Please Vote for the Book You Want to Read

I have not read Last of the Mohicans or The Aeneid, so you are ahead of me in reading.

I don't think not liking some music is due to having a "weak faith", only it is not liking something contrary to the word of God. I loathe and despise rap music with every fiber of my being- it is not that if I listen to it, I will lose my faith. On the contrary, my faith is in Christ- who is so strong, nothing can take my soul from Him. Because I believe in Him, I don't want to listen to music that degrades humans for whom He died.

I do not know if this makes sense or not.

The people want thick books, so we have to give the people what they want.

Voices of the Holocaust by Jon E. Lewis is pretty good it's more a compilation of factual notes and letters written during the war mostly by jewish people needless to say it is very dark but interesting.

Im new here can I be part?where do I vote?

So.... War and Peace? Or, The Stand? Those are both pretty thick....

Oh you should give them a try I think you'd like them, they're right up your alley. Lol as for The Aeneid, well I have not finished it yet, I actually just went and bought it yesterday. I am at part 3, so about a quarter of the way.

As for music oh I don't mean you're weak of faith if you have a differing taste. It's okay to have a critique of music. For example I like a rap music, I would even call Eminem the pre-eminent poet of the age. On the other hand I hate country music I find it bland and monotonous, and lil a bit gay. What I mean by the weak of faith is there's actually quite a lot of people that will flip out over just about any genre of music. The heavy metal music of the 70s and 80s and how people flipped lids is a pretty stark example in my opinion even though today most of that would be considered very tame, by some even lame. Elvis and his dancing is another one. For his day some of the people thought Presley's swaying would lead millions of young hearts astray, but for our day Elvis is pretty much the poster child of old fashioned ways. A deep irony in that the children thought rebellious for their boom boxes have become just like their parents.

Uh oh The Odyssey might not be the best to vote for then, it's very anti-cycloptic.

I by no means pretend to be an expert on rap music, but the way women are described is rather disgusting to me. Also, materialism seems to be a big theme in rap. Having different tastes is fine, of course. I think people object to some forms of music as representing something contrary to what they believe. It is a matter of conscience. You left out the part about the Beatles saying they were more popular than Jesus, and people destroying their records. It is not weakness, it is not that listening to the Beatles will damn your soul, but if you believe their music is blasphemous, you would not want to listen to it. I like the Beatles- but I do hate the song "Imagine" because it goes against what I believe. "Imagine there's no Heaven", why on EARTH would I want to imagine there is no Heaven?! It is my hope. This doesn't mean I can't listen to their other songs and sing every word to "Strawberry Fields".

Elvis was a swaying man, BUT he insisted on singing gospel music on the Ed Sullivan show. Sullivan didn't want him to sing it, but Elvis refused to appear unless he could sing "Peace in the Valley". Elvis may be lame and old fashioned, but he's still the best looking man to ever live (this is a factual statement and not an opinion).

You have a good point about people getting upset over certain types of music that now seem tame to us, but it is good to remember that we do have to follow our consciences. With that being said, I would most likely dislike Christian rap music simply because I dislike the rap style as well as the content.

He'll get his eye put out...

I get what you mean. Yea Beatlemania is a good example too. I don't even like the Beatles frankly just because my parents played them over and over and over and over, but the reasons you put forth are actually pretty much exactly what I am meaning by those with so little of faith they gonna flip out just because John Lennon said some stupid stuff. In my observation it says a whole lot more about them than it does about him really. Makes me feel like their faith is easily shaken and quakin' if only a few words from mediocre poets can get them ragin'.

Personally I have a pretty wide palette for music I can go from listening to Taylor Dayne to Dr. Dre to the ancient Christian monks' Chant of the Dead in one sitting. I don't think there is such a thing as Christian music or non-Christian music. I think there is only music. Even the most rebellious poet will offer glimpses of the Bible in their works I find. Even the artists which label themselves Christian music only do so because they want to make an easy buck from a readily available audience; a curiosity that provides evidence that we're all caught in the same paradigm of the reality of Christianity.

