This may turn out to be the most controversial post I have ever written. I know a few other parents who don’t read fiction to their children so I thought abstaining from fiction was somewhat commonly done. Then I asked a simple question in our Facebook Group a few months back. “Do you read fiction to your children?” At the time, I was wondering whether or not I should use a curriculum called Illuminations with my children. What ensued was a lengthy discussion that went on for two weeks! I barely chimed in and I was surprised that people felt so passionately about this. (And yes, I did decide to use Illuminations and I love it… I just skip the fiction component and focus on their strong historical component.) Soon after, I was challenged to write a series of blog posts for the Christian Homemaking Community’s Summer Blook Club. One assignment was to recommend my favorite fiction books. Since I don’t read fiction myself, I had nothing to recommend. This post was my response to that challenge. Please take this post for what it is (a description of what my family does) and keep in mind what it is not (me telling you what to do with your children.) =)
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Disclaimer: I Am NOT Your Family’s Holy Spirit
What I am about to share is simply our family’s conviction for what we believe God wants us to do with our children. How you should raise your children is something I leave between you and God. I know my readers to be intentional, diligent parents and I know first hand that parenting isn’t easy. What I present below is our family’s journey and I trust that you will seek out the Lord when deciding how to parent your own children.
So, Why Don’t I Read Fiction to My Children?
Very early in our parenting journey… right around the time that we were face to face with our first positive pregnancy test… back when we were idealistic enough to think we could get this parenting thing RIGHT and not make any mistakes (Please stop laughing so you can read the rest of this blog post!)… Papa the Farmer and I decided that our #1 rule in parenting would be Philippians 4:8.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Over the years we have made a lot of mistakes, but one thing we’ve noticed is that we only mess up when we stray away from what God tells us in His Word. When we take advice from the God who created parenting, we get it right. So when God says “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest… think on these things” not only do we want to do this ourselves, but we want to train our children to focus their thoughts on what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report. Fiction – by nature – is simply not true. God says to stay away from anything that is not true, so we do.
“But Jesus Used Parables to Teach!”
Yes, Jesus did use parables to teach, always in the context of teaching spiritual truths, never simply to entertain (See Matthew 13:11). Many of His parables began with the words “The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto….” Christ’s stories were illustrations that took the mysteries of Heaven and explained them to us using every day examples that we could understand. The end result of Christ’s stories was that his listeners had a huge “Ah-ha!” moment. “Oh, THAT is what God means when He says to love my neighbor…. THAT is the kind of faith we are supposed to have…. THAT is the passion with which we are to seek after God.” We know that we are selecting profitable reading materials if what we read to our children answers questions about the nature of God and the Kingdom of Heaven.
My Personal Experience: A Polluted Mind
As much as I love to read, I struggled as an adult with developing a love for God’s Word. I saw other women who yearned to spend time in God’s word and spent their days anticipating their quiet time with God. That wasn’t me. I would open my Bible. Read the same 3 verses six times and still not remember what I had read! I came to realize that spiritual things are spiritually discerned. By filling my mind with things that are not true (television and fiction) I was in violation of the Philippians 4:8 principle (above) and I was the one breaking the continual communion with God that Christians are called to have. I couldn’t keep my mind fully stayed on God if I was filling it with things that distracted me from God. I set out to retrain my mind and my tastes so that I would appreciate and genuinely enjoy my time spent in God’s Word.
The spiritual battle for our souls is unseen, but it is very real. Satan has thousands of ways of creeping into our minds to distract us from serving the Lord. As Christians, we must stand guard against Satan. As Moms and Dads, it is vital that we win this battle because we are shaping the next generation. If you struggle to love your time in God’s Word, know that you are not alone and your case is not hopeless. Feel free to email me for encouragement! Two free online resources that have helped me tremendously are:
The Bible Reading Program For Shirkers and Slackers
Good Morning Girls Bible Studies (It’s not just for women! Look up the S.O.A.K. method and color charts in the sidebar!)
You Have To Draw The Line Somewhere
The fact of the matter is that each family – whether you read fiction or not – has to draw the line between “acceptable in our home” and “not acceptable in our home” somewhere. The boundary needs to be clear so that there is no confusion when children begin selecting their own reading materials or when well-meaning relatives give your children books as gifts. A subjective boundary is subject to change on a whim, but a boundary based on principle will teach our children to be intentional about their choices.
Our choices are a reflection of our priorities. I am in a season of life where my priorities have changed. I have 4 children, I’m homeschooling 3 of them. I’m trying to be intentional about my marriage. We’re trying to run an online business and a farm. Somewhere in all that I need to cook and clean and make sure my family has clean underwear to wear. Life is busy! Honestly, if I have time to sit down with a book, I don’t want to get up an hour later and feel like that time was lost. Charles Jones is widely quoted as having said, “We will be the same person in 5 years that we are today except for 2 things: the people we meet and the book we read.” When I do have the opportunity to sit down and read, I want the book I am reading to be something that changes who I am for the better.
