I Don’t Want Your Love

Celestial had some words to say about women who read erotica literature and the like, where they could be reading porn especially if they do this to arouse themselves. Admittedly this isn’t unique to the romance and erotica schools of writing, but I feel for every writer that some readers intercede for their salvation and pray that their characters stop cheating (which a certain writer will do in addition to turning their character into a married Christian bride or something) there are those who are lost to the dark side. It would be pretty horrifying if God told me some of these writers actually worship Satan whilst writing those stories, even if there are writers who do turn to him and may one day rewrite their characters as Christian brides.

In all honesty I have prayed for the salvation of a certain writer as well as praying to help them write a story where their character no longer cheats and is married, in fact I prayed this multiple times over and over. I’m not sure if it’s ever going to come to pass but when it does, it will be a surprise to me that sometime in the near future this writer will announce a new story upon their conversion. Their character will finally stop cheating, get married to a Christian man and become a Christian herself. Maybe not exactly the way I worded it out, but to give an idea of how it will be played out in the future. But even if there are people who pray for the salvation of their favourite writers, some don’t bother doing this.

Perhaps because they kind of idolise those writers to an unhealthy degree or something like that, to the point of enabling their worse habits instead of praying for their salvation and have them stop doing something bad. Getting back to what Celestial has to say about the romance and erotica school, it’s something not a lot of romance readers would be pleased to hear or read. I personally believe that the romance and erotica school of writing is inherently flawed, but in the sense of how lust is baked into those stories. It’s not even unique to that school as stories from other schools have this to an extent, but this is particularly rampant with the former.

Whether or not romance novels are pornographic is up to anybody else’s guess, but with these kinds of stories getting more explicit and catering to almost any paraphilia they do risk being so. Even if there are writers who do turn to God and may even rewrite familiar characters as Christian mothers and brides one day, some of it’s possible due to reader intercessions that hopefully they do will be saved but there are others who are lost to the dark side. Lost to the Devil, lost to the world. A wanderlust that leads them to absolutely nowhere but hell, I feel there’s something about the romance novel industry that people will not be comfortable realising or learning in any way.

I feel some of these editors and writers consecrate those stories to the Devil to get higher sales, racier stories and so on that no sooner or later something else will make 50 Shades of Grey look tame in comparison. Demon romances will become a thing as are romances with a ridiculous amount of sexualised violence, so sadistic that it’s shocking why they manage to get published as bestsellers to begin with. If the world is getting worse and worse, expect romance novels to morally hit rock bottom. Expect them to include more sexual sadism so graphic that it’s terrifying why they even made it to paper.

Some romance authors will come up with something heinous and creepy, some already have and the worst is yet to come. Even if there are romance stories that are godly and clean, they are in the minority and even then they can’t be trusted either. If romance novels have gotten more sexually explicit over time, delving into pervier fetishes isn’t much of a stretch which some already have. But it does make one wonder if these kinds of stories glorify or edify God in any way, God could make an exception for writers whose readers have prayed for their salvation because one day they will portray not only Christian characters, but have earlier characters convert to Christianity.

Any sort of story will make somebody stumble, especially if they’re vulnerable to something. It needn’t to be lust but it could be one of those things for other people, even if God would exempt some writers (especially those whom others have interceded for their salvation) there are writers who knowingly make others stumble. Colleen Hoover could be one of those, but she’s not the only one to do so. Less famous writers have done the same thing, Hoover just has a lot more notoriety to gain clout. But they’re not the only ones around, since the romance school as a whole is guilty of this. If they do this to arouse people, then they are to be avoided.

Cut off the organ that makes you sin, put away the stories that make you sin however hard it may be. It would be horrifying if some of these writers are out and proud witches, out to consecrate their stories to the Devil but that would mean they belong to the world and the enemy. They are the people Christians should avoid by necessity, because they can and will corrupt anybody who comes into contact with them. Like any disease, it’s infectious but it can be cured too. I still think the romance and erotica school of writing is possibly the ungodliest school of fiction ever, since lust is highly baked into those that it’s like their writers deliberately make others stumble.

Especially if they’re very vulnerable to lust, that these are the hands that deserve to be cut off. The eyes that need to be gauged, because they enable somebody to read at something with lust that they risk committing a form of adultery if married or in a relationship. Even if God will exempt some writers because readers have interceded for their salvation, there are those who remain beholden to the Devil and have effectively sold their souls to him. So things like Harlequin and the like are poisoned wells, a corrupting influence to some people. If it makes you lust, then cut it out but it’s something that risks falling on deaf ears.

My Secret Love’s No Secret Anymore

Celestial doesn’t mince God’s words when it comes to the subject matter of adultery and any other sexual perversion in marriage and to some extent, dating for as long as there’s no premarital sex involved. No masturbation and reading or consuming pornographic materials whatsoever, that people who indulge in disturbing sexual fantasies will be punished a lot for defiling God’s plan for marriage. This includes rape fantasies, which is present in some stories. Including those that are bestsellers that I think a number of Colleen Hoover fans will not be pleased to hear, if because the things the characters indulge in are against the Lord.

