Fifty Thoughts on Fifty Shades of Grey (revised from July 2012)

July 2012:

Okay, so I won’t actually have fifty thoughts on this book. But I do have strong opinions about it. 

Here’s my first: “Why the heck is this book a bestseller in the UK and US???????

I then respond to myself: “Well, it IS Twilight Saga fan fiction, so that draws a crowd to begin with. And it’s erotica, so that draws more readers. Then people become interested in the popularity of the book and buy it to see what the commotion is about this novel, and most come to regret their decision, but the deed is done. They paid for it and contributed to the number of books sold, even if they never finished the first book in the series.”

I ask myself another question: “What does this say about our world?”

I am stopped short by that. Does this really say anything new about ourselves as human beings? We have always been attracted to sexual things, that’s part of our nature, sinful or not. But has it always been so praised and out in the open? I dare say not. 

The fact that people enjoy reading Fifty Shades of Grey is not surprising to me. What IS surprising is the acceptance of such sinful literature (If you don’t understand why it is sinful I can go into that later). Our culture has slowly become calloused to sinful deeds to the point where people are praised and maybe even rewarded for doing so.

My dear Christians, please don’t cave in to the pressures and sinful pleasures the world so desperately tells us are satisfying. Our rebellion of sin causes such pain to our Savior and lover, Jesus. He’s crying out to us to change our ways. Will you reply and serve?

disclaimer: I have not read this book. Sue me if you think that means I cannot voice an opinion about it (although I am pretty sure you will lose the lawsuit). 

January 2013:

After hearing a lovely talk about this horrific book, I have more thoughts that I would like to share with anyone willing to listen (or read, in this case). I apologize in advance if they seem disjointed; they probably are.

-Some people have come to the conclusion after reading this book that the sexual events in it are a normal part of relationships; abuse is expected. First of all, let me tell everyone that ABUSE IS NOT NORMAL! Please don't ever let yourself accept abuse in any form. Unfortunately, this book makes abuse look glamorous. I can imagine that had I read the book that I might think my hypothetical abusive relationship would make me like the character in the book and then I could have a fairytale ending. 

We belong to God's story. Because of this we want to have our own interesting story that makes us feel special. and I think the desire of most people is to be considered special in some shape or form. So anything that reminds us of a story seems glamorous and desirable. That's why some young people like drama; they want to be part of an interesting story. 

When I was a young'un in high school (because that was all so long ago) I read the Twilight Series. That is an understatement. I inhaled them, breathed them, reread them over and over again. There was something so addictive to the storyline: A seemingly unimportant girl being so special and helping to fix a tortured soul such as Edward Cullen (the vampire love interest). Because I read it in a story I have been drawn to "tortured souls" and I have wanted to be the girl to "fix" them. HA. In the same way that bad boys have become what girls want because of movies and books, so abuse in Fifty Shades of Grey has become something people want because it seems to work out in this series. 

So this sounds like a bad thing. Well, it is. We don't want anyone thinking that an abusive relationship is okay and that it will work out eventually like it did in this book. Most likely it will not. As I heard in the talk from this morning, God is the One who changes people, not us. We may be used as tools by God to help that person, but it's nothing we do ourselves. So we should NOT try to date someone to change them and make them better, even though we want to be needed. We need to let our young people know this and understand what a good and healthy relationship looks like. We need to make them aware of the world and show them the world's way and God's way to prove that God's way truly is the best for us. We need to talk to our daughters, our sisters, our friends about abuse and what to do about it, always being there for them.
And to use this book for God's good, talk to other women about female pornography. Over the past year I have become aware of this sin and how many women struggle with it secretly. This book could potentially create a dialogue between Christian women struggling with this and help them triumph over Satan. We talk about men and porn all the time but everything is hush hush when it comes to women and pornography. Let's change this habit!

Alright, I think that's all I have to say about that for now. Maybe I will update this every six months and make it even longer (just kidding). I want to put what I say into practice and say that any of you who are struggling with an abusive relationship or pornography,a sexual sin, or simply just have questions about sex, I am here to listen and to help. If I cannot assist you because I am a young, single, inexperienced woman I can redirect you to someone who can. :)
Pray to God. He will hear all prayers. He forgives ALL sins. Praise the Lord! Amen
-Rachel