For example, Jack London's Call of the Wild, discussed in the next section, would appear safe enough in terms of criteria based on only the first six categories. We must therefore be sure when covering these areas to encourage our students to give serious attention to this seventh category as well. Once they understand what constitutes censorable material, students are ready to learn the biblical approach toward evaluating such elements. If it does not treat evil in the way evil is handled in the Scriptures, its content is not good. These three tests must be considered together.
None is sufficient alone to justify the objectionable in a work of literature.
There remains the issue of whether classic works that do not fulfill the criteria of gratuitousness, explicitness, and moral tone should be completely rejected. We need first to distinguish between educational and recreational reading. As Christians we cannot read for pleasure works whose objectionable elements fail the tests. However, in a guided setting such books, used as negative examples, may prove profitable. The same scriptural tests apply to evaluating the objectionable as literature that pertain to judging the objectionable in literature.