Lesson 2 | Real Time – faith | Sabbath School | Second Quarter 2015 http://sabbathschool.es/

1. Positive Reading ChoicesApril11,2015
Sunday
HERE’S WHAT I THINK
You see your friend reading and ask, “What are you reading?”
Your friend replies, “Oh, this is a great book! There’s this guy who
comes back from the dead, like a zombie, and he goes into houses
when people are asleep and he kills them. And this girl is telling the
story, but she’s in a mental hospital ‘cause she’s possessed by the devil,
and you can’t tell if the zombie murders really happened or if she’s just
imagining them because she’s crazy. It’s the most exciting book I’ve
ever read—wanna borrow it when I’m finished?”
What do you think? Sound like something you’d like to read? Sound like
something that will help you grow as a Christian? Do you really think it
matters what you read? And what do you tell your friend?
Log on to www.guidemagazine.org/rtf to post your responses. Be up-
front and honest. Say what you think.
Monday
WHAT ARE THEY
TRYING TO SAY?
Different people, different opinions. Some of the quotations
below represent the views of true kingdom citizens; others may
not. Can you tell the difference? How do these statements compare
with what God is saying in His Word? After reviewing the texts in
the God Says . . . section of the lesson, write a statement that cap-
tures your belief. Be prepared to quote yourself at Sabbath School.
“A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody
wants to read.”—Mark Twain, 19th-century U.S. author.
“I would never read a book if it were possible for me to talk half an hour
with the man who wrote it.”—Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), 28th president of the U.S.
“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them
you can get through, but how many can get through to you.”—Mortimer
Adler, 20th-century U.S. philosopher.
“A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as
a task will do him little good.”—Samuel Johnson, 18th-century British writer.
“If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering
on our skulls, then why do we read it? . . . A book must be an ice axe to
break the sea frozen inside us.”—Franz Kafka, 20th-century Austrian writer.
“The readers of fiction are indulging an evil that destroys spirituality,
eclipsing the beauty of the sacred page. It creates an unhealthy excite-
ment, fevers the imagination, unfits the mind for usefulness, weans the
soul from prayer, and disqualifies it for any spiritual exercise.”—Ellen G.
White, 19th-century inspired writer and church cofounder.
FICTION ADDICTION
(What connection do you think the following illustration has with
the Bible texts in Wednesday’s section?)
Lindsay and Dan fell in love and got married in college. After gradua-
tion they both found jobs working with a Christian ministry, and they had
two children. Life seemed to be perfect.
But their jobs were stressful, and in the middle of that stress Lindsay
and Dan found it hard to relax and have fun together the way they used
to. Dan grew quieter and more serious. Lindsay found another way to
ease the tension—she started reading romance novels.
Romance novels were the perfect escape. When Lindsay opened
the covers of the book, she stepped into a dream world where all the
women were beautiful and graceful, all the men were handsome and
masterful, and pages of breathtaking anticipation ended with kisses and
wedding bells. No kids, no stressful jobs, no married misunderstanding
ever happened between the covers of a romance novel.
Lindsay worked in the mornings. In the afternoons she read two ro-
mance novels before the kids came home from school (she was a fast
reader!). She’d read another one before falling asleep at night. It seemed
like the perfect, harmless escape from a life that was stressful and a
marriage that had grown distant and difficult.
But soon Lindsay found that reading wasn’t enough of an escape.
She began to enjoy daydreams about a handsome stranger just like the
men in romance novels. He would walk into her life and sweep her off
her feet—away from her responsibilities, away from her family, away
from Dan.
Before long Lindsay met a real-life romance hero—Anthony, a man
she worked with who teased and flirted and made her feel good. Soon
they were having an affair. Lindsay left Dan, took the children to live
with her parents, and continued her affair with Anthony.
The affair ended when Anthony went back to his wife, left his job, and
moved away. Lindsay’s romance-novel dream was shattered. She went
back to Dan and began the long, hard work of rebuilding her marriage.
It wasn’t easy. She felt no romantic love for Dan at all. Yet he was
her husband and the father of her children. They began seeing a mar-
riage counselor. There were ups and downs. Two years after coming
back, Lindsay almost had another affair. But as she and Dan asked for
God’s help and guidance, their love began to grow again.