This Is Not About Legalism
Some of you are going to say that I am being legalistic. I’m not. I don’t abstain from fiction in order to earn God’s favor. I already have God’s favor (and so do you!) I don’t abstain from fiction so that I can be more-saved than my fiction-reading friend. Salvation is a free gift from God. All I have to do is accept it and out of love and thankfulness to Him I want to obey God and be like Him. Matthew 5:48 tells us “Be ye perfect, even as your father which is in Heaven is perfect.” I can behave in ways that damage my character and cause me to be unfit for the kingdom of Heaven. I can unwisely teach my children to do things that will make them unfit for the Kingdom of Heaven. In our home, it is our conviction that we best equip our children to serve in God’s Kingdom by pointing them always toward what is true.
What Does A Fiction-Free Homeschool Look Like?
I’m getting a lot of questions about how I homeschool my children if we don’t read fiction. God is the author of History, the creator of Geography, the inventor of Science and Mathematics. He is an integral part of each subject of our homeschool! Just because we don’t read make-believe stories doesn’t mean that we are limiting their education! Our family uses the Illuminations program by Bright Ideas Press. They’re the folks who publish Mystery of History, a 4 year Bible-based history curriculum. The Illuminations Scheduler helps me plan Geography, Science, History and Language Arts lessons from a Biblical perspective. They offer a strong literature component that complements the history and geography lessons and we use some (but not all) of their literature recommendations. We use Math U See for math, Rod & Staff English for grammar and Training Our Daughters to Be Keepers At Home for Home Economics. The formal part of our curriculum is packed full of good, solid information and learning useful skills.
Another source of books that we love is Usborne Books & More. We pick and choose our Usborne books, because they do offer a wide selection of fiction and some of their non-fiction contains evolution. But the Usborne Books that we have chosen are fiction and evolution free and they are fabulous! We love that they are so interactive and the children learn such good information from them! The Lift-The-Flap Books are so much fun and are definitely a favorite at our house! Another favorite are the shine the light books which are best at bedtime. You shine a flashlight behind the page and secret pictures appear teaching about parts of nature that don’t always meet the eye!
Here’s a sampling of some of the types of non-fiction books we enjoy reading. The options seem endless!
We love to read Missionary Biographies!
The Who Was Series has hundreds of biographies for kids (secular)Christian Heroes Then and NowScience Experiments are fun!We learn so much from trivia books!
Before You Leave A Comment…
This is a place for friendly discussion. You don’t need to agree with me. In fact, I’ll be surprised if anyone agrees with me on this one! Due to spam, I have to moderate all comments. I WILL approve comments that disagree with my point of view, but I will NOT approve comments that are derogatory or disrespectful in nature (no name calling or bad language, please). We had a wonderful discussion about this in our Facebook Group a few months ago and I know the discussion in the comments will be equally thought provoking and challenging! I can’t wait to read what you have to say. Please chime in!
I’m not Christian, so your reasoning doesn’t apply to me, but the study described in the following link is exactly why, tho my son reads non-fiction almost exclusively by choice, I am trying to get him to read more fiction… https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201412/can-reading-fictional-story-make-you-more-empathetic
Hi Twylite,
I read every word of that article and it was very, very interesting. Thanks for sharing it! I think by “fiction” they mean “stories.” Based on their research, I would think that our children would have the exact same emotional and cognitive reactions to stories whether the stories are fiction or non fiction. It is the situation, the characters and the circumstances the children are responding to. I would think that children would be even more empathetic to characters in true stories because those characters are real people and the events actually happened.
On a side note, the professor that article quotes is from York University in Toronto, Canada. That’s where I went to school and graduated from. I spent some wonderful years there. =)
AlinaJoy
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
Excellently said, we do read fiction, however your points were spot on and something we 100% agree with in regards to movies and TV, you have given me something to think and pray about in regards to books. I too love Usborne Books, I’m glad you will be showcasing them. Thank you for your post!
Jennifer is the amazing author behind My Anything Story…
Wow, your post really gave me something to ponder! I’ve never encountered the idea of abstaining from fiction, but I can see your point! We are huge consumers of fiction here but I understand what you are saying about it not being true or pointing us to God’s truths. Thanks for sharing!
Lori in NY
http://www.healthyshoppersclub.wordpress.com
I’m glad it was food for thought! Most people I know read fiction and I grew up reading fiction. As I shared in the article above, it was when I became an adult that I become convicted that it was preventing me from having as close a relationship with God as I could have. I’d be interested to hear what your family decides to do after you’ve had a chance to pray about it.
