.

This deeply affects her. It causes her to re-examine her association with a group of Kindred (or vampires) who are evil in their motivations and considerations of others. She slumps home in the rain, walking, the entire experience weighing her down as she mourns for her friends. It is then that she decides that she does not wish to be a part of this group any more, that she wants to find out if she can become human again which is pivotal. This is the turning point in the story. While becoming a Kindred/vampire is getting kicked out the one-way doorway into adventure, the decision to seek her lost humanity starts here. The deaths of the hero’s friends affect her deeply.

This is why the scene had to take place and had to be included even though my brilliant setting editor, Matthew Dawkins, questioned the appearance of this creature. The ramifications of this scene affect the hero in a vital and personal way throughout the rest of the novel. One might argue it is part of her character arc.

The second objection in tone comes from a different editor, the gifted book tube critic Merphy Napier, in the third act. Normally, one wants to really crank up the tension as they approach the end of a novel. I do that. However, the use of humor can be used to reset tension, which is what it is used for in this instance. A subplot involves the possible reawakening of an ancient ancestor of Clan Malkavian, which would spell certain doom for all modern-day members of that group. I used some dark humor in resolving this subplot to remind the reader that this is an adventure and not everything need be taken with the same dire organ chord. Because it is written this way, the reader can nod, smile and take a breath before diving into the grist and momentum of the final climax of the novel. There are other examples of humor elsewhere in the novel. For example: The northern part of town has buildings that house lawyers. May they be the very first to go when the big quake hits.

I would add that I think it is important to have a sufficient denouement/epilogue to look at the world and how it has or has not changed after the events of the novel. I'd like to thank Matthew for encouraging me to extend my original ending. What happened to the protagonist? Did they survive and if so, did they get resolution? Not all story threads need to be resolved. Some questions are better left unanswered, so at least, they can be considered in the reader’s mind. Additionally, these threads might prove useful in writing a sequel, should the author like to draw inspiration from them.

G. Houtchens

Armchair coach

Amateur Historian