The Positive and Stephen King

This past April, I began the epic task of listening to the entire book, The Stand, by Stephen King. Although I don't think King is a big religious fanatic, I found it interesting to see how much my faith in God grew through the reading of this book.

Let me begin by saying that I tend to question my beliefs. In fact, I question them on a near daily basis. However, the way that King brings about the idea of God in this book and His interaction or lack thereof at times with the survivors truly inspired and amazed me. At one point, an agnostic speaking to Mother Abigail (who basically represents God's chosen One) "says" (he's mute) that he doesn't believe in God. She simply laughs at him and responds with "that's ok. He believes in you." Although it isn't a long response, it seems to sum up what I needed to hear about God at that moment.

In a much later chapter, when four main characters are sent out to face Randall Flagg and his disciples, it is well-known that they will all probably die before accomplishing this. One of the main characters, Franny, is furious that her lover is one of them and yells at Mother Abigail saying that this God is a sadist who enjoys causing people pain. He allowed millions to die, and now he is continuing to call for death. In response, Abigail heals Franny's back, and Franny insists that it's a bribe. Abigail responds that it's just God's faith in her.

It fascinates me to see an author like King, who tends to be so much gloom and doom, opening his mind to more optimistic ideas about our world and beyond. Perhaps he didn't mean to do this, but it influenced me more than I initially thought. It speaks that not everyone believes in a God who chooses to destroy things, but He rather lets Man make the final decisions, such as the case in this book with men choosing to create a superflu that is accidentally released.

Continuing with King, I used to praise his horror-writing ability, but I am finding that after reading The Dark Tower, The Stand, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and his newest not-as-scary short story collection, After Sunset, I tend to enjoy his non-horror writing even more. He's descriptive and humorous while telling tales of sorrow and tragedy, and his messages in most of those books listed are those of hope and mystery instead of horror and pessimism. I guess if you're reading this and wrote the guy off based on a bad horror book, i.e. Rose Madder. I would gently push you into trying one of the non-horror books and see what I've seen, a man who tries to find meaning in some unlikely places.