My British literature class is reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein right now. During our discussion of the first few chapters, my students began to point out that Victor's love for science leads him to treat science like a god in his life. This led to a wonderful conversation about our own lives. We all agreed that loving science isn't a bad thing; it only became a bad thing when Victor's love for science led to science becoming Victor's god.
I asked my students to think about anything they may have in their lives that may have become like a god to them. I explained that this particular thing probably isn't bad; it's only bad when our love for it becomes too much. When we love anything more than God, it becomes an idol. There are many things in my life that I have to be careful about not letting them slip into the wrong place in my life. After I gave my students a bit of time to think about their own lives, they all said they had thought of at least one thing in their lives that has at one point become like a god in their lives.
Frankenstein isn't exactly a book you would think would spark a spiritual conversation in a literature class, but I am so glad that our discussion ended up there. It was great for the students to spend some time thinking about. We can all learn from Victor Frankenstein the dangers of having something replace God in our lives.
God must always be first in our lives. We must seek God first, and not ever let anything take His place in our lives.
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