For the present generation of young fundamentalists, theater attendance is probably more fundamental than daily devotions. Most Christians, even those in relatively conservative circles, resent the suggestion that they should not attend movies. They are likely to bristle about what they call legalism, and they pride themselves upon the refinement of their spiritual discernment for the selection of theatrical amusements.
From the ten (and counting) pages of comments, you can already tell that Part One (which was only the conversation starter) has struck a nerve. Thankfully, someone had the sense to make the following comment.
I am surprised at all of the angst over the daily devotions comment. Perhaps he was overstating his case, but I am not so sure. Many Christians are probably more influenced by the culture of Hollywood through movies and television than by the scriptures. And if you consider that Dr. Bauder was including home movies through movie channels and the vcr/dvd player I would wonder how the ratios would stack up. For far too many of us Christians daily devotions consist of ten-fifteen minutes a day of Bible reading and less of prayer. And how many days are devotions missed? Compare that 70-100 minutes a week to watching just one home movie let alone the hours spent watching TV. I know that time spent is not completely indicative of value place upon an object, but that does not mean that it has no indication of how much we value things. I would also be willing to venture that most members of fundamentalist churches spend more money on Dvd purchases/rentals and cable tv bills than on books that help us study and understand our bible better. So just maybe Dr. Bauder’s comment was not that much of an overstatment afterall.
He has a point there.
In the age of instant messaging, cell phones, 24hr news, text messaging, and similar, how does the Bible compete with instant info gratification? Who reads anymore if we can get info on the cheap? We want our heaven on earth.
The Scripture reminds us constantly to remain patient in the Lord. Yet we have compartmentalized God into 30-second sound bites, and want the church to be a source of entertainment. We want the Holy Spirit to be our servant instead of his leading us into all truth. Bauder’s article is a great subject on which to ponder and reevaluate our personal relationship with the Creator of the universe rather than where we can find our next source of entertainment. Sometimes I feel that we have misplaced one of the great truths of the Bible: godly discernment. Either that or we have marginalized it to fit our need to be entertained.
Love not the world neither the things in the world. If any love the world the love of the Father is not in them. The old camp song says it right, “If heaven is not my home, than what will I do?”
Thank you for posting this link, Andy. May the holy Scriptures truly be our life’s guide for all of our faith and practice. I ask God all the time to increase my faith, not to entertain me. May it be so. I need no other argument, I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me.
Oh, btw, that doesn’t mean I’m going to quit reading your blog, Andy! It is not only informative, it’s entertaining! 🙂
It hits close to home when you start keeping track of time spent on entertainment as opposed to time spent on Scripture meditation and other spiritual disciplines.
I remember one college professor debunking the “I don’t have time for it” myth. He took a chapel period to make us examine the way we were using our time. It was amazing how much time is often wasted during college. I think now might be a good time to check it out again.