Discernment in purchasing books
I am pasting an article at the bottom of my post that came across one of my feeds. I almost didn’t post because I did not want this to be taken the wrong way but ultimately felt it may resonate with some that need to ”hear” it as it did with me. I have seen posts about book hoarding/addiction but after a couple quick searches didn’t find those posts except in contexts of managing libraries or affecting software speed in earlier Logos iterations.
This is not posted with judgmental thoughts on anyone else but on my own self reflection I am treading into an area of excess that needs to be checked. I suspect there may at least be a few others that find themselves in the same spot. I am not a Pastor or professional but I love to read and study. I personally have reached a point where I need to use more discernment in purchasing books.
After reading the article pasted below it prompted me to evaluate. In 10 months I have spent five figures on Logos purchases. In addition there are many other e-books I have purchased from Amazon, E-Sword, Accordance, etc as well as buying more physical books in the last 10 months than I bought in the previous 10 years. (I knew it was alot but didn’t realize how much until I reviewed.)
My name is ….. and I am a bookaholic :-)
I can rationalize having a large library and much of it I feel is still very warranted even after reflection. There are many, many books in reflection I would not have purchased. I will continue to buy books!! However, I will use much more discernment than I have in the past and pray about guidance moving forward to not give into greed, irrationality and excess. There needs to be some checkpoints or guard rails. Here is the link that prompted me to do some self-reflecting:
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I can't speak to pastors and their book budgets (the article, though assigning sin??). And I got nervous early in my Logosian career ... thousands?? But looking back, it's ended up being a joy, hundreds of rabbit trails, and a savings too (I'm good at rationalizing, but my book career was far cheaper than more graduate courseware).
I'm just months away from my targeted Logosian book retirement and no regrets. I doubt discernment on my part ... more just a big thanks to Bob's staff experts who wisely chose great choices for me.
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I'm on that journey with you, Greg, and yes, I did have to wince a few times while reading the article from your link. I might feel a little differently about it if I was much younger, but I know it is extremely unlikely that in the time I have left, I will have any real chance of utilizing more than a smallish percentage of the resources currently in my library.
Fortunately though, for a couple of years God has been whispering to my spirit, pretty much all the things in the article you noted, and he has been helping me to be much more thoughtful and selective in my purchases than in years past. Also fortunately, at least 98% of my library is digital, so I have very few paper resources that others will be burdened with disposing of when I pass. Pride of resources has never been an issue in building my library... the library has grown out of the best of intentions. But even so... it's easy to lose sight of the fact that at some point, the benefit of additional resources will begin to diminish, and that just maybe, the study of those resources will get far more of my time than they should, even to the neglect of scripture itself.
Still... I'm very thankful for the library I have. I just need to make sure I continue to own it, rather than the other way around. [:)]
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