Photo by Lacie Slezak
I threw away a book today.
It went into the trash can and I shut the lid. I don’t want to be tempted to rescue it, no matter how beautiful the cover.
I’ve only thrown away a couple books in my lifetime, but it’s always been done for the same reason.
I didn’t want someone I love thinking I approved.
Today’s book was one I picked up at a writer’s conference. I trusted the publishing house and the publisher. The guilty will go unnamed.
I read it all the way home on the plane, with my heart racing and my brain arguing, “Really? I don’t think so.”
It was a fictionalized version of a famous Bible story. I didn’t know the author, but I knew the story well.
The book painted an extraordinary picture of the setting and it gave me insight into another time and place.
I set it on the shelf when I got home and admired the beautiful cover every time I went up the stairs.
But when I read the Amazon reviews, my spiritual scruples again.
While some people loved the story, many had serious complaints–mostly about the liberties the author took with Biblical canon.
Legitimate complaints, not cranky complaints.
So, my brow furrowed when I went past the beautiful cover.
I reminded myself what I had taken away from the story, how it had changed my point of view on current events.
That a good enough reason to own a book, right?
Reasons to throw away a book–or not?
I gave away 400 books in 2013. Why own a book with legitimate spiritual issues?
But if I got rid of it, did it mean I was a narrow-minded stereotype, rather than an open-minded literary appreciator?
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How would you feel?
But, I reasoned, if I had rewritten a Biblical narrative in such a way as to undermine someone’s faith, would I mind if someone threw it away?
Uh, no. Not at all.
Which brings me back to this morning.
I hadn’t read that particular passage of Scripture in some time, but everyone knows the story.
Today when I read it in my Bible, though, visions planted by the novel arose.
Some were not complimentary to the Biblical characters.
Some of the novel’s casual facts distorted my personal, and knowledgeable, understanding of the Scripture.
I knew the novel was wrong, so I set aside my worries.
Reading the Bible and discussing it with God.
As often happens, reading the Bible became a discussion session between me and God.
As I read a sentence, I stopped to think about what it meant.
Photo by Claudio Schwarz
I tried to picture what happened in the Biblical account.
Did the attitude of my heart reflect the same negativity I saw in this passage–which clearly showed God didn’t approve?
The novel had influenced my opinons. I had to ask God to forgive me, to help me change.
And then I felt much better.
I read a couple more sentences, considered them, saw no application and moved along.
A question arose, so I reviewed the notes at the bottom of the page.
(My friend Gary Warren calls these references, “BOB” for “bottom of the Bible.”).
I remembered the slant taken in the novel.
Then I wondered, what my grandchildren some day might learn about the passage if they picked up the novel with the beautiful cover?
Well, what would you do if God asked you?
The answer: they would be confused, the message distorted, and their concept of God harmed.
It was time to throw away a book.
I went upstairs, paused to admire the beautiful cover one last time, and tossed it out.
Except, I then retrieved the book from the trash can and placed it in the recycle bin.
Something good, now, can come of it.
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Two books have done me that way. One was The Poisonwood Bible. I got to the point the snake kills the child and thought, there was no purpose in writing that, so much had happened. I never finished the book. Some have told me it was good but in over 15 years I haven’t seen the reason to go back and finish.
I also read The Red Tent, based on a story in the Bible. I appreciated that the Jewish author filled in some details of the faith that I did not understand or know because I don’t have a Jewish background, but I didn’t agree with her “twist” on the story.
Off to sort out other Biblical stories and see if my old, feeble brain can comprehend. 😉
I had a lot of trouble with The Poisonwood Bible as well and have never read another book by the author.
I liked The Red Tent for the insight into a Jewish perspective, but agree that, like this book, it has a lot of theological errors for the orthodox Christian, so why bother?
Interesting and thought-provoking topic. And well-presented!
I have thrown away books, because I wanted to take them out of circulation. One less for someone to find and read. I considered them evil, and I don’t feel bad about it.
I think there are two issues embodied in what you’ve written. The first, and most important, is “erosion of faith”.
The First Amendment protects free speech, but it does not protect incitement to riot. I think that a deliberate attack on faith falls into this category – it’;s a planned assault on part of one’s personality, a violation of the soul. I don’t feel that such books are worthy of First Amendment protection, at least on a personal level, and I’ll happily throw them out.
