Weighing out the Sin

I don't know if you are familiar with Tim Challies... he is a Christian blogger who THINKS.  Like really, he thinks.  He writes book reviews, links to good reads, and posts some really fascinating stuff.

I do not agree with everything he talks about, but sometimes he writes a post that really gets me to thinking.    He recently did that with THIS post.   Sex on the Silver Screen - Outsourcing Depravity.

And it's gotten me thinking.

GAH!!!   Like I need more to think on this week.   I suppose part of the reason it has gotten me thinking is that when I am feeling stressed two things happen.


okay three.

1. I eat chocolate.  :)   I recently polished off a container of dark chocolate sea salt caramels...YUM!
2. I read quick easy reads that require NO thinking.
3. I slow down on the blogging and let inner stories take control.  I tend to hide more within.  I fight that actively as it helps nothing and just gets folks concerned about me.

So this post by Challies hit home this week.

You know what a quick easy read is for me??? 

One of Nora Roberts romances.    I"m sorry I LIKE THEM.   They require no brain power and are often one of two genres... A story around a maturity theme OR a mystery.   Both involve people and relationships and how they work them out.

They also tend to involve premarital relations which (TRUTHFULLY) I have learned take about 3-4 double pages that I just skip.  NO.. not holier than thou, just dislike it.   I don't need to read how glorious first time "you are the one" connections can be in the physical realm.  I just don't like reading it.. always seems so very unrealistic.   Those sections, at least for me, do not add ANYTHING to the storyline and watching characters develop and become more of whom they aught to be.  That's what draws me in you know...

In my most recent read... Cameron has been a play boy, keep yourself busy being a risk taker-gambler type of man and then his dad died leaving a boy behind in need of care.  No more running around ... there's a boy in need and he has to help manage it all.  And it is HARD for him.  But by the end of the book you can really see him "manning" up.  THAT is why I like to read Ms. Roberts book... they make you happy to be human and seeing others humans doing their thing and learning to do it better.

I liked this book enough I want to read the rest of the series.  I want to see what happens in this family of men and how they develop into better people.  I want to see Seth (the boy) grow up.

But then Challies comes along and says "HEY>>> should you be condoning this style of writing?  This writing that showcases the wrong in the world (in this case the sin of premarital sex)?   And I'm left saying...hmm... I don't know... it's so pervasive...I don't know if I can avoid it... in any of the literature that I like to read.   Even the good solid mysteries.. there's always sin at hand being shown and used and what not.

And I'm sorry.. reading non-fiction doesn't cut it for me.   Non-fiction isn't an escape it's more work as I think hmm... I could blog about this...    When I want to escape I just want something easy and quick and non-thinking...something that keeps me out of my own head.

Do I need to think all the time???

As I ponder this I wonder... if we let the portrayal of sin stop us from reading or watching entertainment is there much left we can watch?   Think about it for a moment.   The bible is full of it... along with the consequences.   We often don't see the consequences on the screen but last night the sins of people were found out and broadcast for the world to see.... if there was no hidden sin it wouldn't have been an issue...   so how far does one take it?   One sees and reads about so many different sins.. acted out by characters where does one draw the line? 

Smoking?  Drinking?   Premarital relations?  Theft?  Lying?  Worshipping false gods?  One could find reasons not to watch or read anything.   Should we?   Where do we draw the line?

It is a good call to think about though isn't it?   To evaluate and to find talking points. 

I don't really  have the answers, but it made me think and that I suppose is the point.   To stop and think about what you are seeing and doing and taking in.   Weighing it the light of who God is and how he wants us to spend our time.

What does it make you ponder?  Weigh in with your thoughts eh?