How can Christians navigate the world of entertainment overload in a way that best honors God and guards, equips and uplifts us and the people we love?

Note, this article mentions the existence of sexually explicit material.  It does not go into detail about the topic and only uses the phrase mentioned above, but as such, this article may not be suitable for all audiences.  If you wish to avoid this content, skip over the section titled, An Epidemic.   

Be careful little eyes, what you see… Let’s face it, entertainment is ubiquitous – and so is our almost unconscious assumption that it is a human necessity. As Christians, I believe we rightly wedge most entertainment into the category of personal conviction. But I fear that far too often, both the deceptive nature of sin and the alluring power of entertainment come together to produce a sort of a libertine view of our entertainment freedoms which too often sabotages our witness, smothers our convictions, dulls our conscience, and squanders our time.   

In this third installment in our But is it Best series, we explore what it means to seek what’s best in not only the type of entertainment we choose, but the quantity of entertainment we consume.  Imagine what fruit that could bear!  In the next few paragraphs, we’ll examine the nature and power of entertainment, I’ll share my own story of quenched convictions, and then we’ll turn to the Scriptures to help us each build our own God-centered, Gospel-driven framework, to help us make the most of this life we’ve been given. 

The Times, They are a Changin’

It’s hard to overstate the amount of change that’s transpired in the last century or so.  The invention of the automobile, home electrification, the airplane, television, the personal computer, the internet, the smartphone, and hundreds of other devices and processes that have made our life so much easier, have all profoundly reshaped our world at an incredible pace. In 1890, an average American adult had about 20% of their weekly waking hours available for leisure.  In 1995, that number skyrocketed to 59%.  It is no coincidence, then, that the 20th century was marked by the rapid growth in both participatory and spectator sports, the explosion of hobbies, and the almost universal societal adoption of the movie theater, the radio, the television and the personal computer.      

Today, it’s unavoidable. With a glut of free time, the tentacles of entertainment have, over the last century, emerged from the pages of books, and slithered their way into our family rooms, bedrooms, and even our pockets, wrists and directly into our ears.  Like bacteria in a warm and sugary petri dish, not only the availability, but the quality and quantity of entertainment continues to grow at an exponential rate.  Here’s just one metric: in 2010, 24 hours of video content was uploaded to YouTube every minute.  Today, people upload 2,500 hours of content each and every minute!

And then there’s those pesky little computers in our pockets that constantly beep, buzz and call for our attention.  In the age of smartphones, screen time has come to dominate and redefine not just our free time, but has crept into nearly every facet of life.  For Americans, screen time averages over 7 hours per day – and for our teens, leisure screen time now averages over 9 hours a day.  

Adding complexity to the issue, entertainment continues to become more crass, explicit and crude.  Since the advent of the internet, and accelerated by both pocket-sized devices that allow private and anonymous access, and the proliferation of explicit content in popular media, the average first exposure to sexually explicit material has continued to drop.  Today, the vast majority of 13 year-olds today – both boys and girls – have already been exposed to this material – and a growing number experience first exposure before their 10th birthday.     

A Powerful Medium for Vulnerable Hearts

In 1852, Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin – a fictional account of the brutality of slavery in the American south.  In just a year, the book sold over 300,000 copies, and would become the best-selling novel of the entire nineteenth century. From its pages sprung up theatrical adaptations in the coming decade, playing to capacity crowds throughout America’s northern states.  In fact, this book had such an oversized impact, that upon meeting Stowe in 1862, a bloody year into the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln quipped, “So this is the little lady who made this big war.” 

Indeed, all forms of media have the power to inform and transform at a societal scale.  As entertainment has become more immersive, jumping from the page, and adding moving pictures, sound, ever-increasing realism and ever-more-lifelike resolutions and special effects – its power continues to grow.  For many, the Jeffersons were the first black people they regularly encountered, let alone had in their living room.  In my lifetime, it was the show, Life Goes On, that helped me, and countless other Americans, to sympathize with, normalize and elevate those who have Downs Syndrome. Fast forward another decade, and pioneering shows like Will and Grace led the cultural charge to de-stigmatize homosexuality. Today, programs like Star Trek: Discovery are continuing to push the cultural envelope, devoting entire story arcs to help promote transgenderism and gender fluidity, both directly, and through emotionally charged, yet surprisingly subtle storylines.  