There’s this passage of a presumably male character who indulges in voyeurism when fantasising about a woman, while being sexually attracted to women when male (or vice versa) isn’t necessarily bad in and of itself but if lust is a sin then voyeurism/scopophilia is one of them. Then we get to another book of hers where another character indulges in adultery, another sex act forbidden by the Lord that it’s horrifying her own books have outsold the Bible! This is symptomatic of a fallen society where stories that glorify sexual sins without having the characters face consequences for their actions (or made ashamed of them at the very least).

It’s not hard to see where criticisms of Hoover’s works are coming from, though not necessarily in ways they’re aware of or think. Fornicators/perverts, cheaters and their ilk aren’t going to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven unless if they repent and change their ways from following God or at least doing their best in doing so, but the problem is a good number of stories that America churns out encourages or glorifies these acts. Not just blatant pornography but also books that are widely consumed and enjoyed by those at a formative age that it will give them the wrong impression of what it’s like to be in a loving, mature relationship.

I feel a number of romance books and the like are prone to this in some way or another, like there’s a tendency to see M/M romance stories as liberating even though the Lord and the Bible both look down on homosexuality. It’s as if many of the things these women find sexually liberating actually enslave them to sin, far more than they should be doing that they could risk defiling the marriage bed not just with their husbands, but also their boyfriends if they’re going to marry them at all. For those who don’t want to be married, don’t read these books at all and don’t indulge in any sinful sex act and fantasy either.

Then we get to the subject of affairs which appear in whatever form and are called by whatever people feel like describing and naming those, though I feel a number of celebrities and the like might indulge in some form of adultery. Well not publicised and reported in any way at least for now, but I have the nagging feeling that one of the Backstreet Boys will be outed for having an affair with a fan or younger woman that he’s going to beat up his wife when she finds this out. Then we get to luminaries condoning forms of non-consensual monogamy like polyamory and swinging, which will become more public and commonplace.

Even supposedly wholesome celebrities will be outed for this, be it a secret affair as it will be with Nick Carter, polyamory with other celebrities or how Taylor Swift stole another woman’s boyfriend and why she never seems to settle with any one man in her life. Pardon if it seems like I’m slutshaming Swift but I don’t think Katy Perry has scored that many men in her life, despite her more sexualised public image that one would wonder if Swift might be less vanilla in person. If this is true, then she embodies the phrase ‘lady in the streets, freak in the sheets’. Pretty contrary to her wholesome public persona, when you consider her love life.

This gets me into considering what I should do with my own characters, especially when lust gets brought up in some way that while they struggle with it, somebody tells them not to give into it anymore and/or face the consequences of their actions. Or with those characters who lust that their actions are clearly bad and reflect badly on them, especially if others find out about what they’re up to and it’s not going to be pretty. Perhaps I use depict them in ways that uphold Christian values and beliefs, even if they sin and/or stumble from time to time. It’s one thing to have a character lust, it’s another to have a character struggle with lust and eventually unlearning it if they’re shamed for doing it.

But I feel it’s not something a lot of writers are capable of depicting, even if it upholds Christian values better in the sense that humans always struggle with the flesh due to original sin. I also feel these kinds of characters and stories are needed in a world of ever-growing immorality because it seems the way some authors write their stories glorify or romanticise sexual sin a lot, especially if characters are neither shamed for doing it nor do they face consequences for their actions. Nor if their actions are shown reflecting badly on them, especially if they seem to be good and trusted by the public. This is another way of knowing how bad things are going.

I’m afraid there might be a rise in romance stories and the like where not only rape fantasies are paraded but also sex with demons, more sadistic sex acts, polyamory, swinging and so on and so forth that Colleen Hoover’s own works being popular with young girls is a worrying sign of where things are heading. It would give them the wrong idea of sex when they do get into romantic and marital relationships with men, that it seems the depraved sex acts give them a glimpse into a rather sinful world. That she portrayed a character fantasising about seeing a woman naked feels like she’s glorifying voyeurism instead of a loving relationship between servant and leader.

The more the world glorifies sinful sex acts and lust, the worst these stories will get where it’s not enough to have rape fantasies. We’ll eventually get to things that the Marquis de Sade would have easily cooked up and it will be enjoyed by teenage girls, Colleen Hoover’s a sign of worse things to come because of her stories’ popularity with those people.

99 Problems

I believe the whole ‘women are beautiful mantra’ is actually very harmful, especially to those struggling with either lust or pride (especially the immodesty aspect) that it actually encourages them to do worse. The Bible’s very no-nonsense about these two, with lust if it’s something that makes you lust then you should stop. If nude paintings make you masturbate, then you should stop what you’re doing. If you’re struggling with sexual attraction to women as a woman, then you should stop as well since the Bible frowns upon homosexuality. Cut off the organ that makes you sin and you’ll be set free.

