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The Ministry of Health and Healing
and disqualifies it for spiritual exercise. It destroys interest in the
Bible. Heavenly things find little place in the thoughts. As the mind
dwells upon the scenes of impurity portrayed, passion is aroused,
and the end is sin.
Even fiction that contains no suggestion of impurity, and which
may be intended to teach excellent principles, is harmful. It en-
courages the habit of hasty and superficial reading merely for the
story. Thus it tends to destroy the power of connected and vigorous
thought. It unfits the soul to contemplate the great problems of duty
and destiny.
By fostering love for mere amusement, the reading of fiction
creates a distaste for life’s practical duties. Through its exciting,
intoxicating power it is not infrequently a cause of both mental
and physical disease. Many a miserable, neglected home, many a
lifelong invalid, many an inmate of the insane asylum, has become
such through the habit of novel reading.
It is often urged that in order to win the youth from sensational
or worthless literature we should supply them with a better class
of fiction. This is like trying to cure an alcoholic by giving him
the milder intoxicants, such as wine, beer, or cider, in the place of
whisky or brandy. The use of these would continually foster the
appetite for stronger stimulants. The only safety for an alcoholic,
and the only safeguard for the temperate person, is total abstinence.
For the lover of fiction the same rule holds true. Total abstinence is
one’s only safety.
Myths and Fairy Tales
In the education of children and youth, fairy tales, myths, and
fictitious stories are now given a large place. Books of this character
are used in schools, and they are to be found in many homes. How
can Christian parents permit their children to use books filled with
falsehood! When the children ask the meaning of stories so contrary
to the teaching of their parents, the answer is that the stories are not
true, but this does not do away with the evil results of their use. The
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ideas presented in these books mislead the children. They impart
false views of life and create and foster a desire for the unreal.