Is It a Sin to Read Percy Jackson

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"Fantasy" leaves a bad gustatory modality in some Christian's mouths. They see the popularity of novels like J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series or Rick Riordan'due south myth-based "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" stories as Satanic or preaching the occult. Such stories of the fantastic, these Christians say, have no place in a Godly household. Parents in these types of households often have to work hard to keep their children from being exposed to such cultural staples, but what about the magical stories that are even more entrenched in civilisation? What nearly fairy tales? Is it OK for Christians to read fairy tales?

While many more hard line Christians, like those who reject Rowling's novels, would also consider fairy tales to exist "occult," there are more mainstream Christians who have raised the question likewise. Many fairy tales, later on all, involve deals with the devil, sexual practice and gruesome punishments visited on the wicked. How can those have whatsoever place in a Christian household?

Strong Moral Tales

Virtually fairy tales have a strong moral theme that is extremely compatible with Christianity. At that place are dozens of stories, after all, that emphasize virtues such as selflessness, humility, kindness, loyalty and generosity. A reoccurring theme in fairy tales is a protagonist who has fiddling of their ain merely still helps a stranger. This generosity turns out to help the hero or heroine later in the story. Another common theme is loyalty or faithfulness. 1 of the almost mutual plotlines is a young adult female who is married to an ugly or cursed man. She remains faithful to him, however, and in doing so breaks the curse. Near protagonists alive what would exist considered practiced Christian lives, and the excitement of their stories drives morals abode much better than whatsoever parental lecture. Children are much more interested in living like their heroes than listening to mom and dad tell them what to practise.

Centrality to Culture

Almost people do not detect information technology, simply fairy tales are everywhere in culture. People oft reference them without noticing, and many modern movies, motion picture and TV shows assume a familiarity with fairy tales. "A real-life Cinderella story" has get linguistic autograph for rags-to-riches tales, and the reference is so widely understood that the phrase "Cinderella story" has appeared repeatedly in news outlets. Cut children off completely from fairy tales will get out them struggling to empathize why ane of their peers is nicknamed "Rapunzel" or why some children blench at the idea of a divorced father remarrying. Such gaps in a child's cultural pedagogy volition go out them easy targets for bullies and lead to condescending pity and contempt after in life.

Encourage Creativity

Fairy tales are some of the first tales that children keep to recollect about long later the story is finished. The mystical worlds are fascinating, and few fairy tales give more than a bones clarification of the characters. "Young woman with long, shining hair" and "evil witch with a crooked nose" is well-nigh as much detail as fairy tales provide. This leaves children the ability to really imagine the characters' appearances. Such moments railroad train children to be able to visualize the characters and events of affiliate books later.

Fairy tales also teach children to employ their imaginations. There are entire worlds to imagine in fairy tales, and many children enjoy thinking about what happened after "happily ever after." Did the prince and princess take ii children? Were they boys or girls? What did the nuptials expect similar? What happened to the fairy godmother? Did she come to the nuptials or become help some other poor girl? It is through such questions that inventiveness is born.

Love of Reading

If children never encounter brusque stories they enjoy, they are never going to want to pick up longer books later on. Reading will go an unpleasant chore, something they are forced to do. Fairy tales, however, give children stories that they enjoy reading and desire to come back to over and over again. This beloved of early stories carries over into a full general enjoyment of literature. Furthermore, a child who grows up with fairy tales is more likely to be able to understand the longer books they read in school. Classic literature, after all, is littered with references to fairy tales, and many books presume at least a passing familiarity with many former folktales.

Comfort

Beyond the comfort that a child finds in having their parents read to them, the simplistic and moralistic nature of fairy tales gives children a condolement that extends far beyond their childhood. Fairy tales are where children see, in stark black and white, that practiced triumphs over evil. Nigh other stories, even Biblical stories, feature flawed heroes, pyrrhic victories and bloodshot endings. With fairy tales, all the same, the lines between villain and hero or skilful and evil are stark. Many well meaning adults think that these simplistic lines fail to set children for the shades of grey out in the "real earth." In reality, those more than three dimensional characters adults favor tell children that in that location is no pure good and evil and that there are no really happy endings. Fairy tales, meanwhile, tell children that good tin triumph over the evils children are already encountering in bullies at school. Every bit the devout Christian C.S. Lewis said, "Since it is and so probable that children will see cruel enemies, let them at to the lowest degree have heard of brave knights and heroic backbone."

Fairy tales have remained entrenched in cultures all around the globe for a reason. Children that grow up without fairy tales may find themselves struggling to relate to their peers. They will be missing essential context for their friend's conversations and may notice themselves ostracized. Clearly, fairy tales have a lot to offer to young children, just there are even so Christian parents who will be wary of these tales. That said, there are enough of ways to get around the unpleasantries that linger in these old stories.

Violence and Sex

The original fairy tales fell out of favor for a reason. These old folktales were drenched in claret, sex and violence. Anyone who has e'er read the original "Rapunzel" or "Sleeping Beauty" has been unable to look at Disney movies the same way again. That said, cleaner versions of the one-time fairy tales exist. Until recently, many people were unaware that these gentle stories did not e'er end with "happily ever later on." Christian parents who are concerned near violence demand only stick to more mod variations of the old folktales to avoid the bloody punishments oftentimes inflicted on wrongdoers in the original versions.

Magic, Fairies and the Occult

Virtually fairy tales involve breaking curses and dealing with evil witches. The presence of magic is a staple in the genre, and the thought of willingly exposing impressionable five year olds to stories near magic makes some Christian parents interruption out in hives.

Rather than panicking over the idea of their children learning about magic, parents need to have a deep jiff and accept that children are eventually going to be exposed to the idea of the supernatural. Children have an incredible capacity for imagination, and nearly children are fantasizing most magic long earlier they know how to say the discussion. Where else do the monsters under their beds come from? Trying to keep children from ever encountering more common ideals about magic is a boxing parents are fighting in vain. Instead, parents who believe in the dangerous elements of the supernatural can employ fairy tales to shape their children's ideas about magic itself. Parents can cull fairy tales where magic is malevolent and used for evil to drive home the dangers of the supernatural. They can also selection from the numerous cautionary fairy tales that particular the dangers of making deals with supernatural entities.

Parents who do not desire their children to believe in magic take a much simpler task. These parents need just explain to their children that fairy tales are non real. Little men and women practise not really alive under toadstool caps or in the hollows of copse. It is probable a nonissue anyway. Despite their bright fantasies, most children are acutely aware of what is real and what is imagined.

In that location is also a third pick for wary parents: choose fairy tales that eye around Christian protagonists. "Due east of the Sun and West of the Moon," "Herr Mannelig" and "The Bells of Forrabury Church building" all feature Christians as the main characters. At that place are likewise multiple stories of Christians whose faith protected them from the wickedness of fairies and elves such as "The Smith and the Fairies."

Fairy tales are much more than just quondam stories that some parents read their children. They course a cultural courage of literature, fine art and film and acquit many worthwhile lessons. Most complaints about fairy tales employ merely to the original stories, and those were products of their much harsher time. Today, in that location are many means to avoid the unpleasant elements that lurk in old fairy tales while still letting children delight in these age sometime tales. Exposing children to such stories volition help them fit in with their peers and give them comfort if they practise non. For the misfits, fairy tales are a reminder that good volition triumph over evil, and kindness will win out over cruelty. As Chiliad.Thou. Chesterton said, "Fairy tales do non tell children that dragons be. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed."

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Source: https://www.beliefnet.com/entertainment/books/is-it-ok-for-christians-to-read-fairy-tales.aspx

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