Bethany House Publishers had lit a fire storm. They published a Christian fiction book recently that has some vulgar language and has some other elements that people don't like. There was a blog post I was reading about it (here if anyone wants to read it). The post came as a result of another by a Christian author cheering Bethany House on his blog (that is here) for doing so. So he is cheering them for daring to be vulgar and more like the world? Nice.
I have a pet peeve with cursing and vulgar language being put in Christian books, and that is another entire issue completely and have blogged about that on my other blog.
Something stuck out to me on a comment in the comments section by the blog post writer: "I don't think the gospel needs to be preached in every book. I don't think we need to mention God in ever book." Really? Why not? Is Jesus not important enough? Is the Gospel not important enough to preach every where, even in "gasp!" a Christian novel?! God forbid!
This is something that I've thought about for years actually. I don't think anyone would disagree with me on a couple of statements:
1) God is, and should be, most important in our lives
2) Everything we do should please Him
3) Other than making it to Heaven, our next priority should be reaching people for God
Similar things could be added, but those three sum up the point I am aiming to make. If those are true, and I believe that they are, then if we sing, shouldn't we sing about God? If we write, shouldn't we write about Him?
Authors and singers who are Christians bother me when they pursue secular venues for what they do. John Grisham is supposedly a Christian, though I'd question his depth by his politics and language in his books, but if God is important to Him, then why does He never write about Him (except in one shallow effort he made a few years back).
Josh Turner claims to be a Christian (country singer). He had a couple of songs he did that could be called Christian (Long Black Train was one), but for the most part he sings country. There are a lot of country songs that I believe are wrong, but there are also a lot that are clean and positive, so I am not just throwing a blanket statement over all country music, but if Josh is truly a Christian, then why doesn't he sing about him?
If it could be done, imagine having every secular singer and author stand and have every person influenced toward Christ by their music or writing line up behind them. Most of them wouldn't have any one, maybe none of them.
Now take people like Karen Kingsbury, Mike Dellosso, Bill Gaither, the Booth Brothers, etc. Have people line up that they have influenced for Christ. The line could get very long.
There is an old adage that is true: Only one life, will soon be past. Only what is done for Christ will last.
No matter what we do in life, if we are a Christian, God should be at the center. It really boggles my mind how someone can have a secular writing, singing, and even acting career and you'd never know that they are a Christian by what they write, sing, or act, and in too many cases, by their lives.
Is Jesus not important enough? I go back to Sally's comment that we don't need to mention God or preach the Gospel in every book. Why not? Someone could be encouraged and influenced toward Christ.
Karen Kingsbury has been a favorite author of mine since she started writing, and I myself have been extremely encouraged by some of her books. She has a place for comments on her webpage for people to comment about things like that. Here are a few:
1) Like Dandelion Dust helped show me that God still loves me
2) Hi, my name is Chris and I am a 16 year old boy with a second chance. For years now I've been struggling with pornography addiction. Looking for the answers, but only getting frustrated. Then I read Ocean's Apart and the part where Connor realizes what the preacher said about "it will start with you" and how he was to blame. For years I blamed God for allowing it to cross my path, then I blamed the devil, then I blamed my brother (it started on his computer), then the world. But Connor (the character in your book) helped me to realize that it was all my fault.
3) The Redemption Series made my faith stronger
And there are many more on the site. The link for those to write how John Grisham's books changed their lives is..... oh wait, that doesn't happen.......
I know the Bible should be the most important book we read and Christian fiction should not replace it, but there are people who will read a Christian novel that don't read the Bible. There have been times in my own life when my spiritual life was in shambles but something I read in a Christian fiction novel convicted and/or encouraged me to try harder.
Singers, writers, and actors are not the only ones. No matter what job we do, God should be at the center of it. I am not trying to say that, but what better to sing about than God? What better to write about, than God?
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