To Read Or Not To Read: The Real Problem With Media Today

 Intro

 Books. Television. News. What we write. What we read. 

Books are works of art. They are meant to make us feel sad, to uplift us, to empower us to be better and do great things. They are meant to help us dream, to help us believe, and to help us to escape from the day to day monotony of life. Books are important, I would argue, to our culture and to our society. 

But with every good book, ten more bad books rise. Whether it’s poorly written and morose, or whether it has an amazing plot but every page has a different profanity, a book can be a powerful weapon. 

The weapon that an author wields. 

The wrong book can be a weapon to thrust ideals into your head, to poison your mind, and to change your perception of bad things. 

 

The Dirty Mind 

Different books may be bad for different people. 

But for Christians especially, it’s difficult to see the line between bad literature and good literature. Some books have amazing plots, amazing stories, and amazing ideals, while others.. don’t. 

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafri. 

Amazing Plot. Killer storyline. I’m guilty. I couldn’t put it down. I read this in over just a few hours.. it was simply captivating. 

But, if we aren’t careful, we can fail to see the wrongs in this book. For example, It had some inherent sexual content. I had to skip more than one scene, and in the end, it leaves me feeling like I missed part of the book. Instead of feeling uplifted, I feel the book has left me a lot to be desired. The plot was stellar, but the profanities, and the content, left me feeling a tad dried out. 

If I’m reading a book, my idea of a clean book is a book clean from profanities, (any filthy language, any language implying the use of God’s name in vain, and any use of God’s name in vain) sexual content, (very passionate kissing, touching inappropriately, sexual intimacy outside of marriage, adultery, sleeping together even if you do not do anything physically) homosexuality, (implied same sex romance, romance between same sexes) nudity and innuendo. 

Why are these books so hard to find? How hard can it be to find a book without these things? 

Every now and then, a good book doesn’t have these things. But people are worried that it’s too corny because, well, like it or not, these things are actually popular in today’s culture. 

They’re popular!

Things that would be shamed upon, now read about and done openly in public, and we’re eating it up. 

Some people can handle more in a book. My brain has taken to blocking out profanities, and sex, and bad things in books, but if I read a really bad book, sometimes those profanities will stick in my brain. If you're learning things you shouldn’t know, then you shouldn’t be reading it. 

In my mind, the master of romance is a romance novelist named Ann Liang. 

Her writing is masterful, beautiful, and the romance is amazing. 

But the problem is, the profanity.. is it really worth it? 

I would say it isn’t. If the book didn’t have profanity, I would have it on my shelf. She might even sell more copies to young, Christian women.. But I’d be embarrassed to have recommended a book like that to a friend, to have my friend read those things and make those conclusions about me. 

And it is a very real problem, especially for the females. 

Books like Shatter Me, and The Cruel Prince, and A Court Of Thorns and Roses, are brimming with content that can make a young girl have sexual fantasies and temptations that are very sinful.

What I’m saying is, if you are not careful, they can stumble you! 

And if you’re writing this? 

As a Christian, writing a book with sexuality, or profanity, or any of these things is wrong. Because if we are filling our own brains with this, and we are filling others brains with this… it could be a problem. 

Are you being holy, or are you being hazardous? 

Are you uplifting, or are you bringing people down so that in your book you can fill it with your own sexual fantasies just for fame and clout? 

I know I’m being very harsh, but I feel very strongly that the media that we consume is affecting our brain. 

And then there is the heart problem. 

Because, as humans, we want to read these books. We want what is popular, and what is trending, not what is clean and good and right. It’s part of our genetic framework. 

We like sin. It feels good. It feels right to us. 

But God doesn’t want that for us. He wants to show us how filthy and dirty and disgusting our sin really is. 

It’s gag worthy, guys. 

So in our writing, we should aim to show people the wrongs of it all. We should aim to write clean books for any age, books that follow God’s standards, books that will make us laugh and cry and laugh and cry all over again. We want to use our writing to build up.. not tear down. 

And that’s important.

Clean Writing and Reading

One last thing I would like to mention is the amount of sexual content in books about Fae. Because Fae are creatures of mischief and mayhem, most books about them are full of sexually mischievous and dangerous and dark creatures.

If the book even has ‘morally grey’ on the cover, don’t read it. I don’t care if it’s a bestseller or Pinterest favorite. It’s harmful. The worst kind of toxic waste is the kind that you consume. And media is very all consuming. 

We must be so, so, so careful with what we read and watch. 

So go read some clean books, go write clean books. I recently found that there is hope for the Fae when I read Mortal Queens by Victoria McCombs. Beautiful work of art. Go check it out.

And Calculated by Nova Mcbee. Wonderful book. Read that as well.

Ilyon Chronicles by Jaye L Knight, Blades of Acktar by Tricia Mingerink, Dust and Shadow by Kara Swanson, The Wonderland Trials by Sara Ella. 

There’s hope for our literature yet! 

"I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless”-Psalm 103: 3

 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable... think about these things.”-Phillipians 4:8

So go out, readers, and let God’s glory shine… be radiant!

~Billie ✨