Fahrenheit 451
Heather contributed with the following comment:
“This is another thing I’ve found interesting about conservative Christianity in general — discouraging members from reading books that promote opposing viewpoints. Or just reading books on those opposing viewpoints that are written by conservative Christianity.”
Many of the comments that are made by readers leave me thinking for some time, and Heather’s recent comment was one of them. So while everyone here was fighting over whether Hitler was an atheist or not, I sat about thinking about what books I have been discouraged from reading, what movies I was discouraged from watching, etc. I tried to remember everything that I was explicitly warned about by clergy or my parents, for strictly religious reasons. Were they trying to protect me? Were they trying to hide something from me? Were they trying to keep me from falling into sin, or challenge God with questions?
When I was a very young boy I was told, by either the church or my mother, to dispense of, not watch, or pay no heed to the following items:
- Song of Solomon from the Bible (too racy)
- An animal show that I liked as a child, that I cannot remember the name of (No, I don’t think it was Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. I was allowed to watch ol’ Marlin Perkins). There was always a segment on this show which described how the animal of the week evolved from some extinct animal to its present day form.
- My Bible Picture Book (my own mother said this was inappropriate, but I’m not sure why – maybe she did not like an interpretation of a particular story?)
- My 45 rpm single of Convoy by CW McCall (it contains the line “eleven long-haired friends of Jesus in a chartreuse microbus”)
- The Ten Commandments movie (half of it was viewed by my church as blasphemous fiction, the other half was ok)
- My dinosaur flashcard set
The following TV shows were banned strictly on religious grounds:
- I Dream of Genie
- Bewitched (church rumor had it that Agnes Moorhead was a real witch)
As I got older, my mother enrolled me in a private Baptist school. The school was in the 3 room basement of the local Baptist Church.
ALL rock music, in fact nearly all music of any kind, was banned at my Baptist school. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Kiss and Elvis (of all people) were given specific attention as being Satanic. I was at least allowed to play some of my music for the principal before he passed judgment. He banned everything I played for him except an ambient snippet of a Kansas song that I used for a school play. The music I played for him, hoping for acceptance, included the bands Yes, Rush, Devo, Jethro Tull and Moody Blues. I didn’t even try to play him other stuff I liked that I thought had no chance of passing through his filter. I was also really getting into jazz at the time, but he put a stop to that, claiming all jazz to be self-indulgent and not glorifying to God. My mom was much more accepting of my music than that school, but she did confiscate my brother’s Love Gun LP by Kiss.
These are all books that I was threatened with confiscation by my Baptist school. They never outright took these from me, but I was told never to read them on school grounds again. I was caught reading these mostly in the bus to a basketball game or during lunch. I admit that while I did enjoy all these books, I sometimes blatantly read them on school grounds just rattle the Baptist principal’s cage. My version of geek teenage rebellion, I guess.
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
- The Hobbit by Tolkein
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by Tolkein
- The Silmarillion by Tolkein
- The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Illearth War by Stephen Donaldson (if memory serves. It was one of the Covenant Books)
- The Time Machine by HG Wells
- Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (This one got me in a
LOT of trouble) - I nearly had CS Lewis’ Narnia series banned, but it was a hard sell.
The game Dungeons and Dragons gave particular ire, and was repeatedly banned by church, school and parents. I tried to get around it by playing a subpar game called Tunnels and Trolls, but nothing doing.
The Baptist school discouraged us from seeing ANY movie in the theater. Fortunately, my mother was a little more liberal than that, as she did let us see movies like The Apple Dumpling Gang and The Lincoln Conspiracy. She did relent and let us see Star Wars when nearly every other teenager on the planet was going. The only movie that I can remember being forbidden to see by my mother for strictly religious reasons was Monty Python’s Life of Brian. I am tempted to include The Exorcist here, but really that movie is not suitable for children anyway so I won’t.
