I won't be mean on this one, but this is a scary thread... Great books and their relation to the faith

Look at this thread at the so-called PuritanBoard.

Quickly: great works of literature are *influences.* That's not to say they are 'good' or 'bad' influences like a football coach or a friend who does drugs. They are unique influences that are *above* the level of influences that we come into contact with in our everyday lives; general life influences *require no effort on our part* for us to be 'influenced' by them.

On the other hand to *get* the influence that is great works of literature *you have to make an effort to approach them.*

Higher influences are like this. Actually they are two things: they are rare and they require self-motivated effort of attention to engage them and get from them what is of value.

Without any contact with these higher influences a human being remains dead asleep and ignorant within the helter skelter of undirected life influences.

The so-called Christians in the thread linked above are 'counseling' that people shouldn't read great books, but I guarantee you each one of them watches Hollywood movies and sits in front of television sets or listens to radios or reads newspapers and magazines. Those influences *require no effort.* (I'm restraining myself from using harsh language towards these people. They really deserve no such courtesy because they set themselves up as teachers of Christians, notice how many 'elders' are writing in that thread, for instance.)

Let's make it simple:

LIFE INFLUENCES (no effort required, they just come at you): food (hunger), sex (sexual desire), money (need to make it or have it), mother-in-law (general life influences everybody has to deal with). Throw in all the shallow activities and diversions people are drawn towards and spend their time with, the aforementioned TV shows, movies, video games, 'light reading', etc., etc.

HIGHER INFLUENCES (effort very much required, they don't just come at you): imaginative literature, history, philosophy, art, music, science, religion. And anything that generally falls within one of those categories. Mathematics and technology fall under science, for instance. These influences reside in a hierarchy, some higher than others. It is a given that such influences, no matter how inspired and vetted by Time itself, are always a mixture of wheat and chaff. Yet the wheat in them is real. Universal human nature, for instance, is found in such influences. The ways of the world are found in such influences. On the mark presentations of such understanding. And when you engage such higher influences you *potentially* (though it is rare) begin to be able to *see* the hierarchy and where each influence resides. You also begin to develop within yourself not only some understanding of yourself and the world around you, but something very substantial, like a more *essential* development within you (not just surfacy knowledge) that increases your level of self-awareness and objective understanding of the world around you (and above you and below you). You also begin to develop being. Potentially.

I have to say potentially because there are even (gasp) *professors of literature* who so filter everything they read through their inane and juvenile vanity and worldly pride and rebellious self-will and all their various ignorant demands they make on everything that they truly get very little if anything from such higher influences. But, you can sit at the feet of Christ and get it all wrong and learn nothing. An aspect to look for regarding such people is they will take everything *at the same level.* They can't see *degree* of inspiration. They will even write books saying that the great books are no better than a common romance novel, or that the Iliad and a comic book are basically worth the same.

There are also influences higher than the higher influences listed above, but here we get into the realm of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God and direct conscious influence that only comes from God. This level of influence needs regeneration.

The relation of the Word of God to the great books can be seen like this: all the higher influences mentioned above are like a mountain. Some novels, for instance, are more at the base of the mountain, most reside somewhere between the base and the summit, few reside at the summit level. The same with all other kinds of higher influences whether works of art or music or what have you. The summit level influences are rare. Many genre novels, few epic poems. The Word of God, the Holy Bible, is *beyond summit.* Notice though it helps to be at the summit. First, when at the summit you can see more. Then, when at the summit you will *value* what is *beyond summit*...

Those other influences even, in a real way, *lead* you to what is beyond summit, the Word of God. When you climb up that mountain getting real understanding at each stage.

You don't need them, but we can see in history that ignorance and Christianity are not an authentic mix. I was going to say not a *good* mix, but I chose the other word for some reason. It can be a cheap word, but it seems to be apt here.