How to glorify God with entertainment: Part 1 - The dangers of worldliness

When I was 10 years old my friend told me that he had seen this hilarious movie called ‘Eddie Murphy Delirious’ with his older brother and suggested that we should rent it and watch it together. As soon as he told me it was rated R, I knew I had to watch it! ‘Surely, mum will realize this movie was highly inappropriate for a 10 year old to watch”, I thought to myself, “But I need to give this a shot!” So I asked my mum if she could rent the movie for me, with the convincing line that “my friends had watched it”. I’m not sure whether it was the pressure of not wanting to be as cool as the other mums, or whether she never checked the rating, but to my surprise she came home that day and handed me the movie. Bursting with excitement I invited all my friends from school over for a sleepover. We gathered around the TV, popcorn in hand, and watched as expletive after expletive flowed forth from Eddie Murphy’s mouth, most of which I had never heard before. The next day, my buddies and I told all the other kids the crude jokes we had heard, and from that moment onwards swearing and crude joking became a regular part of my vocabulary.

I tell this story because I think it illustrates the remarkable influence entertainment can have on us without us even realizing it.

For most of us, movies and other forms of entertainment are key ways in which we unwind as well as providing a talking point around shared experiences as we socialize with others. Whether it’s the tears we tell people we didn’t shed whilst watching the movie, ‘The Notebook’, or the nostalgia invoked by the latest Star Wars movie, ‘The Force Awakens’ or the way that new Justin Bieber song, that we secretly play when no-one else is around, pumps us up for going out on the town. As Australians, we love movies and music and books. Not only do these different forms of entertainment have an amazing ability to affect us, they also have an incredible ability to influence us and as culture moves further and further away from its Christian foundations, the entertainment we engage in is becoming more and more hostile towards the holiness of God. As Christians, we need to think about how we can apply discernment to the media we engage in so that we remain Holy and distinct and that our gospel proclamation might not be undermined by our worldliness.

As Christians saved by grace and not by works, we must always be careful of two extremes: legalism and licentiousness, of Pharisaism and worldliness. In his book, grounded in the Gospel, J.I. Packer describes his concerns about the worldliness he has observed amongst many evangelicals. He writes:

         “Superficial smatterings of truth, blurry notions about God and godliness, and
         thoughtlessnes about the issues of living - careerwise, communitywise,
         familywise, and churchwise - are all too often the marks of evangelical
         congregations today.”[1]

Many Christians I talk to seem to lack any real discernment with regards to entertainment. There is very little they don’t watch, or listen to and most haven’t thought deeply at all about how they might apply discernment in this area. When I talk about the need for discernment when engaging with entertainment, the first reaction I hear from Christians is almost always something like; “Hang on! All entertainment has sin in it. Are you telling me that we should not engage in anything? That is just unrealistic.” This sentiment, I believe, reflects a reluctance to think hard and deeply about how the gospel should shape us in this area of our lives. I find that those who react in this way often appeal to a right rejection of legalism; where we enforce on to others prohibitions about what we read, watch or listen to, that are not derived from the bible, or do not reflect the grace God has shown us in Christ. Thinking this way can only lead to one of three outcomes. Pride as we look down on others for failing our standards, guilt because we fail to live up to these standards or hypocrisy because we tell others to adhere to these standards whilst secretly breaking them ourselves. This way of thinking fails to understand God’s grace in that our relationship with God is eternally secured through trusting the person and work of Christ on our behalf, not on any merit of our own. As Richard Bernard said, “A moralist may lift up himself, as the young rich man in the Gospel did, yet it cannot give him assurance of eternal life.”[2]

The flip side of the view presented, is that it is in danger of licentiousness or antinomianism. The attitude of many Christians I talk to seems to be essentially: “I’ve been saved by grace therefore it doesn’t matter what movies I watch or what music I listen to.” However, Paul wrote, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom. 6:1-2) In giving ourselves over to a lifestyle that enjoys what is sinful we are in danger of forgetting that Christ died so that we might not be ruled by sins power any more. Rather, Paul exhorts us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). We are not to be passively conformed by the world’s standards, or the world's narratives, but we are to be actively transformed as our minds are renewed by the gospel so that we test and discern what we choose to be entertained by, and why. This is the promise of the new covenant, new hearts that choose to obey God and shun evil (Ezk. 36:26-32; cf. Jer. 31:33).

