Christian fiction is often described as “family friendly,” which is a little surprising because the Bible is not. No, I’m not suggesting the Bible is “unfriendly” to families. Its central message is one that everyone can understand and embrace. But let’s face it — there’s some stories and verses in the Bible that can be downright embarrassing, if not offensive, to your family. Here’s a sampling of stories or commandments that would NOT be found in your child’s Sunday School class:
“Stubborn and rebellious” children are commanded to be stoned (Deut. 21:18-21)
King David removes the foreskins from 200 dead Philistines (I Sam. 18: 25-27)
Lot offers his two virgin daughters to be raped by an angry mob (Gen. 19:7-8)
Jesus teaches that the unrighteous will be consigned to “everlasting punishment” and “everlasting fire” (Matt. 25:31-46)
A church member was having sex with his mother (I Cor. 5:1)
God commands the prophet Isaiah to preach naked “for three years” (Is. 20:1-6)
A man was stoned to death for “gathering wood on the Sabbath day” (Num. 15:32-36)
God smites the Philistines with hemorrhoids (I Sam. 5:1-12). They assuage the Lord’s wrath by crafting five golden hemorrhoids (I Sam. 6:1-18).
God kills Ananias and Sapphira for lying (Acts5:1-10)
Having sex with a menstruating woman is grounds for banishment from the community (Lev. 20:18)
Jesus came not “to bring peace, but a sword,” to turn family members against one another (Matt. 10:34-36)
Samson catches 300 foxes, ties their tails together, and sets them on fire (Jdg. 15:4-8)
A traveling Levite offers his concubine to a mob who “abused her all the night until the morning”. Upon her return the Levite dismembers her and ships her body parts around the countryside (Jdg. 19:22-30)
Genocide of the Midianites by Israel, who keep 32,000 virgins for themselves (Num. 31:1-54)
The slaughter of the innocents; Herod gives orders “to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under” (Matt. 2:13-23)
I’ve purposely avoided the “big ones” like the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, God commanding Abraham to kill his only son, and the horrors of the Great Tribulation. And lest someone misinterpret me: I believe the Bible is God’s Word, the absolute rule of faith and practice for believers. I am NOT a Bible-basher or a skeptic. I just happen to cringe every time I hear Christian art being described as “family friendly.”
Listen, I am not suggesting you should teach your four year-old why it was OK for the Jews to keep 32,000 virgins, and NOT their folks, or to dive into explaining what a “foreskin” is at your dinner table. My only point is this:
How did we arrive at the place where “family friendly” describes Christian art, but it doesn’t describe the Bible?
and speaking of Lot, let’s not forget that his daughters both got him drunk and slept with him. that’s never mentioned in Sunday School.
The whole Levite story contains concubines, dismemberment of bodies and shouts for gay sex. Last year, I showed that passage to several people in my church and they had NEVER heard of it before. I discovered it when I was younger, we were in children’s church or something and a group of us found it. we thought it was extremely dirty at the time and always up for a giggle during the sermon, we just told our parents we were reading the Bible.
PS Great new profile pic!
It’s rather surprising when I hear of people who’ve been Christians “their whole lives” and have never heard of such stories. Thanks, on the profile pic. My daughter, Alayna is an aspiring photographer. Thanks, Deb!
I don’t remember when I first read it, but I remember rereading Judges—and doing a book report on Genesis—when I was about 8. It took me awhile to understand the foreskin thing.
Those “dark” and “inappropriate” stories in the Bible likely color what I write now: fantasy that’s dark, even horrific, without ultimately being hopeless.
Thankfully, my parents built their faith on reading the entire Bible, which they also expected me to do, and our current pastor even covers the not-nice things. (He preaches through entire books of the Bible without skipping any verses. Did Genesis, and now we’re in Exodus.)
PS. Agreed w/ Deborah on the profile pic!
Excellent point, Mike! The idea of “family friendly” is quite terrifying. Sure, there should be things that are wholesome and pure for youngsters, but these things should never gloss over Reality, otherwise we have a generation of naive fools rise up and abandon Christ when they see Truth.
