As We Suspected, No Reading for Pleasure at the Maxwells

[VodouDoll]

I agree. There are two sides to every issue in the Maxwells' world, but they're Steve's side and Satan's side. There's no point in reading anything that might contradict Steve's version of Christianity, because it would just be The Enemy tempting them off of the One True Path.

[defrauding]

I mean, the only thing more boring would be reading about watching paint dry.

Please don't post spoilers about Book 7 of the Moody Family series in this thread.

[pomology]

Please don't post spoilers about Book 7 of the Moody Family series in this thread.

Awesome comment :D

[Fun-Dee]

I remember reading in one of the Dad's Corners that they are allowed to ride their bikes, for exercise, not for fun. Seriously.

[liveonradio]

I remember reading in one of the Dad's Corners that they are allowed to ride their bikes, for exercise, not for fun. Seriously.

My limited-capacity brain fails to comprehend why they can't have both. :( Is that why they're all into push-ups lately, did they just figure "well there's no way anyone's ever gonna think push-ups fun" and go from there?

[TMS]

I wish Sarah would leave Ma & Pa now while she's still young, use her savings to get a little apartment, and go to college.

[Fun-Dee]

After mentioning the bike riding for exercise only post, I figured I'd better find it in case I wasn't remembering it correctly. I was. It is the Sept. 2008 Dad's corner, Protecting against deception part 9. It talks about the evils of entertainment. Supposedly, you have to be bored to tears in order to take pleasure in helping other people.

[TMS]

Ha, yes, after you mentioned it I went looking for it myself! The url is http://www DOT titus2 DOT com/corners/9-08-d.htm

That article gives a lot of insight to Papa Maxwell's idea of why having fun is a sin. He laments the old days when he took his young, impressionable family to an atmosphere of drinking and immodesty - professional baseball games!!! GAH, that is one of our most favorite things to do as a family and I never once thought about how we are taking our kids to an atmosphere of "drinking and immodesty." I always have a beer or two, and I suppose wearing shorts and tank tops on a hot summer day is immodest. Sigh...

[SinInTheCamp]

From that Dad's Corner: "Sadly, every minute that is wasted on fun, is time stolen from something profitable and the duty to which we are called."

What a sad, lonely way to view life. Steve sounds like someone who can't tell himself no or moderate his time/consumption when it comes to having fun so he threw out all of it and forced his family to join him. It's like when a family member goes on a diet and insists that all the junk in the house be thrown out because the person can't control themselves, never mind that everyone else might still want some cookies or chips once in a while.

[Justme]

I wish Sarah would leave Ma & Pa now while she's still young, use her savings to get a little apartment, and go to college.

Do you think she is allowed to have money of her own? I wonder if all her book profits go into the family "till"... :think:

[jenny_islander]

So why is the commandment that appears most often in the Bible, "Sing?" And why do the great festivals of God's people revolve around food and wine? And why was the queen reproved for telling David not to dance for joy? And why was Jesus' first public act providing top-quality booze for a party at which everybody expected to get schnockered?

Why did God make a world stuffed full of flowers, chocolate, singing birds, dreamy summer days, delicious breezes, sparkling snow slopes perfectly angled and packed for sliding, fascinating tide pools, things that make you silly-happy when you eat or drink them, and the impulse of every child on Earth to sing and dance for joy before they can even speak or walk--if we're not supposed to enjoy them?

[tehgoobster]

So why is the commandment that appears most often in the Bible, "Sing?" And why do the great festivals of God's people revolve around food and wine? And why was the queen reproved for telling David not to dance for joy? And why was Jesus' first public act providing top-quality booze for a party at which everybody expected to get schnockered?

Why did God make a world stuffed full of flowers, chocolate, singing birds, dreamy summer days, delicious breezes, sparkling snow slopes perfectly angled and packed for sliding, fascinating tide pools, things that make you silly-happy when you eat or drink them, and the impulse of every child on Earth to sing and dance for joy before they can even speak or walk--if we're not supposed to enjoy them?

THIS!!!

[FloraDoraDolly]

So why is the commandment that appears most often in the Bible, "Sing?" And why do the great festivals of God's people revolve around food and wine? And why was the queen reproved for telling David not to dance for joy? And why was Jesus' first public act providing top-quality booze for a party at which everybody expected to get schnockered?

Why did God make a world stuffed full of flowers, chocolate, singing birds, dreamy summer days, delicious breezes, sparkling snow slopes perfectly angled and packed for sliding, fascinating tide pools, things that make you silly-happy when you eat or drink them, and the impulse of every child on Earth to sing and dance for joy before they can even speak or walk--if we're not supposed to enjoy them?

Amen, sister!!!

And who is to say that fun= waste of time. You might be reading a book for pleasure, but at the same time you learn something from it. Sports, Steve's favorite target, helps build a healthy body and promotes good character and teamwork. For example, I read that girls who participate in team sports tend not to engage in "mean girl" behaviors. And there's a ton of research out there showing how much young children learn from play. Even the most mindless video game might help reduce stress, which in turn helps the individual lead a more productive life.

[emilymea]

I can't imagine not being able to read for pleasure. When I was a child, there were no off-limits books for me. If a book was in the house, I was allowed to read it. I tore through children's classics, Stephen King, the Bible, science fiction, Charles Dickens... all before I hit middle school. Even when money was tight my parents would buy my brother and me books and magazines. Christmas gifts were encyclopedias and novels.

