Hail, almighty Christian bookbuyer!
O, Christian bookbuyer,
Are CBA bookshelves not yours to do with as you please?
Woe to the foolish publisher who does not heed your voice!
Aren’t we glad that isn’t in the Bible?
From a certain perspective, that’s probably blasphemous. And yet, isn’t that how some publishers often behave?
So following their self-proclaimed lordship over our bookshelves, let’s consider what that would make our judgment day like:
Situation 1.) Christian writer gets to heaven. God asks how you could write those horrible things without feeling ashamed for all the innocent children.
Now what if God was in control of the bookshelves?
Situation 2.) Christian writer gets to heaven. God asks if you followed His command to tell the gruesome, “trashy,” salacious world about His powerful love and redemption.
No Christian writer will get to heaven and have to face the first situation. It just won’t happen. Causing a child to lose innocence by sharing the truth is not a sin. It is the right thing to do. There are limits, of course. Obviously no child needs too much brutal life. But a parent is at fault if a child does not “lose her innocence” about the dangers that exist in the dangerous world. Yes. He’s at fault if he doesn’t tell his child the truth.
If we’re worried about being ashamed of our children reading salacious, violent stuff, maybe we should start them off in Isaiah or Revelation where God uses some “edgy” language to describe the work of the “angel of light.” He actually commands us to teach our children about this stuff. I mean, come on God!
I do believe He’s sounding the wake up call. It isn’t up to us. He could remove me at any time. (As I’m sure He’ll do as soon as I forget that fact.) And none of us is the “most worthy” citizen. It’s God’s kingdom, right? Becca had a great blog on this the other day.
It isn’t any of us who’s going to bring about this “revolution”—if that’s even the right word. I don’t like offensive images it brings to mind for some people around the world who live in countries where revolt is currently taking place. I don’t want to denigrate their sacrifice and hardship.
And yet, this is our battle: as Chuck said in Fight Club , “Our war is a spiritual war” and the battlefield is our lives. I believe God is calling for this strong ideology to get the point across. I believe it’s His will. I can’t help if it’s insensitive to share it. He doesn’t need us to get the work done; we’re just joining Him in what He’s already doing. What he does need is more of us to sincerely commit to the honest work to be done in waking up the sleepyheads to His leading—in CBA and everywhere else.
More tomorrow.
When people are being suppressed they find alternative methods of attaining their goals. They develop an underground network of sorts. Bloggers have proved that when you can’t get information traditionally there are other means to the end. They have stepped up to provide a service as this centuries new journalists. More trusted than CBS/NYTimes for sure.
I refuse to keep beating my head against a rock. Plus, I’m older so I don’t have years to waste(LOL). If I can’t find a publisher to accept my work, I will find an alternative–either self-publishing or e-publishing. Develop a website, draw traffic to the website, and supply creative/practical ideas and I believe the revolution can go forth with or without traditional publishers.
Will the CBA bookshelves look different? They might once the big publishers realize people aren’t going to their stores to buy books anymore. They’re getting them elsewhere!