Not even a hint 2
Funny thing… I did a google search for “Not Even a Hint” (it’s a book by Joshua Harris, highly recommended) the other day, and noticed that my site, with it’s one comment on “Not even a hint” was 5th in line in the google search (looking at it just now i have dropped a few). I just thought that was funny. The funnier thing, is that Joshua Harris’s site, doesn’t even come up in the top 20.
Anyway, here’s a recent thought from the book that I am slowly reading through (picking it up every now and then when I get a minute). It has to do with a subject that has been on my mind a lot lately. movies. In general, we watch waaaay too many of them. Way too many. One a week! more often two. That is 4-6 hours of just unplugging your brain, removing yourself from all possible chance of interaction, sitting in a dark room, on comfy furniture, often way to comfortably close to someone of the opposite sex whom you are not married too… but anyway, i digress (sort of). My point is content. Here was Harris’s reflection:
Growing up, I learned that Christians have a wide range of standards when it comes to TV and movies. Unfortunately, I used this as an excuse not to establish my own standards before God. Instead of responding to His word, I evaluated my media habits on how they compared to other people’s. Anyone who’se standards were a half a step lower than mine was sinning, and anyone with standards a half a step higher than mine was probably legalistic and too uptight. Of course, my standards were perfectly fine and no one needed to tell me otherwise. Can we relate?
Well… can we?
Good thoughts. Sitting around talking about rockets and football was a lot of fun last night. Why don’t we just do that more often?
I agree completely, and I think that the responsibility for growth in this is two-fold:
1. First and foremost, individually, we have to come to convictions on our own about what we will watch and how much we will watch, and rely on the Holy Spirit to help us know what we should do in any given situation. Also, my observation is that most of us do not have real convictions on what we let ourselves be exposed to.
2. In each situation where a choice is presented, leaders that are present should take the bull by the horns and at least bring up an alternative, or even decide to do something else. The situation last week reminded me of the need for me to think more this way because that was one of the first times that I have even thought of doing anything diferent. Anyway, when someone leads out strongly in a different direction, often the younger believers will follow him/her and do what would be best, instead of what is usually done…Lots of words, take them for what they are worth.
Wow, good thoughts guys. I think that movies aren’t always a bad thing, but there are definate dangers, which Matt alluded to. One of the things I think is that you can judge the health of a ministry team and its passion for God by how many movies they are watching. This is something God really convicted me of lately. After a semester last fall where by the end of the year I was watching 4+ movies in a week, I really was convinced that I wasn’t using my time wisely. Think about how different our lives and this world would be if instead of watching 3-4 movies a week we spent that time out in evangelism?? or in the word? At least in my life, movies are something that I tend towards when I am feeling either beat or apathetic. Instead of seeking God in whatever is troubling me, or fighting to have faith in that area, more often than not I find movies as a way to drown out my problems and concerns. So I think that we really just need to be careful at how much time we let ourselves spend in front of the tv or at the theater. We definately have more important things that God wants us to do!
Once again, sorry for the long post. Maybe Dave and I need our own blogs. Well, maybe not.