For Lindsay, part of putting her life back together meant giving up ro-
mance novels—forever. She also cut out romantic music and movies. “For
me,” she says, “these are as dangerous as an alcoholic going into a bar.”
Not every girl who picks up a romance novel will end up cheating on
her husband someday. But Lindsay learned that to enjoy real love, she
had to give up her fantasy world.
[Note: Lindsay and Dan’s story is true, though their names have
been changed. Lindsay wrote about her experience in the Christian mag-
azine Marriage Partnership, Winter 2002.]
Write your own quotation.
What I say is . . .
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Copyright © 2015 General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Key Text: Choose one of the texts from Wednesday’s section of the lesson.
Write it here and memorize it this week.
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2. Wednesday
GOD SAYS . . .
Philippians 4:8 (CEV)
“Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right,
holy, friendly, and proper. Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly
worthwhile and worthy of praise.”
Galatians 5:19-23 (CEV)
“People’s desires make them give in to immoral ways, filthy thoughts,
and shameful deeds. They worship idols, practice witchcraft, hate oth-
ers, and are hard to get along with. People become jealous, angry, and
selfish. They not only argue and cause trouble, but they are envious.
They get drunk, carry on at wild parties, and do other evil things as
well. I told you before, and I am telling you again: No one who does
these things will share in the blessings of God’s kingdom. God’s Spirit
makes us loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and
self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV)
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the
Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Colossians 3:1, 2 (CEV)
“You have been raised to life with Christ. Now set your heart on what is
in heaven, where Christ rules at God’s right side. Think about what is up
there, not about what is here on earth.”
Romans 12:1, 2 (Message)
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday,
ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around
life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does
for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-ad-
justed to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead,
fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily
recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the
culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity,
God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
Tuesday
SO WHAT?
Some of us read only when we’re forced to read a book for school. If
you’re one of those, you’re missing out on a world of information and
adventure between the covers of a book. Try reading for fun—it may
change your life!
But what if you’re the other kind of reader—the one who’s always got a
book in hand and is always looking for a new book? If you’re like that,
chances are you’ve read some of everything—the good, the bad, and the
ugly. How does a Christian young person who loves to read choose
books that are good? Does it matter?
While some teachers will tell you that any book is good as long as it gets
kids reading instead of watching TV, that theory doesn’t hold up for the
Christian. We’re supposed to fill our minds with things that will bring us
closer to Jesus. Will your romance novel, sci-fi thriller, fantasy or murder
mystery do that? Should we read only the Bible and “Christian books”?
Can we learn anything from fiction, or should we avoid every form of it?
Tough questions. Reading—just like watching TV or movies, or listening
to music—affects us. What we take into our brain shapes our brain.
What shape do you want your mind to be in?
Thursday
WHAT DOES THIS
HAVE TO DO WITH ME?
So, how do you choose what to read? Is an entertaining story line the
most important thing? That’s usually what draws us into a book, but it’s
not really the best way to choose your reading material. As a Christian,
you need to choose books that will build you up rather than tear you
down. A good story strengthens your faith in God rather than ignoring or
downgrading holy things. Also, when we read only novels and stories for
entertainment, we find it harder to focus on serious reading—such as
the Bible, or your textbooks at school. Find some quality non-fiction to
exercise your brain. Try something different from what you usually read
and stretch your mind in a new direction. Reading can introduce you to
famous people, new countries, unknown scientific discoveries. Don’t
limit what you can learn.
It’s easy to read only what’s exciting, light, fun, and entertaining.
But try applying biblical standards, especially those found in Philippians
4:8. Is this book filled with the kind of things you want to fill your mind
with? Does it match the standards of God’s Word? Will reading it make
you a better Christian, a more loving friend and family member?
Don’t be afraid to read! But don’t be afraid to question your reading,
either—and to close the book if you see that it’s leading you away from
God rather than closer to Him.
POSITIVE READING CHOICES / April 11, 2015
Copyright © 2015 General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Friday
HOW DOES IT WORK?
In the table below, try to list as many books as you can remember read-
ing in the past year. (Some of you may fill only a couple lines, while some
may need extra pages. That’s OK!) Next to each one, check all the boxes
that apply to it. Look over your list and think what you can add to your
reading menu to build spiritual muscle—and what you might need to
take away.
Title Author Fiction Non-fiction
Made me a
stronger Christian
Didn’t help me
as a Christian