I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.
If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners.
There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.
I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity. There is a reason for these differences. The violence is make-believe. They don’t really mean those bad words. But that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.
I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers....
But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.
One more smaller concern with TV (besides its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects): It takes time. I have so many things I want to accomplish in this one short life. Don’t waste your life is not a catchphrase for me; it’s a cliff I walk beside every day with trembling.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Time Management, Cinema, And The Danger Of Triviality
John Piper:
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Throughout my life I have know Christians (myself included) who consume a couple dozen movies a year, are devoted followers of various television shows and, in some cases, play dozens of hours of video and computer games a month. Yet these same Christians will talk about how they are too "busy" to volunteer to help the needy, keep up with a small group, regularly go to church, study the Bible for more than 15 minutes a week, pray regularly, etc.
ReplyDeleteHow do we help our fellow Christians combat the wastefulness of excessive television and media? If, indeed, the solution is to physically remove entertainment devices from our homes, how could such a drastic (to some people) move be presented in an appealing manner? I can already hear the objections: a) how will I stay informed? b) how will I be a light to the world if I am not engaged in worldly culture? c) it's okay to relax sometimes, etc.
Not that I cannot respond to these objections and the issue in general. But I was wondering how you'd approach it. Piper had some excellent points, but if you had anything else to add I would be interested in hearing it.
Just to focus on your a) section.
ReplyDeleteYou stay informed by NOT watching TV. Seriously, I haven't watched TV, aside for a few rare occasions when I visit my grandparents (since they have it on 24/7), for about three years now. Full disclosure: I do, however, watch Lost and 24 on DVD.
My reason for not watching TV has more to do with the fact that the commercials literally offend me. It feels like I'm stuck in a North Korean re-education camp: "YOU WILL BUY WHAT WE TELL YOU TO BUY! YOU ARE FREE TO DO WHAT WE TELL YOU! YOU MUST GET THIS JUNK YOU DON'T WANT SO YOU CAN IMPRESS PEOPLE YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT! BUY NOW OR YOU'RE NOT A PERSON!"
Even ignoring media bias, that's too distracting. But here's the thing. I read a lot of different blogs from lots of different perspectives, and the blogs that I use for news sources continually out-perform the "official" media websites (and I would assume their television coverage too). For instance, I read stories on blogs sometimes 48 hours before they show up on Foxnews.com or CNN.com. With the Iran protests going on, I'm convinced that most of what Fox and CNN did was copy blogger posts as their news, because I'd already read it all before they got around to mentioning it.
In other words, the internet has made TV irrelevant as an information source.
On to the broader picture, there is some truth to the counter arguments you've presented, Matthew, and I don't think pure avoidance of entertainment is the right way to approach the issue. For one thing, it's a simple fact that America is a media-driven culture right now. This is why thinking is so dumbed down across the board.
ReplyDeleteHowever, for the Christian it should always be Christ first. In fact, Jason's posting of Spurgeon over here is well worth looking at too. And the fact is that Christians will know when they aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing--in fact, if they don't know this, then that's a good indication they aren't actually a Christian in the first place, seeing as how the Spirit is in believers and all that stuff that's mentioned in that big leather book that gathers dust on the shelf.
I would say if you're really dealing with genuine believers who are seeking to break the bondage of, say, video game addiction (I use that one because I'm a gamer too), then what you do isn't to say: "Don't play any games!" It's to say, "Read the Bible, spend time with God, and THEN play your games." You don't subtract; you add. The true believer will find that what his soul desires is God, so he will feed that appetite more and more and the other appetites will come under control. (Note: this all assumes that there's nothing majorly wrong; for instance, someone who's addicted to porn should not be watching it at all in the first place so he SHOULD be stopping cold turkey--but I'm assuming we're talking about something that is fine in and of itself and it's the fact that it's used to excess that's the problem.)
If they don't like this, just remind them that the Bible itself says what the marks of the true believer are. Ask them to read it. If they don't, then it's not your responsibility.
Matthew,
ReplyDeletePeter has already said much of what I would say, but I didn't see his comments until after I had written mine. I'll go ahead and post, below, what I had written, but Peter has already addressed the general thrust of it.
You write:
"Throughout my life I have know Christians (myself included) who consume a couple dozen movies a year, are devoted followers of various television shows and, in some cases, play dozens of hours of video and computer games a month. Yet these same Christians will talk about how they are too 'busy' to volunteer to help the needy, keep up with a small group, regularly go to church, study the Bible for more than 15 minutes a week, pray regularly, etc."
Part of the solution is to remind people of what they're doing with their time. Don't let comments like the ones you refer to above pass without response. It may be inappropriate to comment on the subject every time it comes up, but look for opportunities to say something about it. It's a major problem in our society, and pastors, parents, and others in positions of authority and influence don't discuss it much. That's probably largely because they're guilty of the same behavior or want to avoid some of the consequences of addressing the issue.
