Christian/Biblical perspective of A Christmas Carol

This is a tough one that I have struggled with myself. My children are youngish-9 and 10, so they’re not at the point when they would read it. I know Dickens was a Christian and I’ve always found the story such a valuable one, but I struggle with the “ghost” presence (no pun intended) that is obviously the main part of the storyline, though not the clear moral message which is good and clear and definitley mirrored Dicken’s time, if that makes sense.

 I teach that G-d doesn’t send ‘ghosts’ in the form of dead people coming back to deliver a “message”; G-d’s messengers are His Angels. I tell my children not to tell ghost stories. I guess one could make the argument that G-d  sent the 2nd and 3rd spirits/angels as messengers to teach Scrooge, as I believe they weren’t previously dead people and Scrooge didn’t perform any conjuring or perform divination for future info., to bring them to himself, which is forbidden. The only allowed form of divination was in the Hebrew Scriptures when done by the Priests inside the Temple to obtain G-d’s decision on important questions on which human judgement was considered inadequate; such as administering justice, military actions and the choice of leaders, etc.

 Any paranormal experiences people have (and I do believe they have them and they exist) are not from G-d, but demonic, no matter how ‘benevolent’ the spirit may seem that’s been ‘left behind’ for whatever reason. Lastly, necromany is forbidden; again, however, Scrooge didn’t call upon the dead Marley either (is that the right name? been a long time for me). He showed up carrying the chains of the sins of his earthly past. So Dickens didn’t show the concept of Salvation and forgiveness of sin in Marley’s life, as he was doomed in his ‘post-mortem’ life, which of course isn’t exactly the Biblical example, but sends a clear message of a ‘judgement’ that is received in the end for those who do not except Messiah and follow His Commands. 

All books don’t have to line up with Biblical “doctrine” exactly to be read here (such as LOTR, most fairy/folk tales and Greek/Roman mythology at apporpriate age levels and in appropriate amounts. as well as writings from the thinkers of the past who were pagans, such as Plato, etc). I don’t clump A Christmas Carol into the occultic genre at all, as I do Harry Potter and others or post-modern thinking books (HP inc. here, too), gruesome and morbid horror glorifying books, which are strictly off limits. In Dicken’s time, the average person, even in England still, was raised up as a G-d-fearing person with that worldview and G-d was present in the culture, His morality being the absolute compass, whereas now that’s not the case at all. Our world has a completely different worldview in it’s culture and all is relativistic and the occult is mainstream. Such was not the case in Dicken’s time. I think he was probably continuing in a certain literary tradition; I don’t know. I’m sure others have examples of such a literary model in other works that I can’t think of right now. I know Dickens wrote a series of other “Christmas-time Fables” that follow a similar concept, with goblins and ghosts; which I really wouldn’t want my children to get drawn into, to be honest. Just because the storyteller is marvellous in his gift, doesn’t mean the content should be consumed by us.But I haven’t read all the others, yet.Sorry to ramble; I was sort of thinking and writing as I went; not meaning to go on so long. I don’t think I’ve contributed much to the topic as I was “typing aloud”. I hope others will chime in; I don’t think this discussion has been brought up before here and I’ve been a part of this forum from the beginning, so thanks for bringing it up.

Rachel

Sue ~ I’m of the mindset that this book, along w/ myriads of others, truly do not matter in a child’s education, they only matter if YOU and your DH deem they matter, via the Word of God.

His Word is our guide, we are to meditate on day and night. I don’t do that like I want to, so I just don’t have the brain cells to devote to distractions, IYKWIM, first things first.  If I have to spend so many brain cells to figure out if a book is valuable to my family, then its probably not.  God is pretty clear about what is holy and what is not. 

Scripture tells us that God’s commands are not burdensome, and if we are feeling burdened, twisted all up inside, etc, trying to figure this out, I believe its because we have the ideas of man competing with the Word of God. 

