Ted Dekker Quotes

Pain or perspective, that’s the choice.’ . . . You choose pain – you choose to fight it, deny it, bury it – then yes, the choice is always hard. But you choose perspective – embrace your history, give it credit for the better person it can make you, scars and all – the choice gets easier every time.

My writing is a very authentic journey of discovery. I’m going out there to learn who I am. My readers, consequently, take the same journey as my protagonist.

Thrillers provide the reader with a safe escape into a dangerous world where the stakes are as high as can be imagined with unpredictable outcomes. It’s a perfect genre in which to explore hard issues of good and evil, a mirror that allows the reader to see both the good and not so good in themselves.

My research for ‘Adam’ affected me profoundly, particularly the research into evil’s underbelly. We tend not to think about evil until it pokes its head out of the air about us and then it tends to scare us silly. As well it should.

While the older generation is content to sit around and critique culture, that culture is moving beyond them. At some point the traditional church and all of the expressions of that church will become essentially irrelevant.

There’s always risk in life’s most rewarding pursuits, isn’t there?

The light came into the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it, but that no longer mattered because the light was now obliteration the darkness.

The good news is that even though we walk through this valley of death, we don’t have to fear, at least not for ourselves! Unfortunately, there is no way to skip over the valley altogether, we must face death and the evidence of evil all around us. But there will come a day… And what a day that will be!

Most believers struggle to really believe in the supernatural as a meaningful, deterministic reality except during moments when they are drawn to it, perhaps during a worship service or while reading a novel like ‘Adam.’ Being drawn to this truth is the first step to living a life in accordance to this truth.

My journey is so similar to everyone else’s journey, because we all are human. We all have been defeated by the powers of darkness, and we all find redemption in the light of Christ.

There is indeed good and there is indeed evil, and both walk the earth. But good has little to do with the forms of religion, and evil has as little to do with so much behavior condemned by religion. Both good and evil vie for the passions of the heart. For love!

What matters is discovering myself under the veneer, under the layers that are wrapped around me. There are two ‘yous’; there’s ‘you’, the real you, and then there’s the image.

Turn to the light. Don’t fear the shadow it creates.

…It’s not that you don’t have the capacity to accept the truth. You don’t want to accept it, and you hide behind your own logic and intelligence while the truth marches by. Step out and join it, for goodness’’ sake! Shout it out in full step! I believe!

I always managed to get in trouble, like every kid. But I had to learn a lot of hard lessons on my own, without parents who would nurture me and guard me through that part of life, at a very young age.

It is critical that writers who embrace the light of Christ’s redemptive love characterize the darkness arrayed against us in a way that is consistent with its true nature.

It’s critical that we use a very dark brush to paint evil. When you bring the light into that darkness as characterized in John 1, that light is very vivid. When it dispels the darkness, we see the brilliance that’s there.

All my books are very spiritual. I started out writing what was most natural to me, many years ago, which is religious, because I grew up in the jungle, the son of missionaries. I want to know, is God real? What’s a priest’s role?

Sin thrives in the dungeon, but slap it on the table for all to see, and it withers rather quickly.

The four rules of writing… 1. Write to discover. 2. There is no greater discovery than love. 3. All love comes from the Creator. 4. Write what you will.

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness cannot understand it

Prayer may just be the most powerful tool mankind has.” ~Blink

I never write my stories as a wake-up call as such. I simply explore the kinds of situations that I find personally challenging by placing characters into situations that challenge them in similar ways.

God is with me. Jesus is near. The Spirit is greater than my fear.

If you could find a way to peel back the skin of this world so to speak, would you really see this supernatural reality that is greater? Is it true that we fight not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers? Every young person wants to know.

For me, writing is an experience. It’s an exercise in which I want to discover myself by taking my characters to the edges of human experience, to the edges of themselves and then, asking certain questions – about love, what does it mean to love? What’s beauty? What is true beauty?

In the end you will be your own undoing. You can’t escape you.

I think everything we do, on one level or another, as writers, most of our writing is informed by our world view. It’s informed by our own understanding of spirituality; things that matter, things that are important to us. I write about things that matter for me.

But sometimes imperfect tools lead us toward perfect ends.

When I sit down to write a novel, I am exploring my own relationship with God, with the struggle between good and evil, my own purpose.

The world’s bumper sticker reads: Life sucks, and then you die. Perhaps Christian bumper stickers should read: Life sucks, but then you find hope and you can’t wait to die.

…most men and women will yield to the strong currents sucking them into the seas of ruin. Only the strongest in mind and spirit will swim against that current.

How can you hope to recognize good and evil for what they truly are if you have no belief in a moral authority greater than yourself?

Like all of my fictions, ‘Sinner’ is a mirror. Look into it and you will find yourself. What you do with what you see is your choice.

I studied philosophy, religious studies, and English. My training was writing four full-length novels and hiring an editor to tear them apart. I had enough money to do that, and then rewriting and rewriting and rewriting.

Adrenaline dulls reason; panic kills it.

I think everything we do, on one level or another, as writers, most of our writing is informed by our world view.