CLICK HERE FOR BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND MYSPACE LAYOUTS

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Reading tastes

Well, recently I have been having a discussion over the Internet about reading tastes and then a friend and I were talking about the books we read and I thought that maybe it would make for a good post and it might help somebody. It started with someone asking what I thought about reading books that were not Christian and how much do I allow in my books. First I am going to give the Bible verses I gave her and then I am going to give what are my standards but they are my personal convictions.
1.Phil 4:8. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things". Personally I think this verse really sets out what should be the standard for any Christian in anything in their life, but I really think it is pretty clear for what we read.
2.Romans 14:21 "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak". This is something else I have thought of before. I need to make sure what I read is not a stumbling block to another Brother or Sister in Christ.
3. "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity". Now I know this is not necessarily talking about what I read but to me it tells me I need to be an example. Which we all are an example, either a good one or a bad one, but I want to be a good one to those around me.
Now, this is where I am going to talk about my convictions. These are my personal preferences for what I read. This person I was dealing with over the Internet asked me about how much profanity, relationships, violence, etc I allow in my books. Personally, I have read books where I had to mark out one swear word, etc. I will allow 2 words, otherwise I get rid of the book. As for the relationships it is kind of hard. I know people who will not read books with any holding hands, kissing, etc. Even if it is a married couple. Personally, I will allow a little, especially if it is a married couple in the book. The one friend I was talking to about this said he had some problems with one fiction series because of all the touching in them. There are some Christian fiction books though that I can't even read because it is explicit in the relationships. I also don't allow fornication, or adultery. That is not something that I believe is allowable even in a fiction book. This person also asked me about non-Christian books. I read a few, mainly non-fiction, and my younger siblings read some older fiction books. There might be some good books out there that are not Christian, but they are very few. Books out there are getting worse and worse. I believe as Christians we need to stand up against these things, but how can we if we are reading them? Or we are reading the Christian things that have the same stuff in them? One last thing she asked me about which I don't think I need to get into was, do you read any fantasy or para-normal books? To me that is definitely out of the picture for any Christian.
If anyone has any thoughts on this, please email and let me know. Hope I haven't gotten anyone upset with this.:)

0 comments: