Introduction. Everyone who has lived through the last few decades knows entertainment has exploded in popularity. Social Media, Video Games, Sports, Television, Movies, Books and the Internet all compete for our free time. Depending on our interests, each of these mediums can be used to fulfill our desires and needs. This is a blessing for those with self-control, who can relax at the end of a long and tiring day.
Yet Satan has also found these things useful to corrupt the morals of our culture and change our way of life. Truly Paul’s words regarding evil companionship apply to our entertainment today. “Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits” or “Bad company corrupts good morals.” (1Cor. 15:33-34 NASB; ESV). Both the habits and morals of multitudes of people have been corrupted and coarsened by their choice of entertainment.
Yet Satan has also found these things useful to corrupt the morals of our culture and change our way of life. Truly Paul’s words regarding evil companionship apply to our entertainment today. “Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits” or “Bad company corrupts good morals.” (1Cor. 15:33-34 NASB; ESV). Both the habits and morals of multitudes of people have been corrupted and coarsened by their choice of entertainment.
Consider a simple and clear example. No one can argue pornography is condemned in the Scriptures. Jesus firmly revealed that any look creating sexual lust holds the same guilt as adultery. “You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt. 5:27-29). Before the explosion of entertainment mediums, even worldly society agreed with Jesus. Up to the 50's, it was illegal in most states. But it moved into adult bookstores in the 60's and into the liquor and convenience stores in the 70's. Today it is easily seen on the internet, movie theaters, and book stores. In 60 years, it moved from being illegal to socially acceptable. How did that happen? The process is listed in a quote from the previous century by Alexander Pope.
Vine’s Expository Dictionary defines approve: “suneudokeo lit., "to think well with" (sun, "with," eu, "well," dokeo, "to think"), “to take pleasure with others in anything, to approve of, to assent.” Other definitions “be pleased with, agree, consent, be willing” to think well of in common, i.e. assent to, feel gratified with:” (Strongs, Lou and Nida # 4909).
This is why we need to take a hard look at our entertainment choices. When we feel these emotions reading a book, watching a TV program or movie, or playing a video game, we will need to repent of that sin. Many things that entertain contain unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. Many of the characters in these things are “whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.” So what happens when we are “pleased with, agree, consent, or feel gratified along with” them?
God told Ezekiel (9:4), He would “put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it." “Sigh and cry” is the opposite of being “pleased with, agreeing, consenting with".
God “delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked(for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds.” (2Pet 2:7-8). Lot was both oppressed (vex with grievous pains, distressed, with the implication of being worn out by such an experience” and “tormented (experienced mental torment involving sorrow mixed with anger/anguish).
Could Lot be “pleased with, agree, consent, or feel gratified along with” them, and at the same time feel “grievous pains, with the implication of being worn out by it" and “experience mental torment involving sorrow mixed with anger?” Clearly sighing, crying, being oppressed and tormented are the appropriate responses to such entertainment.
When watching a TV show or movie, this sighing and crying, torment and oppression must lead to repentance. To only be entertained by it is a clear sign of worldliness!
While vicariously living through the characters, we are sad at tragedy, joyous with comedy, angry at injustice; and offended with sin. Every time Hollywood forces us to vicariously witness sin, we should feel like Lot. When they slip moral issues into an otherwise innocent movie, we should be vexed and tormented. When we hear profanity or those who take God’s name in vain, we should sigh and cry. When we only feel pleasure, we have been coarsened. When we "agree, consent, or feel gratified along with” them, we are as sinful as those who practice them.
If we are “putting away lying, and speaking truth,” how can be feel pleasure watching others do it? If “him who stole steal no longer,” how can we consent with those who are stealing? If “no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth”, how can we not be oppressed when others use these corrupt words? If “all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice,” how can we not sigh and cry when others are doing it in our presence? If “fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints,” how does God feel when we are entertained and not oppressed watching others do them?
Since God says “do not be partakers with them,” and revealed “that those who practice such things are deserving of death,” and told us we cannot “approve of those who practice them”, how can we justify watching it for entertainment with no sense of shame or remorse, no sighing and crying, torment or oppression when vicariously living through them with these actors? (Eph. 4:25-32; 5:1-7)
What about violence? How does God feel when we witness violence with no sense of torment and oppression? How does God see violence? Violence formed the major reason God destroyed the earth in the days of Noah.
