A Pastoral Response to Fifty Shades of Grey

Although  not an iron-clad rule, men’s pornography is primarily visual; women’s pornography has a story line. Give a man a picture, and his mind jumps into bed. Give a woman a passionate, romantic, erotic story, and she is hungry for more than she’s getting. With Fifty Shades of Grey coming out this week in movie theaters, you have both images and a story—a deadly combination.

Sadly, this movie is being marketed at Valentine’s day as an alternative to candy and flowers. The book and movie depict perverted sexual practices—bondage and sadomasochism, in which the dominant person in the relationship ties up the willingly submissive one and inflicts pain.

According to a recent radio broadcast by Focus on the Family Christian women are being encouraged by their friends to read the book in order to spice up their sex lives. And Christian women are falling for this lie.

Pornography, whether directed at men or at women, stimulates sexual desire, but it implants unrealistic fantasies in the mind. A real man or a real woman can never live up to the fantasies indulged in by a porn addict. For that reason porn is exceedingly damaging to marriage relationships. One Christian woman mentioned on the Focus program became so addicted to erotic novels, that they consumed her whole waking moments. The Holy Spirit literally stopped her as she was headed out the door, suitcase in hand, planning to leave her family in search of the lifestyle that had captured her heart. The Spirit stopped her, and He turned her heart around.

Now the devil may say to you, “You really won’t know what everybody is talking about unless you see/read Fifty Shades of Grey. You owe it to yourself to find out so that you can decide for yourself.” That is exactly the line he used with Eve when he told her that the forbidden fruit would enable her to really know good and evil.

The devil may also say to you, “You’re strong. You can handle it. It won’t hurt you.” Again, that is exactly what he said to Eve: “You shall not surely die.”

I urge you not to fall for the devil’s lies, and if you have already fallen for them, seek help. I will be glad to support you in your quest for spiritual freedom, and I can point you to some other resources. Jesus is the only one who gives freedom to sin’s slaves (John 8:31-36).

The Bible among the Myths, by John N. Oswalt

Not long ago, a young lady, educated in one of the nearby liberal arts colleges, asked about the Bible’s relationship to pagan myths. Her teacher had asserted that Genesis 1 was just Jewish mythology based on earlier near-eastern writings. I had written a bit about pagan mythology in my book, The Beauty of God for a Broken World, and I knew somewhat more that I wrote. She seemed satisfied, but I wish I could have placed The Bible among the Myths in her hand.

I have often described the Bible’s creation account as an anti-mythology. Oswalt provides new depth for that description. He begins, in one sense, with the end of the story as he reviews how the combination of the Greek and Hebrew worldviews led to the unique understanding that we find in Western civilization.

As a result of that combination there was now an explanation for the Greek intuition of a universe [instead of a “polyverse”]: there is one Creator who has given rise to the universe and in whose creative will it finds its unity. At the same time the Greeks showed the Hebrews the logical implications of their monotheism (25).

Chapter 2 shows that to call the Bible a myth or a collection of myths stretches the definition of myth so much that it ceases to be a useful term. Chapters 3 and 4 highlight the fundamental contrast between the biblical and the mythological worldviews. Mythological thinking sees a continuity between the gods and human beings and all of nature. The Bible insists that God is transcendent. He stands far above His creation. There is no gradual scale of beings between God and the world.

“The Bible versus Myth” (chapter 5) examines a number of parallels between the Bible and its surrounding culture. It would be surprising if there were no such points of contact, but Oswalt shows that they function in entirely different ways in the pagan worldview than they do in the Bible.

The next two chapters argue that the biblical worldview provides the only solid basis for a truly historical perspective on life. Genuine history, as opposed to king lists and royal annals, is not found in the ancient near east.

The final chapter is perhaps the least interesting for the general reader. In it Oswalt reacts briefly with proposals by other Old Testament scholars who offer other explanations for the Bible’s worldview. I highly recommend this book for people who have heard that the Bible is just a bunch of myths.

Till We Have Faces--by C S Lewis

I just finished this amazing book by a master Christian story-teller. I had read it a number of years ago, and I remembered the basic plot line except for the brilliant ending.

One of Lewis’s most fascinating proposals was that the ancient pagan myths, by embodying the deepest fears and longings of the human heart, point toward their perfect fulfillment in Jesus Christ. In Till We Have Faces, Lewis reworks the Greek myth of Psyche to produce a tale that fits into none of the standard categories for novels. It is first interesting, then puzzling, then at the end incredibly and surprisingly beautiful.

Psyche was born divinely beautiful and destined to be married to a god, but this is really the story of her ugly sister, Orual, whose possessive love for Psyche threatens to destroy Psyche’s happiness. When Orual adopts a veil to hide her ugliness, we recall St. Paul’s reference to the veil that covers the faces of people who reject the gospel (2 Corinthians 4). Along the way we see the emptiness of those oh-so-sensible rationalizations that try to provide a psychological explanation for every encounter with the supernatural.

In some passages I sense the same mystery and wonder that I feel when the little otter meets Pan in Wind and the Willows or when Mr. and Mrs. Beaver describe Alsan to the Pevensie children in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I suppose this is not a book for everybody. (No book is, except the Bible.) But I suspect that there are many who will find that it exposes the ugliness of their own souls without leaving them in despair. We need to see the things in us that must die if we are to see the beauty of our God. Seeing him is the only way we can be transformed from Orual into Psyche.

Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson is one of the most amazing stories I have read in a long time. It is a must read for anyone who wants to understand what is going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And it is simply a good, inspiring read. For a longer review, here's a link to a friend's blog.

http://faithlit.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/books-not-bombs/

Book Review--One Thing

One Thing: Developing a Passion for the Beauty of God

by Sam Storms (Christian Focus, 2004)

This is a beautifully written book. Sam Storms has adopted John Piper’s phrase to describe himself as a Christian Hedonist. Like Piper (and like me), Storms has been captivated by Jonathan Edwards’ description of God’s glory and beauty. After introducing the importance of beauty as a category for understanding and enjoying God (3 chapters), Storms illustrates the beauty and majesty of God with chapters on Handel’s Messiah, Galactic Grandeur, and Microscopic Majesty. He concludes with three chapters on the vital importance of beauty for a healthy, happy Christian life.

“The essence of loving living as a follower of Jesus isn’t in trying harder but in enjoying more. I’m not saying you can change without trying. I’m saying that enjoyment empowers effort. Pleasure in God is the power for purity” (p. 128).

While Sam Storms has the same understanding of God’s beauty as I do, our books are nevertheless quite different. One Thing is more devotional, my Beauty of God for a Broken World is more theological. Storms does an excellent job of illustrating God’s beauty. I have attempted to defend it.

Link to Sam Storm’s website