Questions for the author

Use this forum to discuss the June 2020 Book of the month, "Killing Abel" by Michael Tieman.
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Surabhi Rani
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Re: Questions for the author

Post by Surabhi Rani »

I want the author to focus on the answer to the question of how the story of Adam and Eve is related to the knowledge of self and to talk about the phase of inquisitiveness in the evolution of a spiritual seeker!
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Post by Alexandros92 »

It is at least a bit weird to call these events "historical". Evolutionary, archeologically, theologically and genetically we do know we and the planet are way older than 6000 old. One of the main reasons that Christianity cannot really make it to modern times is a completely unreasonable idea that all Biblical stories are literally true.

In eastern religions, such as Hinduism and Zen (if you can really call it a religion), there are similar ancient stories but it is the meaning that matters not if it is historically accurate. Christianity could have been interpreted, adapted, and kept in modern times if people did not insist that the Old Testament is no different than a history book about Victorian England.
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Post by Thea Frederick »

My question is:
-What made you want to write this book? What inspired it?
-Thea M. Frederick
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Post by biblichore_pages »

I would like to ask the author about his inspiration behind adding fiction to already universally accepted stories.
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Post by tieman55 »

Alexandros92 wrote: 19 Jun 2020, 03:02 It is at least a bit weird to call these events "historical". Evolutionary, archeologically, theologically and genetically we do know we and the planet are way older than 6000 old. One of the main reasons that Christianity cannot really make it to modern times is a completely unreasonable idea that all Biblical stories are literally true.

In eastern religions, such as Hinduism and Zen (if you can really call it a religion), there are similar ancient stories but it is the meaning that matters not if it is historically accurate. Christianity could have been interpreted, adapted, and kept in modern times if people did not insist that the Old Testament is no different than a history book about Victorian England.
Two quick points,

1. The vast majority of geo-chronometers point to a young earth, especially Carbon 14.

2. About religion, you mentioned Hinduism and Zen they are based on pretext. If your religion/belief can't be traced back to "In the beginning" then they are based on a pretext. There is only one beginning, so you must start there. If your going to believe in something, you have to know where the belief came from, if your belief didn't come from history it is fiction. History is our only source of wisdom.
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Post by tieman55 »

biblichore_pages wrote: 20 Jun 2020, 06:42 I would like to ask the author about his inspiration behind adding fiction to already universally accepted stories.
I really didn't think about adding "fiction to universally accepted stories" . . . that was not even a consideration. I like writing so, I just started writing about the mark of Cain, as no one knows what it is/was but I, for some unknown reason, was absolutely sure I did/do, and the, literally, story just fell into place.

I grew up reading mostly biblical commentaries from "smarter" people than I, about the scriptures. Men and women who went to seminary school. Most of the time, I found myself totally unsatisfied by the "experts" explanations of the scriptures.

The funny thing is there was really no experts telling us what the mark of Cain was, so I felt free to go with what I thought the mark was. I ran with that and that writing kind of gave me the freedom/license to take that mojo onto the next biblical verse and then the next, and it was fun and I thought my fictional additions were far more pleasing explanations as to why what happened than I was getting from the"experts".

After doing this for a while, I really came to the conclusion that commentaries as just as subjective as is my fiction. The commentator hides behind their scholar as they profess their "fiction". I still read the commentaries but unless they fit really well, I ignore them, always searching for a context that fits the story told in the Bible and God's nature. And every context must ultimately go back to "In the beginning God created.
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Post by tieman55 »

Joseph_ngaruiya wrote: 17 Jun 2020, 05:18
Lady-of-Literature wrote: 02 Jun 2020, 17:51 I would like to know how long has the story been on their mind? Why did they choose now to write it?
This must have taken the author quite some time. I would also like to get an answer to your question.
So, I was listening to a bible study on tape and the pastor, a friend of mine, mentioned the mark of Cain. . . That caught my ear as he said that "no one knows what it is" Well, somehow I did, I have always known, I have no idea why I think/believe that I know but I do think I know what the mark of Cain was . . . Anyway I started, that day, a short story on it and in 6 months, it was at 85,000 words. It just fell into place, it was as easy as anything I have ever done.

I gave it to an editor and they told me to add dialog, and that process repeated it self at least 6 times. Editors, always wanting more words, I got to 130,000 and they wanted more, but I told them no more and I even cut some. I could have easily made it 150,000 but that is just too long.

