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Sunday, June 30, 2013

How God Sees You


 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”~ Genesis 16:13

I love the Bible. I love it for a whole bunch of Churchy McChurch reasons, but I am not going to give you all of my favorite Sunday school explanations as to why I am a fan of God’s word. Instead I will be authentic with you.  I love the Bible because it’s real, and at times it’s really funny. It confronts and challenges humanity at the core of who we are and what we can become if we are left to our own devices. One of my favorite examples of biblical realness is found in Leviticus 19:14.

“Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord”

Let me put this passage in contemporary lingo for you:

Don’t make fun of deaf people, and don’t trip blind people, seriously, it’s rude! I’m God and I see what you’re up to; watch yourselves!

 God is God. He knows our hearts and He gives real direction to real people who live in a really fallen world. God is not only real with us but He also has an ironic and amusing way of looking at the world. Take Judges 6:11-12

 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!”

I find this passage humorous because at this point in the narrative Gideon is anything but mighty and the furthest thing from a warrior. In fact, he’s kind of wretched and sad. The angel finds him hiding in a cave frantically trying to thresh wheat with the wrong tool while entertaining some pretty serious doubts about God and too fearful of man to confront the idolatry in his own family.

It’s a good thing God clues angels into His plans because if He hadn’t I’m pretty sure that the angel would have wondered if he had found the right guy. I can just see an angel watching this nervous little guy hiding out in a cave, threshing wheat in a wine press and saying:

The Lord is with you…. mighty warrior??

This passage not only illustrates God’s sense of irony but also His mercy towards us. It gives us a critical glimpse into how God views the redeemed. After careful study of this passage I am fully convinced that God see us much differently than we see ourselves.

Most of us are inclined to see ourselves in the most negative light imaginable. When we assess ourselves we list the negatives first and if we ever get to our positive points we tend to downplay them. Thankfully, God views us differently, once we get to the place where we ask God for forgiveness and submit to His authority He sees what we are capable of becoming if we fully surrender ourselves to His plan and He treats us as if we have already become what He knows we are capable of.

Think about it like this, when you evaluate yourself you may see someone who is:
Hopeless  
Fearful
Inadequate
Incapable
Clueless

God sees you as someone who is:
Forgiven
Heroic
Complete in Him
Competent 
Clever

This truth is illustrated beautifully in 1st Peter 1:8.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

I have not achieved the reality of what God says about me in this verse, and my guess is that you haven’t either. That doesn’t stop God from boldly declaring that right this minute, you are: holy, priestly, unique and incredibly special. The truth that God sees the redeemed not as they are, but as what they are capable of becoming, is profound and should affect our lives in profound ways. This truth should cause us to live our lives in a radically different way. As holy and dearly loved children of the Living God we should be inclined to:

Strive to become what we have been declared~

We can respond to this reality in one of two ways: the first would be to intellectually process the truth with an attitude of thankfulness and move on. That attitude is a good place to begin but a terrible place to end. If we respond with just gratitude we may very well miss out on the whole point of Christian living. The understanding of how God chooses to see us should create in our hearts a holy impatience to be exactly what and who God says we are.

Our spirits should be overcome with a longing that drives us to “live up to what we have already attained” (Philippians 3:16). We live up to what we have attained by recognizing that there is absolutely nothing in our actions or character that cannot be changed with the assistance of God and then acting on that truth. Freedom begins and bondages are broken when we initiate the process of letting go of bad behaviors and replacing them with new ones. This is how we obey the command given in Philippians 2:12 to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The beauty of this process is that we aren’t left to figure it out alone.  God walks with us every step of the way.

Strive to see other people the way God sees them~

For most of us, the only thing in this world we view more negatively than ourselves is other people. We tend to see their motives as bad and their behavior questionable, whether we have proof of bad behavior or not.  Grasping the reality that God sees us as forgiven, special and dearly loved is one of the most freeing things in the world. It not only frees us from trying to earn God’s favor; it empowers us to see other people in a more positive light as we grasp the reality that He is working on them just as He’s working on us. As we learn to look at people through God’s lenses we are more inclined to become encouragers rather than critics and cheerleaders rather than naysayers.