AlinaJoy
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
This is interesting and I see your point to an extent. I would agree with you in regards to television since it is hard to find many moral and enriching television programs these days (though there are a few out there). But “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest…” doesn’t feel like it should be describing all fiction. Fiction isn’t lies, it is just pretend or fantasy, and I do think there is a difference. Lies are sold as truths but fiction writers know they are just telling a story. I am quite conservative in what I let my children read myself, but there are many fiction books that have great morals and values, many based on Christianity, many that can be used to guide children to make moral choices in a way that is easily relate-able to them. And while there are plenty of horribly written books out there, there are a lot of really well written books that can show children how to be creative and how to write well written papers. It has been shown that people who read are more intelligent, more well rounded, and have a better vocabulary. I have been a voracious reader since childhood and I have learned so much from reading fiction. It really can be enlightening. Now, as an adult I don’t read fluff or novels that are wasting my time, but I do enjoy a good well written work of fiction fairly regularly. I see the importance of filtering out what is damaging for our hearts and minds, but I don’t believe this applies to all fiction. There is a lot that can be gleaned from well written works of literature, especially for children. I feel like if I didn’t read fiction to my children they would really be missing a very enriching life experience.
Hmmm…. You make an interesting point. I’m glad the Holy Spirit works with each of us individually! Like yours, my children are voracious readers…. it’s just that the stories they read actually happened. It is clear in your comment that you are being intentional in the raising of your children and I admire that! And yes, there are some wonderful examples of English Literature (my degree is in English Literature, by the way, so I’ve read more classic literature than the average person). We just feel that it is more profitable for our children to read true stories than stories that didn’t happen. Thanks for chiming in! I really appreciate seeing things from your perspective!
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
Very refreshing, just the encouragement I needed to hear ! While we do read fiction in our family on rare occasions, God has been been opening my eyes to the danger of it,even in christian fiction ! Television is an obvious danger, but fiction can be sneaky and cloaked by education. I was a huge fiction reader in my youth, but have cut back almost entirely in the last ten years because of it’s unproductiveness.When reading fiction to my children , I have mainly limited myself to only reading things written prior to the 1970’s. Even with that I have had to be on my guard and edit out segments that were not encouraging Godly character traits. I greatly appreciate the Bible verse that you have received your convictions from. It is the only set of guidelines for this issue that is based on perfection !
I’m going to put this bluntly, just because I’m not sure how else to ask it, but I don’t mean anything harsh by this; it’s an honest question. Are you not concerned that your children will grow up lacking the ability to evaluate reading material for themselves, because they aren’t learning that skill from you now?
Rachel Ramey is the amazing author behind The Old Fashioned Way {review} {giveaway}
Hi Rachel,
Your question doesn’t sound harsh at all. Actually, I’m not concerned about them lacking the ability to evaluate reading material for themselves at all… simply because this is something we talk about all the time in our home! I would be more concerned for a child who grew up in a family where they can just grab any book off a library shelf without habitually having a discussion about what is and isn’t appropriate and/or God-honoring. Because we have guidelines in place, my children are having the opportunity to evaluate reading material every time we go to the library, a bookstore, receive a book as gift, place an online order for books, etc.
AlinaJoy
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
Where do you draw the line with make believe/fiction? I’m curious if your children start making up a story, is that allowed? If your daughter is playing with her dolls and making up the storyline for her dolls, is that considered fiction and untrue? What do you do if one of your children asks to read fiction? I guess as an author for both children and adults of Christian content, I can’t imagine limiting my own wild imagination or that of my children. We have SOO much fun creating fictional stories! I’ve never heard of anyone who doesn’t allow fictional reading before so this is a new and interesting perspective. I’m so thankful for the crazy and creative imagination for stories that the Lord has blessed me with. More so for those Christian authors who tackle historical fiction in a way that makes me fall in love with history in a way that school books never did. While I completely disagree with you on this topic, I appreciate you sharing this idea.
Hi Mel,
When I posted this, I actually expected that EVERYONE would disagree with me on this topic! Thanks for feeling free to post so openly and honestly.
My children are definitely very creative and have great imaginations. You should see the incredible contraptions they build with their Lego! My rule of thumb for make-believe play is that as long as what they are playing is true-to-life and not a behaviour that would be considered sinful, then it’s fine. (If their game were to involve somebody being hurt or somebody doing something that is sinful, I would step in and stop it.) But as long as the stories they are playing are something that really could happen I don’t step in. Of course, because my children have not had very much exposure to fairies or ghosts or other make believe creatures (other than what we see when we go to the store or to someone else’s home), those creatures don’t come up in their play. They mostly play that they are parents, construction workers, Bible Characters, etc.
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
This is an interesting perspective. I get where you’re coming from and see the value in some of the points you made. I have so many questions, but I will just ask about what I am most curious about. I am asking out of genuine curiosity and am not trying to be rude.
