- Books & Idolatry

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Search Our Blog

Jul. 23, 2005

Books & Idolatry

Posted in The Hard Truth

I was just wondering if any Moms preread or preview books before they let their child(ren) read them? I wish I would have done that before allowing my daughter to read the first couple of Mandie series books, by Lois G Leppard. (Review can be found at Keeper's of the Faith) It just goes to show that just because a book has some scriptures sprinkled throughout, or is found in a christian bookstore doesn't mean that it is going to contain pro-family values.

I am noticing more and more so-called "good" books that show kids without parental mentoring, or a close-knit relationship with their parents, or living lives contrary to God's word. In retrospect I have recently found that much of my daughter's attitude earlier in the summer was from reading, and or watching things that nurtured children having independant lives separate from their parents, or parents being a nuisance to childhood fun, or being seen as antagonists. Of course many of these books and TV shows appeared innocent so you couldn't really catch it unless you were paying good attention (thanking the Lord for the fruit of what came from TV FREE WEEK.)

I thought to myself . . . why is it before we go and see a movie, I will always check Focus on the Family site first and find out about the spiritual and moral content, but not do the same with books? As if books are excluded from screening (although I'll read the back jacket and inside covers) because they are in written form & educational. As if books have this life of their own and are full of purity no matter what . . . after all . . . it is the child's love of reading that matter most, not the content right??? How very very wrong.

I am reminded of that scripture which tells us to think on the things that are good and not evil in Philippians 4:8-9:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, 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. The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

If we need to use caution with what we think (our thought life), then shouldn't we be careful with what fuels our thoughts, and the books which influence that? The mind is the spiritual battleground, and we are fighting a daily battle to win the hearts of our children to the Lord and to His purposes and plans for their lives.

My heart is grieved that I see parents everywhere (including christians) flocking to books that promote witchcraft, wizardry and/or demonic power, all in the name of a "good read." My heart is grieved because the protector in me wants to save every last one of them from the consequences to their lives because of the choices made to enter themselves and their children into the entertainment of evil.

Ephesians 5:8-14
"For ye were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord: walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth), proving what is well-pleasing unto the Lord; and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them; for the things which are done by them in secret it is a shame even to speak of. But all things when they are reproved are made manifest by the light: for everything that is made manifest is light. Wherefore (he) saith, Awake, thou that sleepest (spiritually), and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee."

Children will naturally imitate that which they read and see on TV, in the movies, and from books, so shouldn't we, as parents, guard and teach them the difference between what is pure and Godly and what isn't?

3 John 11
"Beloved, imitate not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: he that doeth evil hath not seen God."

Another good question, and one worth reflecting on is . . . can certain books become idols? Can they stand in the way of our relationship with God? The Bible tells us to guard our hearts from idols in 5:21, and the Bible Encyclopedia has this to say about idolatry:

"image-worship or divine honor paid to any created object

Paul describes the origin of idolatry in Rom. 1:21-25: men forsook God, and sank into ignorance and moral corruption (1:28).

The forms of idolatry are:

The worship of nature (trees, rivers, hills, stones, etc.)

Tthe worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as the supposed powers of nature (aka: witchcraft).

Hero worship, the worship of deceased ancestors, or of heroes.

In Scripture, idolatry is regarded as of heathen origin, and as being imported among the Hebrews through contact with heathen nations. The first allusion to idolatry is in the account of Rachel stealing her father's teraphim (Gen. 31:19), which were the relics of the worship of other gods by Laban's progenitors "on the other side of the river in old time" (Josh. 24:2). During their long residence in Egypt the Hebrews fell into idolatry, and it was long before they were delivered from it (Josh. 24:14; Ezek. 20:7). Many a token of God's displeasure fell upon them because of this sin."

This is certainly a wake-up call for myself as a parent to be more on guard to what my daughter is reading, watching on TV, and seeing in the movies (I have to guard my little lamb). God forgive me if I have ever entered into idolatry whether through literature or through my desire for written or visual entertainment. I don't want anything to come between my relationship with you. That scripture that keeps going through my mind rings true:

Psalms 51:10-12 ~ "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with a willing spirit."

I have learned my lesson well and will continue to guard my daughters eyes from literature that does not glorify you Lord and edify her spirit. I am thankful all this came to the light during our TV Free week. BTW- I found a great website (if anyone is interested) that has good book reviews to tell about some of the popular series kids are into. It is from the Keeper's of Faith . I wish they had more reviews to offer, but this will do for now.