Worship God with every aspect of our lives~

The Book of Romans is sometimes called Paul’s ultimate apologetic or defense of the gospel. He spends eleven long chapters explaining the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection. He goes into great detail for his readers explaining in no uncertain terms that we are all sinners who stand condemned before God. He goes on to explain that it was not God’s will to doom people to destruction but to offer salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as a gift available to anyone willing to take it. Paul gets to chapter twelve and he sums up in one verse the proper response to an eleven-chapter explanation of God’s offer of salvation:

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him~ NLT

 Our response to God’s goodness should be worship—and not just a halfhearted singing on Sunday morning kind of worship. Instead our worship should be a complete submission of our whole selves to God and His purposes. This kind of worship changes the way we do and view everything. That kind of wholehearted worship is the only truly proper response to the God who really sees you.

 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light~ Ephesians 5:8 

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Fixing our Character Crisis


When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11:3
Most people, regardless of political leanings, agree that the Western world faces a crisis of character. The crisis affects every aspect of society—from young men committing violent acts to an icky but true STD crisis among the elderly (Student British Medical Journal 2010). Confidence in authority is at an all-time low and people are fearful for the future. Everywhere we look it appears polite society is coming apart at the seams. Here are a few random statistics, all of which illustrate my point:

Every year, one in four American teenagers contracts a sexually transmitted disease. 

30 percent of all children born in the U.S have no father in their lives.

There were sixteen mass shootings in the U.S. in 2012. 

Dozens of educators in Atlanta, GA have been indicted for changing student test scores in an effort to earn higher pay for increased student performance.

53 percent of all children in the U.S are born to unmarried women.

Unfortunately, the church has not been immune to scandal and controversy. It seems that every week we hear of a Pastor who has been forced to step down because of fiscal or sexual impropriety. I could go on, but I won’t. It’s too discouraging and time-consuming for me to cover every aspect of the bad behavior epidemic we are facing.  

I am fully convinced that the aforementioned statistics are not really the problem we are facing. They are worrisome symptoms of much greater problems, and it’s time for all of us to start asking some serious questions such as:  

Why has bad behavior become so common and accepted?
Do we (born again believers) bear any responsibility in all of this? 
What, if anything, can be done to change the course of things?

The short answer is that many in our culture have chosen to forget that there is a God, or they have minimized His importance to the point of making Him irrelevant to their lives. In the process of forgetting God our society has, like the folks documented in Romans 1:21-32, shed the goodness and civility that is born out of a healthy fear of the Almighty.

There is more to our current crisis than just unbelievers acting like unbelievers. God has ordained the Church to be a restraining force in this world and if moral chaos is getting an upper hand, it’s probably time for the Church (you and me) to do some soul-searching and try to figure this mess out.

It would be grossly unfair to lay all of the blame for our current moral crisis at the feet of individual churches or Christians. Many Christians are trying to live out God’s commands to the best of their ability. That said, some within the Church have developed bad habits that are hindering our ability to be salt and light in the world. Today I will share three changes we can make within the Church that will make a difference.

We can drop the “You can’t judge me” attitude within the Church~

Through the years I have had some interesting conversations with professed Christians who are caught in serious sin. The details change but the conversation often goes something like this:

Joe Christian: I’ve been having an affair with __________________ and I want to leave my husband/wife/young kids to go make a life with __________________.

Me: How do you think God feels about you having an affair?

Joe Christian: I think God loves me and He wants me to be happy!

Me: God most definitely does love you but Exodus 20:14 is pretty clear, it says, “You shall not commit adultery.” Maybe you should think about that as you make this decision.

Joe Christian:  Jesus said you can’t judge me!
 
Matthew 7:1 is without question the most misunderstood and misapplied passage in all of Scripture. Jesus is not teaching that we are forbidden from making moral judgments about behavior. He is simply reminding us that we all reap what we sow and we tend to be treated in the same way we treat others. If you judge others by a standard that you are unwilling to live by, you should not be shocked when you find yourself unfairly judged. Contrary to popular opinion, the Bible teaches that there are times when we are actually called to make moral judgments. 1st Corinthians 5:11-12 clearly teaches that there is a place for judgment within the body of Christ:

 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.  What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.

Judgment should never be something we jump to, and it must always be tempered with mercy and fear of the Lord. People make mistakes and there should be ample room for forgiveness and restoration within the Church. But I also believe that for too long we have used grace as a shield against criticism and our freedom as a cover for sketchy behavior (1st Peter 2:16).

