Entertainment

The thought just occurred to me regarding the possibility of valuable entertainment.  Up to this, the culture in America has been dominated by, directed by and controlled by, the secular media.  This may not have been much of an issue in the distant past, as most culture in America had come from and was still largely directed by a foundation of Christianity.  The practical end result was entertainment content that was not contrary to Christian morality.

But the thought started occurring to me regarding value.  While the content of some entertainment may not be contrary to Christian sensibilities, this still does not make it necessarily valuable.  There is the whole question of distraction and the use of money.  It comes down to a question I asked years ago, (basically, should the focus of our thinking be “it’s not sin so it’s okay to do?”  Or do we say, it’s not helping me love God and neighbor, therefore it’s not okay to do.”  This brings up the imagery of how close we can step to the line of sin without actually sinning.)

So the question of entertainment is not is it sinful or not.  That question should be relatively easy to answer.  1) Does the entertainment promote sin as good/fun/right/acceptable?, 2) Does the entertainment fill our thinking with sinful images?  If either one of these is “yes”, then its obvious how we should respond.

The bigger and more foundational question should be, “Is this thing helping me?”  There may be an argument for stepping back from our monumental responsibilities for a moment, taking a break, taking a vacation, getting some rest.  If so, then there may be some grounds for a short, temporary distraction.  But even then, I would guess that many of us take this too long and too far.

Why not make some effort to make our choice of entertainment something that is actually beneficial and potentially fruit bearing?  Is the idea of using all of our time to generate something of valuable really all that unreasonable?