As I got older, nothing was outright banned from me by the church. We are in the United States after all, and it is easier to ban these things from impressionable children than law abiding adults. However, the Pulpit was still used to actively tell us certain movies, books and music were unacceptable to God. The following is a list of things that were strongly discouraged by the churches that I have attended over the years. These are movies that I remember being actively discouraged from the Pulpit:
- The Last Temptation of Christ
- Brokeback Mountain
- Jesus Christ Superstar
- Jackass (TV Show)
- Beavis and Butthead (TV Show)
- The DaVinci Code
- Phenomenon
- The Prince of Egypt
- Bruce Almighty
- Rent
- Cheers (TV Show)
- The Simpsons (TV Show)
Strangely enough, I was actually encouraged to see The Omen by one of my Bible teachers.
For some reason, books seem to get more attention than movies. These books were named and actively discouraged by churches that I have attended:
- The Apocrypha of the Catholic Church Canon
- The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
- Holy Blood Holy Grail by some folks I can’t remember
- Catcher in the Rye by Salinger
- The Urantia Book by.. by Space Aliens I guess
- The Harry Potter Series (I live just a few miles from a church which sponsored a Harry Potter book burning a few years back)
- Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
- The Miracle of Seed Faith by Oral Roberts
- Quest for the Historical Jesus by Albert Schweitzer
- Anything by John Shelby Spong
- Anything by Erich Von Danikan
- Anything by Henry Miller
- Good Morning, Holy Spirit by Benny Hinn
- I’m OK, You’re OK by Thomas Harris
- The Book of Mormon
- Dianetics by L Ron Hubbard
- The Gospel of Thomas
- The Gospel of Judas
The number of musicians we were warned of from the Pulpit are too numerous to mention. But there was one incident that will live in my memory forever. A number of years ago I had a prayer meeting in my apartment, and everyone noticed my enormous collection of LPs (I had several hundred at the time – music has always been a passion of mine). After several hours of Holy Conviction by my hyper-Pentacostal buddies, and convinced of my own sinfulness against God, I willingly threw every last one of those LPs in the dumpster – well almost. I saved only two LPs that I did not tell my friends about. One of them contained a song called ‘He is Sailing’.
This is an enormous amount of effort by others to keep outside influence away from me and out of my Christian life. Looking back at this list, it is interesting to me how long it is, and I live in a very permissive and free nation! I cannot imagine the repressive hell lived by those who have experienced true censorship, or really experienced Orwell’s Thought Police enforcing a Fahrenheit 451-type policy, be it political or church driven. When the Church gains political strength, I think that is when real trouble begins. Given human nature, I have no doubt that had the Christian Church the power and political force that it once had, most every one of these items (and whole lots more that I did not mention) would have been outright banned from our society. It has happened before, it is still happening outside the
United States, and there is nothing guaranteeing it will not happen again.
March 29th, 2007 at 7:58 am
VERY interesting post!! I have been realizing this as well during this spiritual journey of mine–when I started exploring other options besides Christianity, I was amazed at what a narrow, totally detailed yet irrational faith I was taught. I didn’t even realize that I was never given the option to explore anything outside of the faith!
My parents banned a lot too, but their best tactic was more to brainwash through bashing things in front of us impressionable kids. So my parents would trash my uncle (for not being a christian), anything not republican, evolutionary scientists, my grandma (who didnt practice “godly” discipline), other people at church (who raised their kids wrong, let their kids see bad movies, etc)–I cant think of the examples now, but anyone and anything that was not christian (in the narrow way my parents are) was judged, verbally assaulted in front of us, and dismissed. My parents still do this, and their current hurrah is anti-global warming (they dont believe it is real)….but they also taught us it is wrong to give money to homeless people–or even look them in the eye (they will all buy drugs with cash and rape you), all black welfare mothers are abusive to the system and dont deserve help, other countries that are poor need to pull themselves up because America did it, and this is the clincher…nomadic tribes and other more traditional living peoples are–yes–more primitive and less enlightened/civilized than the West. My mom told me that a few weeks ago when I was enjoying a show on the Travel Channel about an indigenous New Papua tribe’s way of life.