Something else that might be helpful is to remind people that there's a tendency to underestimate our free time. Encourage people to reconsider their use of time, and plant seeds in their minds about how they could make improvements. Encourage them to listen to the Bible on CD or a Christian radio program on the way to work rather than listening to trivial music. Recommend books to them. Offer to give them books. Encourage them to think more deeply about how television programs, music, etc. are influencing them. Encourage them to evaluate television programs and movies not only by whether they have objectionable sexual or violent content, but also by whether they present a secularizing or trivializing worldview, for example. Encourage them to think about the coming judgment of their lives by God and the legacy they're building up. Will they want to look back on a life that consists so inordinately of baseball games, gardening, American Idol, and listening to music like Michael Jackson's?
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ReplyDeleteYou write:
"How do we help our fellow Christians combat the wastefulness of excessive television and media? If, indeed, the solution is to physically remove entertainment devices from our homes, how could such a drastic (to some people) move be presented in an appealing manner? I can already hear the objections: a) how will I stay informed? b) how will I be a light to the world if I am not engaged in worldly culture? c) it's okay to relax sometimes, etc."
I usually don't recommend removing something like a television. Apparently, John Piper doesn't avoid computers, which he uses for blog posts, for example, despite the abuse of computers by so many people. And he's involved in producing DVDs that people often watch on television, for example. I think that something like not having a television in your home or having some sort of filter on your computer can be the right approach for some people, but I doubt that it ought to be needed for most.
I generally wouldn't advise people to remove something like a television or computer from their home. Rather, I would set an example of using such things responsibly, and I would point people to others who have done the same. You can give people material like Piper's article linked above or his book Don't Waste Your Life (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2003). More often, though, you'll only have the opportunity to briefly discuss some small portion of this issue with a person. If there are discussions of Michael Jackson's death in the place where you work tomorrow, for example, that might provide some opportunities for commenting on his wasted life, the triviality of popular music, the false priorities of the media, etc. Look for opportunities.
People can "stay informed" in many ways. It's not as if removing a television from a home, if a person would do that, would remove all sources of information from that person's life. They also have access to the radio, newspapers, the web, etc. They can keep their television and watch the FOX News Channel, the History Channel, or John Ankerberg's show without also watching soap operas and sitcoms.
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ReplyDeleteAnd a phrase like "engaged in worldly culture" can be defined in many ways. It's not as though we have to watch American Idol, Monday Night Football, or the latest Transformers movie in order to have any common ground with a non-Christian. There's already much common ground in our family lives, politics, and other things we're all involved in without adding something like a vulgar movie or trivial music to the list of commonalities. I suspect that many Christians claim to be "engaging in worldly culture" largely because they'd rather spend their time that way, not because they're trying to reach the lost. Discussing the latest episode of a popular sitcom probably isn't going to be the straightest or healthiest pathway to a discussion of the gospel. When the popular worldview is as trivial as it is in modern American culture, we should consider how we might be adding to the problem by joining the world in so much of its trivial behavior. Judgments have to be made case-by-case, but Christians who claim to be "engaging in worldly culture" need to closely examine their motives, patterns of behavior, and reputation, and do so often.
As far as "relaxing sometimes" is concerned, there are many ways to relax. Why are people choosing to do it with a video game, for example, and choosing to spend five or eight hours on it in a given day? What John Piper criticizes in the article I linked isn't relaxation. And I doubt that most people need so much relaxation as to justify the time they're spending watching trivial television programs, playing video games, etc. Arguing that it's acceptable to spend some time with video games, sports, and such doesn't tell us whether the specific amount of time under consideration, and the specific activities in question, are acceptable. If I hear that somebody like William Lane Craig or R.C. Sproul plays a sport or listens to music for an hour each day, I don't put that in the same category as a co-worker who claims to be a Christian, yet shows little evidence to support that claim and "relaxes" by spending about thirty hours every week listening to vulgar music and watching trivial television programs and movies. It's doubtful that he's involved in much evangelism, and it's even more doubtful that he's using the latest popular music and television programs to do it.
John Piper: "I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity."
ReplyDeleteI'm almost like John Piper. I now (generally) have a low tolerance for nudity whereas before I had a high tolerance for nudity. Knowing my sinful thought life, I doubt I'll ever have a zero tolerance for nudity, but who knows.
It's funny. In my teen-age years, college years, post-college and grad student years, I didn't mind movies with gratuitous violence, gratuitous foul language, and gratuitous skin scenes as long as there was a decent story arc. Now I don't mind movies with R-rated violence, foul language that seems to keep the movie "real", and scenes where the sex is implied rather than graphic. Movies like "Saving Private Ryan".
But it's not just the gratuituous breast flash that annoys my Christian sensibilities. It's that almost every sex scene made in Hollywood is non-marital. It's either pre-marital sex or an affair. It's hardly ever a husband and a wife. It's that aspect of secular film-making that annoys me more than anything else.
I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all answer, although there are some broadly applicable principles.
ReplyDelete1.As Peter and Jason point out, we no longer need TV to stay informed. The Internet has better resources.
2.Speaking for myself, I don’t try to stay equally informed all the time. I pay more attention to newsworthy issues as an election cycle approaches, and less attention in-between election cycles. Likewise, if I think a particular story is important, I pay more attention to it.