We can stop expecting non-Christians to act like Christians~

Somewhere in the distant past Christians decided that everybody, regardless of creed, should act like Christians and the results have been catastrophic. Our Churches are full of nominal believers who grade themselves on a curve and most unbelievers think that Christians just want to control everybody. The Bible is clear that our job is to convert the unbeliever, disciple the new believer and give God the time needed to lead them into changes that are pleasing to Him. The problem with insisting that people change before they convert is that we run the risk of producing well-behaved heathens who are puffed up with pride over their “righteous acts” and “good behavior”.

We can stop equating standards with legalism~

Legalism is the misguided notion that one must do things—usually religious things—to earn or deserve salvation. Contextually, legalism in the New Testament referred to teachers who insisted that new converts to Christianity add Jewish ceremonial law to faith in Jesus as a way to be “extra saved”.  I am completely opposed to legalism. People are saved through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). Period. That said, the Bible does encourage and even command Christians to live by clear standards of behavior (1st Thessalonians 4:3-8, Ephesians 5:3-15, Ephesians 5:29) and to stop sinning (1st Corinthians 15:33-34, 1st Peter 1:11, John 5:14). God’s intention for all believers is that they strive toward the ideal of holiness (1st Peter 1:13-15).

Contrary to current thinking, expecting professing Christians to be (for the most part) sexually pure, sober-minded, reasonably modest, free from profane speech, honest, level-headed, generous and concerned for others does not put them  “under the law.” Nor does it nullify grace. According to Titus 2:11-13 grace was given to us through salvation as tool so that we would have the power to say “no” to bad behavior. Grace was not given so that we could have an excuse to live just like our unsaved neighbors. I am not advocating that we all become “fruit inspectors” and begin picking apart the lives of our brothers and sisters. I am advocating a return to reason and clear Scriptural teaching on the subjects of grace and holiness.

~
I fear that for too long, too many of us have chosen to live our lives in the gray spaces of Christian teaching, boldly proclaiming our freedom from rules and human disapproval—all the while choosing to overlook the black and white that is clearly defined for us in Scripture. Freedom is not the problem. Freedom is a gift. It is how we choose to use that gift that can at times be problematic. How we as individual Christians choose to use our freedom at this critical time in human history will determine our ability to effectively turn the tide in the current character crisis. As free men and women we have a high and holy obligation to use our freedom in such a way that Christ is glorified and others find freedom from bondage.


I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts~ Psalm 119:45

Sunday, June 16, 2013

The Crux of Courage



Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go~ Joshua 1:9
Courage has fascinated me since childhood. It all started with peer pressure, lack of adequate supervision and an unhealthy interest in risk-taking. For many years I was the only girl in a family of boys. My brother and cousin were my closest companions for a good part of my growing-up years. Jason and Charley relished testosterone-fueled activities like pestering the neighbors’ watchdog, jumping off the roof, blowing up army men with fire crackers, and exploring the woods outside our Grandparents’ house. I learned early on that if I were going to keep up I would have to push past my comfort zone and muster up some courage. The fact that they would mock me mercilessly if I expressed fear of any suggested adventure helped me develop bravery (or perhaps stupidity) fairly quickly.   

My interest in the subject became a little more refined when I entered school and developed an interest in biographies about great men and women. Throughout my childhood and teen years I devoured books about Abraham Lincoln, Jane Adams, Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr., and Clara Barton, among others.  The stories of these brave and pioneering men and women ignited my imagination, inspired me, and were key to shaping my attitudes about morality and justice. These stories made me think and ask questions about the whole concept of courage. As a young girl I remember pondering questions such as:

Are people born brave? Or do they have to work at it?

Is boy courage different from girl courage? Or are people all brave in the same way? (I know this is a weird question, but I was a little girl surrounded by boys)

Can cowardly people suddenly become brave?

As I grew my questions became a little more complex:

Are boldness and courage the same thing?

What awakens courage in a person?

What makes one person behave in a way that is courageous when other people in the same situation behave in a way that is cowardly and spineless?

How does God define courage?


Recently I read a fantastic book that reignited my interest in the subject of courage, 7 Men and the Secret of Their Greatness, by Eric Metaxas explores the lives of seven men. Each of these men displayed courage by defying cultural and societal norms and surrendering themselves completely to God’s purposes.