In our engagement with secular entertainment it is important to discern the worldview that undergirds it that we might not unwittingly adopt its values. In Romans 1 the chief expression of mankinds rejection of God is seen in their normalising of sin as they "approve of those who practice" the very things for which they know "God's judgement is due" (Rom. 1:32, cf. Isa. 5:20). While most entertainment comes from a non-Christian worldview, not all entertainment seeks to celebrate and normalize sin. For example, a book may portray an atheistic worldview and at the same time promote themes that God’s law likewise esteems, such as justice or forgiveness or monogamy. However, there are some movies that should never be watched because they are so unhelpful for a Christian’s godliness. In many movies the line between pornography and entertainment has become so blurred that they are practically indistinguishable from one another. Movies like Fifty shades of grey or Deadpool, shows like Game of Thrones, Family guy and Rick and Morty and video games like Grand Theft Auto 5 celebrate and normalize sin so strongly and overtly that it would be almost impossible to enjoy them without delighting in sin. To encourage others not to watch such things is not legalistic but the application of wisdom for those who desire to guard their heart (Prov. 4:23). If God’s ‘heart delights in good and hates evil’,[3] how can a Christian love God and at the same time enjoy watching something that so strongly normalises and celebrates what God hates?

In 1 John 2:15 John warns us: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Here we see the real peril we place our souls into, if we think too lightly of what we engage in. Jonathan Edwards said in his book The Religious affections that “the things of religion take hold of men’s souls no further that they affect them.”[4] If we care so little about God’s law that we are led to love this world, could it be that we have not truly grasped the gospel? Only a deep love of God motivated by the gospel will generate discerning minds, for a genuine love of God is to “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” (Rom. 12:9) While we seek to build relationships with non-Christians, we must be careful to do this in such a way that we do not love, approve of, or celebrate what the world loves by what we are entertained by but rather, "cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1).

As the Anglican Bishop J.C. Ryle once said, "A crucified Savior will never be content to have a self-pleasing, self-indulging, worldly-minded people." As Christians we must seek to grow into maturity and to live in such a way that is worthy of the gospel that saved us and the Saviour that redeemed us. (Phil. 1:27) As Paul wrote, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Therefore, Christ calls us to obedience in every aspect of our lives that we might be cleansed from our sin and made useful to our Master who bought us (2 Tim. 2:21, cf. 1 Cor. 6:20). “The place for the ship is in the sea, but God help the ship if the sea gets into it.”[5] We are sent into this world to preach the gospel that rescues people from this present evil age (Gal. 1:4). However, if we become just like the world then we undermine our proclamation of the very gospel that we have been sent to preach.

While it may be clear that some movies are always unhelpful for a Christian’s godliness, most of the time it’s not that easy. In some music or movies evil may be present but not celebrated or normalized in any obvious ways. So how do we go about applying discernment when the entertainment we watch is less-obviously unhelpful to our godliness? The answer to this, I believe, is the proper exercising of the Christian conscience - which I will discuss in the next blogpost.

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[1] Gary Parrett and J. I. Packer, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2010), 16.

[2] Richard Bernard, Christian See to Thy Conscience quoted in A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life by Beeke, Joel R., Jones, Mark (Reformation Heritage Books, 2012), 917. Cf. Mk 10:17-27; Matt. 19:16-22.

[3] Cited in Chris Morgan, Jonathan Edwards And Hell (Fearn, Scotland: Mentor, 2004), 116.

[4] Jonathan Edwards, The Religious Affections (Reprint edition.; Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2013), 30.

[5] Quoted in Tullian Tchividjian, Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different (Reprint edition.; Colorado Springs, Colo.: Multnomah Books, 2012), 82.