3.As I’m sure you know, some Christian parents don’t have a TV at home. They make their kids read.
In theory, there’s some value to that approach. However, it has some practical drawbacks:
i) In the computer age, you can get anything (and more) on computer that you could get on TV, so removing the TV is moot.
ii) It can backfire if parents clamp down too much. It makes their kids envious and resentful of what they’re missing. That’s a great way to drive your kids away from the faith.
So it’s best to monitor and regulate usage, rather than impose a total embargo.
iii) At the risk of stating the obvious, TV is just a medium. It’s not as if “great literature” is inherently more Christian than movies and TV shows.
4.I don’t think there’s necessarily anything wrong with some recreational time to unwind after a long, tiring day. Viewing a DVD of a movie or TV show before bedtime is acceptable.
Of course, there are other recreational activities like going for a walk in the park.
5.We need to have priorities. Allocate time for prayer, Bible study, our family and friends.
6.As for exposure to sex and violence, I think we need to strike a balance. On the one hand, we should limit our exposure. On the other hand, we live in a fallen world, so some exposure is inevitable. We can’t make our mind a blank slate, erasing what we’ve already seen and heard. So it’s not like losing your innocence. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
7.Finally, if someone is addicted to trivia, he needs to ask himself why he’s addicted to trivia. Why is his life so vapid and vacuous that he even finds that appealing? Doesn’t he want to get more out of life than that? Doesn’t he ever hunger for something more, something better, something deeper, something more satisfying?
People tend to know and identify with what they grew up with. It would behoove some folks to expand their horizons beyond what they grew up seeing or hearing.
Great thread!
ReplyDeleteThis is obvious, and everyone has already mentioned it, but I'd likewise stress the importance of hiding Scripture in our hearts.
How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. (Psalm 119:9-16.)
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deut. 6:6-7)
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (Josh. 1:8-9)
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Col. 3:16)
And so on.
I think when we feed on the Scriptures, even or perhaps especially when we don't feel like it, over time it does deeply satisfy us, it changes how we feel, it whets our appetites for more of God, his Word, for the things of first importance, for whatever is true, honorable, just lovely, excellent, and worthy of praise. It changes how we think and feel. It changes our perspective on life, the universe, and everything. It changes us. Truly, by God's grace and through the work of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God restores and revives and rejuvenates and reforms us.
Obviously, hiding Scripture in our hearts can come in a number of different ways, which others have already mentioned (e.g. listening to the Bible on your iPod, listening to good sermons which unfold the Scriptures for us). But another helpful tool for some peeps might be the Navigators' Topical Memory System. I think it's a great starting place.
Speaking more broadly, when we go to church to worship the Lord with his people, and listen to the Scriptures preached and taught to us; or when we read, say, Christian biographies, or theological books which help us to understand the Scriptures better and apply them to our lives, I think we come away better for it. Certainly this is the case with the Bible. Perhaps we went in hungry and thirsty, but strangely enough we leave both satisfied and filled yet hungering for more.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's like a man who has been feeding on junk food for a week. Cookies, chocolates, ice cream, chips, fries, Mickey D's, Taco Bell, etc. He grows accustomed to eating junk food. He thinks it's satisfying (enough). He doesn't want anything else. But then he's somewhat reluctantly compelled to eat a proper meal. Maybe a roast chicken or juicy steak with grilled vegetables and mashed potatoes. Or whatever. He realizes how delicious it is. He realizes what he's been missing out on this entire time he's been living off junk food.
I think this might be in part what the Psalmist means when he exclaims: "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!" (Psa. 34:8) Or: "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psa. 119:103)
Also, while he sometimes can take things too far, I think John Piper is generally quite right when he seeks to redirect our gaze away from the mundane and trivial, and points us to Christ and the Word of Christ, to taste and see how beautiful and richly satisfying knowing God is. "And this is eternal life, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:3)
As the hymn sings:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in his wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of his glory and grace.
Again, sometimes Piper and some of us (including me) can take things too far, to the attenuation and even neglect of the enjoyment of "worldly" goods which are good in and of themselves. But, speaking as someone who often tends toward addiction to the trivial, I think Piper's point is a good corrective. Antoine de Saint-Exupery once said, "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." Likewise, I think Piper at his best teaches us to yearn for our vast and endless God as he has revealed himself in his Scriptures and in the face of Jesus Christ. "For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor. 4:6)
Patrick Chan wrote:
ReplyDelete"when we read, say, Christian biographies"
I know that Patrick is aware of this, but for the sake of those who aren't, John Piper has some good biographical sketches that can be listened to here. (See, also, the biographical sketch of George Whitefield. For some reason, it isn't linked on the biography page above.) Matthew made some comments, above, about professing Christians who seem to be immature in the faith and spend a lot of their time on trivial things. That sort of person may be unwilling to read a biographical book, but listening to an audio biography like one of John Piper's above would be much easier. The biographies are good, and they're presented by somebody who thinks and feels deeply about the lives he's discussing. Christians who are wasting their lives should recognize the contrast between what they're doing with their lives and what men like those discussed by Piper did with theirs.