Why we need a 'Joshua Harris rule'

There is definitely need for maturity in writing, but I would argue that the key barrier we ought to have should not be age, but rather the maturity of the ideas. I’ve not read I’ve Kissed Dating Goodbye, but I have read Josh’s younger brothers’ book Do Hard Things. What I noticed in that book is that there simply isn’t much Biblical analysis at all. What could have been a great exhortation (perhaps titled something like Grow Up Already?) came out as a pile of vanilla fluff. Christian publishing—really publishing in general—seriously needs to grow up and start telling authors I don’t care if this will sell ten million copies, it’s nonsense, and I’m not putting it out.

But that noted, excessive publishing of too-young authors has the nasty result that the old “contract” between the young and the aged is being broken. More or less, I remember people when I was young who had been there, and they would pull me aside when they learned I was going through something similar, and it was a huge blessing. I don’t see that as much anymore. It is as if the young have gotten a hugely inflated view of their own knowledge and abilities courtesy of an excess of young “authorities” in their lives.

Kondo also has an outsized impact among the young, and what I notice is that when one uses “joy” as a criterion for retaining items, what tends to happen is that “bright shiny objects” like fast fashion get retained in ludicrous amounts, but necessary, valuable objects tend to be removed. Not too many people think “joy” at the situations that will have them put on Sorels, except for ice fishermen and the like, but they’re awfully nice to have around when shoveling snow at ten below. Same thing with books. I do not have 30 books in my home; I have 15 bookshelves, fully loaded, in my home. Some will leave as my kids grow up, some books will be worn out and not replaced, but they fill a place that Google and internet memes cannot fill.