Yesterday I was just browsing the internet and I came across this comment someone made: “Entertainment is the devil’s substitute for joy”. Well, I could just dismiss it as overly fanatical, but I think I’ll try to analyze the argument instead. After all, there are times when we can be so focused on being entertained that we lose sight of what is important, and thus lose our sense of joy. Plus, it sounds very biblical, so a closer look at what the Bible says about entertainment to see if it backs up this message would be beneficial.
One example of entertainment is song. During the latter days of King Saul’s reign, he would be troubled by a “distressing spirit” and could only be refreshed by David playing his harp (1 Samuel 16). Given that David was chosen by God to be the next king of Israel, I find it unlikely that God disapproved of him using music to entertain Saul.
What about stories? We all know about the parables of Yeshua (Jesus), and how He used them to teach important lessons about God and Himself. However, most of His audience didn’t understand the meanings of these stories. Even His disciples only understood them after He explicitly explained them. To everyone else, they were just entertaining stories. While He sometimes expressed disappointment that they didn’t understand, that didn’t stop Him from continuing to tell them. So even if He would have preferred that they learned from the experience, just being entertained didn’t harm them.
That seems pretty conclusive to me, but if anyone can point out evidence in the Bible that I missed, feel free to let me know in the comments.
Entertainment: Evil?
Hello Internet!
Yesterday I was just browsing the internet and I came across this comment someone made: “Entertainment is the devil’s substitute for joy”. Well, I could just dismiss it as overly fanatical, but I think I’ll try to analyze the argument instead. After all, there are times when we can be so focused on being entertained that we lose sight of what is important, and thus lose our sense of joy. Plus, it sounds very biblical, so a closer look at what the Bible says about entertainment to see if it backs up this message would be beneficial.
One example of entertainment is song. During the latter days of King Saul’s reign, he would be troubled by a “distressing spirit” and could only be refreshed by David playing his harp (1 Samuel 16). Given that David was chosen by God to be the next king of Israel, I find it unlikely that God disapproved of him using music to entertain Saul.
What about stories? We all know about the parables of Yeshua (Jesus), and how He used them to teach important lessons about God and Himself. However, most of His audience didn’t understand the meanings of these stories. Even His disciples only understood them after He explicitly explained them. To everyone else, they were just entertaining stories. While He sometimes expressed disappointment that they didn’t understand, that didn’t stop Him from continuing to tell them. So even if He would have preferred that they learned from the experience, just being entertained didn’t harm them.
That seems pretty conclusive to me, but if anyone can point out evidence in the Bible that I missed, feel free to let me know in the comments.
Till next time,
Goodbye Internet!