The last post ended with the question, can vampire stories, even when clearly identified as fictitious be harmless entertainment for the Christian? First, it would probably be helpful for Christians to ask themselves a few questions about entertainment in general. When we consider how to spend our discretionary time, energy, and money we need to be sure that our choices will be pleasing to God. So here are a few thoughts that, in my opinion, Christians ought to apply to their recreational choices. Am I wasting God's time right now, is there some Kingdom activityI should be doing, or is this okay for now? Will this activity honor God? Will this activity help me become more Christ-like? Will this activity be a positive witness for Christ to the lost world? Will this activity be a stumbling block to any of my weaker brothers and sisters in Christ? Of course there is also the notion that Wachsman Family brought up in her comment on the last post, i.e., would Jesus participate in this with me?
Assuming you agree that Christians should scrutinize their recreation as outlined above we can now apply those ideas to Twilight (if you already disagree then we're kind of stuck). We have established that the whole vampire thing is demonic in origin so does using them for entertainment honor God?
Does it make us more Christ-like? One argument I have heard from the pro-Twilight side is that Edward exhibits many Christian virtues and so we can learn from him how to live the Christian life. Well, why would we not just learn it from Jesus? Why would we want to learn it from a counterfeit. You know the Bible says that the devil masquerades as an angel of light (II Corinthians 11:14). Does that mean we should look to him as our example?
Does reading Twilight improve our witness for Christ? Is reading Twilight a stumbling block for weaker saints?
I'm running out of time so I'll leave these questions up to you. Let me just close with I Timothy 4:7 which says, "Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly." and which I'll explain a little more next time.
3 comments:
You bring up some very good questions. I'll try to explain my perspective on this without getting it too "muddled".
I think each person must heed any conviction they feel about engaging in this form of entertainment. Christians should be studying the Word and spending time in prayer. These two activities enlighten us to the truth and keep us open to the Father's direction (of course, these aren't the only benefit of consistent Scripture & prayer).
It is my belief that engaging in this type of entertainment, for the Christian who actively pursues the Lord, is comparable to someone who eats right & works out all the time having a donut or slice of pecan pie. The consistency of eating right and working out create such a metabolism that enjoying the junk food has no effect. Note that in my example, I said A donut or A slice of pecan pie, and they weren't plural. Obviously, you can't just gorge yourself with junk food or the benefits of eating right and exercising will not really be noticeable. Garbage in = Garbage out. Also, the believer who consistenly studies Scripture & prays must still be aware of any conviction from the Lord regarding the entertainment. We never know who is watching us as an example, but God does and may well convict our hearts to not partake of this type entertainment because He knows someone weak may be watching.
Keep in mind also that someone who never works out and who doesn't eat right cannot typically enjoy some of the "junk food" items without gaining weight. Likewise, the non-believer or the believer who doesn't study the Word really can't expect to partake of this "junk food" without gaining some excess "weight" (greater sin, perhaps?).
I hope I was able to make my point on this. I think I was, but I realize my post got kind of long.
Thanks Jimmy. Really good analogy, although my thought would be that the spiritual implications make occult entertainment more serious than good food vs. donuts. I lean towards the argument you made that if one is spending time with God then he will convince him/her of the danger of that sort of thing.
Ahh no, this is what will happen if you spend too much time trying to be with something that isn't there:
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20081221/NEWS01/81221005/-1/RSS05
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