anyway, all the years of learning what is bad and why, just served to instill in me a strong fear of Hell–and more importantly, getting on the wrong side of my parents. (This is why they still dont know about my unbelief)
since venturing out of christianity to explore truth–it has become obvious why we are limited in our allowance to explore other options: christianity cannot stand up to general reason, christianity makes up a lot of its answers for itself that cannot be found from without it, and if one truly looks at it from the outside with an objective brain and heart, it wouldnt be that hard for them to leave the faith alltogether
heaven forbid.
another great post, HIS!!! i look forward to reading about others’ experiences…
March 29th, 2007 at 8:01 am
**Song of Solomon from the Bible (too racy) ** Hold on. The viewpoint is that the Bible can always give one answers due to its infallibility and inerrancy … and then you’re told not to read one of the sections in it? Or is that just because you were a child? Was it okay to read when you were older?
And I’m surprised about the Tolkein works, given some of the huge Christian themes.
March 29th, 2007 at 8:38 am
HeIsSailing;
I so feel the frustration and anger in your soul against being controlled or indoctrinated against things that were, in the minds of your leaders, sinful or “bad” influences. I hate being told that I cannot do or see something simply because someone else has decided that it is wrong.
In my relationship with God, I love the fact that He does not ask for blind obedience to a list of rules. When I taught my children, I tried not to do that, either. I felt that if they understood the principles of how things work, and if they were given as much information as they were equipped to understand at the time, they would be able to make wise decisions. God gives us that freedom as well. He definitely has principles that affect how we make decisions, just as knowing that if I touch a hot burner, I will not like the consequences, or if I am careless using a sharp knife, I will get cut. God allows us to learn from experience as well as listening to someone who has already learned. My children did not have to learn everything from experience, otherwise they may not have survived.
God is no less loving and caring than a mother with her children, but He is infinitely more wise. My responsibility as a mother is not to teach my children what to think, thereby making them little copies of me, but to teach them how to think so that they will have the right and the responsibility to think for themselves using all the information available that will affect the outcome of that decision. I don’t know if I am putting this very clearly, but I just want to say that I feel that our generation ( i am a mother of 20-30 yr olds) has done you all a great disservice by trying to think for you instead of giving you the tools to do the job yourselves.
I applaud your searching. Keep it up. The answers are there. Don’t be satisfied until you find them. Believe me, you will know when you do. I have been blessed to know God and to experience His love and His freedom every day of my life.
March 29th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Heather sez:
**Song of Solomon from the Bible (too racy) ** Hold on. The viewpoint is that the Bible can always give one answers due to its infallibility and inerrancy … and then you’re told not to read one of the sections in it? Or is that just because you were a child? Was it okay to read when you were older?”
I was very young when our pastor told my mom that this book was not suitable for children. I guess it was still ok to read the violence in Judges though so go figure, but I am going off memory here. I was 6 or 7 at the time. I read it by the time I was a teenager and nobody seemed to mind *laughing*
Heather sez
“And I’m surprised about the Tolkein works, given some of the huge Christian themes.”
I was not aware of any Christian themes at the time I read it, I just dug sword and sorcery epics back then. My Baptist teachers probably did not like it because it was by Tolkien, who had a reputation for writing about sorcery, and for them that is all it took – I am certain they actually knew nothing about it. A chapter of ‘The Hobbit’ was required reading when I was previously in public school, and after reading that, I was hooked on Tolkien and the fantasy/scifi genre. I WAS aware of the numerous and obvious Christian themes in the Thomas Convenant books by Stephen Donaldson – fascinating stuff!
March 29th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
kittykat sez:
“I so feel the frustration and anger in your soul against being controlled or indoctrinated against things that were, in the minds of your leaders, sinful or “bad” influences. I hate being told that I cannot do or see something simply because someone else has decided that it is wrong.”