But why is entertainment so uniquely able to promote and even produce societal change? I believe, at its core, it is the power of story. And with more and more programs having exceptionally high production value – with writing, acting, story arcs, imagery and effects – all rivaling what we see in the movie theater, the ability to lose ourselves in a program is only becoming more and more inevitable.  

The problem is, whether conscious or not, we view entertainment as a means to unwind, relax, and get lost in another world.  At the core of entertainment is the suspension of disbelief – a sort of unspoken and largely unnoticed contract between content creators and us – allowing us to get involved in the stories without having to think too critically about just how plausible it is.  But this passive approach to entertainment also typically means the suspension of critical thinking.  And that, I believe, is where the danger lies.  Stories game the system, if you will, connecting directly to our hearts.  But without the gatekeeper of critical thinking, entertainment has free reign to exploit this vulnerability to subtly, slowly, yet surely – like the rudder on a massive super tanker – turn the direction of our hearts. As in the instances I cited above – sometimes this superpower is employed for good, sometimes for harm.

To Office or Not to Office?

Warning: Parenting can have some unforeseen consequences…  Back in the fall of 2005, we caught wind of a quirky little mockumentary comedy that some of our friends loved.  Within a month or so, watching this show, The Office, became a tradition among our friends – with around a dozen of our friends, all young adults, coming over most Thursdays for dinner and the show.  At the time, we generally thought the show was great.  We laughed a ton!  And truth be told, memories of that time with our college friends are still very precious. But there was a lot of sexual humor. Nothing was explicit, but it was peppered throughout the series.   

As the show finished its run and went into syndication, Bryn and I would return to it often, yet as our kids got older, and as we matured, the disconnect between why it was okay for us to enjoy The Office while we would never let our kids watch it, started to become increasingly convicting.  Yet, even as late as the pandemic, The Office was our go-to show when we wanted a good laugh and a taste of familiarity. But more and more, we found ourselves being selective about what episodes we watched, and turning off more and more of them, mid-show, convicted by what was on the screen.  

What changed?  It wasn’t really the conviction itself, I think they were always there.  But as the Lord has matured me, He has helped me to see that the fear of missing out and the fear of having to say no to something I enjoyed, are but small sacrifices compared to the reward of knowing Him more.  In fact, it is no sacrifice at all, but a laying aside of lesser joys in the pursuit of my greatest joy.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m no hero of the faith when it comes to entertainment.  I still choose to be entertained by things and in quantities that do not best honor the Lord.  I still acutely feel, and often give in to, the siren call of popular entertainment.  I am still guilty of making plausible excuses as to why it’s okay to watch this show or that when my conscience tells me it is not.  

But that said, I don’t know if we’ll return to The Office again.  I suspect not.  These days we are finding fewer and fewer shows that we feel comfortable watching.  In the end, on the other side of eternity, I am convinced that I won’t wish I had watched more of such shows. I won’t wish I had spent more time on my phone. If anything, I will lament the amount of time I have – and continue to – waste on entertainment.  There are so many more productive ways to spend our very limited time on earth – ways that grow our faith, build the Kingdom, and prepare us to meet Jesus, face to face.  

12 Bible Verses
To Help Shape Your Entertainment Framework

So, if you’re still with me, we’ve now looked at some historical and cultural trends, the power of story, and I’ve shared my own account of wrestling with content that pricked my conscience.  But I hope all of this is just a helpful appetizer to the main dish – God’s Word.  How can filtering our entertainment choices through the sieves of these passages – both in what we watch and the quality we consume – help us to pursue not just what is permissible, but what will best prepare us to maximize our Kingdom service on earth, and invest in our greatest joy in eternity?  Let’s dig in!

1) Does it glorify God?

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 

1 Corinthians 10:31 31, ESV  

What should we make of such a capstone verse like this?  What does it look like to intentionally watch tv and use our phone for the glory of God?  I believe it starts by simply asking, does this content glorify God in and of itself?  Is that it’s end goal, or is it something else?  If it is something else, why do I want to watch it?  I’d suggest that you don’t take those reasons at face value, but prayerfully examine your motives behind them.  Are they legitimate and God-glorifying primary reasons, or are they excuses used to ease your conscience?  

2) Is it the best use of my time?