I guess the idea of “family friendly” churches/songs/stories/etc fits comfortably with the non-offensive Gospel message so many pastors like to share now. Last I checked, Jesus was quite offensive in His ministry.
I’m not sure a man having sex with his father’s wife is quite the same as a man having sex with his mother. Even if both acts are immoral, one has a grossness factor far beyond the other. That’s a problem, though, isn’t it? Sometimes our interpretation of facts is worse than the actual facts. Plus, we often lack understanding or context.
Actually at the nondenominational Christian church where I grew up, we learned a rather macabre song about Ananias and Saphira. “Peter prophesied it and they both dropped dead! UNGH!” (Complete with sound effects.)
But I do agree with your general point. “Family friendly” seems to forget that the Bible isn’t a sanitary, happy-feeling, easy-to-explain document. It is God’s word, absolutely, but it’s not “family friendly”.
Stephanie, I would love to know more about such a song.
We have a Christian radio station that I hear every once in a while, and every time I do hear it, they say they are “safe for the whole family.” I can’t stand it. It makes me think that Christians are presenting a picture of people who have to keep their eyes closed to gritty reality.
Christ left the glory of heaven and came to walk with sinful folks and it had to be painful for him. We are to do likewise. We have made an idol out of family to some extent, I think. Instead of raising missionaries, we’re raising corporate executives.
Could it be we’re making more out of that term than it really is? Just to take an alternate position here, when I hear “family friendly,” what I understand by that is parents can let their children read, watch, etc., the content without worrying that they will be exposed to cussing and sins that they really don’t need to know about at that age, or deal with.
I don’t think it means, “Everyone including Dad and Mom shouldn’t be exposed to this sinful material, therefore you can watch this/read this and not be subjected to it.” Yet, that seems to be what we are saying here, unless we really mean we should teach little Johnny all about adultery, and when we get to Leviticus, what it means that it is a sin for a Father to know his daughter, and his cow, etc. Is that really what we are advocating here? That we do include all this stuff in our children’s Sunday School literature?
When I was a teen in 9th grade, I wasn’t a Christian. But a boy behind me in class was witnessing to his friends, and I simply overheard him. But he made a statement that stuck with me. He said that in the last days, God was going to send giant scorpions around the Earth to sting everyone who is not His.
Needless to say, that got my attention. All I’d ever heard was “Jesus loves me, this I know” from my days of Sunday School as a kid. This bit of info sounded like something straight out of a horror movie, not something in the Bible. So when I got home that day, I found the verse he mentioned and sure enough, right there in black and white, there it was. Did I feel lied to all those years? Did I feel disillusioned? No. I wondered what else was in this book that no one had mentioned to me before, and I read it. That started me down the road to becoming a Christian.
I think “family friendly” simply means the whole family, kids included, can watch it without worrying whether the kids will be exposed to things they are not ready for yet, or their parents, whether rightly or wrongly, but they are the parents, don’t want them exposed to yet. So, what’s wrong with that? It’s not claiming that you have to read it or watch it.
And obviously not everything in the Bible is family friendly. Don’t recall anyone saying it was. It is why we don’t usually include in children Sunday School lessons some of the more shocking stuff. It is why most translators don’t directly translate what St. Paul really said in the Greek for the party of the circumcision to go do to themselves in Galatians.
There is a market for family friendly. That’s why it is there. It is why even more secular stuff, like Dr. Suess’s books are family friendly.
Just don’t delve too deeply into the nursery rhymes of old.
My problem is not with “family friendly,” it’s with Christian radio being called family friendly. Walt Disney if family friendly. I don’t mind that. But Christians should be Christian, not family friendly. What’s wrong with calling themselves a Christian station if they play Christian music?
And others know that they are playing Christian music so they start associating Christianity with being safe for the whole family. And that kind of puts it on the level of a G-rated Disney movie, which I find rather sad.