Then we get to immodesty where there’s a line in the Bible that says about not drawing attention to yourself, not just about showing skin but most importantly about not showing off your fanciest outfit (that’s something I fell into). I believe the whole Biblical modesty thing would be better used against not just clothes that show the body but also most importantly against things like OOTD, which encourages people to boast about what they’re wearing at the moment. If you post pictures of yourself in the latest outfit on social media, with the intent of attracting an audience then you are immodest.

The Bible frowns upon pride of any sort, this kind of immodesty is no different. But it’s easy to forget or ignore what the Bible has to say about these things in favour of the world, regardless if God’s own advice is far more useful than its human/worldly counterpart. It’s far more sensible than what the world puts out, but it’s unfortunately easier to fall for the world than the word of God. So that’s why we have so many problems, lust on one hand and pride on the other. This motto has caused far more problems than it solves, especially if it leads to two pernicious problems the Bible talks about.

We don’t listen to God’s advice, so we reap what we sow. That’s why the Jezebel spirit thrives in women, whether as immodesty or unwanted sexual desires because of this motto. The Bible really frowns upon this, since we should be better off focusing on building godly character. But because of this motto, we have a surge in plastic surgery and the like. Rather than striving to be godly and holy, we become worldly and stupid. We’re not sensible enough to realise what we’ve done to ourselves, especially if it leads to more problems. If only we listened to God’s advice, then a lot would’ve been reprieved.

How low can you go?

I said before in an earlier post that sometimes people’s bars for what they think is wholesome and pure is rather low, especially in light of the things that would tempt somebody else to do something sinful or evil. Sort of like this Bible verse where somebody says that they’ll do anything to not make somebody stumble, but that involves real responsibility for their own actions in that they shouldn’t ignore or enable what causes someone else to sin. Let alone without being so condescending, but that involves realising something that they may not always be entirely aware of.

As you see or rather read, there are people who have the misfortune of encountering demons resembling well-known cartoon characters like Donald Duck and Batman. Let’s not forget that Analia Campbell said that demons will do anything to possess somebody, so they take advantage of something like innocuous as a newspaper to make somebody sin. It wouldn’t be any different if a demon would tempt somebody to write smutty fanfictions based on Tarzan, trust me they can be easily found online if you look where to look.

But that would mean you’d have to be on red alert to know what’s going to make somebody sin, sometimes it’s not something you feel would be obscene like say a nude art painting but if it makes somebody masturbate then they’ve already been tempted to do the act and give into it anyways. You might as well need to repent, deal with the consequences of your actions and stuff. I don’t think many Christians will be comfortable admitting or realising this, if because this implies what seems acceptable would still be forbidden to God under the right (or rather wrong) conditions. Somebody could still lust if they masturbate to an art book featuring nudes, but that means nude art is a stumbling block for them.

A character like Tarzan could be a stumbling block for somebody else, especially if they lust after him enough to write smutty fanfictions based on him. It doesn’t have to be outright or borderline pornographic to do the job, sometimes something as respectable as either an art book or a Disney cartoon could do the job and the problem would still be the same. The Devil will use anything to tempt somebody to sin, even something innocent like a Disney cartoon or an art painting. But that would mean we need to be wary of what he could do to us, no matter how innocent it appears to be.

If you think I’m making things up about people lusting after Tarzan, you should really check out Dirty Disney Confessions to get where I’m coming from. There are people who sexualise Disney characters, somebody like David Kawena (an Israeli cartoonist by the way) has done this before. He’s not active on the Internet anymore, who knows what he’s been up to and what he could’ve been up to is in some other language. But the precipice will always be there, if they find a certain character attractive. To the point where it wouldn’t be a stretch if they’ve been tempted to sexualise them and then do the act in earnest.

Whatever that means but it seems whatever gets the halo treatment will have people ignore the problems it could pose to somebody else, even if God knows what the spade really is and what it does. He looks at the heart so if somebody masturbates to an art painting, they are lusting and it wouldn’t change much if they write smutty Tarzan fanfiction stories either. People take certain things for granted, thinking they must be good. If it’s good, it’s good but it comes with a grain of salt if it tempts somebody to sin. The Bible says it’s rather simple, if it makes you sin then get rid of it.

If you feel tempted to sin after looking at paintings of nude women, then stop what you’re doing and get rid of the offending material. But it seems for some people, their bar is low because they take things for granted. They don’t realise it could cause somebody else to stumble, but that involves being more careful with what they could do to somebody. The Bible pointed this out before, if only people knew it would reduce or prevent the problem right away. The Devil is a liar so no matter how much he tells people that it’s just a painting, but if it makes somebody masturbate then they fell for it.

He poses as an angel of light and takes advantage of weak spots, I kind of fell into this before and I think if nude art is innocent sometimes it isn’t. If it makes you masturbate, then stop right away and stop patronising this filth. It’s easier to go after what doesn’t seem innocent, even if something like an art book could still cause somebody to stumble. If you masturbate to an art book, you are sinning plain and simple. It may not be porn, but it tempted you to sin. Better deal with the bitter truth, than to trust in sweet lies.