Kittykat, I don’t want you to misunderstand. I did not write this article out of anger or bitterness, no not at all. Just an interesting retrospective on what has been restricted from us because of our faith.
more kittykat,
“God is no less loving and caring than a mother with her children, but He is infinitely more wise. My responsibility as a mother is not to teach my children what to think, thereby making them little copies of me, but to teach them how to think so that they will have the right and the responsibility to think for themselves using all the information available that will affect the outcome of that decision.”
Thank you for this. I want you to know that while I may never look at the Bible and my faith the same way again, I am still on the hunt for God, trying to find him, trying to see what he has to say to me and trying to find some relevance to my faith. I am not hurtful or frustrated, no on the contrary.
March 29th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
The first really committed group against official censorship were the founders of the United States. The First Amendment is a fantastic step forward in the history of mankind. I am a Christian, but I am utterly disgusted by the kind of behavior Marie attributes to her family. Man, no wonder her consideration is to “deconvert”. I would to, if that is the faith I’d been subjected to. I read a fascinating book of compiled correspondence between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, “Ye shall say I am no Christian”, which contains a vast discussion related to this topic. It is very true that we must avoid the domination of one belief system in the political system, particularly if they are prone to censorship. For that reason, I am a member of the ACLU. I consider it a complete perversion of my faith to engage in ideological censorship toward anyone.
March 29th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Shielding children from the world prepares them only to be devoured by it. I’m curious. When did your parents think you were old enough to read Song of Solomon? That’s hysterical.
March 29th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
**I read it by the time I was a teenager and nobody seemed to mind *laughing*** That is hilarious. Because you’d be at an age when you’d actually grasp the themes, as opposed to a child when it would go over your head.
March 29th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
I have always had a serious problem with the modern interpretation of Song of Solomon anyway. I have not read it in a while, but from what I remember, it is full of explicit and amorous language – with slightly vieled references to oral sex and other things. Looking at some of the headings in my Thompson Chain Reference Bible, I see that The Song of Solomon is “regarded it as a Spiritual Allegory, representing the holy affections existing between God and his Chosen People, or Christ and his Church”. The Bridegroom represents Christ, the bride, the church.
Consider Song 4:10-11
10 How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much more pleasing is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice!
11 Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride;
milk and honey are under your tongue.
The fragrance of your garments is like that of Lebanon.
This is interpreted in the margin of my Bible as Christ his love to his Church. Sorry, but BLEEEECH! It is beautiful wedding poetry for a husband and bride, but not something I want to be associated to Jesus with. I have always had a problem with it. I consider Song of Solomon to be what it is – and has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, or God’s love for his people. I just don’t see it.
March 29th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
It is too bad that Christianity is so closely associated with a narrow world view and that there are so many Christians in the world more willing to shut down their critical thinking skills that to be confronted by controversy. I am a Christian. I have been since I was 14. In fact, in about a year, I will hopefully graduate and be ordained as a minister. We don’t do ourselves or our children any favours by putting a barrier up between faith and the world.
Heather, I hope your spiritual journey does not take you completely away from Christianity. Reason and faith do not have to be mutually exclusive and those who would tell you that ideas, especially opposing ideas, can damage your faith, are not mature enough in their faith to consider those ideas.
BTW, I like the title of your post.
March 30th, 2007 at 3:34 am
Elaine, I checked out a few pages on your website. I really like it! I can see how you found this article. Thanks for sharing and good luck with your seminary education.
March 30th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Hi, Elaine.
**Heather, I hope your spiritual journey does not take you completely away from Christianity. **
I’m not sure if you actually meant to address me, or meant to put Heissailing’s name there, but I’ll answer anyway. For the most part, I haven’t lost faith in God, though there are days I have doubts. I have faith that Jesus was His son, and that Jesus offered a way of salvation. But there are many of things about ‘regular’ Christianity I don’t believe.