Besides that, it’s not clear that the DJs are Christians. There is no Christianity being spoken of on this station. It’s jut like this watered-down, cool for the lowest common denominator, station that won’t ever cause anyone any offense, that plays lots of praise choruses. The people of the world will think that’s Christianity and that’s sad, too, I think.
The radio station I listen to does have DJs who are Christian and speak well, doing Christian things on the radio. I’d just listen to my iPod if they didn’t.
A friend commented on his blog today about a book called Not a Fan, in which he describes that churches have gone from sanctuaries to stadiums (http://justonemore.info/2011/08/not-a-fan/). I think this is some of the mentality that has led to what you describe.
It’s sugar-coating it for good measure and not bringing out the bad parts for fear of scaring people off, I think.
The thing about the Bible, though, is that some of it is “family friendly” which I assume to mean, proper for those Sunday school classes you mentioned. I think it’s just fine that some of our fiction is family friendly. Now if that’s all we wrote, perhaps that would be another matter.
The “safe for the whole family” line makes me think it’s inviting listeners to put away their brains and trust that “we, the radio gurus” have already judged the content and given it our approval, so all you have to do is accept everything you hear. Now that bothers me.
Becky
I think it is too late for that, Becky. Adults sitting in church don’t think that much about what their pastor is saying. I remember stating some things in sermons I gave that I thought for sure should get some folks a little concerned about me. Went out on a theological limb once or twice. No one batted an eye or asked me about it or anything.
Scary. That’s the kind of mindless acceptance of what the “authority figure” is saying that causes people to suddenly find themselves in a cult with a cup of koolaid in their hands.
Wasn’t it George Bernard Shaw who said “Jesus did a lot of things that weren’t very Christian.”?
No, the Bible wouldn’t pass muster at most Christian Publishers these days.
Wasn’t Shaw only vaguely religious, not to mention a flaming racist? If so, is he really a sensible fellow to be quoting concerning the character of Christ?
Chris Rock once said the only thing worse than Spike Lee is Spike Lee when he’s right. Chris Rock is right. It doesn’t matter if Shaw was an atheist, right is right regardless of who says it. Now if Shaw meant it as a justification for not being a Christian himself his motivation could be questioned. The reality of it is that a) Christian means being Christ-like; Jesus is Christ, so by definition whatever he did is an example is Christian, and b) what I think he really meant was that Jesus did a lot of things that Christians wouldn’t do today. I have no doubt that there are churches all over this country that wouldn’t accept Jesus to enter and wouldn’t allow him to be a member.
My point is that Shaw’s view of life and Christianity was obviously skewed, and so his musings on the subject are likely skewed as well. I wouldn’t trust someone who grew up in China to know a thing about American culture. I wouldn’t expect an atheist to know anything about Christianity beyond surface observations.
“what I think he really meant was that Jesus did a lot of things that Christians wouldn’t do today. I have no doubt that there are churches all over this country that wouldn’t accept Jesus to enter and wouldn’t allow him to be a member.”
I highly doubt it. Jesus isn’t all that controversial to your modern Christian. Maybe if we were old-school Jews, sure, but to your modern Christian. . .nah. I don’t see anything in particular that he did that would offend us. Even the more conservative among us. I think that idea has been blown out of proportion. Christ was counter-cultural, but the culture then was quite a bit different from the culture today.
I’m curious, what sort of things do you think modern day Christians might be at odds with in the character of Christ?
I don’t think we should listen or form our theological opinions on what he said, but anyone can make a correct observation no matter how far off they usually are.
There are lots of people in church, especially mine, that faithfully come to church on Sunday then go out and live their lives as if they never heard of Jesus. They talk a good game but don’t live the life. Jesus practiced what he preached. It isn’t necessarily that he did something we don’t approve of, people get tired of idealists who do exactly what they say, especially when it means giving up ssomething of theirs.
I think modern day Christians would be shooing Him out the door if someone came to him and said, “How can I be saved,” and His answer was, “What does the Law say?”
He would be declared a heretic in no time at all.
