Many of us are careful with what we eat. Some of us might only eat organic ingredients. Others might follow specific diets. We might hop on the scale from time to time to monitor our weight loss (or gain). We might go for walks or hikes. Now that gyms are open, we might work out. Our health is important, and we do what we can to maintain it. The choice of what we consume plays a big part in our overall sense of health and well-being.

Spiritual realities often mirror physical ones. Some of us ignore our spiritual selves entirely. Others of us try to "work out", practice mindfulness, and develop a sense of awareness of our spiritual selves. But we don't always spend much time evaluating and curating what we consume. This can have pretty devastating effects on our spiritual health.

The Bible has something to say about this:


Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
(Philippians 4:8)


When we approach any kind of media, we are not clean slates. We bring with us our own unique set of preconceptions, vocabulary, personalities, and beliefs. What we see, hear, and understand is filtered through these things.

TV, podcasts, and songs can sometimes get under our filters because we turn our brains off during our consumption of these media. This can cause injury to our spiritual selves. Ungodly content often breeds and nurtures ungodly thoughts, attitudes, and actions.

Let me be very clear: anything that causes us to cheer for something ungodly (e.g., casual sex, lying, gossip) is itself ungodly. It fails to meet the biblical standard through which we are to filter our choices of what we put into our brains.

It's ungodly because it normalizes a sinful lifestyle. It makes us think that it's okay to disobey God. It causes us to actively cheer against following God. This is not pure, or lovely, or worthy of praise.

Today, I would like to focus primarily on one particular type of consumption: reading books and stories.

Books are unparalleled in their power to shape and influence the mentalities we take toward the world, and by extension, the trajectory of our lives. They have the power to inform and inspire us. But they also have the power to injure us, both spiritually and emotionally.

Books, unlike TV and songs, get under our filters in a different way. We spend hours, days, or weeks  immersed in the same book, the same author, the same story. Books employ not only the visual cortex, but also the auditory one [1]. Experts tell us that when we read, even if we're reading silently, our brains our "hearing" the words as we read them. So, even from a brain stimulation standpoint, books are at least as powerful as television.

However, I would argue that they are more powerful. That's because as we read the descriptions, as we encounter the dialogue, we eventually begin to imagine ourselves in the shoes of the protagonist. Whereas in a movie or television show we might watch the life of the protagonist, in a book, we enter that life. We experience it. We make the same decisions as the protagonist, and are influenced by the consequences.

These experiences have massive repercussions when we consider the results of research studies focussed on how our imagination impacts our physical reality. Once such study [2], published in 2004, divided participants into three groups:

  • A control group (one that did nothing)
  • A group that physically did exercise
  • A group that imagined doing exercise

At the end of the study, the group that had physically done exercise had built 53% more muscle than they originally had. The group that had only imagined doing exercise had built 35% more muscle than they originally had. There was no change in the control group.

This means that simply by imagining doing exercise for 15 minutes per day, 5 days per week, the imagining group was able to build 66% of the muscle that the exercising group built.

Let that sink in for a moment. It has significant implications for our spiritual lives.

Using the same principle, when we imagine ourselves sinning, we're 66% of the way there.

I would never engage in the things I read about, we might think. But the reality is that our brains and bodies experience the act of imagination as though we have committed 66% of the acts that we have imagined.

It is perhaps for this reason that Jesus said, "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." [3]

I'm sure we can all recognize, from sad experience, that after we have engaged in a certain behaviour once, it becomes much more likely that we will do so again. (For instance, if I lie about something once, the chances that I will do it again in the future are much greater.)

If our bodies and spirits react to the things we read as though we have personally taken part in them, we are much more likely to actually engage in them in the future.

How desperately our spiritual selves need us to use that biblical filter!

Whenever I'm starting something new, I try to always ask myself, "Is this good? Is this true? Is this pure? Is this honouring to Jesus?"

When I remember to do this, I only give myself permission to proceed if the answers to all of these questions are "yes".

However, I'm not always successful at remembering. Let me give you two examples that I have learned from.

About a year ago, I noticed a book recommendation by a Christian friend on Goodreads. I trusted and respected this friend, so I picked up a copy of the book from the library.

It was exceptionally well written. However, there were a lot of sex scenes in it. Usually, I stop reading such books without a second thought. But this time was different. I was delighted with the quality of the writing. That's okay, I told myself. I can just skip those sex scenes. After all, the story was so good. I didn't want to miss it. And it was sex between a husband and wife, after all. (How easily we rationalize dipping our toes in the pools of sin!)

However, the sex scenes were numerous. It took a lot of self-control to keep skipping them. And the book was long. By about 3/4 of the way through, I was tired. I had stopped skipping.

When I realized this, I thought, Well, I'm almost done. I'll just finish it and not read the next book in the series. I stopped reading the sex scenes, and finished the book.

Bad idea.

The story took a turn towards the truly disturbing. And, it hit hard on my own experiences of abuse. When I closed the book at the end, I knew it had done me a great emotional and spiritual injury. It would take months for the pain of that injury to fade.

This could have been avoided, if only I had remembered to pass this book through my filters. Instead, I relied on the recommendation of a Christian friend. I discarded my reliance on Jesus for reliance on a human being. I shouldn't have done that.

Fast forward about a year. A few months ago, I randomly picked up a book from the library. It was an anthology of short stories. The first one was absolutely delightful, and I posted about it on Facebook. However, when I went to read the next few, they got progressively worse. In the end, I stopped reading the book entirely.

Then I panicked. I had recommended that first short story on Facebook. I took down my post, and hoped that no one would have been influenced to pick up the book. (This was the wrong choice. I should have owned my mistake on Facebook, and posted an update removing my recommendation.)

If only I had waited. If only I had prayed about what to do next. If only I had not been impatient to share something I'd enjoyed. My premature recommendation had not gone unnoticed. To my dismay, I would find out later that one of my friends had picked up the book after reading my post.

I can't change the past. But I can repent of it. And I can do my best to constantly submit my choices to Jesus. These are two examples of where my own human understanding failed me. If I had only prayed and submitted these things to Jesus, I know that He would have guided me in ways that bypassed spiritual injury to both myself and others.

Dear brother, dear sister, please be careful of the books you read. They will shape you in ways that you can't possibly imagine, and may not even recognize. Their influence could have a major impact on your future life and decision-making.

Please be careful of the books you recommend. You have no idea who's watching. You have no idea who might look up to you, or respect your opinion. Our recommendations have the power to weaken the godliness of our brothers and sisters. Let us not allow ourselves to be instruments of spiritual injury to others.

And, when you do fail, don't panic. Bring your failure to Jesus, and ask Him what to do next.


NOTES

[1] Christopher I. Petkof and Pascal Belin, “Silent Reading: Does the Brain ‘Hear’ Both Speech and Voices?”, Science Direct, last modified 18 February 2013, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982213000055.

[2] Vinoth K Ranganathan et al., “From mental power to muscle power--gaining strength by using the mind”, NIH: National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, accessed 6 September 2021, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14998709/.

[3] Matthew 5:28, ESV.

(Picture source)