The debate over reading or otherwise imbibing fiction goes back even to the 1500s.
For example, in 1579, previous poet and playwright Stephen Gosson, perhaps
having seen earlier writings that lumped vain plays together with dicing and
dancing (Oh, horrors!), repented of his earlier work and made a tract titled The School of Abuse, Containing a Pleasant
Invective Against Poets, Pipers, Players, Jesters, &c. in which he
wrote,
Let us but shut uppe
our ears to poets, pipers and players; pull our feete backe from resorte to
theaters, and turne away our eyes from beholding of vanitie, the greatest storm
of abuse will bee overblown, and a faire path trodden to amendment of life. . .
. If players can promise . . . and make it good in their Theaters, that there
is nothing there noisome to the body, nor hurtfull to the soule, and that every
one which comes to buy their jestes shall have an honest neighbor . . . goe
thither and spare not, otherwise I advise you to keepe you thence.
To this, Sir Phillip Sidney wrote
his famous response titled The Defense of
Poesy, in which he emphasized the value of poetry—fiction—in education and moral
edification, saying, “Poetry therefore is an art of imitation . . . a speaking
picture with this end, to teach and delight.”
Educators have embraced the idea of delight more in the last century
than ever before because they’ve witnessed how necessary delight is to
successful instruction, just as “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”
Similarly, we’ve seen a burst of
children’s fiction in the past century. As
for teaching, though, one may argue that all stories teach something because
authors can’t avoid communicating a worldview—their own or their characters’—and
this sends readers subtle messages about life and reality, relationships
between people, and good verses evil.
This subtle effect on our minds is
why some Christians today still feel we should restrict our reading and writing
to work that explicitly glorifies God.
Then, they say, our minds and hearts will be less likely to stray from
God, godly matters, and the work He’s given us on earth. Other, more moderate Christians merely advise
us to use our good judgment and choose our reading material based on verses
like Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.”
This is wise instruction to live by. Yet, we mustn’t think the verse would have us
read only stories of sugar and fluff. What
is commendable and excellent may still show worldly realities. For example, Scripture, which
is “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be
complete, equipped for every good work”
(2 Timothy 3:16-17) plainly presents humanity’s X-rated history, including
murder, rape, lying, thieving, idolatry, and nearly every other evil humans
have conceived.
It would seem, then, that reading about ungodly ideas and actions is not
necessarily wrong—at least in the context of history or when the story goes on
to reveal God’s sovereignty and the godly view of right and wrong. Then what of stories that do not reveal this?
Must we avoid them?
It depends.
What an vague, unsatisfying
answer! But what edifies one person may
lead another astray. The books themselves
cannot make us believe heresy or act sinfully. However, incorrect ideas within a seemingly
benign bundle of paper and ink and glue (or of electronic ones and zeros) may influence
us and may result in sin when
readers believe and act on them. Thus, if
we find ourselves being led astray or notice that what we read makes our
siblings in Christ—or unbelievers we’re witnessing to—stumble, we need to steer
clear of it.
We can take guidance on this matter
from Romans 14, where Paul tells believers not to pass judgment on disputable
matters. He referred specifically to
eating food given to idols, drinking wine, and holding certain days as holier
than others—issues that then divided the Church in Rome. Still, Paul’s words are applicable for other
disputable matters such as reading fiction:
It is before his own master that
he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him
stand. One person esteems one day as
better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. [However,] if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking
in love. By what you eat [or read], do not destroy the one for whom Christ
died . . . It is good not to . . . do anything that causes your brother to
stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the
one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But
whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from
faith. For whatever does not proceed
from faith is sin (v. 4-5, 14-15, 21-23 ESV, bold mine).
In other words, if we read a book we feel is not wrong to read, then we have not done wrong; if we read
something despite feeling that it’s sin, we have sinned. This sounds as though sin is subjective; the Law
will not change from person to person, and I cannot imagine a single Christian arguing in favor of reading books written for only sinful purposes (erotica, for
example). However, “sin” refers to any disobedience,
and if we have an understanding with God or feel our conscience warning us against
certain books, then we must obey even if other Christians do not feel the same
prompting. As we mature in Christ, we
may feel freer to read more books, restricted from more books, or simply given
a preference for different books than we used to prefer.
Where we do not have guidance from
the Spirit or our conscience, I will say this: I believe it is possible to
enjoy the good, edifying parts of a book and overlook the bad without sinning. Certainly Christians have written fiction involving
magic and great evil (consider Tolkien and C.S. Lewis) that still possess a
great Christian message. Some
non-Christian fiction likewise includes magic, swearing, erroneous philosophy, or
unfortunate “adult” passages while the majority of the story presents an edifying
tale of hope or friendship. Using a
non-fiction example, Christians can read Darwin’s Origin of the Species,
Marx’s Communist Manifesto, or even the Qua’ran without sinning if we
keep our intentions pure—to understand non-believers’ points of view so that we
may debate or appeal to them more knowledgeably—and if we do not allow ourselves
to be taken in by the false ideas. To
that end, we must read prayerfully and constantly “test the spirits [or philosophies]
to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into
the world” (1 John 4:1). Likewise, if we
find that reading—or what we read—causes us to sin, we must bravely cut it out of our life; “It is better for you
to enter the kingdom of God [crippled, lame, or with one eye than] be thrown into
hell” (Mark 9:43-47 ESV).
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