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It's a sign of good writing. King introduces you to characters who remind you of people that are friends, or public figures.
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Sometimes when reading King, I feel like I've met the characters in another authors book. For instance, Tom in The Stand reminds me very much of Lenny in Of Mice and Men. Only, Lenny is dangerous while Tom is passive.
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Here's a quick list of people I know. . .
--Arnie Cunningham (Christine). Moody teen who becomes obsessed with a thing and transforms into a very dark person. Know any of those?
--How about Alan Pangborn from Needful things. Good cop with personal problems -- but faithful to the end. Yep, met him too! Thankfully, I have never met a Sheriff like the one in Desperation!
--I have known at least one, maybe more, Carrie's. Back in high school, we had a Carrie. Not happy memories, so I'll move on. But again, what made the book so strong was that Carrie is the kind of character you already know.
--Norton! You know, the angry neighbor in The Mist. Ever meet that guy? Thankfully my neighbors have been pretty good, but I do have friend's who have a Nortion.
--Have you ever known Jack Torrance? A dad who loves the bottle more than his family, and will kill if they get in his way. Sadly, I've known a few of them.
--What about. . . drum roll, please . . . Lester Coggins? Have you ever met him?
I've been watching with quiet dread the story of a Florida pastor who decided a great way to get some free publicity is to burn the Quran. The dread comes from the fact that I am a pretty conservative follower of Jesus. So when people who also claim to be Christ followers act crazy, or hateful or like buffoons or just plain stupid -- I fear the reputation will rub off on all of us. And it does. I think pastor Jones might do well to study Paul's response at Mars Hill in the book of Acts.
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A short rant
.I actually found myself thinking: "This guy reminds me of reverend Lester Coggins." Remember him? Under the Dome's fundie preacher who secretly looks at porn, deals drugs and beats himself as punishment. I hated the character in UTD. I found him to be one of King's most unbelievable characters. Suffice to say, I don't know many pastors secretly running a drug operation.
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It irritates me when guys like Jones fuel the fire. I'm not accusing him of dealing drugs or looking at porn; but he does agitate the view that conservative Christians hate anyone not like them. And let's be very honest, burning another religions holy book -- even if we believe that book is wrong -- is a hateful thing to do.
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Like Coggins, there is a sense of genuineness about Jones' beliefs that is scary. You get the sense that even if he doesn't live up to his own ideals, he actually believes them. And other people are ready to follow and drink the kool-aide. Ever heard of Jones Town, gang?
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I read lots of conservative Christan's who are very upset that King characterizes them the way he does. Frankly, Pastor Jones is one of the reasons we get that kind of press. Being strong for our faith, standing firm, does not give us permission to be jerks for Jesus.
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Note this line from the Seattle Times, "The book, according to Jones, is evil because it espouses something other than biblical truth and incites violent behavior among Muslims." I think that perhaps what will incite violent behavior is burning their holy book.
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I can't see Christ behaving this way.
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Ranting Continues. . .
Burning books doesn't make any sense. Where are they getting these Qurans? Are they buying them to burn? Somehow I doubt they have stockpiles of Qurans given to them by their many Muslim friends!
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By burning a book that stands in opposition to Biblical truth, Jones is communicating that Christianity cannot stand scrutiny along side the Quran. The answer appears not to simply burn the opposition. It violently shuts doors and makes enemies of people we are commanded to love. (Commanded means it's not an option, fellow Christians).
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Book burnings! Does it remind anyone of a certain German in the 1930's?
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Back To King
What does it mean when we can spot people we think we've met... only to realize we've met them in a Stephen King book? It might mean we read too much Stephen King! Or, it could be that his characterizations are often on the money. Exaggerated?--Yes! But they still bear enough resemblances to life that we can spot them.
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By the way, Christians who get annoyed that King casts them in a "bad light" might note that he much more often casts writers in a bad light!
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See Seattle Times story "Pastor won't drop his plans to burn Quran on Saturday" at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012845441_quranburn09.html
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