Something is bothering you about this book, so my suggestion to you would be to shelve it, don’t pursue it right now, pray about it, and also, read your bible, see His heart, see what the Word says, not what men are telling you it says.  Is it a right fit for someone trying to use the bible as a guide for their life?  Not all books that are popular, or are considered “classics” are.  Is it a good fit for your child?  Not all books that are popular, or are considered “classics” are…

I just don’t bend my knee to what others think much anymore.  😉 

Oh, here is a snippet of something that happened to me and the conversation that I had w/ my Messianic rabbi that I’ll share with you:

As I was digging into my Bible I discovered many things that G-d says are an abomination, things that unfortunately are very popular in children’s books.  It also dawned on me how much our culture elevates various Greek and Roman authors, and seek them for wisdom instead of going to God’s Word… so I had all these questions formulating in my head.  I had all these “quality” literature booklists from various homeschool curriculums, there were so many books on these lists that I had concerns about, if they truly fit the biblical model that God had laid out before us.  So I talked to my rabbi.

This is what he said, and I’ll never forget it:  “too often people try to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  They try to eat just the good, but you can’t do that, along with the good also comes the evil.”

That really struck me.

I don’t want to walk through my life with the mindset, “did God really say…”

That is what opened doors that Eve couldn’t close.

So, my advice to you is if you want to use the bible as a benchmark with which to guide what books your children read, then use it.  With no qualms.  This doesn’t have to be an intellectual exercise of trying to validate your position, to me its very, very simple.  God said.  I trust that He knows better than I do, so I follow and obey.  He’s never let me down.

I’ve released myself from worrying about so many books.  I feel much more peace since I’m not so wrapped up in chasing after the wisdom of the world.  I LOVE books and would own gazillions more if we just had the $ and space , but honestly, I just don’t worry about books like I used to.  If they are not of the quality I want for my children, we don’t read them.  Like I said, if you are conflicted about this book, I say shelve it until you have clear understanding, and aren’t just pursuing it because everybody else is.  I really try to not ignore the red flags within me, it has often been real discernment.Remember, your children will NOT be uneducated just because they don’t read x book.  What is “educated” anyway?  This, from a former classical ed’er who has changed her tune.  I’ve been there, I’ve done the soul-searching, and have found my place of rest.

Be blessed, read His word, pray for His discernment.

Ginnie

 From my perspective, as I stated above in my last paragraph, I treat each book individually in regard to the presentation of fairies, witches, and Roman/Greek thinkers of the past in deciding what to read or promote reading by my children. I don’t avoid all and I don’t accept all either; we’re reading Peter Pan and Stories of Plato right now, for example. But I have family members who have been drawn into paganism and away from believing G-d’s Word as Authority and G-d’s Design of Salvation by fantasy and science fiction, so, besides what Scripture lays out, my own personal experience lends itself to using strong discernment in this area.

However, objectively speaking and not trying to be argumentative, according to the history laid out in Scripture and many historical religious adherents in the centuries that followed after the Biblical canon was set, it is an inaccurate statement that the avoidance of the things you outlined is a modern phenomenon. Many denominations of Judeo-Christianity avoided practicing everything from Christmas (which wasn’t a National holiday until after the Civil War) and Halloween/Samhain to literature and other religious celebrations that they considered to contradict Scriptural teachings against superstition, witchcraft and paganism. One quick example is when “The Wizard of Oz” came out over a century ago, there were religious groups who spoke concerns about it.

You are correct at the “conservative” nature of the Era in which Dickens’ Christmas Fables were written. However, excepting the “radicals” calling for change, the Victorian-Era also didn’t bat an eye at relational, animal and societal abuses that G-d’s Word is explicitly against. So their acceptance of “A Christmas Carol” is no indication of it being reconciled to G-d’s Word, IMO.

That’s my 2 cents (don’t know if it’s worth that much, though),

Rachel

Sue,

I sent you a PM; it’s not showing up on my screen that it exists, so I thought I’d post this to let you know.

Rachel