Why do you not extend this to play? You mentioned you are fine with stories in play (though not of a sinful nature) as long as it’s something that could happen. Why do you not apply that “as long as it could happen” standard to books? And as for play, children tend to immitate and pretend, even without prompting. Do your children play with dolls or things that carry a make believe aspect of play?
Do you not allow poetry that isn’t true? Most poems are metaphorical in nature, like many fiction stories/books.
Do you find this a struggle when choosing what to teach and how to teach it? Obviously, teaching creative writing would be very hard without the use of imaginitve comparisons like metaphors. What do you do about math problems, for instance. If your standard is to avoid that which didn’t happen, you couldn’t use story problems in math, right?
I am so curious! This is interesting. Again, I hope to not come off as rude. I respect your authority in your home and the decisions you made for your family. And I am honestly considering the points you made.
Ultimately, though, I think my stance on fiction differs from yours not in how we apply Philippians 4:8, but in how we interpret and define “true” as referenced here. I have always thought “true” in this verse was in regard to Biblical truths, not actual retellings of things that have happened. So, I would look at a novel that demonstrated truths like grace or salvation through story as being a good thing to “think on”. I thought Philippians 4:8 was concerned with how we order our thoughts and make sense of our world. Difficult topics such as war and abortion, not lovely or just or good, must be filtered through a worldview and considered with regard to Biblical truths. Your post has challenged my interpretation of Philippians 4:8. I think I understand true as referenced here, but I am going to delve deeper now to be sure. I do see how we need to be careful with how we spend our time and that we need to be cautious about entertainment and frivolous things.
Each parent has to do what’s best for their family, so I commend you for sticking to your convictions. (And not pushing them onto others)
But I will say that such a strict line keeps some amazing literature out of yours and your kids’ graps. There’s lots of terribly unhelpful nonfiction and some beautifully, God-glorifying fiction. (All Amish and western novels excluded. Completely.)
But oh! CS Lewis and Tolkein and L’Engle and Austin and Dickens! (Can you tell I like British lit?) 🙂
Ps. What do you do with poetry? How do you incorporate that into your children’s repertoire?
Hi Arline,
As I mentioned in an earlier comment, my degree is in English Literature, so I’ve read more classical literature than the average person! Actually, as I was writing this post I was thinking about CS Lewis’ book “The Screwtape Letters” and wondering if it is fiction or if it is an instructional allegory like John Bunyan’s books “Pilgrim’s Progress” and “The Holy War.” It has been years since I read The Screwtape Letters, so I probably need to go back and look at it again. I remember that as a baby Christian I found that book to be very interesting and enlightening.
As for poetry, I love poetry and we have an entire section of our bookshelf dedicated to it! I still have my classical anthologies of poetry from University (but not everything in those books are appropriate). We also have some sweet Children’s Poetry books by Rod & Staff and a Treasury of Poems by Helen Steiner Rice. But my favorite source of poetry is old hymn books! Old Hymns have all the characteristics of classical poetry and they also point us to the Gospel.
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
So instructural allegory is allowed? Where do you draw the line on that? Since it is also fiction.
When our first born was just a few years old, my close friend became convicted on the subject of fiction reading–and she shared her convictions with me. Which, of course, caused me to give it some heavy heart-searching and make a decision about what we were going to do in our home. I didn’t even know I would be later lead to homeschool, but we started at that young age–around 3 or so, went through all the children’s books we had, and made the decision to keep only the non-fiction. I am a trained teacher, with my masters in reading, and at the time I truly wondered if we would be able to find very many children’s books for our child to have. But once we started looking, they just seemed to come out of the wood-work! ALL nature books are available, wonderful character building history stories, science books, just ever so many! Our first born is 22 years old today, and I have never ever felt bad obout our decision. Quite the opposite! It has been a huge blessing in our family, and in my own life personally. I feel that it has awakened a taste for spiritual reading in my own life that did not exhist there before when I would heavily read fiction books. So to anyone who is even thinking about this move, I would encourage you to prayerfully do it!
Thanks for sharing your experience, Susan! I would love to hear some of your book recommendations!
AlinaJoy
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
Thank-you, thank-you, for sharing your conviction on reading material. God has also led us to avoiding fiction in our home. I too have few chances to read and when I do I want to be edified and challenged not fantasized. God bless you for your efforts in following truth in your life.
Thank you! God bless you in your home, too!
AlinaJoy
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
Honest question and food for thought: There are MANY things that are true, but they are not pure or lovely. History is chalk full of this. How do you teach the haulocaust, the assirian empire, the Civil War with brother killing brother? There are even biblical examples of truth that are far from pure or lovely.
