Some say the same thing about another best-seller--it's irrelevant if the stories really happened...what matters is that the essence of it is true...the underlying message of redemption is what resonates...what's important is being moved by the story and connecting to it and having your life changed... That's what Oprah said on Larry King.
That's not what she says now. What she says now is...
- emotional truth does not matter more than facts
- the truth does matter--the underlying message of redemption is not more important than the truth
- if you say it happened--that it's true--then it had to have happened
- if you say it happened and it didn't then it's a lie. Why lie? If this is a lie here, then what else is a lie?
- it's not enough that the characters existed--what you say happened to them had to actually have happened
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was one of the best defenses of the importance of the whole truth of the Bible that I've ever heard--the people had to be real, the stories had to have happened, the facts have to be true...and she didn't even know she was doing it.
