Entertainment is for amusement, escape and ‘occasionally’ education. It is fun and healthy to be amused, to laugh, to explore creativity and to enjoy the talents of others…
But entertainment does not stand on its own as something good in itself. It is only a means, a means to a higher end and purpose. Recreation and exercise as a means to better health? Great. Vacations and sports as a means of relaxation? Fine. Movies and the performing arts taken in for pleasure… excellent.
But as soon as entertainment goes beyond that, as soon as it becomes an end in itself, as soon as sports, games and hobbies, etc. consume us, then we abuse God’s gifts and our lives are not lives of balance and moderation, but rather of excess and imbalance. Most of the emphasis in our society these days seems is about having a good time and being entertained. It used to be that after work was completed then there was a time to relax and to be entertained.
Today, each child receives an award just for participating, not for achievement. It used to be awards were given for actual achieving and it gave a child something to strive for and a sense of pride in the actual accomplishment. But today it seems to be all about the feel good of the award instead of what it takes to do something.
Fun and pleasure are great to experience…. it’s a wonderful part of living, but when…
everyone ‘needs’ to have fun most all of the time and to always feel good rather than achieve, stretch to meet goals and accomplishments then forgotten is the truth that God has put man on earth to achieve in order to grow and sometimes that means sacrifice, discipline, doing without and hardship. Now it seems man works as little as possible in order that he play. Life is viewed as a playground rather than a place to achieve. And today the younger generation is all about being entertained and playing and not only the children but many adults. It’s party – party…escape and party as much as you can into food, video games, TV, the Internet, drugs, sex, alcohol, etc. and this creates a lazy, fat, slothful, slovenly, promiscuous, non-thinking, lack of common sense and decency society. Just look around. What do you see but mostly fat, slovenly, sloppy, promiscuous examples, both in life and as displayed in the areas of entertainment and the public.
Sex is not entertainment. It is for expressing affection and love between committed individuals.. sure it is pleasurable and fun, but it is a private expression. Hugh Hefner was one of those who turned sex into an accepted form of entrainment and made it ‘look’ cool to do so… and nothing about him is ‘cool’… it’s lowly and and skanky… but some people model his lifestyle and choices…
Paul writes in II Timothy 3, “Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,” and so on. And, “They shall be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” The Christian is a lover of God. The unbeliever is a hater of God and a lover of pleasure. And as that love of pleasure develops into pleasure-madness all around us, this constitutes a peril. These are perilous times for you, me and our children.
Hedonism is the moral philosophy that pleasure and happiness are the chief goal of human life. Look at the example of the Obama’s with their parties and vacations. The Obama’s hang with ‘rappers’ and entertainers, vacation continually on America’s dime and time. The Obama’s are hedonistic. And put on the political scene by an ‘entertainer’, ‘a living in sin ‘talk-show yakker’, Oprah, who attended, along with Obama, a ‘church’ promoting hate and it’s been said a place that matches up gay men with ‘acceptable wives to create a front of respectability… what is this mess of sin exactly?
Hedonism is the ‘religion’ according to which most people live to today. The rightness or wrongness of some activity is determined by whether it results in pleasure or in pain. If you get pleasure from something, do it; it’s a good thing. If it causes you pain, or discomfort, avoid it. Do you see the peril of being surrounded by people of that philosophy and outlook? Of living in the midst of such a perverse generation? It creates liars, deflectors, blamers and those of no character or morality.
And many today get their news, morality, standards and life views from ‘so-called’ entertainers. Public figures are ‘famous’ for doing nothing as in the Kardashians… and their lives are that of immorality… children without marriage, children with one man while still married to another, sex tapes… excessive flaunting and pleasure with no regard to the the example they are setting. Why would any thinking moral human being want to model their life after that used for entertainment… as this example is destroying the morality of our youth and therefore our society.
Politics has become ‘entertainment’. Look at the example of Anthony Wierner.. despicable behavior and this lowly perverted man, married to a Muslim who works for Clinton is running for Mayor of NY…
Many people appear to think they are living in some movie or on some reality show of nothingness. It’s all about escape and primarily escaping anything real, any real emotion, or feeling, any real responsibility, accountability, commitment or morality. It’s all about the fun and escape and what you can get away with. And if it doesn’t feel good enough then off to another ‘something’ to make the high – higher… then more is needed for the next high.
Entertainment and entertainers are most times very poor examples of how to live life. And what a person chooses for entertainment speaks volumes about who they are.
It used to be that society knew the difference in what was real life and reality, and what was for only for entertainment, but now it appears more and more that they are one and the same and this is destroying many from having a wholesome, moral and productive life.
There must be a balance in life… work, pleasure, joy and pain, striving and relaxing based in morality and standards.. too much of anything is not a good thing.
Good one! Too much truth here for anyone to deny it.
Well said Ayn Well said.