The book got me thinking about the differences between how the world defines courage and how God defines courage. The world tends to see courage as boldness or daring. The worldly definition of bravery asserts that it is courageous to be loud, flamboyant and rebellious. Bravery is defined as self-promotion and by a willingness to oppose authority or tradition for the sake of opposing tradition and authority. Using this definition as the standard, celebrities such as Katie Perry, Dennis Rodman and Lady Gaga easily become the most courageous people in our culture.   

I believe that God sees the whole thing a bit differently. God’s definition of courage is more complex and much more difficult to define. It often involves self-sacrifice and actively shuns self-promotion. There are times when courage involves opposition to authority—as in Daniel chapter three when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego dared to resist the King when he commanded all the residents of Babylon to worship his statue. Other times, courage involves showing respect and even kindness to unjust and unstable authority—as it did with David and his dealings with Saul (1st Samuel 24).

 It would be impossible for me to define biblical courage in a single blog post, but I would like to share with you four observations I have made concerning God’s definition of courage.

Courage is the ability and willingness to say “no” to groupthink~

The very first occurrence of groupthink took place in Genesis chapter three when Eve ate the fruit and Adam (knowing it was wrong) went along with it. Humanity has been fighting the inclination to capitulate to the crowd mentality ever since. Historically, every great evil has had a witness and quite often the witness or witnesses chose to go along with public opinion rather than step up and run the risk of offending the herd. I have observed that the men and women whom God deems “courageous” (Moses, Daniel, Esther, Nehemiah, Joshua, etc.) are people who chose to think for themselves—not independently of God and His word, but independently of human opinion.

Courage is the ability to see the heart of the matter and then act accordingly~

When Rosa Parks made the decision to hold her own against inequality and injustice and stay in her seat on December 1, 1955, she was doing more than just refusing to move. She was acting on the understanding that if nothing was done, nothing would change; she decided that she would be the one to be a change-agent whatever the consequences might be.  Some people have an uncanny ability to “see” what the results of continuing to follow a course of action will be. The courageous among us act on our vision of the future.

Courage without concern for others will eventually become brutishness~

I am convinced that there is a difference between courage and boldness: true courage is born out of selflessness and authentic concern for others. Boldness sometimes looks like a lot like courage but it is primarily concerned with self-gratification and getting its own way, rather than the greater good. Boldness sometimes dresses itself in altruistic clothing, but the truth inevitably reveals itself. A movement that is rooted in boldness rather than courage will become cruel and brutal when opposed.

Authentic courage and moral wisdom cannot be separated~

The people and movements that have gone down in history as truly courageous and noble have all been rooted (whether they realized it or not) in a biblical/moral world-view. None of these people or movements were perfect but their causes have stood the test of time because they were going after the ideals and things that God values. If courage is not rooted in a value system that is established in eternal truth it will seek to control and repress rather than educate and empower and the cause will not stand the test of time.


Sometimes, we get caught up in the trap of believing that courage is about the big stuff, the Rosa Parks and David and Goliath moments in time. It’s true that it takes courage to stand strong in those moments; but I have found that real courage is developed and challenged in the little choices we make in life: like how and where we spend our money or how truthful we choose to be. Courage is choosing to be counter-cultural in the way you raise your kids or run your household. It takes courage to admit when your wrong, choose purity in a sex-crazed culture or to say “no” to materialism and greed and live within your means when everyone around you seems to making different choices. It’s making brave choices in the small stuff that prepares us for the big stuff. I am convinced that no one is born brave. Courage awakens when we choose to act courageously. 

 Well-done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness~ Matthew 25:21 

Monday, June 3, 2013

Guest Blogger: Danielle Price


I am currently out of town, so I invited my incredibly talented daughter to share some of her thoughts with us. –Lisa

If your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fires of hell. –Matthew 18:9

Last week, my mom discussed the dangers of growing acclimated to our world, with its glorification of sin and depravity. But we all enjoy entertainment, and to abstain from all TV, movies, music and books is nearly impossible (and, if taken to an extreme, detrimental). This week, I would like to share some of my thoughts on how to set biblically-based guidelines for the kinds of things we watch, read, and listen to.