“15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” 

Ephesians 5:15-17, ESV  

Another helpful question revolves not as much around content but around time.  Does your consumption of entertainment represent the best use of your time?  The days are evil, and we live in a world full of temptation, among people desperately in need of the Gospel.  Think of the men and women God powerfully used to accomplish His Kingdom work – people like Hudson Taylor and John Paton, Elizabeth Elliott and Amy Carmichael. If they were to look on the way you spend your volumes of free time, what do you think they would say?  Are you, perhaps, wasting your life in this regard?  Our life is but a vapor (James 4:14b), and what we do here and now has a tremendous impact on eternity.  That said, it’s important to note, God does prescribe rest – we need it to function at our best, but the sort of rest God calls us to is primarily a resting rooted in and focused on Him. 

3) Am I dwelling on what’s best?

“4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice…8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” 

Philippians 4:4,8, ESV  

This is one I especially need to hear.  As Paul wraps up his letter to the Philippians, one of his closing exhortations is for the church to dwell on what is good, glorious and beautiful.  Especially convicting to me, he describes the Christian disposition as primarily positive.  Does the entertainment you consume directly help you to do these things, or is it more of an obstacle?  Again, examine your motives – it is so, so, so easy to take a distant secondary motive that can be construed as good, and use it to excuse and mask our true, selfish craving for this or that bit of entertainment.  So much of what we consume either asks us to take joy in others’ real or fictitious pain (think of all the fails and falls reels out there) or encourages us to look at the world through a narcissistic, cynical and jaded lens that is quick to criticize and demean, but slow to praise and rejoice.    

4) Is it pure?

“3 I will not set before my eyes, anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me. 4 A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil. ” 

Psalm 101, 3,4, ESV

Piggybacking on the previous passage, we see here a call to guard our eyes.  We are called to intentionally avoid putting anything that is worthless (the word means of no value, base, wicked) before our eyes.  How much of our entertainment fits into this category? Are we faithfully seeking to know nothing of evil in the entertainment we choose?  In context, it is no stretch to lump explicit, vulgar or gratuitously violent content into this prohibition. In particular, Christians have no place in watching anything that has explicit content in it.  Think I’m being legalistic?  I beg of you to read (or listen to) this article: 12 Reasons to say no to on-screen nudity.  But nudity aside, what makes something base?  Base describes something that is shallow and of little value or importance.  Ouch!  How much of our entertainment fits into that category?   

5) Does it honor and compliment Christ’s purifying work? 

“[Look to Christ Jesus,] who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” 

Titus 2:14, NASB1995

According to the Scriptures, Christ died not only to redeem us from every lawless deed we have committed, but also to purify us, making us zealous for good works.  Does the entertainment we watch testify to the purifying work of Jesus in our lives?  Does it support and align with The Spirit’s sanctifying work in our hearts, or is it at odds.  Never forget, friends, The Spirit lives within you – are you grieving Him by what entertainment you consume with your eyes?  Does what you watch help to increase your desire for spreading the Gospel and living a holy life, or like I have so often experienced, does your entertainment choices dull and dilute those godly passions?

6) Does it profane God’s name?

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” 

Deuteronomy 5:11, NASB1995

Especially in the last several decades, it has become popular for entertainment to employ “God”, “Jesus Christ” and a few other variants in place of other vulgarities. Imagine that – people think it’s okay to use Jesus’ name as a curse word – the same Jesus who is at that very moment giving them life and breath.  How, as Christians, can we enjoy content that makes such a mockery of our God and King?  Given the stern warning of this verse, should this not move us to pray for those who would so act – that the Lord might save them, through the very one they have profaned?

7) Does it help my holiness?

“You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” 

Leviticus 20:26, NASB1995

If you’re looking for a high standard, this one’s got you covered.  God commands His people to be holy as He is holy – and He says so almost two dozen times in Scripture. Biblical holiness has two main components, purity and transcendence, and God is our supreme example of both.  Does the entertainment we choose help us to be morally pure and separate from the corrupting influences of the world?  Or, are we keeping company with the entertainment of the world, hoping that the virtual company we keep, likely hours each day, will not ruin our good morals, as 1 Corinthians 15:33 warns? 

8) Does it help me to remain unstained by the world?