I tend to fall into the Marcus Borg side of Christianity. I’ve read many of his books, and really enjoyed them.
March 30th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Yes, it was late when I posted this, I guess. I meant to address my post to Heissailing but saw your comments and put you in instead. I haven’t read Borg. Should be on my list of “to read.”
March 30th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
I had a lot of the same things sent my way when I first came to church at the age of 17 – I had to trash all my tapes (a sign of renouncement of the ‘world’), couldn’t watch certain things, and had to censor certain things – which in the end proved to be 80’s ideals that by the mid 90’s seemed to have wore their welcome (or I had just grown up).
Now a days I listen to any music I so please – any tv show – any movie – and any book – I use my own judgement on these things. I make some mistakes (for sure) but I think learning about all angles is a great thing to do (if you want to truly understand an issue). The chuech censoring things actually works against them – in the end.
March 30th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
SocietyVs,
thinking about this list, it is amazing to me how I think Christian censorship has been forced to change with society. When I was in high school in the late 70’s, there was no internet, no multiplex theater (in our town anyway), and cable TV was in its infancy (we had 4 channels abc, nbc, cbs and pbs). It was pretty easy to tell us kids not to listen and watch certain things. Now, there is so much media availabilty these days, sheesh, I don’t know that Fundamentalists even try anymore. I was shocked when I saw my pastor at the movie theater a few years back – these things did not happen when I was a kid!! The movie theater back then was the practically the den of satan!! I guess Christian ethics have to change with society.
March 31st, 2007 at 8:18 am
My parents both became Christians before I was born. I think they were pretty strict with us kids. What we did was considered their business, but what we thought was our responsibility.
We were allowed to watch TV, but we didn’t have one at home. But I don’t remember anything being censored. In fact, when I think back to some of the movies we watched at my aunt’s house, I’m surprised that they never said anything. There were times when I know I read books my parents didn’t agree with, but they never told me not to. They did encourage us to be careful what we put in our heads, but the responsibility for making choices was clearly ours.
I think the things you are talking about are more about cultural norms than Christian ethics.
HeIsSailing, your comments about Song of Solomon are interesting to me. In looking at this book, I am impressed by the different approaches of western and eastern cultures in relation to sex. We tend to focus on the more religiously repressive aspects of the East. However, traditional eastern culture is much less inhibited in referring graphically to the body and its functions, particularly sexual ones. The erotic imagery in Song of Solomon “just feels wrong” to the western mind – but I wonder how much this has to do with our background of Victorianism and Puritanism than any innate sense of right and wrong… Both Shakespeare and Chaucer attest to things not always having been this way – many of their references are what we would call downright raunchy.
There are numerous instances in the Bible where physical things are used to give a sense of the spiritual things, simply because we know the physical so much better. Obviously, the comparison is limited, but it gives us a reference point. I love that the Bible is not too “high brow” to speak our language; to communicate the divine through the physical. I don’t think it goes so far as to present the physical AS the divine, but it starts where we are instead of expecting us to climb up.
In any case, I can see how some of you are having to sort out which of your ideas are based on something in your own self, and which come from your growing-up experiences.
