How does entertainment glorify God at all?
score:12
Entertainment is one way we relax, and the Bible does tell us to rest, in many places, including Exodus 20:8: "Remember the Sabbath."
Entertainment can also be a community-building event, although not as much so in the context of "self-entertainment," that you mentioned.
I would also say that many things are not purely entertaining, but also educational or enlightening.
Having said all of that, I think many of us take entertainment to extremes, to the point that it is no longer glorifying to God. I know I'm guilty of this at times.
Upvote:0
You glorify God through love for other people. When washing the dishes, show love for your family by washing them in joy and you will show glory for your father.
When listening to music glorify your father by listening to music that is good and pure.
When watching tv, show love and respect to your family by bringing them closer through communion and peace. Do not watch things that will defile you and your family, but things that will bring forth the fruit of love.
Glorify your father in all things by doing all things in joy, love and peace for your brothers and sisters.
For these qualities of love are what bring glory to God.
Upvote:5
John Piper, the leading proponent of Christian Hedonism, often uses a slogan based on The Westminster Catchecism. He modifies the catcehism's stock answer that the chief end of man "is to glorify God" by restating it as:
God is most glorified, when we are most satisfied, in Him
Put another way, because God designed us to glorify Him, and because he is love, he designed us for joy. We are most satisfied when we are in that joy, because God made us for that. He gave us desires that reflect what he has in store for us.
As one example, and this may come as a shock, but God made sex enjoyable. Why is it pleasurable? Because it is a foretaste of the oneness we will have in heaven, where "we will know even as we are known.".
Why then do many Christians see sex as evil? Because, used inappropriately, it can cause the exact opposite of that oneness. It can rob us of joy, because we seek after the momentary pleasure rather than true joy.
As C.S. Lewis puts in his the definitive short essay on the subject, "The Weight of Glory,"
It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
Simply put, entertainment is entertaining, precisely because it is a foretaste of that infinite joy offered us, if only we are strong enough to truly seize it.
Upvote:6
While most entertainment may not glorify God in itself, you can use that entertainment to glorify God.
I am reminded a story of someone who had a teenage daughter when 90210 was on. Instead of her watching it on her own or just with her friends, he would watch it with them and interject comments throughout instilling his Christian values. (Apparently he had a knack for doing this comically without teenage eye-rolling. :P)
John Eldredge's books and talks have a lot of references to popular culture including The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, and Braveheart, but usually in light of the biblical battle between good and evil. I think it's possible to keep a spiritual eye when viewing or playing non-spiritual material.
There is also plenty of entertainment that glorifies God. My wife is watching Love's Long Journey right now. We watched What If... last night. I also spend a lot of time listening and playing music in a Christian room on turntable.fm. I would classify all of these as entertainment, but they are all Christian entertainment.
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