The Gospel of Avoidance
by Denise Morris on 08/30/2007 at 1:46 PM
My coworker, Matthew John, published an article today called "Entertainment: The Gospel of Avoidance." He talks mainly to the guys in this one, but the point of the article is relevant to all of us. In it, he mentions how easy it is to be distracted by different forms of media. We're constantly looking to avoid boredom, and in our culture today, being entertained often seems to be the most important goal in life:
We are a highly entertained lot. We have so many entertainment options — the Internet, video games and TV, to name a few — that we've come to think that entertaining ourselves is the task at hand.
I think our generation welcomes this cultural shift, and guys especially. I mean, how much easier — not to mention more fun — is it to hone our Halo skills or develop an encyclopedic knowledge of shows like "The Simpsons" than, say, develop your capacity to be a spiritual leader? I'm not trying to establish a false dichotomy here, as if you have to choose between watching some TV and becoming the sort of Christian man you should be. But I do think a little temperance is in order.
Matthew points out that sometimes our overuse of entertainment is a way to avoid what we should be doing. The true gospel is about truth and healing and redemption. But to embrace the gospel often involves painful realizations and difficult growth. So, instead, we have the tendency to embrace what's easy:
In our entertainment-saturated culture we find another kind of gospel, however — the gospel of avoidance. And this gospel is about putting our faith in distractions. We use entertainment to save ourselves from the pain of our lives. Unlike the real gospel, though, the "good news" of entertainment doesn't truly save us from our problems. It only masks them, helps us repress them. Keeps us from becoming the men God created us to be.
Rather than going to the cross, many of us take our wounds to our computers, TVs or game consoles and say, "Here, you take them." And all these technologies oblige … for a time. At some point, though, we have to press the off button, go to class and face the challenges of the world outside our entertainment bubble. What do we do then? Distract ourselves to such a degree that we haven't got the time to ponder what's really going on in our lives?
That's the gospel of avoidance. And for too many of us, it's our only saving grace.
Matthew is not suggesting that we quit watching television or reading books. He just asks us to look at the motives behind why we spend so much time immersed in things that can ultimately take away from our growth. Time we could be spending growing, learning and being transformed is often "wasted" in front of the computer.
What do you think? Do you find yourself spending too much time distracting yourself? Do you see a need for change?
1. Natasha said the following at 3:15 PM on Aug 30:
I'd say yes and yes to your questions. I'm definitely a person to whom this post refers! My habit of avoidance started young: I was in grade 3 and bullied really harshly. To dull the pain, I turned to books (can anyone say 'escapism') to distract myself from it all. Now I tend to use entertainment (in a myriad of forms) to avoid anything that is hard or potentially painful. The problem is that it doesn't really help pain-wise, it just delays the inevitable. And like Mathew says, it can really damage a person's spiritual/emotional growth. It reminds me of this really old Michael W. Smith song "Lamu". Anyone know it?
One important step, though, (in my opinion) is realizing what I am doing. When I know that I am 'embracing the avoidance gospel', I can choose to recognize the root problem and, with God's help, deal with it.
Good article!
2. Carley said the following at 3:51 PM on Aug 30:
I can relate to this article. While I am not "obsessed" with entertaining myself, I do find that I spend far too much time surrounding myself w/ noises. At home, the TV stays on even if I am not watching it which drounds out the sound of the spirit bringing conviction to my life. In the car, the radio is ALWAYS on eliminating any prayer or meditation that could be going on. I have noticed lately how much my mind wonders to the deep issues of my life when all is quiet. It is definitely time to meet the Lord in those quiet moments and embrace the transformation into Christ-likeness.
3. Elizabeth said the following at 8:50 PM on Aug 30:
Hmm... Although I think that television or computer games can be used to distract, I found that the last several years when I had neither I found many other ways to distract myself from prayer and the study of God's Word. And they can all too easy be "good" things, too, such as spending time with friends, doing school work, cleaning the kitchen, etc.. Or, perhaps, READING devotional books instead of DOING devotions. Ultimately, the heart has to be willing to set aside distractions (or has to have the self-control to force oneself to come to God despite the flesh crying for anything but), and if that is not the case, anything and everything can become a distraction and an excuse for not taking time to worship God and study His Word.
4. Theo K said the following at 1:46 AM on Aug 31:
I have to admit, to my shame, that when I was in my early 20s (I am now 31) I thought that anyone who would suggest cutting back on TV or computers or music or any other source of 'noise' was just 'a voice from the past', that he was out of touch with our times.
I am so glad that during the last few years God changed my perception of things. I now realise that all these sources of destraction are used many many times from the Devil for two reasons: (1) to keep us away from the truly important things and (2) to constantly feed our minds with his lies.
So my advice is to "watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
But I guess that this piece of advice takes different meaning depending on the age and maturity of each individual.
5. BB said the following at 9:52 AM on Aug 31:
Wow, this really hits home for me. My girlfriend of 4 yrs is no more and I am left to my thoughts. Its much easier to rent a movie or surf the web then actually have to deal with the loneliness. I long to jump into another relationship with out taking not of the situation and learn from it. The problem we had was our relationship did not bring us closer to God therefore it would be wise to stop all the noise and concentrate on seeking God. I will make a conscience effort to do this.
6. Adam said the following at 10:37 PM on Aug 31:
Yeah I used to watch T.V. all the time after school through every grade. I could not and did not stop watching. Then I went to college and had no T.V. at all. 5 years later, I have not watched T.V. at all and I don't miss it.
Now it actually annoys me if people have to have music or "noise" going on all the time. I enjoy the quieter, peaceful moments of life, and there's nothing worse than having half a song rolling through your mind all day.
7. Lauren T. said the following at 8:23 AM on Sep 1:
Yes, I find myself at times using too much noise to distract myself when I'm not particularly happy about something.
Sometimes it's because I know I'm letting myself think too much about something that's bothering me and I say, "Look, I need to do something different and stop feeling sorry for myself."
Sometimes it's because I would rather have mindless noise going on than think.
Pushing oneself out of a pity party by playing music during chores and paying attention to something other than "poor me" is questionable, but probably less harmful than relying on noise because I don't feel like thinking.
This has been an excellent reminder.
8. Shannon said the following at 5:50 AM on Sep 5:
I remember that old MWS song very well; it's from what I think is one of his best albums. Here's a link to the lyrics if anyone's interested...very fitting.
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/m/michael+w.+smith/lamu_20093132.html