March 31st, 2007 at 10:58 am
As a mother of 3, I find this conversation interesting and thought-provoking. My children are quite young, so I have to make some choices for them at this age. I am the one who picks up the movies at the library, buys the books…etc. So, of course, I am going to choose ones that I feel are appropriate for them. But as they get older, I know this will change. They will begin to have their own opinions of what they want to watch/read. I believe it is important for me to give them certain amounts of freedom in this (and all their decisions) a little at a time, until they are making all their decisions on their own. I think this is important so they are not overwhelmed with too many decsions at once that they are not equipped to handle (because of their experience). I also think it would be equally as difficult for them if I made all of their decisions for them until they are, say, 18, and then handed everything over to them. If I did this, I would not have given them time to develop their own opinions, or the ability to deal with the consequences of their decisions. In short, my role as their mother is to teach them to think for themselves. This should be a 16-20 year process. I am no expert on how to make this happen. I do not want 3 little “me’s” running around parroting what I think; but I do want to impart to them things I have learned and things that I believe to be true. The tricky part, for me, is finding a balance. Mostly, I believe that if I live what I believe – unhypocritically – and practice more than I preach, then I will do well for them. I do have fears that I will want to “protect” them too much – the whole mothering instinct thing. So I pray for God’s wisdom to help them learn How to think, not What to think. I think, mostly, our mothers did what they thought was best for us! If that turned out to be wrong, it’s not because they were sabotaging us, but they were misguided. I hope my children will be able to take the good out of what I did (will do) for them, and leave the mistakes I made (will make). I am a mother; I am not perfect. I do not have all the answers, but I am trying to teach them to find them, just as I am finding them.
April 1st, 2007 at 5:29 am
JennyPo sez:
“HeIsSailing, your comments about Song of Solomon are interesting to me. In looking at this book, I am impressed by the different approaches of western and eastern cultures in relation to sex. We tend to focus on the more religiously repressive aspects of the East. However, traditional eastern culture is much less inhibited in referring graphically to the body and its functions, particularly sexual ones. The erotic imagery in Song of Solomon “just feels wrong” to the western mind ”
JennyPo, please don’t misunderstand. I just re-read the Song of Solomon the other night, and I take it for what it is – it reads like beautiful poetry and wedding ceremonies. The erotocism does not offend me in the least, in fact I quite like it. My problem is when our study Bibles insist that every verse in the Old Testament must somehow point to Jesus (I understand that Jesus claimed the OT spoke of Him, ref John 5:39, Luke 24:27, etc), including SoS. My study bible says that Song of Solomon is an analogy for Christ’s love for his church. Sorry, but I do not want to be associated with Jesus Christ in an erotic manner. I do not want Jesus kissing me (me meaning Me or the Me through His Church), carressing my breasts or telling me how lovely I am. That just smacks of some wierd homo-eroticism that is just alien to my thinking – how am I supposed to relate to a God like this?
I like SoS for what it is – but not an analogy for Christ’s love for us. Again, that is not the Bible’s fault. I don’t think it was ever intended to mean what our Study Bibles have interpreted it.
April 1st, 2007 at 5:50 am
joeyanne sez:
“My children are quite young, so I have to make some choices for them at this age. I am the one who picks up the movies at the library, buys the books…etc. So, of course, I am going to choose ones that I feel are appropriate for them. But as they get older, I know this will change.”
joeyanne, I have no children so all of this is really too easy for me to talk about, but I actually have no experience to back it up. I am sure though that when I do have children I will have to walk the same balancing act. I just find it interesting though, how Christian mores have changed since I was a boy. We had no cineplex, no cable TV, no VCR, DVD, internet, iPods, cell phones, etc.. it was pretty easy to keep the outside sinful world (ie The World) away from us Christian Kids. We could be kept safe inside a bubble. But now that all this instant and easy access to entertainment is available, it seems that Christian morals and mores have changed along with society. The World just can’t be shut out anymore, and Christians have a hard time living in that bubble. I am not a kid anymore, so tell me if I am wrong – but Rock music is now acceptable(Christian Rock is a booming industry now), PG-13 movies are mostly acceptable, I have no clue what parents do about the internet, and I have no idea about what is acceptable on TV anymore.
Consider this example: I remember the first time I heard really strong cursing on TV beecause it was SO SHOCKING! On an episode of MASH airing around 1978, Hawkeye Pierce was having a war of words with a Korean character. At the end of the show, Hawkeye said ‘You son of a bitch’ followed by a long pause for dramatic effect. I was watching that show with my mom, and I felt the face grow hot with embarrassment. I had never heard such language from our TV, and I tell you it was truly shocking. My mom even, did not object or turn off the TV, because the cussing fit the context of the serious subject matter on that particular episode. She was just as strongly affected as I was. You know how mild this seems by today’s standards. Children, even Christian children would not even bat an eye at this.