As for rap, I'd make the defense that even the most gangster rap music resembles the Bible way more than so-called Christian Music (if such a thing even exists). I mean I read the prophets and their verses resemble the lyrics of Tupac way more than they resemble the words of Hillsong United, though I do like both of them. I can see what you mean though, a lot of the rap anymore has just become monotonous materialistic trash, but at the same time it does pretty well reflect the culture in which I find myself born into. Lol and yea I can see why women might not like rap music much, it is a very masculine art form. Ironically it is also the same reason feminists like my own mother disdain the Bible I find.

I listen to the epic music of the so-called early churches and look at the macabre drawings that accompany them created by the hands of the ancient Christian monks that preserved the Bible for us today. I behold them and think to myself, that there is no Parental Advisory sticker that can describe all their grim and glorious truth. Like the Bible, like rap music like heavy metal like the dark prose of poets and authors some of which we are voting for now, I like them all because I find them to be quite cathartic. Or in the modern vernacular, they kept it real!

I disagree with you. The reason many Christians do not like to listen to music that is vulgar or has an anti-God message is because these things are not profitable to the soul. They are not "weak" in their faith, but hate things that dishonor God. I don't find myself "quaking and shaking" over the song "Imagine"- but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth and makes me sad to see so many people sing the words, as if we sinful humans could make a Heaven on Earth if we just got our acts together. Lennon had no use for God. This song is humanism at its very worst.

Of course there is a difference between secular and Christian music. Christian music glorifies God. I don't know how you could say a song like "Amazing Grace" is not a Christian song. I actually do not listen to contemporary Christian music. Most of the Christian music I listen to are hymns, (I am THAT old fashioned). To say there is not a dileneation is absurd. If I talked to an atheist and said "Let's listen to my music" and started playing him "Fairest Lord Jesus", I think he would catch on very quickly that this was a Christian song.

My point is simple, many Christians do not listen to certain pieces of secular music not because it will weaken their faith, or damn them to Hell- but because they do not want to listen to anything contrary to God "hating the garment spotted by the flesh".

Oh I'm not talking about you particularly by the way. I mean I think their faith is weak and shakin' if they have to be raging as in your example of burning a thousand records just because John Lennon had a vain imagination. For me personally if I don't like a song or a band I will just not play them, or if it plays anyways I have learned to block it out in my head and I will not hear it though the audio waves run past my ears.

I still don't think there is any such thing as secular or Christian music. I just cannot be convinced of it. I hear much music called secular and they will be singing about Bible themes whether they believe in it or not. I listen and investigate so-called Christian bands and I find them to be in it moreso for the money than for genuine artistic expression.

I think people have different tastes in music, poetry, books, etc. I find that most people that go saying "oh this isn't Christian" or "oh this is secular", etc. what they're really doing is just making excuses because they like something else or because they don't like something. Which is fine by me, we all got different taste buds.

I like talking to you Gala Tea because you are so different from me, you bring a lot to the Tea Party indeed.

I don't think that Christian people who choose not to listen, read, or watch secular things are doing so as a matter of taste. I believe they are doing so for the reason of being "not conformed to the world, but being transformed by the renewing of your mind". It is following the Bible "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things."

Yea I suppose that to be true of some people, but then oh dear; what does that say about this book study of very famous fictions?

By the way; I think you must be a teacher

Because you have a lot of class.

I have not read all of these books, but of the ones I have read- they fall into the category of "whatsoever things are of good report", in other words, things that are not conflicting with Christianity. If someone had suggested "Fifty Shades of Gray", for example, that would not fall into the category of "whatsoever things are pure, and lovely".

I think deep down, I am a frustrated librarian. I woke up too early this morning and am going to try and go back to sleep.

Galatea, I just have to say that I truly admire your dedication to creating this book club.

If literature was my thing, I'd be all over it... but alas, my inability to read has staved off any hopes of inclusion into this curious and thought-provoking endeavor....
(no pun intended... or was it? )

You should give it a try you can write well enough it seems. Literature not being your thing would bring an interesting perspective to include.

Thanks, but I just don't have the patience or the time to read a book. Something has to be absolutely fascinating to keep my attention for more than 2 minutes these days..