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50 Shades of Grey, a Christian's perspective on 50 Shades of Grey, book review, Christian review, Christianity
I feel I must put a warning at the beginning of this post. This post will be dealing with s e x u a l references as they pertain to a particular book series. Please be advised before you continue.
Also, please know, this is *MY* opinion and what I believe Christ has instructed me.
I know this post will NOT be popular with the world. I realize this. And yet…..here I go anyway. I am not supposed to be of this world anyway, so there. LOL
I have been hearing a *LOT* about a certain, new series of books that are out for women and people are going NUT-SO for them! The raving reviews are INCREDIBLE! It’s what The Hunger Games and the Twilight series did for teenagers: got them reading in droves! (Although it has NOTHING to do with the literary talent.)
Now, I’ve always been a book-lover. I love to read.
But, God spoke to my heart a few years ago and convicted me of the kind of books I had been reading: romance novels….the kind involving bodices being torn, etc. (Emphasis on the etcetera.) The racier the better. I loved it all. (Now I look back on it and I cringe!)
I had to come to terms to what exactly I was doing and having it shown to me with such honesty and abruptness by GOD HIMSELF really hit home to me and I’ve never forgotten it.
Ladies, it’s p o r n o g r a p h y plain and simple. I don’t mind being the bad guy that tells you this either. More on this later.
This book series that has all the women a-twitter is called 50 Shades of Grey. As a Christian woman, striving to live a close relationship with God, I cannot in any way shape or form, promote this book. I find it very sad honestly. I know the reviews are saying things like how “liberating” it is for women, but I just don’t see it like that.
Let me put it in terms that you may see it from my vantage point. If a wife stumbles across her husband’s hidden p l a y b o y collection, she would be upset. If she came across her husband’s hidden p o r n collection, she’d probably scream and yell and possibly throw things.
Men are visual, that’s why these appeal to men.
These books, 50 Shades of Grey, appeal to women’s minds.
IT’S THE SAME THING.
The only difference is, women can put it on their coffee tables, carry them around with them in their purses, read them on their kindles, and it is just a part of polite society. Liberating…. (tongue in cheek)
It is p o r n. It is written to appeal to women’s s e x u a l appetites. It is expecting our husbands to live up to this made up, make-believe man in a book and taking our affections away from our husbands and onto another (fake) man. It is emotionally and in some cases, physically draining on our marriages. It’s detrimental. I don’t care about the reviews that say it’s “bringing marriages closer” or about the “50 Shades of Grey” baby boom…..it’s taking your physical desire away from your husband in your own mind. It is finding your pleasure in something else other than your husband.
OR, in the cases of single women…..it’s finding your pleasure in an unnatural source. It’s still p o r n.
1 Peter 5:7-9 Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Now, I realize the early church was not speaking on p o r n o g r a p h y for women, but it IS a warning: Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. I don’t know about anyone else, but that SCARES me!
These books are Satan’s way of devouring us with a made up man named Christian Grey. It’s his way of steering us away from God. Not the direction I desire to go. And it worries me how very popular these books are.
1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;
Matthew 5:28
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman [OR MAN] with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Now, let me end this by saying, this was written by a Christian woman’s perspective. It is directed at the Christian women out there. Those who do not know Christ will not understand what it is I’m trying to convey. I believe these books to be a stumbling block in a Christian woman’s walk with God.
And…..this is something very personal that God has laid on my own heart. If He has not convicted you (and you have sought Him on this), then by all means, make your own decision. But I cannot, in all good conscience, recommend these books on any level.
Be kind to others, and seek Christ diligently.
Edited 7/10/2012: Please, before you comment with your opinion, make sure to read the ENTIRE post. Please notice the last line: Be kind to others. So, if you feel the need to comment with a mean and nasty opinion, don’t. It isn’t needed, and it isn’t kind, and it will be erased anyway.
Please know, I am an exceptionally kind lady to everyone. I am nonjudgemental of people, and I have very real feelings that can and are being hurt by comments by internet-brave people.
Also, please remember this was WRITTEN by a Christian woman to other Christians out there that love Jesus. So, before you leave a nasty or mean comment, please ask yourself if it is something that you would say to Jesus Himself. If you are not a Christian yourself, you do not even need to leave a comment because I was not directing this post to you at all.
So, in conclusion, let me say again: Be kind.