Fifty Shades Of Grey Over Don Quixote

With the passage of time comes change. Trends change, tastes change, style changes, everything changes. Books, like clothing and movies, experience popularity trends that fluctuate as time goes on. A stereotypical person with mediocre literary desires nowadays chooses to read Fifty Shades of Grey over Don Quixote because the first is considered “in style”. While most books come and go, and though some classic books may last a few centuries, only one has withstood the test of time of over two thousand years: the Bible. As the centerpiece of Christianity, the Bible serves believers as a guide for living life according to the word of God and a road map to heavenly pleasures in life after death. While the Bible is read and studied all over the

Augustine, the profound theologian and philosopher, also offered his guidance to reading Scripture in his book On Christian Teachings. Similar to Origen, he also believed that God made Scripture include obscure signs, both literal and figurative, that we must uncover when reading in order to challenge our sinful minds. In addition, he also claims that there are seven steps to wisdom in interpreting Scripture, including fear of God, holiness, knowledge, strength, good counsel, purity of heart, and wisdom. Above all else, a fear of God is necessary in order to recognize his will and what he wants us to do. On a similar note, holiness is vital to understanding as it provides the means to see Scripture as the truth despite anything that says otherwise. One can only understand if they believe it to be true. Augustine says, “it is necessary through holiness, to become docile, and not contradict Holy Scripture—whether we understand it or fail to understand it—but rather ponder and believe what is written there” (On Christian Teachings 34). This goes back to Origen’s promotion of faith as being the key to insight into the Bible. Those who have faith will be rewarded with God’s presence, while those who lack faith will not. When called to the healing of a boy with a mute spirit, the father says, “‘but if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘If you can! All things are possible to those who believe’” (Mark 9:22-23). Again, the overarching message of this story is that anything is possible for the faithful. When encountering a situation like Jesus’ feeding of four thousand people with only seven loaves and a few small fish, one must have faith in God’s word and look beyond to uncover the key