WHO ARE YOU?

“I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”
― Emerson, Ralph Waldo 
  
Francois Mauriac wrote, "Tell me what you read and I’ll tell you who you are is true enough, but I’d know you better if you told me what you reread.”

Another author said, "There are those who say that they don't read and, as a matter of fact, they say they don't have time to read. But even when we think we’re not reading, we’re reading. When we spend 20 minutes scrolling down our Facebook feed, we’re reading. When we choose to click on an enticing title from a questionable news source, we’re reading. When we browse without reason, we’re reading. The only difference is that that kind of reading isn’t intentional. Reading shouldn’t be something that happens to us. It should be something that we actively do. It should be done with intent." 

Then there's this study:

"Readers who identify with fictional characters [in a book] are prone to subconsciously adopt their behavior, new data shows. Researchers at Ohio State University say bookworms have been shown to adopt the feelings, thoughts, beliefs and internal responses of fictional characters they relate to in a phenomenon called 'experience-taking'." (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology)

 THE GENERAL, THE PRIESTS, AND PAUL

What does the Bible say about reading?  God commanded Joshua to be a reader: Joshua 1:8: "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success." We see in that command that a result of reading is "doing." What we read influences what we do. 

When Israel comes to have a monarchy, the king had these specific instructions: "Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes."

And there were these instructions from Moses to the priests: "When all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing."

Paul instructed Timothy: "Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching." To the Thessalonicans, Paul wrote, "I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brethren."

YEAH, YEAH . . . BUT

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," someone may be thinking, as if reading and you-are-what-you-read are of no consequence to him, to his kith, or to his kin.  But he's tragically mistaken. Look no further than our universities and ask, "Who's the most frequently assigned author in books on philosophy in American college classrooms?' The answer . . . Karl Marx.

Wait. What? Karl Marx the author of a philosophical movement that killed 100 million people in the 20th century? By such an assignment, we see that there's no stigma attached to Marx; in fact, his philosophy holds "a position of high esteem in academic, journalistic, and intellectual circles." (Philip W. Magness) This helps explain, in part, why socialism has gained such standing among students today--they have become what they're reading. No surprise there. And what they're reading is dangerous to themselves and others, others such as us.

Thus the question: "What are you reading?"