So too, there are MANY examples of fiction that ARE pure and lovely, pointing people (young and old) to God’s truth and a clearer understanding of Him. You used the examples of Jesus’s parables. My husband is a pastor. His most powerful sermon illustration has been one that was fictional – the characters and the situation were made up, though within the realm of possiblity. It so clearly illustrated one of God’s truths that young and old (family integrated church) remember the story and its biblical lesson even now – years later. This is not to sing his praises, but rather to show that God certainly can use fiction. A great deal of a pastor’s illustrations are fictional to one degree or another – even if only in the change of names. Do you take issue with it as a congregational member? Does your pastor never use fictional stories to illustrate God’s truth?
Yes, you are right. Everyone has to draw the line somewhere. However, I personally wouldn’t be quite so pharisaical about it. (The Pharisees drew the line beyond what was intended by the law God put in place.) No you aren’t sinning in not taking advantage of beneficial fiction, nor are you sinning in judging others – you haven’t done so. As I mentioned – this is just food for thought.
May God Blessings rest on you!
Hi Marissa,
Thanks for your well-thought out comment! I haven’t always avoided fiction. My degree is in English Literature so for me to condemn somebody because they read fiction would be unfair (at best… and pharisaical, as you say, at worst). My personal experience was that I realized that reading fiction was causing a spiritual problem in my life. I wasn’t reading and understanding the Word of God the way I wanted to. Giving up fiction helped prepare my mind for Bible Reading. My husband came to a similar conviction on his own. We are training our children to avoid our mistakes…. because that’s what parents do.
In the case of your husband’s sermon examples, that wouldn’t offend me personally. An illustration that helps us to understand a Spiritual Truth by putting it in a context we understand is exactly what Jesus did in his parables.
As for true and/or Biblical examples of things that are not true and lovely… I do still teach those things, albeit in an age appropriate way. (My children are all under 10 years old right now.) When we talk about awful things that have happened, we always talk about it in terms of being a result of sin. As long as I have to teach my children about awful things, I want them to view things things in the bigger context of the great battle between Jesus and Satan.
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
Definitely a thought provoking post! Now to seek the Lord on this matter for our family!
Thanks April! I’d be interested to hear what the Lord leads you to do!
AlinaJoy
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
This is such a great post. Thank you for your openness about your choices. I do read fiction, but I have struggled immensely with my TV viewing for the same reasons. I am not sure I want some of those images in my head. Of course the news is true and I don’t want those images in my head either. I am slowly eliminating many of the TV shows or types of shows I used to watch. As you said, if you take the time to do something it had better be worth it because I don’t have that much free time to waste on trivial things.
Hi Jennifer,
I will be praying for you and praying that the struggle gets easier! Thanks for sharing!
AlinaJoy
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
Wow!! I really needed to read this post, and not necessarily for the fiction/non-fiction component. You have put into words what has been going through my mind in regards to the way my children have been spending their “spare” time lately. You have worded so well what I believe is at the heart of the matter concerning our children’s minds. In my case, my teenage daughters are spending what I consider inordinate amounts of time playing video games on their devices. And then they attempt to defend this by telling me that some of their friends (also Christian homeschoolers) spend way more time on these games than they do. Unfortunately, I know this to be true! What I am struggling with is how to deal with the influence of the friends. We didn’t start out as either a Christian family or a homeschooling family, so we already had some bad family habits to overcome. But we have now been doing this for 9 years, and I’m a former teacher, so most things in regards to homeschooling and living for the Lord are in good order. But Satan never rests, and I’m seeing some negatives that need to be dealt with. If anyone has suggestions for overcoming this specific struggle, I would love to hear your words of wisdom! (We already have time constraints and monitoring in place.) And thank you so much Alina for putting your heart and convictions out here for the rest of us to draw from!
Hi Tamie!
Thanks for your comment! You’ve probably heard the expression “Good is enemy of Best.” I’ll be praying for your family! I know the Lord will give you wisdom and help you raise your girls for HIM!
My children are much younger than yours, but I overheard an older/wiser Mom tell her child, “I’m not interested in what those other mothers let their children do, I’m interested in your Salvation.” I thought that was a great comeback!
AlinaJoy
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
Thank you! My girls love to ponder such quotes!
Hello there! I just wanted to share that we made this decision 9 years ago (after our 2nd was born – we have 5 kiddos now). My husband and I were both convicted on what we place before our eyes and minds. We have been blessed beyond what we could have imagined! With two older boys reading at a higher level, we have found many great missionary books, historical books (that aren’t too graphic), nature books, and lovely character books. I enjoy compiling lists with books for myself to be encouraged by, too! My husband has so many books he wants to read and is reading – most date back to early 1900s about the reformation! God Bless you as you continue to follow the Lord’s leading in your own life!
Nikki,
I would love to see your book lists! We are always looking for good titles! Do you have any favorites you can share?
AlinaJoy
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
I thought we were the only ones with this philosophy – It’s so encouraging and helpful to find that there are others…blessings to you in your walk with Jesus and following the same verse we follow in our home – Phillipians 4:8
Thank you Melody! God bless you and your family, too!