What are your thoughts?

<>< Kelly

Post A Comment! Send to a Friend!

Comments

Jul. 23, 2005 - Grace and Truth Books

Posted by CarlaR

Kids are easily influenced - every parent - and every advertising exec, knows it. For this reason, I would highly suggest to you Grace and Truth Books. The owner there is also a blogger here - although he doesn't get the opportunity to blog much.

I've jokingly told him more than once, when we have that great financial windfall some day, I'll gladly empty his stock of family oriented books.

Grace & Truth Books: http://www.graceandtruthbooks.com - and you can locate Dennis here as well! http://homeschoolblogger.com/GraceandTruth

Permanent Link

Jul. 23, 2005 - Untitled Comment

Posted by HappyApple

Love the new look!! Very peaceful!

You already know my answer... lol...
I do think it would be really easy for a book to become an idol... yuppers.

Love,
Di

Permanent Link

Jul. 24, 2005 - I need to be better about this

Posted by LoneStarMama

What was wrong with the Mandie series? Just curious.

Permanent Link

Jul. 24, 2005 - Mandie Series Review

Posted by

LoneStarMama asked what was wrong with the Mandie Series (valid question). I wanted to post the link for "Keepers Of The Faith" that has the Mandie Books review for anyone who wants to read it. Thanks for asking LoneStar Mama ;-)

Keepers of the Faith Book Review on Mandie Series: http://www.keepersofthefaith.com/BookReviews/BookReviewDisplay.asp?key=9

<>< Kelly

Edited by Kellyque777 on Jul. 24, 2005 at 11:20 AM

Permanent Link

Jul. 24, 2005 - I have read the Mandi books...

Posted by MrsStevens95

as a young girl and I loved them. I knew the difference b/t right and wrong and never hid anything from my parents. Well, there were only a few times in my life that I hid anything from my parents (5 that I can think of off the type of my head - and not very well I might add) and it had nothing to do with reading Mandie :) I personally read these aloud to my kids now. We discuss things that might not seem right (in everything we watch and read). I think as you said the parent needs to determine what is appropriate for their children and how to go about teaching them those values and traits. Books can be dangerous and there are some that I will not let my children near but in our house Mandie is not on that list. I just thought I would share my thoughts. I can see where some parents would not want it in their homes though. A personal, parental decision.
~ Rachel

Permanent Link

WELCOME TO
Three Hearts For Home

Join us as we share our journey in homeschooling, real-life and Christ.

May the Lord bless you greatly and may friendship abound in our hearts and lives toward one another.

~ Hubby, Kelly and Pure One

BIBLE TOOLS
Here are some great internet tools that we have found to help us in our daily spiritual lives.

Bible Gateway
Online Concordance with different Bible versions to choose from.

Elijah List
Christian prophetic website with "deep" study resources

Crosswalk
Devotionals, news, music,and forums.

TAKE A LOOKIE AT SOME OF OUR RECENT POSTS

Homeschooled Jr. High'er In The House
Happy Spring and a GREAT Weekend :-)
Awesome Prayer
Seasons of Change
A Quick, but Heart-Filled Update, In The Midst Of Our Bloggy Break:-)

HUBBY Toby Mac
Portable Sounds 2006
Chris Daughtry
Daughtry 2006

KELLY Sean Feucht
Awaken Love - songs birthed in BURN 24/7 Furnaces across the nation
Newsboys
GO 2006
Michelle Tumes
Self Titled CD 2006
Kari Jobe
Self Titled CD 2007

PURE ONE Aisha Woods
Introducing Aisha Woods
Barlow Girl
How Can We Be Silent 2007

I AM Bible Study
A Month Of Thankfulness
Beauty Of God's Provision
Book And Curriculum Reviews
Read Thru The Bible
Friday's Fabulous Find
Family Life
Friendship
Grammar Unveiled
Health and Nutrition
In The Kitchen
Low Cost Homeschool Ideas
Marriage
Organizing
Parenting
Prayer
Prophetic Notes
Poetry
Quotes
Scheduling
Spirit-Led Learning
Thankful Thursdays
The Hard Truth
The Tagged Corner
Titus2Moments
Wordless Wednesday

Kelly is spunky, very unconventional at times, fun to talk with, my best friend, and an incredible Mom and mentor to our dd. She is not afraid to lovingly hear from and tell people the truth when it is required, and is a true covenant friend. She is passionate about her relationship with the Lord, justice and righteousness, and you may see that in our blog. She loves people deeply, and sometimes gets hurt because of it - wearing her heart on her sleeve. Hearing her talk on the phone, laugh and have fun with her friends always makes me grin from the other room. She has great JOY!

