Entertainment Cravings
by Motte Brown on 05/26/2009 at 3:00 PM
Last Friday, I became a member of Blockbuster for the first time in five years. Then, over the long weekend, I went on a movie watching binge, renting three movies in three nights.
I'm not proud of it. In fact, I'm quite embarrassed by it. But it happened. Now I'm left to wonder why.
It could be that I really don't watch a lot of movies throughout the year, whether at home or in the theater. So a lot of (seemingly) good ones pile up that are on my radar for one reason or another.
Or it could be that we're fresh off season finale week and all of our television shows are over. So we're going through some entertainment withdrawals.
And I do think I am going through some sort of withdrawal. Which is why this John Piper article caught my attention today. It's an audio transcript with someone asking, "How do I break this hold that entertainment has on my heart?"
Pastor Piper gives some very practical advice involving prayer, immersing yourself in the Bible, joining groups that talk about serious things, and sharing your faith. But this final thought was most helpful, at least to me:
One last suggestion: think about your death. Think about your death a lot. Ask what you'd like to be doing in the season of life, or hours or days, leading up to meeting Christ. I do that a lot these days. I think about the impact of death, and what I would like to be found doing, and how I would prepare to meet him and give an account to him.
Sobering advice. Especially after wasting an hour and a half last night with Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Somehow, I don't think Christ would be amused. I sure wasn't.
1. BDB said the following at 3:37 PM on May 26:
Perhaps Pastor Piper's Practical Prayer pressures people pondering picture-shows to pick parent-friendly productions.
2. T.Smith said the following at 3:43 PM on May 26:
Books are better than movies; I prefer reading the lives of assiduous individuals over seeing it - more thinking, less amusement.
3. a sassy sister said the following at 4:36 PM on May 26:
or maybe, this post is a reminder to ask, why? Why do I enjoy film entertainment?
4. Ruben Ravatsås said the following at 4:57 PM on May 26:
I find that the more entertainment I consume, the less receptive I become to the things of God. I love God less, I'm less amazed by his beauty, and I become too distracted to hear him speak to me through his word.
I've found that the world view behind the movies and TV series had affected me deeply. I didn't think it did, which is exactly what a certain fallen angel would want me to think. I thought my struggles with lust and selfishness and all kinds of other sins were just incidental, until I started discovering strings attached back to the media I had devoured years before. It even continues to influence my thinking to this day.
If you wanted to poison me, would you just hand me the poison in a bottle and say "drink this"? No, you'd mix it in some nice tasty food, and serve it to me. And I'd eat it. In small doses, maybe over several years. I'd gradually get more and more sick. Even if I noticed enough to think about it, I probably wouldn't make the connection that you were poisoning me.
So I don't have a TV anymore. Some may call me a legalist, but I have made it my ambition to love God as much as a sinful human heart is capable of. Christ has made me alive, and I will not eat anything that drains that life from me.
5. Julie D. said the following at 5:21 PM on May 26:
Oooh! Paul Blart! How was it? That's been on my list too! ...hehe...
6. James said the following at 6:10 PM on May 26:
I wouldn't beat yourself up over one movie a night for three nights, unless you're neglecting responsibilities. If you have the free time, do what you enjoy. Though I would suggest choosing movies that at least have a chance of being good. :)
I usually watch a few movies a week, but I hardly watch any television... so my weekly media intake is pretty low. I'm also fairly picky about what I watch, as I do not like the idea of turning my brain off for two hours. I always try to get something out of what I'm watching, whether it's personally thought provoking or studying the film itself.
7. Rachael said the following at 6:12 PM on May 26:
I think about aging. Like I hope my husband and I consider the living situation and stuff before our minds or bodies start going downhill. I don't want to be stubborn about it or deal with my husband's stubbornness about it (if he is stubborn about it in the future). At times I see aging's effects on my neighbor. Sometimes she seems normal, but sometimes I can see effects...
It's interesting to me, though, that to some/many these (death, aging) are kind of taboo topics. Not to me. It would be kind-of nice if they weren't so taboo.
Death is really just a cross-over from this life to the next. The yucky part is for those who have to deal with the aftermath and for those who enter hell...