AlinaJoy
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
I am a fan of fiction, though I try to be very careful of what I read and what my children read. I just don’t agree with your logic- but that is okay! I quit reading ” Christian” romance novels before I got married for various reasons, so I understand going against the grain a bit. I would like to say I really appreciate your use of KJV scriptures. 🙂
Hi Brooke,
The nice thing about our Christian walk is that the Lord convicts us at different times about different things! If I had to guess, you probably have been convicted about things that we haven’t thought of yet.
I enjoy the King James Version. I also refer to other versions from time to time, but there is a certain beauty in the KJV language that I enjoy!
AlinaJoy
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
Thank you so much for your openness and honesty. This is something that has been on my heart for a very long time and we are leaning more towards eliminating almost all fiction as well. God has been teaching and showing me many things in these last few months and one of them being how saturated our world is with everything that is false…that we are practically blind to the danger of living in a fantasy world and so easily forget about living in the real world where a real battle for our souls is raging. This post feels like an answer to prayer and I’m really glad to have found your website! Could you comment more about children in their play and how they make believe all the time with their own scenarios and story lines? Or when a pastor uses a “fictional” short story to illustrate a biblical point in a sermon? Would you consider that the same as teaching a parable as Jesus did? And what about poetry? I find that for me I have a hard time trying to draw the line with fiction when so many of these other scenarios also apply. I’d love to know more! 🙂
Hi Melanie!
Wow! You asked almost the exact same questions as another reader asked above. I’ll paste my answer to her below (because your questions are so similar!). But please keep in mind that my opinions are really what matters here. I encourage you to keep praying because God WILL give you the answers you need!
Here is my original response. (Some of the comments refer to her comments, just skip over that.)
AlinaJoy
I haven’t always avoided fiction. My degree is in English Literature so for me to condemn somebody because they read fiction would be unfair (at best… and pharisaical, as you say, at worst). My personal experience was that I realized that reading fiction was causing a spiritual problem in my life. I wasn’t reading and understanding the Word of God the way I wanted to. Giving up fiction helped prepare my mind for Bible Reading. My husband came to a similar conviction on his own. We are training our children to avoid our mistakes…. because that’s what parents do.
In the case of your husband’s sermon examples, that wouldn’t offend me personally. An illustration that helps us to understand a Spiritual Truth by putting it in a context we understand is exactly what Jesus did in his parables.
As for true and/or Biblical examples of things that are not true and lovely… I do still teach those things, albeit in an age appropriate way. (My children are all under 10 years old right now.) When we talk about awful things that have happened, we always talk about it in terms of being a result of sin. As long as I have to teach my children about awful things, I want them to view things things in the bigger context of the great battle between Jesus and Satan.
Good Old Days Farm is the amazing author behind Why I Don’t Read Fiction To My Children
Wow! I have never thought about it! It does make sense, though. I very rarely read fiction as it is a huge time waster for me and I would rather use that time in growing in God. Thank you for your thoughts! I’ll definitely ponder on them.
First of all, I am a writer of fiction, so obviously, I am going to be biased in that direction. Second, I actually greatly respect the decision you have made for your family. If fiction was drawing you away from God, then you absolutely should avoid fiction. I believe the phrase Paul would use is “flee from sin.” So I have absolutely no problem with you making this decision for your family. And I feel you’ve done an excellent job of demonstrating that you don’t believe it to be a blanket prescription for all Christians, everywhere. My only issue is that you characterize fiction as untrue or dishonest. It is my belief that even fiction that might be characterized as non-Christian can still point to God. Because all of Creation cries out his name. And any good literature points to Truth. A story rarely resonates with a reader without it. There always has to be some part of a story that touches your soul in order for it to stick. Whether it’s a tale where love conquers all (just as Christ’s love conquered sin and death for us), or a tale where a character is forced to choose between what is good for them or what is right (just as we all each day must choose between sin and righeousness), if a story contains no Truth, it doesn’t contain much of anything, and people are rarely interested in it for long. There are exceptions of course. The popularity of the Fifty Shades trilogy certainly proves that. Though from what I’ve read of the overall plot, eventually there is a “love heals all wounds” kind of thing going on. But I don’t think wading through three books of complete and utter filth to find it is worth anyone’s time. But I believe that the popularity of those books speaks more to the general direction of our culture towards sin, rather than an indictment of all fiction, particularly if you stick mostly to classics that have been vetted by generations of Christians before you.
In summary, I believe that all things beautiful point to God, because he Created all beauty. Fiction that is beautiful and honest can speak truth, even if the story itself is made up. But the critiques often made to show bad writing speak to this. “The characters are flat” is basically an admonition that the characters lack some aspect of truth that makes them seem like an honest depiction. “Plot holes” are basically parts of a narrative that don’t make sense because they don’t conform to truth. So while I certainly believe that if reading fiction was separating you from God, you should definitely stop doing it, I think that characterizing all fiction as dishonest is quite a stretch.
