On the ownership and display of books that may be immoral

[JoeShlabotnik]

Who gets to decide what is moral or immoral?
In the age we live in, so many people want to demonize others based on what they read, what music the listen to, what movies or television programs they watch, or what art they may own.
Owning books and displaying books is a good thing. It means that you actually read.
There are so many people in this world who do not read nearly enough.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

To be honest, more than Nietzsche and Marx, my biggest concern is one single book – “Less Than Zero” by Brett Easton Ellis.

Evil happens in the world. The premise of the book is to depict teenagers living in a completely morally bankrupt world. The stuff that happens in the book up to that point is pretty much all awful building to a climax of awfulness, where things get so bad even the jaded narrator realizes how bad it is. The movie version of the book was rewritten into an anti-drug morality tale and bears little resemblance to the book. If a book makes you uncomfortable, it’s okay for you to toss it in the giveaway/ Goodwill bin unless you think it’s way too trashy to pass on to anyone else. I’ve tossed a couple of books I considered way too trashy in the garbage. I have a pretty high bar for “way too trashy”, they were practically porn IMHO.

This issue with “display of books” seems to be your own personal issue relating to how you want to represent yourself to the world. It’s not a universal issue or concern. The only thing you’d have to worry about would be if displaying a book on your living room bookshelf for visitors to see would lead you or anyone else into sin. Example: if you had young teens or children coming to visit, seeing Marx on your bookshelf and getting the idea that Communism was a good thing, or maybe grabbing books above their age level off the shelf and being tempted into sexual sin by reading the graphic parts out of context. Or if you yourself were inordinately focused on showing off your intellectualism, the bookshelf might be pride; if you felt a need to hide your Christianity somehow by putting a bunch of Communist books out when your atheist friends came over, then that might also be a sin.

If none of these things apply then I’d say don’t worry about it. I appreciate that this may be a bigger deal to you because you are trying to develop a Christian living space and change your public presentation of self. To most of us who aren’t concerned with that, they’re just books. On a shelf.

 

[Searching1]

if you felt a need to hide your Christianity somehow by putting a bunch of Communist books out when your atheist friends came over, then that might also be a sin.

I think my giant framed picture of the Madonna and Child with flowers and candles around it would be a dead giveaway lol

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Then I’d say no problem.

Don’t forget to pray for the souls of all these authors while you’re at it.