Christians and Entertainment: Oh how we LOVE to Condemn!

I was glancing over a thread online today where a heated debate had been going on between people using the term Christian and quoting Bible verses as reasons they weren't going to support or watch a new show that is starting soon.  Others of course had equal amounts of reasons and beliefs and words to throw back about what these Christians were saying.  Sad to say but I sort of agreed with the "other" side on this one.....

May I just be frank?  I say this with love and humility and sincerity.  We (I am including myself) are a people who have become very fixated on being entertained.  We live our lives feeling a lot of burden and stress for various reasons.  I get it.  We like to watch our "shows" go to the movies, listen to music, read books, play video games, play computer games.

I don't honestly think any of that in and of itself is necessarily wrong, disgraceful, sinful, or destructive.  We need to make choices that edify ourselves and there is a lot of liberty and grace in being a Christian in my opinion.  -1 Corinthians 10:23 All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.-

All this being said, I want to ask if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, and you choose a certain lifestyle to be your soapbox, your sin of utter condemnation, or your hated wrongdoing, are you maybe focusing on someone else's speck and ignoring your own plank?

If we are allowing ourselves to be entertained by watching things that do not edify us (I am including myself in this), that glorify sin and sinful lifestyles, are we really then at liberty and in a position to criticize, speak out against, boycott or otherwise speak words of shame and condemnation toward forms of entertainment that we don't watch "on grounds of being a Christian"?

Is it that somehow we as Christians, have reached a point of "holiness" in our walk that allows us to justify watching (myself included) shows that glorify pre-marital and extramarital sex, grossly inappropriate wardrobes, adultery, pornography, murder, lying, revenge, violence, excessive drug and alcohol use?  Because I don't hear a lot of us getting all worked up about the shows *we* watch, the entertainment that *we* choose, until it involves a lifestyle that *we* aren't comfortable with.

Let's just be honest, and say what we are thinking.  We don't LIKE or we aren't COMFORTABLE with *that* lifestyle or choice or belief.

Let's consider our own struggles and sin.  Let's consider our own areas of weakness and growth.  Let's consider our own plank, before we start dragging the name of our Lord Jesus Christ down into our muddy and messy entertainment agenda and using HIM as the reason we aren't going to support a movie or TV show or book that we don't like or agree with.

Folks, if we are okay watching Dancing with the Stars and justify it's filth, then we don't have grounds to condemn people for watching The Walking Dead because of it's gore and violence.  If we are okay watching Scandal or Grey's Anatomy or Pretty Little Liars and justify it's filth, then we don't have grounds to condemn people for watching Modern Family or The New Normal or any other show that embraces homosexuality.  If we are okay watching The Bachelor and justify its filth, then we have no grounds to condemn whatever show it is that Snooki or Khloe Kardashian is on.  (Yes, I googled their names to make sure I spelled them correctly.)

If we are to be a LIGHT and an EXAMPLE to the WORLD, that light radiates out of choices of Godliness, out of choices of obedience, out of choices of sacrifice and purity.  Light doesn't radiate from us when we jump on Facebook threads and quote Bible verses to condemn people for watching a show that highlights a sin we aren't comfortable with, all the while our TiVo is loaded with sins we *are* comfortable with.

Let's start letting other people worry about their own choices, and let's start focusing on our OWN choices.  In case you missed this before: Myself included!