All that said, I find that, as a writer, I have a very active imagination, and that comes into play while reading my Bible. When following a “Read the Bible in a Year” plan, I found myself getting caught up in the story and reading several days worth in the plan, simply because I didn’t want to leave the current story I was reading half-finished. My depth of imagination draws me into the Word because the stories of the Bible are so representative of all stories. That’s kind of the Bible’s thing. It represents all truth, including all forms of story (there are theories about how many actual story plots exist and I think at their heart, most of them are true, even if they can’t agree on how many plots there are).
It’s very late, so I hope that didn’t wander off down too many rabbit trails. I tried to keep my thoughts on point. I frequently fail on that though.
You have to do what The Spirit dictates is right for your family. Personally, I love fiction. I learned many, MANY spiritual truths from fiction. Chronicles of Narnia. Pilgrim’s Progress. Les Miserables. Little Women. I look forward to sharing the spiritual truths found in those pages with my children. They’ll never be as powerful as the Bible, or even some true life stories. But for our family, fiction can be a wonderful teaching tool.
Blessings! 🙂
I was wondering if you could share or recommend some specific titles that your kids have enjoyed. Are there any books that are presented in more of a story format similar to fiction? I like the concept of incorporating more non-fiction into our reading, but I worry that it will come across as dry or just not as interesting as fiction. Obviously we have read some non-fiction but since this has not been our main focus I am thinking that it would be hard to find many enjoyable options. I’m guessing this is not actually true, I just haven’t really looked. I have two boys, ages 10 and 7, so I was wondering if you could help steer me in the direction of finding great options that would grab their interest, since I don’t really know where to start. Thanks!
I agree with your blog entry here! I would just like to add a book suggestion for anyone who’d like to learn just a bit more about the importance of what you put in to your mind. The book, ‘The healing power of stories’ by Dr. Daniel Taylor, is a really good explanation of how and why to discern between 3 different types of ‘stories’ – healthy, satisfying, and broken.
Here’s a portion of a readers review from Amazon: Taylor includes an excellent chapter on the relationship between story (narrative) and the formulation of different worldviews. This is a particularly important chapter to read, given the tendency of most people to take their worldview for granted.
Throughout the book Taylor illustrates his points with, well, stories of course. There are quite a few well selected references from literature (mostly a few paragraphs at a time — to illustrate a particular point) as well as stories from his own personal experiences or those of people he knew.
It is an engaging book but it is not lite reading. On the other hand, it is not overly “academic” either. Graduate students who are interested in doing narrative research and who care about principle and moral integrity in their work would do well to begin with this book. Others will benefit from a refreshing point-of-view that it can give them on life, and on how to become actively engaged in making choices in one’s life, as opposed to being a mere spectator.
I took notes from this book, but it is really worthy to be owned and I plan on it soon! Enjoy reading this one!
This is honestly something I have never thought about as I grew up loving to read fiction (and still do). I am curious how you feel about realistic fiction (fictional stories that could really happen in life) since you allow your children to pretend play as long as they are acting out things that could really happen.
Great post, and wow, what a conversation you’ve started! Good for you for following through on your convictions and being brave enough to share them so well.
I will say that I disagree from a theological standpoint about the parables – many times, the people listening to Jesus’ parables had absolutely no idea what in the world He was talking about. See Matthew 13:10-17 for example. Jesus purposely spoke in parables – i.e., fictional stories – to explain truth only to those who were willing and desirous of hearing it, the truth being veiled to anyone but those with “ears to hear”. And even for those people, full understanding did not come until later, when the Gospel was complete with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. My application of that knowledge to this discussion of the purpose of fiction is this: stories are wonderful ways to teach people who want to learn. Stories are a great way to train your spiritual eyes and ears to hear what God is saying, to see His truth portrayed vividly on canvases you can understand and appreciate. And this: Just as Jesus’ parables were meaningless to His unbelieving hearers, so many stories are to their readers. The value of the fiction, therefore, is found entirely in the discerning mind of the reader.
Anne @Authentic Simplicity is the amazing author behind Copycat Panera Fuji Apple Chicken Salad
Let me first say that I agree with that many (all?) of us are guilty of wasting time on frivolous pursuits. I fundamentally disagree with the following:
“Fiction – by nature – is simply not true. God says to stay away from anything that is not true, so we do.”
What is the chief end of man? To glorify God by enjoying him forever! Who is that author of the greatest stories in the world? God. Who are we made in the image of? God! We were made to be creative beings and to glorify God with that creativity- story-writing, story-making and story-reading all included.
