~Disturbing

Katherine Paterson introduces us to Jess Aaron, in her disturbing Newbery Medal book, The Bridge to Terabithia. Jess is an insecure fifth-grader searching for a way to make a mark on the world. He is a deep and thoughtful child, a loyal friend with a hero's heart, and a thoroughly engaging character. I cared about him and wanted to see him learn and grow.

Leslie moves into Jess's life and teaches him to look at the world in new ways. She is from the city and her parents are artists. Their view of the world is contrary to the view Jess has gotten from his poor country parents who work each day in a distracted way and don't really have the brains or the energy to nurture their children, particularly Jess in the middle, in a meaningful way.

I enjoyed watching the friendship between Jess and Leslie progress. I enjoyed the characters--they were painted so clearly that I felt like I knew them personally. I also loved the writing, which flowed beautifully, the language, which was rich and satisfying, and the world Ms. Paterson built. The book is extremely well written.

The reason I find the book disturbing, though, and the reason I would suggest that you don't allow young children to read it without parental participation, is the spiritual message Katherine Paterson packs into the book.

Katherine Paterson said, in a talk given in 1989 at the New York Public Library, that she becomes uncomfortable when people ask her about the moral of her stories or the values she’s trying to impart. “Moral judgment is not my prerogative,” she said. “Moral judgment is the prerogative of the Creator, and if the Bible is to be believed, when the Creator makes a moral judgment it breaks His heart." She allows that she judges some things to be good and others to be evil, and then adds, "But when it comes to passing judgment on other people, even on my own children, I have to tread carefully.”

I agree with her about not passing judgment on people. We can judge actions but not people. What I find so disturbing is that in The Bridge to Terabithia Paterson doesn't tread carefully at all. She stomps in with heavy boots proclaiming that God doesn't send unbelieving children to hell.

God doesn't give us the right to judge others and condemn them to hell. We can’t read another’s heart to see if he’s repented of sinful action. But if we aren’t allowed to condemn people to hell, neither are we allowed to decide they go to heaven.

In Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson gives us a very strong message. One that is anti-scriptural. A child, who rejects the Bible and looks at the cross of Christ as a nice make-believe story, goes to heaven. And when another child mourns over the death of a friend, an adult offers comfort with the words, “Lord, don’t be a fool. God ain’t gonna send any little [children] to hell.”

The only character that believes God sends unbelieving children to hell is a snotty six-year-old who proclaims God's wrath in a very distasteful manner. The harsh words coming from that child's mouth give us a strong urge to scoff at what she says. "Of course God doesn't damn people to hell for disbelieving the Bible," we want to say, "and if you had a brain in your head, you'd know this."

And yet, even as I was disturbed by the message, I was so attached to the characters in this book that I wept--I mean the kind of weeping that requires a half a box of tissues--for several pages at the end. Ms. Paterson dragged me in completely. What a talent she has. She's brilliant. I dare not hope to ever write so as to move my readers half as much as she moved me. This book would have gotten five stars easily if it weren't for the fact that I hate the theology.

If you have taught your children that God requires us to believe in the historical cross and resurrection of Christ, you might not want to buy this book. Young readers will love the character who dies and be tempted to hate the God who would damn such a one to hell. Because it takes some level of spiritual maturity to allow God to be God--to allow him to dispose of sinful people as is right and good in his own eyes.

Ms. Paterson is right when she says we are not allowed to judge. We are not allowed to judge where people go when they die. But she did judge. She sided with the unbelieving child over God. She teaches that to scorn God's word and consider it a fairy tale is OK and God will welcome us into heaven all the same. This I find highly disturbing.

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Copyright © 2005 Sally Apokedak