~ Hubby

My Current Mood

Kelly's Current Reads If Not For The Grace Of God
by Joyce Meyer

Letter Perfect
By Cathy Marie Hake

A Time Of Departing
by Ray Yungeon

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

Spirit Led Woman Magazine

Hubby is only his online name, and in real life he is a hard-working wonderful techie-guy, who owns his own company, loves the Lord and is passionate about family! Some of his interests are: airplanes gourmet cooking and barbeques, spending quality time with friends, gadget-hunting, golfing and travel. He is also an incredible Father to Pure One, and the love of my life.
~ Kelly

Hubby's Current Reads
From Good To Great, Why Some Companies Make The Leap and Others Don't,
by Jim Collins

If Not For The Grace Of God
by Joyce Meyer

AOPA Magazine
Aircraft Pilots Magazine

Money Magazine

Pure One is our 12 year old daughter, whose real name actually means "pure one." She loves Art, Dance, spending time with friends, Drama class, going to musicals and plays, playing the piano, fashion, video games (in moderation), and anything sports related. She also has a keen discernment about people and is sensitive to the Holy Spirit in a beautiful way. She has such a pure heart of worship before the Lord, and it is so inspirational to us.

~ Mom and Dad

BIBLE/CHARACTER BUILDING
Kids Study Bible, By Zonderkids
The Narrow Way, By Pearables

MATH
Rightstart Math
Calculadder Math Drills
Online Flash Cards

HISTORY
Notebooking & Journaling
The Story Of The World(3)
Early Modern Times (1600 to 1850)

SCIENCE
Alpha/Omega Switched On SchoolHouse
Grade 6

LANGUAGE ARTS/SPELLING
Easy Grammar
Building Spelling Skills
Spelling Notebook & Journaling

THE ARTS
Pure One takes Piano, Art, Soccer, and different classes in our community, along with being on the Worship and Junior Bible Quiz Teams at Church Church.

"The truth is, if we claim Christ, we are never justified in being unkind, cold, indifferent, or cruel. Even if true serious sin needs to be addressed or dealt with, it should be in love, and love is kind, gentle, long-suffering, it seeks to elevate others, it is hopeful, assumes the best, etc. .."

~ Jen Igarashi in her post from June 14th, 2007 "I Wanna Be A Buffalo"

"As parent educators, we need to embrace a new notion of learning. We need to help the child discern the Lords will and equip him to answer his particular call. It is the heart and soul of the child we want to touch. For our purposes, we need to engage the heart in order to effectively educate the child. Our vision of a well-educated child is a child who has a heart for learning, a child who has the tools he needs to continue to learn for a lifetime and the love to want to do it."

~ Edith Stein

"A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.�"

~ Charles Kingsley

"Knowing the past about a person doesn't make us prophetic, but calling them into their future does! The question has never been, "Can we read the history of a man?" The question has always been, "Can we restore the future of a man?" Anyone can read the history of the man, but the Heart of the Father is to release the unfulfilled destiny of His broken children."

~ Denny Steyne
Mountain of Worship

"Out of defeat can come the best in human nature. As Christians face storms of adversity, they may rise with more beauty. They are like trees that grow on mountain ridges -- battered by winds, yet trees in which we find the strongest wood."

~ Billy Graham

HERE ARE SOME OF OUR FAVORITE LINKS

Home
View my profile
Archives
Email Me
My Blog's RSS
Heart Of Wisdom
Homeschool Oasis
Tea Time
Notebooking Pages
No Greater Joy - Parenting
Lisa Whelchel Homeschool
Christian Homeschool Corner - forum
Grammar & Spelling Rules
Critical Thinking Resources
Great Homeschool Forms & Charts
New Testament Restoration
Adult ADD/ADHD
Homeschool Talk Radio
MACHE - MN statewide support
Famous Homeschoolers
Homeschool Blogger Central
Beautiful Womanhood (Ladies Against Feminism)
Vision Forum (Uniting Church & Home)
Parents of Dyslexics
Christian ADHD Help

PLACES WE'VE LIVED

Rochester, New York
(Kelly Born & Raised)

Tulsa, Oklahoma
(Hubby Born)

Dallas, Texas
(Pure One Born)

East Hampton, Connecticut
(Job Promotion)

Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
(Job Promotion)