In the last year I have taken the time to read quite a few Christian novels. I read a lot anyway. But it is remarkable how much effect this has had on my attitudes, and on how close I feel to God.
It makes sense, really. What we take inside ourselves tends to determine what we are. The attitudes we take into our minds inform our sense of “normal”, of what is, and is not usual and commonplace. If we only ever read non-Christian material, all of which silent presumes Christianity is untrue, and that the value-system manufactured in late 20th century America is eternal and everlasting, we may find ourselves in conflict with our own subconcious.
It’s easy enough to take into our heads images that we cannot easily get rid of. I’m thinking of manipulative, emotion-tugging tear-jerking advertising to save children, and the like. But it equally applies to TV dramas, and the smut with which they are laced today. Indeed it applies to novels. What effect does horror literature have on us? It even applies to historical reading; I wish that I could dispose of one searing image from the diaries of the Borgia Pope’s master of ceremonies, described in the dullest of prose.
What we are is what we read. What we think is what we have read, and has become part of us.
What blogs do we read? Do what extent is our RSS feed devoid of anything useful and soul-building? Is it entirely stuff that is non-Christian? If so … what message are we sending to our souls?
Cherish good books and good reading. You can never have too much of it.
Great reminder Roger!
Thank you. It just came to me. I need to read a better selection of blogs, I think.