So a while back, I helped my church engage in a massive purge of random shit that's been accumulated over the last 30 years or so. It was a huge undertaking--we opened up every single cabinet in the place either threw out or gave away basically everything that wasn't necessary. See, churches are often the dumping ground for people's stuff after they die or move. We had everything from Homeward Bound on VHS to hand-written attendance lists and meeting minutes from the church's quilting ministry dating back to 1986. So even though every single item was given or created with the best of intentions, things just had to go in order for the church to have usable cabinet space in the future.
I helped out clean out a cabinet full of books, and the pastor's wife told all of us if we saw anything we wanted just take it, because the books were bound for a secondhand store anyway. I grabbed one book with some neat artwork in it, and another one strictly because I thought it would give me a lot of laughs. It was called Created by God: About Human Sexuality for Older Girls and Boys, and it was published in 1989.
Ooooh boy, I thought. This is going to be a hoot. A pre-90s Christian book on sexuality. The cover is absolutely glorious: a bunch of cartoon boys and girls, all representing a veritable rainbow of diversity: fat kids, skinny kids, white kids, black kids, asian kids, and to top it all off a red-haired girl in a wheelchair. Beautiful.
Inside, I expected some genuine attempts at explaining biology, but also a lot of skirting around difficult subjects and a LOT of heavy-handed dogmatism. However, to the book's credit, not only do they talk about genuinely difficult topics like teen pregnancy, sex in advertising, sexual abuse, and STDs, but they also talk about a topic I didn't expect to see mentioned at all: homosexuality. AND, on top of that, the book does not condemn it. The book explains what homosexuality is in purely objective terms, explains the use of the words gay and lesbians, and then discusses why some people are homosexuals. The conclusion it gives: we don't know why some people are gay. They just are, and nobody can agree as to why.
The book does not at all try to say that it's a sin. In fact, I'd just like to write out what it says verbatim, because it simply astounds me that a CHRISTIAN book on sexuality written in 1989 can sound more enlightened than many nonreligious people of today:
Never does the book say that homosexuality is to be avoided, or that it's inherently wrong. And the conclusion it comes to on other subjects were just as surprising: on teen pregnancy, the most concern it shows is for the preparedness of the mother and father, never fixating on the fact that they aren't married. When it does talk about marriage, it first frames marriage as the most pragmatic way to form a family, THEN frames it as the most Biblically correct way. It even takes a liberal approach to abortion--while it does not frame it as a positive thing and nor does it necessarily encourage it, the book also never outright says it should never be considered. It simply says it is a decision that requires a lot of time and prayer, and who to possibly involve in the decision-making process.
While the book does state many times problems like STDs and unexpected pregnancies can be avoided with abstinence, it very clearly explains everything about how pregnancy works, at what times a woman is most fertile, how condoms and birth control work, and how STDs are passed along. It discourages casual sex, however it also equips the reader with everything they should know if they do choose to be sexually active. And it does not frame all of these things in a way that would make the reader ashamed of considering using them. Its attitude is basically, "You shouldn't have sex before you've got a dedicated partner, but if you do here's what you should do about it."
Needless to say I was flabbergasted by this book. A paperback Christian book written in 1989 filled with cartoon characters that look straight out of School House Rock that gives better sex education than most schools today, and has a more enlightened and balanced views on gays and birth control than most Christians today.
Whew, that was a lot of typing. So, are there any older books you've encountered with astoundingly liberal ideas for their time, that perhaps you weren't expecting when you first picked it up?
I helped out clean out a cabinet full of books, and the pastor's wife told all of us if we saw anything we wanted just take it, because the books were bound for a secondhand store anyway. I grabbed one book with some neat artwork in it, and another one strictly because I thought it would give me a lot of laughs. It was called Created by God: About Human Sexuality for Older Girls and Boys, and it was published in 1989.
Ooooh boy, I thought. This is going to be a hoot. A pre-90s Christian book on sexuality. The cover is absolutely glorious: a bunch of cartoon boys and girls, all representing a veritable rainbow of diversity: fat kids, skinny kids, white kids, black kids, asian kids, and to top it all off a red-haired girl in a wheelchair. Beautiful.
Inside, I expected some genuine attempts at explaining biology, but also a lot of skirting around difficult subjects and a LOT of heavy-handed dogmatism. However, to the book's credit, not only do they talk about genuinely difficult topics like teen pregnancy, sex in advertising, sexual abuse, and STDs, but they also talk about a topic I didn't expect to see mentioned at all: homosexuality. AND, on top of that, the book does not condemn it. The book explains what homosexuality is in purely objective terms, explains the use of the words gay and lesbians, and then discusses why some people are homosexuals. The conclusion it gives: we don't know why some people are gay. They just are, and nobody can agree as to why.