The TV is the easiest portal to these sins. Commercials, sit-coms, Soap operas, R-rated movies all bring vile things into our living room. We should mentally or literally have a sign over our TV quoting the Psalm 101:3-4:
Conclusion. I conclude with an old story that has touched the hearts of many. You may have read it. It was written anonymously, but though we can’t give credit to the author, it gives an important view of times gone by.
---------------
STRANGER IN THE HOUSE
A few months before I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later.
As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me the word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it. But the stranger? He was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies. If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind. Sometimes Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to her room and read her books. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)
Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home ... not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad was a teetotaler who didn't permit alcohol in the home, not even for cooking. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing. I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked ... and NEVER asked to leave.
More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you were to walk into my parents' den today you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.
His name? We just call him TV.
Author Unknown
- “Vice is a monster of so frightful mien
- As to be hated needs but to be seen;
- Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
- We first endure, then pity, then embrace.”
- And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also APPROVE of those who practice them. (Rom. 1:28-32)
Vine’s Expository Dictionary defines approve: “suneudokeo lit., "to think well with" (sun, "with," eu, "well," dokeo, "to think"), “to take pleasure with others in anything, to approve of, to assent.” Other definitions “be pleased with, agree, consent, be willing” to think well of in common, i.e. assent to, feel gratified with:” (Strongs, Lou and Nida # 4909).
This is why we need to take a hard look at our entertainment choices. When we feel these emotions reading a book, watching a TV program or movie, or playing a video game, we will need to repent of that sin. Many things that entertain contain unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. Many of the characters in these things are “whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.” So what happens when we are “pleased with, agree, consent, or feel gratified along with” them?
God told Ezekiel (9:4), He would “put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it." “Sigh and cry” is the opposite of being “pleased with, agreeing, consenting with".
God “delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked(for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds.” (2Pet 2:7-8). Lot was both oppressed (vex with grievous pains, distressed, with the implication of being worn out by such an experience” and “tormented (experienced mental torment involving sorrow mixed with anger/anguish).
Could Lot be “pleased with, agree, consent, or feel gratified along with” them, and at the same time feel “grievous pains, with the implication of being worn out by it" and “experience mental torment involving sorrow mixed with anger?” Clearly sighing, crying, being oppressed and tormented are the appropriate responses to such entertainment.
When watching a TV show or movie, this sighing and crying, torment and oppression must lead to repentance. To only be entertained by it is a clear sign of worldliness!
While vicariously living through the characters, we are sad at tragedy, joyous with comedy, angry at injustice; and offended with sin. Every time Hollywood forces us to vicariously witness sin, we should feel like Lot. When they slip moral issues into an otherwise innocent movie, we should be vexed and tormented. When we hear profanity or those who take God’s name in vain, we should sigh and cry. When we only feel pleasure, we have been coarsened. When we "agree, consent, or feel gratified along with” them, we are as sinful as those who practice them.
If we are “putting away lying, and speaking truth,” how can be feel pleasure watching others do it? If “him who stole steal no longer,” how can we consent with those who are stealing? If “no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth”, how can we not be oppressed when others use these corrupt words? If “all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice,” how can we not sigh and cry when others are doing it in our presence? If “fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints,” how does God feel when we are entertained and not oppressed watching others do them?
Since God says “do not be partakers with them,” and revealed “that those who practice such things are deserving of death,” and told us we cannot “approve of those who practice them”, how can we justify watching it for entertainment with no sense of shame or remorse, no sighing and crying, torment or oppression when vicariously living through them with these actors? (Eph. 4:25-32; 5:1-7)
What about violence? How does God feel when we witness violence with no sense of torment and oppression? How does God see violence? Violence formed the major reason God destroyed the earth in the days of Noah.
- The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. ... 13 "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (Gen. 6:13-14)
The TV is the easiest portal to these sins. Commercials, sit-coms, Soap operas, R-rated movies all bring vile things into our living room. We should mentally or literally have a sign over our TV quoting the Psalm 101:3-4:
- I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me. 4 A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness.
Conclusion. I conclude with an old story that has touched the hearts of many. You may have read it. It was written anonymously, but though we can’t give credit to the author, it gives an important view of times gone by.
---------------
STRANGER IN THE HOUSE
A few months before I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later.
As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me the word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it. But the stranger? He was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies. If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind. Sometimes Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to her room and read her books. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)
Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home ... not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad was a teetotaler who didn't permit alcohol in the home, not even for cooking. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing. I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked ... and NEVER asked to leave.
More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you were to walk into my parents' den today you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.
His name? We just call him TV.
Author Unknown