Tony, I think you need to reconsider your logic here. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. GBS reportedly made the comment after reading the New Testament, and was contrasting Jesus’ life with that of the proper religious community of his day.
Oftentimes it’s the outsider who has a certain objectivity not afforded to those inured within the system. By all means weigh and discern, but truth is valid in and of itself.
Jesus would most definitely be controversial, even offensive, to many Christians today. Oddly enough, the great invitation to intimate fellowship – “Behold, I stand at the door and knock…” – was given to a church.
Easy answer?: The bible is non-fiction. Fiction and the bible, in my opinion, cannot be compared. It’s like saying, “Why censor kids shows like iCarly on Nick? I mean, kids hear swearing everyday at school, not like school is family friendly. Why make iCarly family friendly?” Again, the answer is: Because it isn’t real. And, apparently, enough people appreciate said censorship to keep it going. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Speaking of Christians specifically, I just think most of us are bored of reality. It’s depressing. We’ll escape it whenever we can. At this point, for me at least, it all feels like a waiting game until eventual perfection anyway. Why not keep our eyes on the prize?
Not saying I myself am fascinated with perfection, but a lot of Christians are. And why not? Isn’t being fascinated with Christ the same as being fascinated with perfection, since Christ was/is perfection?
Of course, I’m running on two hours of sleep, so maybe I’m just writing gibberish at this point? gbtfgdgbvth?
Good points, Mike. I’ve often thought that myself. I remember learning about Samson when I was in the primary Sunday School class, but I learned a lot of stuff about him later that would definitely not make him a good role model for seven-year-olds. Later yet, I noticed he was in the Hebrews Hall of Faith with no mention of his peccadilloes in sight. So, is he, or isn’t he a good topic for youngsters?
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST was a fictionalized version of what really happened — given an R rating and the Film Board had to create a ruling to allow youth pastors to sit “in loco parentis” during the film. Most people avoid watching the whole thing because “it’s too hard to watch”…How do you think it was to live through then?
Our local Christian station became “family friendly” several years ago and BOTH of my young adult kids stopped listening — one who is a follower of Christ, the other who is not. I stopped listening as well when the thing stopped speaking to men as well as young adults. The demographic now is “women who stay at home with their children”. The no longer do Promise Keepers, Voice of the Martyrs — or play anything even remotely edgy or controversial. And the DJ’s are happy people and NEVER speak disparagingly of ANYTHING (which the former DJs did on occasion!)
pfah! I listen to Christian music to fill my mind with the Christ — not to take a nap!
I read fiction and non-fiction to fill my mind with the Christ as well — not to take a nap or feel all warm inside.
It’s my personal opinion that the time of feeling warm and comfortable Christianity mostly comforted by the Word and rarely MOVED by it is about to be over. As far as that goes, American Christians are virtually alone in their experience as Christ followers who experience little in the way of physical trials — and please don’t mention “cancer” or “ADHD” — this family has been dealing with breast cancer for the past half-year. Most Christians outside of this country have physical challenges regarding their faith and actually suffer in order to follow the Christ.
Escaping has NOT made suffering “easier”. I want what I read to challenge me with Scriptural truth; like the words of the Christ to thieves who were crucified on either side of Him and Simon Peter. He said He would send the Comforter — not make us comfortable…
I’m venting here. I have grown mightily tired of wimpy Christianity — and I do know of what I speak: if I were to tell you what I saw in the name of Jesus in Haiti, Nigeria, Cameroon and Liberia…most American Christians would think me deceived, mistaken or my cgi goggles were too tight.
Warm & snuggly Christianity hasn’t been particularly helpful of late. I don’t see that it’s going to MORE helpful in the forseeable future…
Seems to be a false dichotomy going on here. What is it about the absence of cussing, sex, and graphic violence from something that makes it less Christian? Can we only encounter Christ if it contains those elements, which is what “family friendly” is really about.