Society has changed. Christian society has changed right along with it.
April 1st, 2007 at 9:04 am
** I do not want Jesus kissing me (me meaning Me or the Me through His Church), carressing my breasts or telling me how lovely I am.** Mental image, mental image!! Now I must go burn my brain.
April 1st, 2007 at 10:45 am
Heissailing: Yes, I agree that the Christian world has changed along with society. I don’t believe it was ever healthy to have children “live in a bubble”, although I do try to sheild my children from issues that I feel will corrupt their natural innocence too young. For example: when I discuss with them the importance of not going in a car or house of someone they don’t know..etc, I don’t explain in full detail what exactly might happen (child molestation…etc) because I think I can communicate the message without making them aware, yet of that particular horrendous act. I know they will learn about it as they get older, and they should, but not in detail at age 5. In the same way, I try to expose my children to the world around them little by little so they can process each new thing in a healthy manner. They take the time they need to ask questions and develop their own opinions about each issue. If we “protect” our children from issues they will be faced with eventually, we are only delaying the process, and they end up having to deal with many issues all at one time – and that usually without the loving guidance of their parents, because by that age they wouldn’t ask their parents any questions they might have anyway. I do realize that many Christian parents do and did this very thing. In fact many of my extended family chose this route, and my cousins faced many issues at one time when they “got out of the house.” I believe that Jesus’ teaching would lead us to live in the world where we are, but not be “of” it. That means we don’t need to do all of the things everyone else does, but we should be “part of the culture where we live.” When my Dad was a kid, (and his family wasn’t particularly religious) it was a big deal to go to the movie theatre. It was considered “sinful” even by the non-religious. And televisions were no different when they came out. I think that happens in any culture when a new thing is introduced. I guess what I’m saying is: Yes, we do have to live in the guidelines of the culture where we live. Yes, we are exposed to far more in this culture, today, than we were 20 years ago, and then 20 years before that it was different still. But, I believe that living individually before God doesn’t change based on your culture. The way we work it out is different in different cultures. As for the swearing thing: sadly, I would not find it shocking in the least (but I do work at a restaurant – they’re worse than “sailors”), but I do not swear myself simply because I find it crude (that’s apart from taking the Lord’s name in vain, which I find offensive). However, I do realize I am desensetized because of the environment I am exposed to regularly. This is all the more reason to help my children develop their own convictions about these issues, because the world as it is now will only be more so by the time my children are on their own. And, while I expect them to “follow my rules” at this age, by the time they are adults, they will need to have decided what their own rules are.
April 1st, 2007 at 9:54 pm
HeIsSailing sez:
“I like SoS for what it is – but not an analogy for Christ’s love for us. Again, that is not the Bible’s fault. I don’t think it was ever intended to mean what our Study Bibles have interpreted it.”
You may be right here. I won’t argue for this interpretation. All I meant to say (and I didn’t say it very clearly) is that a sexual metaphor which translates into lust in our culture may very well be describing a non-physical intimacy in the culture in which it was written. We suffer from a queasiness about most forms of physical contact that is certainly not world-wide.
Whether or not Christ is in view in Song of Solomon is not an issue for me, but I don’t think that interpretation necessitates the view of Jesus that you have described.
April 18th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
My wife told me last night that she thought that we were denied “secular” books and music to build up the Christian book and music industry. I am not sure that I am there, but it sure didn’t hurt their business. We were remembering those music charts that said “If you like The Clash then you will like The Seventy Sevens.” It was telling you the alternative to worldly musicians artist by artist. One of my ex-contemporary christian musician friends always says the reason he left that genre was that, “Once you’ve seen how the sausage is made you don’t really want to eat it.”