Right now i'm reading The Wednesday Letters, Here be Dragons, and 1984. All three books just because I want to. Oh yeah, this is in addition to daily Bible reading and study.

You can be a Christian and enjoy literature. Enjoying something is not creating an idol, its reveling in the gifts that God has given you.

[MamaJunebug]

I hate to ask, but it IS the pachyderm in the room...

Nathan is 35. If teri birthed him even at age 18, she is now at least 53. Chances are 1in a trillioin bazillion of her conceiving.

So at this point, marital relations would not be procreative, but they would be -- shoo the children away ftom the screen before they read the f word -- FUN.

I can't help but wonder how Steve explains the exemption for that!. :think:

[hoipolloi]

Why did God make a world stuffed full of flowers, chocolate, singing birds, dreamy summer days, delicious breezes, sparkling snow slopes perfectly angled and packed for sliding, fascinating tide pools, things that make you silly-happy when you eat or drink them, and the impulse of every child on Earth to sing and dance for joy before they can even speak or walk--if we're not supposed to enjoy them?

He made them all so that Steve Maxwell could be Lord of their creation and determine who could enjoy them, or not.

[liveonradio]

I hate to ask, but it IS the pachyderm in the room...

Nathan is 35. If teri birthed him even at age 18, she is now at least 53. Chances are 1in a trillioin bazillion of her conceiving.

So at this point, marital relations would not be procreative, but they would be -- shoo the children away ftom the screen before they read the f word -- FUN.

I can't help but wonder how Steve explains the exemption for that!. :think:

But it's GOD who opens and closes the womb, not BIOLOGY!! Shaking my head at you, science-trusting heathen. ;)

[jockosmom]

I'm reading Daniel Mendelsohn's "Lost - the Search for 6 of 6 Million" right now. Sitting and reading about the horrors of the Holocaust and then getting on the computer and reading about how the Maxwell's - a family who has everything in the world going for them - nice house, apparently sufficient income, healthy children, etc. etc. - work their hardest to NOT have any enjoyment in life is enough to drive me insane.

[MamaJunebug]

But it's GOD who opens and closes the womb, not BIOLOGY!! Shaking my head at you, science-trusting heathen. ;)

:mrgreen: How did I *miss* that???? :lol:

Thank you so very much for setting me straight. As we say around here, "Well, sure!" :P

[uber frau]

Well, teh sekhs is only going to be fun for Steve. Orgasm is a necessary evil for him but she's just a receptacle for the sacred sperm. 30 seconds, lights off, missionary position. I doubt Terri will be having any fun there. (Never mind that depression does awful things to libido).

[Marian the Librarian]

I hate to ask, but it IS the pachyderm in the room...

Nathan is 35. If teri birthed him even at age 18, she is now at least 53. Chances are 1in a trillioin bazillion of her conceiving.

So at this point, marital relations would not be procreative, but they would be -- shoo the children away ftom the screen before they read the f word -- FUN.

I can't help but wonder how Steve explains the exemption for that!. :think:

OLD "Playboy" cartoon (we're talkin' from the 60s): man and woman in bed, wearing full Puritan regalia. He's on top of her in classic missionary position, raised up on his elbows, an expression of incredulity on his face. Caption: "Good LORD, woman! Do you think for one minute that I'm enjoying this???"

[Guest Anonymous]

Well, teh sekhs is only going to be fun for Steve. Orgasm is a necessary evil for him but she's just a receptacle for the sacred sperm. 30 seconds, lights off, missionary position. I doubt Terri will be having any fun there. (Never mind that depression does awful things to libido).

I wonder how much of Terri's condition is DEpression and not OPpression.

[ChickeyMonkey]

Another book lover, but I don't like to reread the same book, so I prefer the library over having a houseful of adult books. Childrens books are different, though. I have lots of books for my kids, and when I was younger I had a lot of books that my mom still has in her "bat cave" at her house. I don't know if they're any good anymore, though. Hopefully they haven't gotten all moldy or ruined in other ways.

I think I would've liked the classics better (or at all) if they were like the zombie ones that are out now. I'm not a huge zombie fan, but I liked "Shawn of the Dead" and kids books that are humorous that have zombies. I prefer mysteries, myself. Humorous ones. Janet Evanovich, etc.

When I was about 13, my mom wouldn't let me watch "Rising Sun" because of the sex that was supposed to be in it, or something, but apparently it was fine to get the book from the library and read it. My mom wasn't usually so restrictive about movies, so I don't know what was up with this one.

[forever ago]

I can't imagine living in a house with few books other than the Bible. Strangely enough, the only Bible I have access to is KJV, and I only managed to understand that after public school taught me how to read Shakespeare. (So if they don't read Shakespeare, what version of the Bible do they read? KJV has got to be insanely difficult...)

But no reading just for fun? I was the big reader in my family (still am) and aaarrrrgggghhhh. To me, having a child read only books that live up to his/her parents' prohibitive standards is brainwashing.

[colt13]

I mean, the only thing more boring would be reading about watching paint dry. :roll:

FYI, I had a temp job at 19 mixing cement and painting at 21. Watching paint dry is more boring than cement.

I have been lurking for about a month. Found the old board as I was trying to find out what quiverfull meant. The whole board is interesting, and due to my tastes in humorists and satire writers like Dave Barry and Erma Bombeck, I may not be as smart, but still opinionated. This is what got me to post, because as a poor child in a bad neighborhood, once school let out for the summer, it was safer to stay inside. So I did watch tv, but the summers were spend reading. Gave me a chance to expand my mind. I can't imagine being denied that outlet.