I think most entertainment can be very entertaining, attention grabbing, a very gripping and meaningful story AND be family friendly at the same time. It isn’t the lack of those things that make a bad story, radio station, or such. It is the writing, the DJs, the producers.
Now, I know of what you speak. But I would suggest that is not due to the absence of those elements which makes it family friendly, that’s the laziness of the writers and producers and DJs.
What I’m seeing as unbalanced here is the message that we need to get rid of family friendly because some people don’t do it well. You could say the same thing about the whole CBA. Or even secular fiction. You can always find examples of people not doing something well.
And I’m not saying everything needs to be family friendly. But there certainly is a time and place for it as well. Just as there is a need for “edgy” fiction and radio stations. God uses both.
I’ve never heard anyone say the Bible is family friendly. Did someone say that to you, Mike?
Rick, this post arises from the fact that much Christian art is described as “family friendly.” Our local Christian radio station also advertises itself as “safe for the whole family.” In fact, a recent post at Becky Miller’s blog, a tour of Residential Aliens, Becky said: “Residential Aliens includes ‘family friendly’ stories anywhere along the speculative spectrum…” All I’m saying is the term is common among Christians, to the point that it has become a template of sorts. Like a code, we know that it refers to “safe,” mostly G-rated fare.
While I agree with you that there should be family friend Christian entertainment, defining Christian art as PRIMARILY family friendly is way too narrow. Thanks for commenting!
Well, I may not be that deep into a lot of Christian art. So your experience may be a bit different from mine. But I’ve not heard the term applied to the Bible before, though I’m sure I’ve heard it applied to certain magazines and such. So I was wondering who on earth said the Bible was family friendly? You mentioned it was common, but I’d not heard anyone say that before. Just my own experience.
Do people use the term a lot? I guess so. For the record, I don’t recall if Lyn Perry has used that term to describe the fiction in his magazine. For sure, like a lot of other Christian magazines, you aren’t going to find a lot of cussing, graphic sex and violence there. I used to do some slush reading for him, however, and he doesn’t outright ban that kind of stuff, if it serves the story. And some of his stories aren’t all nice and pretty either, which appears to be what others think of when they hear “family friendly.” I know because a few of mine were there. Some had happy endings, others, not. One such flash fiction was about two people on a battle field, killing each other, and the thoughts going through the one’s head as he died. And another is where the pov character suffocates in space. Not happy endings at all.
Thought I should throw that in there in the event someone hearing “family friendly” attached to Resident Aliens dismisses them because they have the exaggerated definition of family friendly in their head instead of the common one: little to no cussing, graphic sex and violence. Which is really about all I’ve ever attached to the term.
I would say the term applies to PG-13 material as well. Once you get into R rated, which includes the “graphic” label on it, which the Bible isn’t R rated since you rarely every get detailed and graphic descriptions of the things they talk about. Even the crucifixion isn’t R rated.
But I get that some people out there equate “family friendly” with G rated stuff. Of which there have been some very good G rated stuff as well. But I understand what you are saying. But most of the Christian material I read nowdays wouldn’t fall into that. But then again, I don’t read much CBA stuff. The one time I did for a sci-fi story, it was boring and on the edge of preachy, and I put it down after a few pages.
Correction. I realized I read you wrong, Mike. You didn’t say the Bible was said to be family friendly, but Christian fiction. My bad.
Rick, I quoted from Lyn’s submission guidelines, I think it was, where he said the zine takes PG/ PG-13 or “family friendly” stories. I didn’t realize some people would think that meant G, or I would have been more specific.
I don’t want to misrepresent Residential Aliens. I think Lyn is doing a great job providing a venue for writers and readers who want to see speculative fiction that includes faith. He says he’s open to stories written from other positions of faith besides Christian. However, he’s made his decision to keep the door open to a broader audience by excluding the graphic elements of an R or higher rated story.
Becky
Let me clarify: I quoted from Becky’s post simply because I’d recently finished reading it and, knowing I would be writing on the “family friendly” issue, took the liberty to quote her. It’s a minor reference there, a pretty common phrase in our culture, and I don’t mean to employ it derogatorily. I think Residential Aliens is doing a great job and I really support their product.
