Frequently Asked Questions
Dear Reader: I love to hear from you and I do
answer emails. Below are some questions I've been asked
recently that we thought might be of particular interest.
Pamela
1. What compelled you to write about the Shroud of
Turin? While researching Faith On Trial, I became
interested in the mysterious Shroud, particularly the three-dimensional,
life-like, negative image. No one has ever come up with
an explanation for how that image was created. The most
recent scientific research raises again the question whether
the Shroud might really be the burial cloth of Jesus. So
the Shroud of Turin provided a natural vehicle for the conflict
and mystery in Walk Back The Cat. Unfortunately,
Archbishop Wesley Bright's view that Jesus was merely a
sage, a historical figure and not divine is not unusual
in many academic and religious circles today. In recent
years, even some Christian clergy advocate secular views
of the story of Jesus, teaching that the resurrection is
metaphorical, based on myth and legend. But if the Shroud
is real? What then! As the mystery unravels in Walk Back
The Cat, the reader might find the answer to that question.
2. How do you hope that readers will learn from this
book? In Walk Back The Cat, Wesley Bright, Archbishop
of the fictional Apostolic Church of God, attempts to destroy
the church from within, using the institution, the language
and symbols to corrupt Christianity. I hope readers will
find this book to be a page-turner, that they will enjoy
the story, the characters and their relationships, and unraveling
the layers of mystery while discovering up-to-date information
on the Shroud. But I also hope that in the process, readers
will recognize the subtle methods used by people who hold
themselves out as religious experts and scholars, even as
pastors or priests, while denying the cornerstone of Christianity,
the divinity of Jesus and his resurrection. Wesley represents
these public spokesmen who purport to speak with the authority
of the church or scholarly credentials and teach that the
Gospels are fabrications of storytellers.
3. What do you think of the idea so often preached in
this post-modern world that absolute truth-and an objective
measure for good and evil--do not exist, that human goodness
or evil should be judged only by standards that are different
for different cultures? Secular philosophers have wrestled
with this question for thousands of years. Some, like Kant,
have reduced the idea to one rule for moral behavior-treat
others as you would want them to treat you. Sound familiar?
Some popular writers like Ayn Rand back in the 1960s and
'70s took the blatant position that the only objective standard
for good or evil is human selfishness, or to put it another
way, the instinct for survival. But Walk Back The Cat
points out that all of them have missed one point. It
is agape-the ancient Greek word for the type of love
and sacrifice for the good of others that exceeds self-interest.
Great heroes exemplified agape on 9/11: the firefighters,
police, and ordinary citizens who risked their lives for
strangers with nothing personal to gain and everything to
lose. In many cases they could have saved themselves instead.
What keeps soldiers going in the face of battle and hardship
and pain when one has a choice? In the book, the beggar,
TeeBo, shows that right and wrong exist outside of our 'selves',
outside of our physical world, and that truth is absolute-no
matter how we feel about a thing, like squares are squares,
and one plus one will always equal two. As the mystery unravels
in Walk Back The Cat, Wesley's moral relativism is
confronted with the secret that he learns about the Shroud.
The final choice confronting Wesley is one that often accompanies
driving ambition-whether to acknowledge truth and lose everything,
his power, wealth, and fame, or to live on with a lie.
4. You practiced law for twenty-five years and were
a partner in a major law firm. What made you give that up
to write? I loved practicing law, working toward common
goals with teams of lawyers and clients, putting deals together,
traveling, and solving problems. But sometimes over the
years a thought would arise-as quick as the beat of a wing-just
a stir in the air while I rushed through airports, hotels,
conference rooms. Why are we here? That question began to
loop through my mind after the tragedy of 9/11. I realized
that everything that I had accomplished as a lawyer was
temporary-interest rates go up or down, business deals are
modified, people change, goals change. When my son was grown
and happily living on his own, I decided to find the answer
to the question: what is the purpose of life? Is this now
all there really is?
So I began my spiritual search as an agnostic, starting
with history and philosophy. That led me to research and
write Faith On Trial. In the course of that experience,
I learned that Christianity has an answer to the question,
and the answer is steady and concrete. Christian faith does
not rise or fall on speculation, on the musings of individuals-it's
based on verifiable facts. That gave new meaning to my life.
It's a great comfort in the face of disasters, terrorism,
and nuclear threats. In this new millennium we often find
ourselves slip-sliding along on the shifting sands of moral
relativism, searching for truth, trying to understand what
is happening around us.
My energy now is focused on writing, not law. If anything
that I write has a lasting positive impact on someone else's
life, or provides for him or her a moment of joy or hope,
that will make me happy.