The book does not at all try to say that it's a sin. In fact, I'd just like to write out what it says verbatim, because it simply astounds me that a CHRISTIAN book on sexuality written in 1989 can sound more enlightened than many nonreligious people of today:
Can you tell just by looking that a person is a homosexual? No, you can't. Though a female does not fit the stereotype for femininity--that is, if she tends to be a kind of rough-and-tumble type--we must not assume that this says something about her sexual orientation. Likewise, if a male tends to be more interested in arts than sports, we cannot assume anything about his sexual orientation. Observing a person's interests, behaviors, or body type cannot tell us what that person's sexual orientation might be.
Not having clear-cut answers, we tend to feel confused and even afraid--feelings that sometimes cause us to be less than loving. Learning about things--and people--that frighten and confuse us can take away the fear and confusion.
Instead of basing our actions on what we don't know--such as why people represent a variety of sexual orientations--we need to act on what we do know. We know that our sexuality is God's gift. We know that there are many ways in which people misuse God's good gift to abuse other people. We know that, as children of God, we must never hurt others by taking advantage of their sexual feelings or of what they do or do not know or understand about their sexuality. These things apply to all of us, regardless of our sexual orientation.
Remember Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan? A man was beaten by robbers and left to die. Two persons passed by. The first was a priest. The second was a Levite--a temple official. They weren't responsible for the problems of the man on the road, but just like the robbers, they also left him to die. It was a Samaritan--a person whom Jesus' listeners wouldn't have had anything to do with--who stopped and cared. Jesus used this story to explain the meaning of neighbor and to let us know that the neighbors we are called to love just as we love ourselves are often the people most unlike us (Luke 10:25-37).
Not having clear-cut answers, we tend to feel confused and even afraid--feelings that sometimes cause us to be less than loving. Learning about things--and people--that frighten and confuse us can take away the fear and confusion.
Instead of basing our actions on what we don't know--such as why people represent a variety of sexual orientations--we need to act on what we do know. We know that our sexuality is God's gift. We know that there are many ways in which people misuse God's good gift to abuse other people. We know that, as children of God, we must never hurt others by taking advantage of their sexual feelings or of what they do or do not know or understand about their sexuality. These things apply to all of us, regardless of our sexual orientation.
Remember Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan? A man was beaten by robbers and left to die. Two persons passed by. The first was a priest. The second was a Levite--a temple official. They weren't responsible for the problems of the man on the road, but just like the robbers, they also left him to die. It was a Samaritan--a person whom Jesus' listeners wouldn't have had anything to do with--who stopped and cared. Jesus used this story to explain the meaning of neighbor and to let us know that the neighbors we are called to love just as we love ourselves are often the people most unlike us (Luke 10:25-37).
Never does the book say that homosexuality is to be avoided, or that it's inherently wrong. And the conclusion it comes to on other subjects were just as surprising: on teen pregnancy, the most concern it shows is for the preparedness of the mother and father, never fixating on the fact that they aren't married. When it does talk about marriage, it first frames marriage as the most pragmatic way to form a family, THEN frames it as the most Biblically correct way. It even takes a liberal approach to abortion--while it does not frame it as a positive thing and nor does it necessarily encourage it, the book also never outright says it should never be considered. It simply says it is a decision that requires a lot of time and prayer, and who to possibly involve in the decision-making process.
While the book does state many times problems like STDs and unexpected pregnancies can be avoided with abstinence, it very clearly explains everything about how pregnancy works, at what times a woman is most fertile, how condoms and birth control work, and how STDs are passed along. It discourages casual sex, however it also equips the reader with everything they should know if they do choose to be sexually active. And it does not frame all of these things in a way that would make the reader ashamed of considering using them. Its attitude is basically, "You shouldn't have sex before you've got a dedicated partner, but if you do here's what you should do about it."
Needless to say I was flabbergasted by this book. A paperback Christian book written in 1989 filled with cartoon characters that look straight out of School House Rock that gives better sex education than most schools today, and has a more enlightened and balanced views on gays and birth control than most Christians today.
Whew, that was a lot of typing. So, are there any older books you've encountered with astoundingly liberal ideas for their time, that perhaps you weren't expecting when you first picked it up?
