Latest / Homeschool Insights - Biblical Home Education Inspiration in Under 10 Minutes! / Why So Many Christian Kids’ Books Are Crummy - S.D. Smith
Transcript
- speaker-0: God made the world and God calls people to these vocations, I think. And so if you have a robust view of the doctrine of vocation, then you have respect for like what it takes to be a mom, what it takes to be a farmer, what it takes to be a pastor, what it takes to be a plumber. I want us as Christians to show up in the arts in that way too. Sometimes it reduces it to some pretty crummy storytelling. And I don't want to I didn't want to do that. So I want to just be faithful and be a good storyteller. Like do a good job at that. That was job one. And I'm amazed what God has done out of that sort of like very simple proposition. speaker-1: And I think that's something kids can do too. They can sniff out stories that were specifically written with agendas, whether it's allegory or I am setting out to share this message or whatever. So I will often teach a workshop. ⁓ and I'm using picture books and saying we can use just simple regular picture books to teach so much character to our children. And so you take something like the little red hen. Fantastic little story that probably was never meant to be used as this quiet, peaceful story that a parent has to speak no words toward. And then kids go, ⁓ wow, all those other people sure were selfish, weren't they? so I just I love what I'm hearing from you that you didn't necessarily set out to say, I'm going to tell my kids these stories. that specifically build their courage because I want to include fear and I want to include betrayal and I want to include all of these things. It just came out as part of the story. Is that what you're saying? speaker-0: Yes. Absolutely. ⁓ and in I don't wanna Tolkien talked about these stories sort of bubbling up from the leaf mold of the mind as in like all these things fall in the forest and y you this is your your s your stuff, the stuff that you you are an expert on more than me, but you know, forests grow up from a thousand different things. It's leaf mold, it's all the things that are falling and the growing and it's just you kinda something grows and it and it's not it's not exactly like I am. Planning this in this perfect way, and this has this exact result. So I I I I really believe, I mean, it I kind of believe it in in in a lot of occasions. I mean, I think if you're a a Christian who plays sports, I don't think it's actually helpful for you. I use this example a lot, but I think about David Robinson, who is a famous Christian basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs, a league MVP in the NBA, fantastic player. Like, how do you be a really good Christian basketball player? And I think you could say after he scores, he dunks the ball. You could say, well, he should stop after he dunks the ball and turn around and say, Jesus is the only way. And ⁓ it's or it's good to love your neighbor, or ⁓ you should not murder, or, you know, he could do that. Or he could but drop down and pray or leave people try to leave people in their worship song. I think like those are all like Christian activities, but he the best thing he can do in his vocation right there is get back on defense and try to help his team win the game. So I think we when we we approach the arts, we often think of it just in this utilitarian sense as in like I care a lot about like kids should learn to tell the truth. That's like really important to me. kids that's really important. And like, well, kids like kids like stories. So huh. You know what I could do. You know, no qualifications, no time spent investing in the medium. I I could go. ⁓ I think I'll just go tell a I'll do a picture book because I really believe in it's important to tell the truth. So Kids need to know that. And kids kind of like stories and I don't so I'll just go do that. We don't have the respect for it. We don't think, ⁓ I should like try to play basketball for like 20 years and take a thousand shots a day and have respect for the discipline. But when it comes to the art, sometimes we just think, well, I care about the message and who cares about and so what do you get then? You get a bunch of crummy Christian books, a bunch of crummy Christian movies and shows. And I don't want to bust on people because it's it's difficult to do that stuff, but I think sometimes it's just because we don't have a respect for the for the the the medium, which is a again, I think that's a impoverished sort of Christian imagination because God made the world and God calls people to these vocations. I think. And so if you have a robust view of the doctrine of vocation, then you have respect for like what it takes to be a mom, what it takes to be a farmer, what it takes to be a pastor, what it takes to be a plumber, what it takes to be a writer, what it takes to be a basketball player. And all these things are gifts from God. And we should say yes to them and don't just think of them as utilitarian sort of like tools to like vehicles to where you can convey something. My my relationship as a father to my kids is not just about, I want to tell them the truth, I want to share the gospel with them, take them to church. ⁓ I think catechesis is important in my opinion, learning the Bible. But like I also feed them. So when I feed them, I don't have to like say, okay, you can have another bite if you say. a truth from scripture. You know, like there's a I when I hug them, I don't have to say, hey, hugs remind me of God's love. And God, you know, everything doesn't have to be a utility because it's all God's stuff. When you give the hug, you are saying yes to what God's commanding you. So I just I w I want us as Christians to show up in the arts in that way too, without without making them into a God, but with also like respecting them as a gift from God, as a vocation. That has meaning and takes like if you to be a filmmaker or something like that, like it takes work. You can't just like, I'll just do it because I care so much about this topic. You gotta put in time to be good at things. And I I just I I want us as Christians, I want young people like listening out there who wanna be storytellers or filmmakers or artists. I want us to like to have some respect for the vocation because that's a way of respecting the reader. It's a way of respecting the film watcher. Like, That's we need to respect them and love them and not just propagandize. speaker-2: This episode of Homeschool Insights is brought to you by BJU Press Homeschool, CTC Math, and the Explorer Bible for Kids. Visit the show notes to learn more about these excellent resources. And for more encouragement, listen to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast at Schoolhouse Rocked.com.