8. Bogie said the following at 6:16 PM on May 26:
Motte,
I'm not an evangelical Christian, in fact, I'm Catholic, however, the very message of "death always before us" is one of the credo's of the Knights of Columbus. I am a huge fan of Piper's and continue to read his work. Big fan of the show!
9. Rachael said the following at 6:20 PM on May 26:
(And of course there can be more yucky parts to death. I don't want to minimize 'death'. At least on a few occasions I may have had some more inner comfortability and openness with aging/death than some might.)
10. Jonathon said the following at 6:53 PM on May 26:
Lighten up, Motte!
11. Brian Krieger said the following at 7:24 PM on May 26:
In Don't Waste Your Life, Piper penned the following that has always stuck with me (which, for me, struck me particularly entertainment-wise):
Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life-your one and only precious, God-given life-and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: "Look, Lord. See my shells." That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream.
While I know that will draw the derision of many here, I think it is a great principle by which we can live. Enjoy life (Ecc), but remember it is the Lord we are serving (Col).
12. Texas Craig said the following at 7:56 PM on May 26:
Nice, BDB! :-)
Motte, you should be feeling ashamed after watching Paul Blart: Mall Cop!
Piper's advice is excellent. We need to always be mindful of why we do what we do, and aware of how we are spending our time. Just as we budget our money to know where it is going and to ensure that it is being spent in God-honoring ways, so we should keep budgets of our time, to ensure that our lives actually are spent on the things we think God cares about.
Motte, I think you need to go mow a widow's yard to make up for Paul Blart: Mall Cop! :-) (jk)
13. Adam said the following at 10:34 PM on May 26:
Would I want to be found spending my time reading some entertaining book or article by John Piper? Hmmm...
14. Christopher from Albuquerque said the following at 4:14 PM on May 27:
Jonathon (#10),
Motte is taking seriously a conviction which has come to his conscience from the Holy Spirit. There is nothing unBiblical about this conviction. In fact, it is according to Biblical principle-- the principle being "Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching." (1 Timothy 4:16, ESV) In that light, who are we to tell him to "lighten up"?
Thank you, John Piper! These are *much needed* words for today's entertainment-saturated Christians (I can often be one of them, though I do try to be careful). I want to more seriously fight my love for "entertainment," especially of any kind that may lessen my thoughts of God and/or cause my heart to be less than fervent toward Him. Thanks so much for your help in this fight, Dr. Piper!
15. Cassandra said the following at 6:08 PM on May 27:
Hmmm... on the seventh day God rested. There are a lot of things we can do to rest, and t.v. and "mindless" entertainment can be one of them. My feeling is that t.v. and entertainment can have their place in a Christian's life as long as they are used with discernment and moderation. Sometimes we're just going to have to rest, and there's nothing wrong with that. We can return to our jobs and our families and Christian responsibilities a lot more refreshed and more ready to work if we give ourselves a mental break once in a while — whatever that means for you personally.
I just bought "Don't Waste Your Life" and I haven't read it yet. I imagine that Piper is reacting to a culture positively inert and saturated with entertainment. But everything in moderation. We can reject the cultural overconsumption of media without being ascetic about it and swinging to the other extreme. I think that would lead to self-righteousness in the worst cases.
16. Christopher from Albuquerque said the following at 10:36 PM on May 27:
Cassandra (#15),
Motte's post isn't about cutting all entertainment out of one's life. Indeed, the John Piper article linked to in the post answers the question, "How can I break free of an addiction to entertainment?" Addiction is not enjoyment. It is slavery. The general idea is, enjoy non-sinful entertainment but don't become enslaved to it. Enjoy entertainment, but don't allow it to become practically more important and more cherished than God and His word in one's life.
17. Leah said the following at 1:21 AM on May 28:
My husband and I are members of both Video Ezy and Blockbuster. We rarely hire out movies. I think we've hired out movies 3 times in the year we've been married. It's something we do for "together" time as we both enjoy movies and have fun laughing at it together and then picking it apart (or recounting it) together afterwards.
18. beatrice81 said the following at 9:28 PM on May 28:
'Paul Blart: Mall Cop' is exactly what it advertises itself as and exactly what one would expect from a Kevin James movie. Unless someone held a gun to your head and forced you into a movie theatre, it's kinda hard to imagine how you wouldn't have known exactly what to expect.