As an author of fantasy fiction, I have often been challenged on some of the things that I choose to write about. Well-meaning readers and concerned parents want to know how I handle violence and romance in the stories. These are fair questions, but might they be handled better by first asking another? Do we censor the Bible for young readers?
I read the Bible cover to cover when I was ten-years-old. It was an eye-opening experience and mind-boggling as well. It was full of good and evil and made me aware of things that were, quite frankly, taboo to young conservative Christian homeschoolers. Do we censor the Bible for young readers in the same way that we do other books, or is a double standard being applied?
Unfortunately the majority of conservative youths will first be educated on sex, romance, violence, betrayal, and many other things when they move out from their parents’ protection… by the secular culture.
Such was the case with me. My first interactions with people in various work environments exposed me to cursing, violence, drug addicts, and promiscuity. Fortunately for me I had already read a lot about these things when I had read the Bible cover to cover. I read about incest, murder, war, cursing, and many other things that corrupt and destroy our world. As a result I was not surprised by them, even though it was a harsh reality to face. Coming into contact with these things in person was far different than simply reading about it.
I made friends with people who were destroying their own lives with drugs and such, and to this day I still think of some of those people fondly but sadly. I was never one to do things just because someone said to. When I wanted to learn about a subject that my parents hadn’t discussed with me openly, I would turn to the encyclopedias and the dictionaries and start researching from there. Later in life the internet played a big part in that as well.
The Bible is not a “sail bright and easy” book. It details horrible deeds. But it also tells the truth of other things that are quite wonderful and often avoided by concerned parents. Some people will disagree, but I believe that it is clear that the Song of Solomon is clearly an erotic tale of a real couple’s experiences.
This brings forward the question: should we censor what is being read by our youths? I do not have a full grasp of this, but I do believe it is folly to let the world answer these questions that our children will raise. An acquaintance of mine once put it very aptly: he would rather that his daughter saw something on a movie that she was watching with him, and that he could then discuss it with her then and there, than that she should see it elsewhere and have someone else interpret it for her. Others who do not have our youths’ best interests at heart are all too willing to teach them, filling in the gaps as it were.
I do not believe that we need to censor the Bible, well probably most any other book as well. But we do need to ground them in a consistent Christian worldview if we want them to make good choices. This is an enormous task but a fascinating one to consider.
When I am writing my fantasy stories, I am looking to create a world that the readers can be absorbed in. I don’t want something that is so watered down that it loses its realism. I do not want to state that something is wrong in the story, instead I want to show the reader. After all, when you live it through the characters’ eyes, the consequences become evident and the choices that they made become clearly good or evil.
Q: Should we censor parts of the Bible for young readers?
You ask important questions, Scott. Christians frequently take concepts like “be in the world but not of it” and “set you mind on things above, not on things below” as commands to withdraw from the world. And so there is the poignant corollary that we avoid being “so heavenly minded that we’re of no earthly good.”
On the other hand, there are Christians that say “all things are lawful…” and jump right into Game of Thrones without realizing the profligate and wanton glorification of evil triumphing over good that is on every page.
So, how do we remain “on the horse,” as it were without falling off either side.
I would begin with your foundational question: should we censor the Bible? The only correct answer to this is a resounding NO! Do we even dare to tamper with God’s holy Word? He gave us those scenes of sexual perversion, brutal violence, and detestable idolatry so that we would know much about ourselves but also how great is His love and mercy for us who do these things!
But do we feed stories of child sacrifice to our five-year-olds? Well, no…don’t be stupid parents, either.
Stay on the horse. By the time your child is mature enough to understand the more heinous sins, he should be reading about them…in Scripture!
Bottom line: if we were to censor sexuality, we would never know the vital truths that God detests homosexuality, forgives David’s adultery, and blesses the marriage union. If we censor violence we would never understand the judgment AND grace present in the utter destruction of the Flood, nor would we grasp the importance of wiping out all the idolatrous peoples from the Promised Land. But more importantly–vastly more importantly–if we censor the “objectionable” material from Scripture, we would never encounter Christ on the Cross.
Our very hope and faith is based on lies, corruption, and horrible–ghastly–violence in the greatest perversion of justice the world has ever seen. Of all people, Christians should understand this.
Amen! Well said!
Yes indeed! The knowledge of evil reveals the extent of God’s mercy.
Wow! Really opened my eyes on some things.. I’m going to share this with the youth and children’s pastors at my church. This is very helpful and goes right with some topics that are being discussed within my church and family today.
I’m glad you found it helpful. Too often our Christian community is afraid to approach these difficult subjects.
Thanks you for this insightful look at the approach to literature, Scott!
It’s very true that the Bible covers a lot of interesting information as well as shocking accounts of history. And yet, God uses these broken people!
It is true that we would rather interpret the harshness of the world with the next generation in a way that they would have a well grounded and solidly based foundation from God’s word first.
In my own writing, I wish to touch on or suggest topics and the evil they present without openly displaying it “on the screen” — get the point across of something evil in the world without blatantly glorifying it. The Bible didn’t do this, so neither should we.
Yes, we should admit there is, in fact, evil in the world, but we don’t have to glorify it. It’s a tight balance we Christians face, but with God all things are possible. ^_^ Thank goodness for that!
Again, thank you for sharing this, and I hope we can all keep moving into a deeper and closer relationship of faith with God so that we can know better how to address these situations in the moment.
Thank you.
Yes the Bible never glorifies the evil, and that is exactly the point. But it also speaks in clear detail on many things that our Christian communities would rather censor.
Excellent post, Scott. To answer your question, we should definitely not censor the Bible for young readers. A verse that comes to mind is Acts 20:27, ““I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” I read an article that quotes D.A. Carson explaining this:
“When Paul attests that this is what he proclaimed to the believers in Ephesus, the Ephesian elders to whom he makes this bold asseveration know full well that he had managed this remarkable feat in only two and a half years. In other words, whatever else Paul did, he certainly did not manage to go through every verse of the Old Testament, line by line, with full-bore explanation. He simply did not have time.
What he must mean is that he taught the burden of the whole of God’s revelation, the balance of things, leaving nothing out that was of primary importance, never ducking the hard bits, helping believers to grasp the whole counsel of God that they themselves would become better equipped to read their Bibles intelligently, comprehensively.
It embraced
1. God’s purposes in the history of redemption (truths to be believed and a God to be worshiped),
2. an unpacking of human origin, fall, redemption, and destiny (a worldview that shapes all human understanding and a Savior without whom there is no hope),
3. the conduct expected of God’s people (commandments to be obeyed and wisdom to be pursued, both in our individual existence and in the community of the people of God), and
4. the pledges of transforming power both in this life and in the life to come (promises to be trusted and hope to be anticipated).”
So basically, the Bible is a window into the whole counsel of God. Our Creator has specifically crafted His Word to shape His people’s hearts and minds. If we not not know what we are turning away from (sin), we will not know the glorious hope that Christ offers to His people.
“…the Bible is a window into the whole counsel of God.” Well said! That summarizes it very well. We could not know the light if it were not contrasted against the dark. Part of the point of my article was also to point out that we are uncomfortable with “R”-rated material, when in fact the Bible itself is often R-rated. (Not sure I am wording this right, but hopefully you understand). Let’s judge our standard by The Standard (God’s word).
I will write on this again and touch on it in more detail when I feel brave enough