The editing process is far more work than the writing, far far far more work. I am still editing, editors argue about commas, hyphenated words, semi-colons, phrasing, it doesn't seem to ever stop, OK, so I like a lot of commas, I do. I love to think, it is my favorite thing to do, and commas give me time to think about what I just read . . . So, I had tons of extra commas, the editors cut probably a couple hundred of them. I also love ellipses. love them as they give the reader even more time to think. They cut at least 70 percent of my ellipses . . . Now, on onlinebookclub.org my readers are telling me to add commas back, which I like. So I have added about 30 commas back in, over the course of being on this forum.
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Post by Christabel Uzoamaka »

I would like to know the imaginative process it took the author to reimagine Bible stories in the way he did.
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Post by Alexandros92 »

tieman55 wrote: 20 Jun 2020, 09:47
Alexandros92 wrote: 19 Jun 2020, 03:02 It is at least a bit weird to call these events "historical". Evolutionary, archeologically, theologically and genetically we do know we and the planet are way older than 6000 old. One of the main reasons that Christianity cannot really make it to modern times is a completely unreasonable idea that all Biblical stories are literally true.

In eastern religions, such as Hinduism and Zen (if you can really call it a religion), there are similar ancient stories but it is the meaning that matters not if it is historically accurate. Christianity could have been interpreted, adapted, and kept in modern times if people did not insist that the Old Testament is no different than a history book about Victorian England.
Two quick points,

1. The vast majority of geo-chronometers point to a young earth, especially Carbon 14.

2. About religion, you mentioned Hinduism and Zen they are based on pretext. If your religion/belief can't be traced back to "In the beginning" then they are based on a pretext. There is only one beginning, so you must start there. If your going to believe in something, you have to know where the belief came from, if your belief didn't come from history it is fiction. History is our only source of wisdom.
Thank you for your answer.

Two quick points,
1) Evolutionary, it is almost impossible to state that our species is less than millions year old. There is a very interesting short video from Vox called "Proof of evolution that you can find on your body". Nola Taylor Redd from space.com mentions:

"By dating the rocks in Earth's ever-changing crust, as well as the rocks in Earth's neighbors, such as the moon and visiting meteorites, scientists have calculated that Earth is 4.54 billion years old, with an error range of 50 million years"

You can find similar articles everywhere on the net.

(Although if you have some bibliography on that I would be glad to check it out. )

2)I do not understand if you literally believe that there used to be only two human beings that later multiplied. I prefer to believe it metaphorically. How could just two people give birth to humankind? Religion does not to be historical, just to describe the truth in simple terms so people can understand it :) There is nothing wrong with a metaphorical interpretation of the Good Book.
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Post by tieman55 »

If your proof is that you found something on the internet that agrees with your belief . . . well then we both are right, as I can surely do the same.

If you don't start at a beginning you will be lost. In the beginning God created and He said it was good. If you have alternative to that beginning, feel free to share that with me and we can perhaps start from there and see if your beliefs have a strong foundation to rely on. Or if you don't believe there was a beginning we can look at that issue.

As far as the age of the earth, it is a matter of history, that is confirmed by many geochronometers, the earth and the universe are young.
Just one of many earth clock's is Carbon 14, it is found in dinosaurs bones that to this day are still in the process of decaying, as the stench when digging up their remains can become overwhelming. Carbon 14 is found in diamonds, it is found everywhere on earth. Heck coal has enormous amounts of carbon 14, it just can't be old.

In the preface to my book, I say "history exist apart from religion" and you above agree. I then say if you have a context for every historical event you don't need religion and I don't.
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Post by Ballbender »

There must be an inspired connection between all the stories. I will like to know the connection of the stories presented.
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Post by Ada Ling »

This is a very interesting book. What trigger the author to write this book?
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Post by Sanju Lali »

What inspired and motivated you to write this eye opener book ?
life is only knowing the unknown, we can do this by reading books easily- Online book club is a great place for this. This is what I believe.
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Post by Sally_Heart »

Does the author believe that his work will truly remain to be considered as a work of fiction? Does he truly believe that he is just being creative or is his aim to bring something new to the table fabled from his own creative beliefs?
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Post by LiLj »

I would like to know where the author got this idea to expand on the bible with fictitious stories that are no where to be found in the actual bible, it is a very interesting idea.
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