“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” 

James 1:27, NASB1995

James describes true, undefiled religion, in part, as remaining unstained by the world, but what does that mean, exactly? This Greek word has a spiritual connotation and describes one who is spotless and without blemish or stain.  Can we say that’s true about the entertainment we enjoy? Can we honestly say that it does not stain us – perhaps in subtle or subliminal ways we are unaware of, or in more concrete ways? 

9) Does it help me to diligently guard my heart?

“Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” 

Proverbs 4:23, NASB1995

When we consider what to watch, or whether to scroll past a given reel, short or social media post, are we being diligent to guard our hearts from the corrupting influence of sin?  Are we actively seeking to protect our eyes and ears from the deceptive power of sin that so often saturates what we watch – both in overt ways that are easy to spot, and in subtle assumptions and built-in world views that can gradually turn our default understanding of the world in unhelpful ways?

10) Does it help me to see evil and good as God does?

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” 

Romans 12:9, ESV

Perhaps counterintuitively, we are told here that true love does two things.  First it abhors (hates with a passion) things that are evil, and second, it holds fast (clings tightly) to the things that are good.  Does the entertainment we choose help us to follow this command, or does it blur the lines between what is right and what is wrong?  Whether fact or fiction, the emotions and ideals entertainment evokes are anything but hypothetical or fictitious. 

11) Does it protect my witness?

“29: Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear… 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.” 

Ephesians 4:29, 5:3,4, ESV

One of Paul’s concerns for the Ephesian church is that they would collectively be committed to living exemplary lives, both among one another, and in the world.  Our conversations, practices and demeanors should all be a gracious gift to those we encounter. When it comes to sexual immorality, impurity (encompassing both lustful and opulent living), and covetousness, there is to not be even a hint of it in our midst.  Does the entertainment we choose protect our witness, or could it reasonably give the impression that we approve of sinful practices we enjoy on our screens, like the ones outlined in this passage? Does simply consuming entertainment with this content mean we are giving it tacit approval? 

12) Does it help me run?

“1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” 

Hebrews 12:1-2, ESV

Finally, a familiar passage for those who frequent this blog – we must ask the question, does the entertainment I choose and the time I spend help me run after Christ with all of my might – at full throttle – no matter the cost?  Or, is our entertainment choices evidence of sinful encumbrances or non-sinful distractions that are holding us back from a full out sprint?  Might God be calling us to lay aside the type or volume of entertainment we consume so that we can devote ourselves to the Kingdom race? 

A Cautionary Word on Matters of Personal Conviction

As I alluded to at the beginning of this article, matters of entertainment are often (though not entirely) in the realm of personal convictions.  As such, they can also become matters of considerable controversy and division.  But that need not be the case.  It should not be the case.  Though the Bible is clear that our consciences are not infallible and are always to be submitted to the Word of God, we are also bound to obey our consciences and be sensitive to one another’s convictions (1 Corinthians 8).  So, how do we do that, when each of us is convinced that our way is best? Is there a way to have healthy discourse on matters of conscience in which we disagree?  I hope so.  

“19b But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” 

James 1:19b,20, NASB1995

As the passage above teaches us, we first must be quick to hear.  So much division can be nipped in the bud simply by honestly and intently seeking to understand one another first. On more than one occasion, I’ve found that the basis of a disagreement I’ve had has actually been a difference in definitions, not substantially in what we believe.  But even if disagreement remains, being slow to speak – being very careful how we present our objections – being intentional about not just our words, but the demeanor with which we speak them – all of this can make for amicable disagreement and the preservation of unity.  

One other thought – I also believe, more often than not, when we shape the debate to ensure we’re both using the same measuring stick and asking the same questions – such as asking what’s best instead of just what’s permissible – we are much more likely to find considerable common ground.   

We Can Do Better!

In the end, life is short and eternity is long, and there are literally hundreds of millions if not billions of people who have yet to even hear the name of Christ.  What we do in this life really, really matters, and oh, what missionary endeavors, and Gospel work would explode out of the church if we put down the remotes and set aside the phones – even just part of the time – and set to the work of the Kingdom!  

C.T. Studd, a nineteenth century missionary to China, put it well when he penned a memorable poetic line that encapsulates what it means to live an unwasted life.   

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

May we all commit to taking a close look at our entertainment, not out of some legalistic moralism, but as a Spirit-empowered expression of our greater desire and passion for Jesus Christ and His Kingdom work on this earth.  His harvest is plentiful, friends, and we have work to do!