Later yet, I noticed he was in the Hebrews Hall of Faith with no mention of his peccadilloes in sight. So, is he, or isn’t he a good topic for youngsters?
We just had a sermon on that portion of Hebrews Sunday, and one point the pastor made was that God used ordinary people — sinners. Samson is a “role model” in the sense that in the end he believed God. He’s an example of the pain and suffering disobedience can bring. So of course he’s a good topic for youngsters.
I don’t recall ever being shielded in Sunday school from Samson’s sins. I don’t know that we had the whole story — his marriage, for example. Usually the lessons were one day, so the focus was on Delilah and the consequences Samson suffered for breaking his Nararite vow.
Interestingly, when I taught in a missionary kids’ school as a short term missionary, I wrote a play for my fifth graders — the story of Samson. We didn’t leave out the earlier parts of the story.
Becky
As a child I specialised in finding all the titillating Bible stories during church.
You missed the one where Rachel (I think) hides Laban’s idols in her saddlebag and tells him she can’t stand up for him to search it because she’s on her period.
And the one where some king/general is sitting on the privy, attacked and sliced open and the fecal matter comes spilling out everywhere.
Or you could just go to this atheist website that lists all the prurient Bible stories in an effort to prove that God is dirty. (Atheists sometimes have odd agendas.) http://nobeliefs.com/DarkBible/darkbible4.htm
As I’ve said before, the Bible is God’s story of relating to humanity. Props to God for not glossing over the more “human” of the human element.
I always chuckle when hostile atheists/pagans whip out stuff like that as if it were a metaphysical trump card. Like showing me God isn’t “G-rated family friendly” is going to bring my faith crashing down around my ears.
Ummm… Hello? That’s the point: we need a Savior.
Katherine, the fact that atheists and skeptics use such stories to undermine or ridicule Scripture should concern us. And motivate us to study. I wonder if we don’t play into skeptic’s hands by skirting such biblical stories. Nothing like pulling out a weird Bible story to stun an unprepared Christian.
Oh, it concerns me. Very much. I’ve had this exact conversation with many athiests. They’ll drag up the Lot-Incest thing or the Judah-Tamar thing and then look at me smugly like “betchya didn’t know THAT about all those holy Bible people.”
My response is always a quizzical “well, duh. People have always been broken. We’ve always needed redemption. That’s what those stories are about.” As Patrick says above.
A lot of the atheists I encounter here in Nashville are those who grew up in the strictly-sanitised congregations that flourish around here. I think when they toss out these tales they do so more to display their own disillusionment.
I think this is possibly what you are saying, too, but I see more “fallen away” people in my generation and the ones coming after me because they started off in sheltered, sanitised branches of the faith. Their faith is like dry ice that evaporates to steam when it hits the water of the real world. These Bible stories are a sort of Twas Ever Thus lesson and I think it’s to our detriment to ignore them.
Of course, that being said, I don’t advocate teaching them in five year olds’ Sunday School. But I’d say if kids are old enough to think about sex, they are old enough to see where it comes up in the Bible and how it is dealt with.
Absolutely. We look dumb if the atheist knows our theology better than we do.
R. L. Copple
I don’t think that we should get rid of family friendly entertainment. I don’t mind family friendly entertainment when its done cleverly or with some kind of skill. My problem with this sort of entertainment is when it overlaps with the entertainment that is meant for adults. I wanna read adult stories with rather adult themes in them (not purely sexual, but adult content).
The problem is when you read alot of Christian fiction, it feels too family friendly. And I don’t like that. What I want to honestly see more of is a bit of “edgy” or “dark” fiction that still glorifies God without going to the extremes in terms of adult content. I guess previous posters are lamenting the lack of edge or some kind of grounding in reality in Christian fiction. I, like others, am tired of the Christian fiction where everything turns out all right in the end or when a character gives a ham fisted speech about the novel’s themes in a page or so.
