July-September
Are you a talented, intelligent young person? Would you like to use more of your ability and influence to promote the cause of God on earth?
There is an inspired letter written to a brother who had recommended and offered some reading material to the young. Let’s see what the Spirit of Prophecy has to say about it:
“There are many of our youth whom God has endowed with superior capabilities. He has given them the very best of talents; but their powers have been enervated, their minds confused and enfeebled, and for years they have made no growth in grace and in a knowledge of the reasons of our faith, because they have gratified a taste for story reading. They have as much difficulty to control the appetite for such superficial reading as the drunkard has to control his appetite for intoxicating drink. . . . Their talents have been perverted until they are mental dyspeptics, and consequently are unfitted for a responsible position anywhere. The imagination is diseased. They live an unreal life. They are unfitted for the practical duties of life; and that which is the most sad and discouraging is that they have lost all relish for solid reading. They have become infatuated and charmed with just such food for the mind as the intensely exciting stories contained in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. That book did good in its day to those who needed an awakening in regard to their false ideas of slavery; but we are standing upon the very borders of the eternal world, where such stories are not needed in the preparation for eternal life. . . .
“The special effort of ministers and of workers all through our ranks for this time should be to turn away the attention of the youth from all exciting stories to the sure word of prophecy. The attention of every soul striving for eternal life should center upon the Bible.
“It seems wonderfully strange to me, considering all I have written in regard to the reading of exciting stories, to see a recommendation from your pen to read Robinson Crusoe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and Aesop’s Fables. My brother, you made a mistake in writing that article. If these books are among those which you have for sale, I beg of you never to offer them again to our youth. It is your duty to call their attention to the Bible; do not become their tempter by offering to them attractive storybooks, which will divert their minds from the study of the Scriptures. We must ourselves be drinking of the water of life, else we will be constantly hewing out for ourselves broken cisterns which can hold no water.
“There are a thousand ways and plans that Satan has of creeping in to unsettle the minds of youth; and unless the soul is firmly and fully stayed upon God, and conscientiously guarded upon the very point of keeping the mind employed in searching the Scriptures and becoming grounded in our faith, they will surely be ensnared. We cannot be off guard for a moment. We cannot allow ourselves to move from impulse. We must set a guard about our minds and the minds of our children, that they may not be allured by Satan’s temptations.
“We are in the great day of atonement, and the sacred work of Christ for the people of God that is going on at the present time in the heavenly sanctuary should be our constant study. We should teach our children what the typical Day of Atonement signified and that it was a special season of great humiliation and confession of sins before God. The antitypical day of atonement is to be of the same character. Everyone who teaches the truth by precept and example will give the trumpet a certain sound. You need ever to cultivate spirituality, because it is not natural for you to be heavenly-minded. The great work is before us of leading the people away from worldly customs and practices, up higher and higher, to spirituality, piety, and earnest work for God. It is your work to proclaim the message of the third angel, to sound the last note of warning to the world. May the Lord bless you with spiritual eyesight. I write this in love, seeing your danger. Please consider these things carefully and prayerfully.” Testimonies, vol. 5, pp. 518-520.
Why were Aesop’s Fables condemned in this letter? You may have heard snippets of some of these ancient Greek fables in your lifetime. For example, “The Tortoise and the Hare” is a famous story that teaches humble perseverance—the moral is: “slow and steady wins the race.” Another fable, “The Fox and the Grapes,” unveils the fickle pride of human nature. When the fox couldn’t reach his goal, he blamed the goal itself for being unworthy of his attention, rather than admitting his own limitations. In both of these examples, animals are personified as people (just as the serpent spoke to Eve) and there is nothing salvational, nothing eternal in their message—only mere commentary. The commentary may appear harmless enough, but it is lacking in worthwhile substance.
On the other hand, the parables of Jesus—which illustrate important truth—begin with phrases such as “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto” in order to provide us with some vital information on the glories of eternity. Through word pictures of familiar everyday objects, these parables provide useful insight on how we might attain entrance into that glorious kingdom and enjoy eternal life. A much better investment!
What was wrong with Uncle Tom’s Cabin? The passage above explained that this fictitious book did accomplish a good work in its time, to help open the eyes of citizens steeped in racial bigotry, that they might understand the nature of the serious social problem that was in their midst. Once the problem was rectified, however, apparently there really was no longer a need to belabor the point by repeating over and over again the same message.
Robinson Crusoe, is simply a fictitious adventure story, exciting its readers with an imaginary journey. Again, a distraction that was not beneficial to Christian piety.
“The common stories put into book form are not essential to our well-being. The world is flooded with this class of literature, and the fact that such books find a ready sale is by no means evidence that they are the books which should be circulated. The passion of stories is bringing into existence many thousands of worthless books, which are as hay, wood, and stubble. These books are written by those whose minds have been educated to run in a channel of romance. Everything that the imaginative mind can think of is woven into the book, and presented to the world as mental food. But very often it has no food value. ‘What is the chaff to the wheat?’ (Jeremiah 23:28). We do not need novels; for we are dealing with the stern realities of life.”—Colporteur Ministry, p. 142.
Back in the days of Ellen White, people read a lot more than they do nowadays. Today, books are still available on paper as well as in the form of e-books. Perhaps the biggest lure to fiction today, however, is not from books but through the production of movies and DVD’s. A lot of talent and energy goes into preparing material for the screen, and in the year 2014, the revenue generated by the motion picture industry was about 564 billion U.S. dollars. That figure is expected to rise to 679.4 billion by 2018.
But have the principles of God changed? When the Lord speaks about fictitious books, how would that apply to films?
Actually, films have a much more hypnotic effect on the mind than any reading material could ever have. The scenes in the movie flash into your brain at a rate much faster than you can consciously detect, so whatever you see on film you will tend to believe, even if it’s a total lie. That can be dangerous to spirituality, for sure.
“Among the most dangerous resorts for pleasure is the theater. Instead of being a school for morality and virtue, as is so often claimed, it is the very hotbed of immorality. Vicious habits and sinful propensities are strengthened and confirmed by these entertainments. Low songs, lewd gestures, expressions, and attitudes deprave the imagination and debase the morals. Every youth who habitually attends such exhibitions will be corrupted in principle. There is no influence in our land more powerful to poison the imagination, to destroy religious impressions, and to blunt the relish for the tranquil pleasures and sober realities of life than theatrical amusements. The love for these scenes increases with every indulgence as the desire for intoxicating drink strengthens with its use. The only safe course is to shun the theater, the circus, and every other questionable place of amusement.”—The Adventist Home, p. 516.
This “theater” of those days was a setting where live plays were dramatized. Yet how much more enticing is it when the theater is brought onto one’s own television, computer, or handheld device!
In the International Journal of Ethics, Vol. 34, No. 1, published by The University of Chicago Press, Joseph Roy Geiger presents an article entitled The Effects of the Motion Picture on the Mind and Morals of the Young. In it the author explains the “vast psychological difference between hearing or reading an account of a murder, or an assault, or a passionate mutual attraction between members of the opposite sexes, and seeing” it on film. He bemoans the moral influence such a medium has on the young. Can you guess when that enlightening article was printed? 1923. The warning against fictitious films has been around for a long time. Will we heed it?