I recently received the following question for Q&A Week:
As you may know many christian families are against romance novels for their children because they might get children thinking about marriage and romance to soon. However, tell me what's the difference between a romance novel and a Disney movie? Disney movies promote romance and marriage so does that mean that we're no longer allowed to let children watch classic Disney movies?
Hi, anonymous! That's a really great question, and I'm glad you asked it.
Well, for one thing, I don't think the main reason that Christian families are against romance novels is because they get their children thinking about marriage in and of itself too fast(although that may be the case for some, because the fact is that some parents, even Christian ones, don't believe that marriage is very good or something their children should be preparing for), but rather because these books get their children thinking about the physical and emotional aspects of marriage and romance far too early. These books breed impurity and discontentment and thus should not be read by any Christians, let alone children. These kinds of books get a child thinking that his/her spouse will be perfect, and they make adult readers wish that their spouses were more like the characters in the book. This is just one of the reasons why it is highly dangerous for people to read these oftentimes filthy books.
With Disney movies it's a little different. There are some Disney movies that I'm heavily against, because they make witchcraft look cute, teach children things that are heavily contrary to Scripture, etc. But the ones we have in focus now are ones such as Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty. I don't tend to find anything all that wrong with these particular movies. Some may disagree with me(and if my readers are among those, I encourage you to please leave me a comment explaining why-I may be missing something ;)), but this is my own personal opinion. In fact, I think there are some very good lessons taught in the above mentioned Disney children's movies. First of all, the young ladies in each of these movies is not pining away, waiting for Prince Charming to come. Rather, she's busy about some task, whether it be serving others, learning new things, etc. This is something that many young girls today need to learn. They should be preparing for and saving themselves for their future Prince Charmings, but should not be wasting their time pining away for him. Also, marriage is praised in these movies, and is seen as a good thing. The movie
Cinderella teaches us selflessness. Also, Prince Charming comes and rescues his princess. Prince Charming is seen as a strong man who is the protector of his wife-he is the one out fighting for her, protecting her from those who would desire to hurt her, etc. These are very good, Biblical teachings.
In conclusion, one of the huge differences between the romance novels and Disney movies is that in the romance novels, impurity is praised and fills every page, whereas it isn't present in the Disney movies. Romance novels teach many bad things and are worthless, whereas the specific Disney movies mention above teach many good life lessons.
Thank you again so much for your great question, Anonymous! If you ever have anymore questions, please don't hesitate to let me know-I'd be happy to answer them for you!