Books.....a dilemma
So, I am a lover of books. Anybody that's known me anywhere from age, oh, seven up until now knows that. By far my biggest "book phase" was in late elementary school into middle school. At a time when nothing else filled my free time but homework, every second I had open was spent with my nose stuck within the pages of a book.
I have read all genres. I started out loving the classics....A Cricket in Times Square. Stuart Little. Strawberry Girl. The Little House series. I began to develop a weird fascination with death when I hit my preteen years, and so I read those cheesy groups of paperbacks about young teenagers who were battling cancer (I believe the titles were something to the effect of, "Six Months to Live"). I got into the whole Babysitters Club club....picking my favorite character and trying so hard to be like her in real life.
Then came the years of having no time to read except that which was required of us for school. I was introduced to The Great Gatsby, Lost Horizons, and A Tale of Two Cities. I loved some, hated some. Some inspired me.....some appalled and disturbed me. Yet I knew that I had to read even the undesirable plots lest I receive a bad grade that semester. You just can't fudge those pop quizzes; I tried my hardest.
In college, our reading choice horizon grew. We could actually pick an author or theme and focus on it, just as long as we wrote a 30-page dissertation on the underlying symbolism or application to current events. I was fascinated with Nathaniel Hawthorne, and so I did an entire solo semester on a project using his works. I even made sure I went to see his grave when we traveled to New England shortly after graduation.
Here's my quandry. I'm an adult now. No one to tell me what to read. No one to give me grades on how much I absorb afterwards. And.....no one but myself to govern the morality of the lines on the pages.....to screen which books I will accept and which ones are trash and better left on the shelves.
I am in the middle of a book.....a secular book with religious undertones (but most certainly not a religious publisher). I will refrain from giving the title, but let's just say that I am at the point where I have to decide whether to keep reading or stop. Why? Because there is an inference that a marital affair might happen. My conscience (and every part of my guilt-tendencies) screams, "No! No! No!" The literary conniseur part of me speculates that I should read it for artistic merit alone, enjoying it for what it does have (exceptional word imagery and incredible use of the almighty adjective).
What is a Christian to do? Do we shield ourselves from all things "pagan" and cease all reading of things which are not either blatantly God-glorifying OR generic and humdrum..... Or do we read out of the box sometimes so we won't become such separatists that we become self-righteous?
This is something I've struggled with for a very long time. I would appreciate your thoughts.
I have read all genres. I started out loving the classics....A Cricket in Times Square. Stuart Little. Strawberry Girl. The Little House series. I began to develop a weird fascination with death when I hit my preteen years, and so I read those cheesy groups of paperbacks about young teenagers who were battling cancer (I believe the titles were something to the effect of, "Six Months to Live"). I got into the whole Babysitters Club club....picking my favorite character and trying so hard to be like her in real life.
Then came the years of having no time to read except that which was required of us for school. I was introduced to The Great Gatsby, Lost Horizons, and A Tale of Two Cities. I loved some, hated some. Some inspired me.....some appalled and disturbed me. Yet I knew that I had to read even the undesirable plots lest I receive a bad grade that semester. You just can't fudge those pop quizzes; I tried my hardest.
In college, our reading choice horizon grew. We could actually pick an author or theme and focus on it, just as long as we wrote a 30-page dissertation on the underlying symbolism or application to current events. I was fascinated with Nathaniel Hawthorne, and so I did an entire solo semester on a project using his works. I even made sure I went to see his grave when we traveled to New England shortly after graduation.
Here's my quandry. I'm an adult now. No one to tell me what to read. No one to give me grades on how much I absorb afterwards. And.....no one but myself to govern the morality of the lines on the pages.....to screen which books I will accept and which ones are trash and better left on the shelves.
I am in the middle of a book.....a secular book with religious undertones (but most certainly not a religious publisher). I will refrain from giving the title, but let's just say that I am at the point where I have to decide whether to keep reading or stop. Why? Because there is an inference that a marital affair might happen. My conscience (and every part of my guilt-tendencies) screams, "No! No! No!" The literary conniseur part of me speculates that I should read it for artistic merit alone, enjoying it for what it does have (exceptional word imagery and incredible use of the almighty adjective).
What is a Christian to do? Do we shield ourselves from all things "pagan" and cease all reading of things which are not either blatantly God-glorifying OR generic and humdrum..... Or do we read out of the box sometimes so we won't become such separatists that we become self-righteous?
This is something I've struggled with for a very long time. I would appreciate your thoughts.
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