The second issue is canon and Scriptural accuracy, and it’s more difficult. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to write a fictionalization of any part of the Bible without taking some liberties that may be viewed as canon violation. There are those who feel that any English-language representation of a Biblical story (written or filmed) has to be executed using the language of the King James Bible.
Canonically correct, from an English-language viewpoint, but it’s likely a misrepresentation of the spirit of the Book. Most Biblical personages were unlettered, and their language may have been gramatically correct for their time – possibly – but would likely have been far simpler when spoken. Personally, I think that Mel Gibson got the tone right when he made the “Passion” – the delivery of the lines (in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin) caught the immediacy and style of the characters in a way that I thought was accurate.
Another example – the story of Esther is not scripturally accurate in “One Night with the King”, but it’s a movie that catches the spirit of the story. It certainly does bolster faith.
I guess that accuracy has to be looked at through the lens of – is the message of the story intact, and are the characters consistent in their behavior with those of the Bible? Maybe this is enough?
And I’d be hurt, yes, if anyone thew out a copy of “Blessed Are the Pure of Heart”. I wrote it to increase faith and hope.
You wrote it with the correct attitude in mind. But to present a loved Biblical character with traits inconsistent with both what most people believe about the character AND the story, plus distort unverifiable aspects of others in the tale, is to tamper with the intent of Scripture. In the end, the minimal amount of insight I gained from the setting could not offset the character assasination, so out the book went.
You didn’t have to be a stickler about theology in this case.
I have a problem, too, with distortions of history. IN the film setting, I’ve refused to see Titanic for that reason. I know they tampered with the facts. No thanks. Same with JFK. The problem is, many people only see that movie, only read a book like this one (see books like The DaVinci Code— by the way, churches in Paris have “DaVinci Code tours,” of parts of their church mentioned in the book. Absurd and scandalous, really), and decide the fictional version is the truth.
It makes my head and soul hurt.
I , that tampering with Scripture is just plain wrong.
I also agree with you on history – skewing it is the worst kind of revisionism, because eventually these works will form part of the body of knowledge about events, at least in our cultural memory.
As an example – “Pearl Harbor” was a dreadful pastiche of inaccuracies, while the much older “Tora, Tora, Tora” hewed to the letter of history.
One exception – “Black Hawk Down” was fundamentally accurate, but the cast of characters had to be reduced to a number that was manageable on the screen. The producers admitted to this change, but I think the film was an effective adaptation of the book. And they did give the disclaimer ‘based on a true story’ so that no one would consider it documentary, rather than drama.
Good for you–I have had to do the same thing
Really interesting post, Michelle. I haven’t had this problem but I HAVE recycled a Glenn Beck book my brother gave me. (shiver) Oh and Follett’s World Without End, as it was irretrievably bad. 🙂
So, Andrew, should I suck in my gut and watch Black Hawk Down?
Glad to hear I’m not alone, Joyce and Jamie!
I have thrown out books. Growing up, people gave us boxes of old books. My parents put the books on the shelves without reading them; and I would be the one to find and read them. I found a lot of foul writing. Historical novels and especially ones based off the wilder Biblical events were the worst. It was as if the authors thought the factual basis justified them in filling out the salacious details.
My parents would be horrified when I informed them of these books; and they would quickly get rid of them. I have imitated their example whenever I find myself the owner of that kind of book – which isn’t often, as I seldom buy a book without reading it first. The public library is a great filter for one’s personal library.
Excellent point, Roscuro. My own children were shocked to discover their father owned science fiction books! They went on, of course, to read those very books and were able to discuss them with their father.
I’m only thrown out a handful, but never wished any of them back.
I threw away the course material for my “modern critical theory” class my senior year of college (once it was over). The only reason I didn’t burn it was because it was so thick I’d have had to tear the pages out (part of me really liked the thought, but I didn’t want to spend that much time on it)! It was required for my major, and something I dreaded from the first I heard of it. It was very difficult being in a class where the whole theme was to try to make deeper sense of the world without acknowledging God.
After listening to Leah (my assistant) describe her English degree at the same school, I was so thankful I earned mine in the Dark Ages where we actually read for pleasure. We also wrote, of course, but not in the mechanized way she had to. Yikes! Good for you throwing away that book. I did the same with James Joyce’s Ulysses. Horrors . . .