Shireen wrote:

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"One of the chief causes of mental inefficiency and moral weakness is the lack of concentration for worthy ends. We pride ourselves on the wide distribution of literature; but the multiplication of books, even books that in themselves are not harmful, may be a positive evil." Ed. 189

 

What does your reading list look like? What is your concentration for worthy ends like? Looking forward to hearing what you have to share.

 

Yours in Christ

Shireen

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 My reading list?  Many will find this boring.  I read these over and over.  

Devotionals:  our high calling, this day with God  

Bible:  KJV mostly usually a chapter a day for meditation and deep thinking...  I'm in Ezekiel right now... ch. 7 is a partial fulfillment of what will happen in the end times all over the world.

EGW:  1858GC, Selected Messages vol. 1,2,3; Patriarchs and Prophets

I must stand by the fact that we must have His indwelling Spirit or we can do nothing and can get nowhere toward His Salvation of which His Way is the one and only Way.

Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

1Jo 4:4 ¶ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

NB wrote:

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What do you read on a daily basis?

If it is not Bible and/or SOP then I'm thinking it is like empty calories.

 

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 NB, for me wherever I read from it has to be tested by His Word or I do not receive it.  I love the SOP with the exceptions of some like the later GC's that were not all EGW's idea.

Men have edited and added and deleted in some of her writings which we must watch for.  None, not one change in anything she wrote there is no one who had any authority to do it..

1Jo 4:4 ¶ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Reading list?...  I used to read tons of books.  I remember winning the prize for reading most books in first grade (200 books).  I have always been a voracious reader. However, I see more clearly now that I should have been more concerned with quality.  Even now, I'm an extremely fast reader, but the contents tend to not make it to my long-term memory banks.   I quickly browse lots of things, rather than focusing on one book.  I think there are drawbacks of becoming superficial with this approach, but it definitely does give me a broad perspective of many things written around the world (in English or Japanese of course!).

Anyway, I don't read books hardly ever anymore.  Reading a book on a flat screen is not nearly as comfortable as reading an actual paper-printed book, but I hate to pay money for something that is going to take up space, and for which I will need to throw away some day anyway.  So for an actual printed book, (other than inspired) I only read one or two a year.  They are usually something that someone has written on spiritual matters.  For electronic books, I read probably one or two a year, (other than inspired or early SDA history).  Right now I'm reading a book the pope recommended - "Lord of the World".  It is interesting to see how the enemy of all righteousness is painted in this book as the last bastion against secular humanism.  I used to read some Japanese comics and stuff telling myself that it was "language studies", but that probably wasn't good.

I read material by early Adventists, and especially words from God found in the Bible, and in the writings of Ellen White, (Spirit of Prophecy) that were written up to basically 1881 when her husband died.  I did finish the 1888 Materials recently after working on them for 5 years!  Some other compilations like Kress, Paulson, Sutherland & Magan etc. that were made after 1881 I read also, but standard books printed by the SDA publishing houses after 1881 I like to stay away from.  I think what happened with Steps to Christ should be instructive to any honest-in-heart seeker for truth.

Now regarding the "concentration for worthy ends", it is very difficult to understand exactly what is meant.  I take it to mean that instead of just browsing something, wasting time, we should approach reading something with a purpose, a goal in mind.  This has been brought home forcefully to me in my reading of the 1858 Great Controversy.  I had to read it 4 times before I understood it was "The Great Controversy"!!  I had just been so conditioned that this book was huge and talked mostly of Europe 500 years ago, that it took quite a while to understand the fact that the original book wasn't like that at all.  The more I read, the more things kept popping out at me, many of which I had never read or heard in any other SDA sermon or book.  When translating it into Japanese, and going carefully over each word, I was impressed to make a study guide for the book to go with it paragraph by paragraph.  That has helped keep the truths in that book fresh in my mind.

I've found in my interaction with many people around the world, that there are very few people who like to read more than about a two-paragraph article.  To sit down with a book and spend time going thru it is not a custom of many cultures of SE Asia and India for example.  Even in what we usually say "advanced" countries, I find that many people don't have a habit of reading.  They like to watch moving pictures.  I've found myself going more and more that direction also.  If this world continues as it is headed now for another 30 years, I think "books" will become scarce.  Many bookstores have closed, and others rely on coffee and other things to stay open.

So to get kids to "concentrate" when reading books is, I believe, essential to training strong believers.  What is the best way to do that?  I'm not sure.