When I read the Bible, I do like reading stories where the writer or subject of the stories triumphs over his or her vice/ internal issue/ external problems ect. But the stories I enjoy reading about also are those who rebelled against God and paid for it dearly or ended up facing a long list of consequences (like David and Solomon). Those stories illustrate clearly what NOT to do as a Godly man or woman and sadly I don’t see those kind of stories in Christian fiction. Imagine if guys like Joab, Korah, Abosalom, Adonijah, and other rebellious figures in the Bible were to become main character in their own stories. Would they end well? No, but the point is there is a lesson to be learned behind their mistakes!
So I agree with R.L. Christian fiction has a time and place to be edgy but also family friendly. However, I do not recall anyone saying that we needed to abolish family friendly entertainment entirely. Mike was merely questioning the need that many Christian have to make something of theirs (fiction, movies, radio) family friendly.
Great response, Julian. One of the advantages Christians have in forming judgments about Bible characters is the scope of Scripture. In other words, Genesis to Revelation forms a canon that helps us see everything — and everyone — in perspective. Which is one of the problems I see with Christian fiction: We don’t see it as a “canon,” which forces us to “spell out” a lot of things. Rather than being happy that a “part” of the Gospel is revealed, we see a story as incomplete. This was what I was getting at in my post The Problem of Depicting God in Fiction. God is just too big to be contained in any one story.
I’ve always understood the term ‘canon’ to be the rule or measuring stick, similar to the 36″ yardstick most fishermen have in their boat to determine if a catch is a “keeper” or not.
By measuring ideas, philosophies, doctrinal fads against the context of Scripture (not isolated verses) and the character of God, we can make accurate judgments ourselves, recognizing what to keep and discard.
Fiction will never be canonical but it can be credible – if its grounded in the Person and Principles of Scripture.
Two of my all-time favorite works of Christian Fiction by C.S. Lewis were well grounded in scripture and yet either never mentioned God or scripture (Perelandra) or created an entire structure of organized religion (Til We Have Faces). Not canonical as I take you to mean, but powerfully grounded Christian fiction.
Great comment, Patrick. Thanks for such a cogent statement.
Becky
Some here have pretty much said get rid of family friendly. At least for them, they can’t stand it. But it sounds to me like they have a different definition of family friendly than I do. Stories can be dark and edgy and still be family friendly.
But what I think you are really referring to isn’t family friendly in general, but a definition of family friendly that balks at even mentioning that a husband and wife might kiss each other. Or sleep in the same bed. Or have any physical affections for each other at all. Many other such things could be listed.
I wouldn’t call that family friendly, I’d call that fantasy la-la land.
As a matter of fact, I would call that family unfriendly, since it sets up unrealistic expectations of what family life is like, and when the reader’s doesn’t measure up to the “perfection” in the book, they think their family is a failure and rebel. Much like what people have accused the Barbie doll of doing to little girls ideas of what their bodies should look like on the other side of puberty.
@Mike Duran
I never really thought of the Bible as canon. That’s a unique way of looking at Scripture.
And I do agree, God is too big to be contained into one story, which is why I am frustrated with today’s Christian fiction. God being portrayed as one way in mulitiple stories. Mulitple stories done by many different writers producing the same predictable tale time after time is infuriating.
Which is why I often come by this blog. Not only are though provoking questions given but different perspective on God and what he means to other Christians are given as well. I am not condoning adding to Scripture or forcing an opinion upon God’s word, but with looking at God from a different angle as each person’s perspective allows them to.
??? I think the Bible is actually the original canon. Other things that came after (Star Wars, Star Trek, Buffy tVS, Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes) adopted the term to delineate their “sacred” texts from fan fiction, bad tv specials, etc.
Ummm….did that make sense??
I can’t remember where it is, but there’s a story of a man having sex with his late brother’s widow (after being commanded to) and spills his semen on the floor, I remember reading that as a young teen and was pretty well stunned. I have heard it referred to only once in life (after reading it), and no other time.