Sacrificing Stories

Today we were getting together with some friends and one of the guys mentioned that he didn't read fiction any longer. He viewed it as a waste of time. While I may say that anything indulged to excess is a bad thing, I am saddened at the thought of eliminating fiction entirely.

Why is that, you may ask? Aren't stories just for children? I would say that that is far from the truth. Stories carry over much truth, morals, and imagination. It helps us think, reason, process, and understand.

Jesus himself taught much in the form of fiction. His parables were not true in the sense that they actually happened here on Earth, but true in the sense that they taught us lessons and morals.
 This gift of God, language and literature, is precious and can be used for great things. In fact, stories often outlive their teller, with authors who have died hundreds of years ago influencing the minds and lives of those who remain.

But even non-fiction stories often fall under the ax some people give literature. This is indeed a great tragedy when this occurs. Without it, so many things fall to the wayside. When God gave us the Bible, it was written mainly in story form for us to learn from. I am not saying that our writing is on par with the Holy Scriptures, but I do believe it is a wonderful medium that God has given us.

I'm not saying God doesn't convict some people of this. But I also believe that we shouldn't eliminate the good with the bad. Paul talks about denying things for the sake of denying them in Colossians  2:16-23. It is not good to assume that asceticism is good in all things. Sometimes self denial is a bad thing.

Bad? But I thought we were supposed to deny ourselves? Yes, but only in so far as it is actually good for us. If we eat to excess, we need to deny our impulses, that is one area I have had to continually deal with myself. But a person with bulimia or anorexia needs to make sure to eat enough. If they deny themselves food, it is not for their own good anymore.

A historical example that hits close to home for me would be the Anabaptists of Mexico. My parents grew up in a small colony there. Just a few generations ago, they were people of Godly faith and conviction. They denied themselves many things in order to focus more on holy things. Don't get me wrong, I believe that God does indeed deserve our attention. But if we are not careful with how we do it, people will adhere to what they see these spiritual people adhere to. And almost every time, we see that it only takes a generation or two to become a group that has no idea why they abstain from things, but they do so. In fact, it tragically becomes what Paul warns of, self-righteous self-denial.

So how can we avoid this? Well, one thing is to not put such an emphases on what we are not doing, and instead focus on what we ARE doing. Instead of talking about all the things we don't believe or do, instead work with the things we do believe and are doing. If we put our focus in the correct area, than each can follow his own God-given convictions and not attempt to instead follow someone else's.