I would argue that this is a severe misinterpretation of scripture, and it robs God’s people of enjoying an amazing part of his plan for us. Some of us where especially made with this type of creativity running through our veins, and it is a testament to God’s great detail and love that he made us this way!.It’s not sin to abstain from fiction, but it is a great travesty!
I share this perspective not in a hope to get you to change your mind, but to offer a counter-argument to those who might feel undue burden or pressure from this post to eliminate good, quality STORY from their lives.
Blessings,
Amanda
This post and the comments replied to it provide wonderful food for thought. I believe the Lord has been showing me that one of out great idols in America, as well as much of the whole world today, is the idol of Entertainment. Don’t we all just feel that we deserve some entertainment every day? That often shows itself in TV and movies, but also in out reading material. This is certainly an area for soul-searching.
On the topic of fiction novels specifically, As a homeschooling mother of an 11th grader, 8th grader, and 6th grader, I do feel that good classical literature, also called “living books,” has a very important place in their education and human experience. As children enter middle school and high school, one might need to reassess a non-fiction only position. We read true stories (“Amos Fortune: Free Man,” “The Hiding Place,” “Walden”) as well fiction classics (“Johnny Tremain,” ” Where the Red Fern Grows,” “To Kill a Mockingbird”). I expect any college-bound graduate probably will read literature and will be expected to know how to write well about what is read your his professors.
I agree that all our children, whether college bound or not need to be able to read and write in their first language well! Of course I”m a writer and so that’s my bias. I used to tutor university students and edit papers for them and it is amazing how many people get through high school without good grammer skills! Right now my children are all under 10 years old so we’re in a stage of laying strong foundations.
I was just curious about the reference to Good Morning Girls Bible study. I used to follow that, and when they had a break up, I started following the Love God Greatly. Just curious which one you were referring to. I have learned a lot from this group of ladies. I think the current Good Morning Girls still has a lot to offer, but I prefer the format of the Love God Greatly…
Also, your comments were interesting because I work at a public school as a school librarian. We don’t have a lot of good excited readers, and most of the students prefer nonfiction books. Some read fiction–and I love fiction books. I do understand the dangers of some fiction…so this was an interesting post to me.
I love the name of “Love God Greatly”! I will go take a closer look at their site. Right now Good Morning Girls is studying through the book of Proverbs and that’s the study I’m following right now.
I realized years ago that I can’t read fiction without getting caught up in it and thinking thoughts I shouldn’t, even if it’s just comparing my life to some great Christian example. I decided I’d rather learn things when I read and spend more time in God’s word. Somehow, I never even contemplated the effects that reading non-fiction affects my children. I’ll pray about it, but I think I will definitely be choosing some alternative “stories” for my girls to read. My husband just got Pilgrim’s Progress, but beyond that, we will be choosing many more non-fiction books for our reading in school and free time. Thank you for your example.
Ahh…. Thanks for those sweet words!
Thank you for such a thought provoking post. While I disagree with all of your reasoning, you have several excellent points. I especially appreciate the thought of not polluting our minds. I know I will be accountable to my Heavenly Father for how I choose to spend my time so I don’t want that time spent reading trash.
My children love fiction. We read a piece of classic literature every morning. I am very selective about what I choose to read to them as I want it to be a piece of work that we can learn true principles from. Many of our greatest life lessons have come from learning from characters in a book. My children are learning great character traits from the books we read. I believe that we should seek truth in all things, that is why I read fiction, because I want my children to see the true principles that can be found in good, uplifting literature. So many lessons can be learned from books such as C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe and Treasures of the Snow. Both teach of Jesus Christ. It is possible to find truth in fiction.
Amy is the amazing author behind Story of the World Volume 1 Chapter 7
I really enjoyed reading this post, and I admire the way you teach your children. I can see how this topic would be very controversial, because many parents love reading story books to their children. In the end though, the only thing that matters is the truth and how well you served the Lord. Thank you for sharing!
To day I have noticed my 7 years old son is reading a book in the hall even when his brother (5 years ) making a lot of noise, which raise my eyebrows and looked at the book he is reading. I found it is a children fiction book borrowed from his school library. Then I started thinking about good and bad of reading of fiction books. My memories have answered my questions, I was living in a different world involving in the characters. As soon as I finish the book, I used to feel empty and my desire of getting another book dragged to the book store. I explained this experience to my son and googled the topic and found your great article . My son and me read your article and the verse you quoted assured the the answer supported by my own experiences. Then I asked my son to take a decision, he decided not to read such books. Then I told him to ask two questions when he take book to read, 1) will this book gives me the knowledge of God ? or 2) will this book gives me the knowledge of the world (natural, historical, physical, ethical, chemical, logical ..) , which equip me the skills to live in this world ? if the answer is yes , then I said go for it. if not leave it. Then he prayed for a while and took another natural science book and started reading. I would like to thank you for your great article which is very much required for real christian parents. Not for all.