Before I continue, let me say that I am fairly young, and I have little experience setting godly entertainment standards for children. I haven’t had to weed through the morass of children’s entertainment, pluck out a few gems, and set standards my kids will abide by. But as a young adult, I have had to decide for myself what things I want to put in my mind. I have had to set my own standards and abide by them no matter what.

When I set those standards, I went to the Bible first. Philippians 4:8 seemed a good verse to use as a guide. However, the first thing I noticed about that verse—and I believe you’ve noticed it too—is that it is open to quite a bit of interpretation. What does “true” mean? Does it mean “describes an event that actually happened, without fabrication,” or does it mean “expresses views in accordance with God’s truth”? “Pure” could mean “free from filth,” or it could mean “expresses a godly view of filth.” “Excellent or praiseworthy” might mean anything from “won an Oscar” to “had a good production editor” to “my friend Kevin said it was awesome.”

With all those different directions to follow, it seems a few biblically-based filters might be in order.

Content

The first thing to ask when looking at entertainment should be the same as what you ask about a mystery dish at a potluck: “What’s in it?” For movies, TV shows, and music, Pluggedin.com is an excellent resource. Their reviewers watch movies and TV shows and listen to music, all the while keeping tabs on instances of sexual content, violence, profanity, spiritual (both pro- and anti-Christian) and any other potentially negative content, like gross-outs and disrespect of authority. It might seem odd to see “Several women wear low-cut tops” listed as sexual content, but the reviewers list everything that might be considered objectionable and allow readers to decide for themselves what they want to endure. The conclusion of each review summarizes the reviewer's reaction to the movie. 

Sadly, I have not found a comparable review site for books. A good alternative is to visit sites like Amazon.com and Goodreads.com, and browse the one- and two-star reviews on a book you are thinking about reading. (Most spoilers are marked as such, so they can be avoided.) Many of the longer reviews list the reviewer’s reasons for disliking it; and with a little digging, it is possible to piece together a picture of the book’s content. If a one-star review criticizes the author’s fondness for gore, or her negative view of religion, or the fact that the book romanticizes an extramarital affair, then you might want to skip it.

Context

Once you know what’s in a movie or book or TV show, the next thing to investigate is why it is there. A violent movie might not glorify violence, and a movie with prostitutes might not glorify prostitution.

For example: Taken (PG-13) features violent shootouts, scantily-clad prostitutes (many of whom are clearly on drugs) a handful of swear words, a morbidly obese sheik who buys prostitutes by the dozen, and a man who tricks young women into a life of prostitution by offering to split a cab with them. Yet it is nothing if not moral. It follows Bryan Mills, a former CIA operative, who journeys to France when his daughter is kidnapped by an Albanian prostitution ring. The drug-addled prostitutes are abused and imprisoned against their will, and kept drugged to make them more compliant; the “spotter” who tricks women into the prostitution ring is held in contempt; and the sheik is presented as an object of disgust. (He also has very little screen time.) Threaded through all this is the inspiring story of a father’s love for his daughter—a love that compels him to risk everything for her. Is Taken for everyone? No, but if I met a person who enjoys thrillers, I would certainly recommend it.  

On the other hand, a story that features Christian characters may not portray Christianity in a positive light. There are many such movies out there, none of which I have seen but all of which earned a decided thumbs-down from Plugged In: Saved! (PG-13) portrays Christians as judgmental hypocrites; and Easy A (PG-13) features a sanctimonious Christian girl as the villain. Contrast those movies with Because of Winn-Dixie (PG) which presents faith in God as normal and even healthy; and The Gospel (PG), a modern retelling of the Prodigal Son parable where Christians are flawed people working for the ultimate good of other flawed people.

This next part should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: If a movie, book, TV show, or CD portrays negative content in a positive light, it should be avoided. Movies like The Hangover, shows like Family Guy, and artists like Lil’ Wayne should not be consumed as a regular part of a Christian’s entertainment diet. Why would you want to watch a movie or listen to a song glorifying the very things Jesus died to cleanse you of?

Effect on You

This is the most subjective filter of all, and as such requires the most discernment. Before setting standards for your entertainment choices, you should know yourself. What are your weaknesses? Do you struggle with lust or tendencies toward revenge? Are you trying to give up a bad habit, like swearing or smoking? And don’t say you’re a strong believer with no weaknesses. Everyone has weaknesses, and denying them only makes them worse.

Once you know your weaknesses, avoid entertainment choices that glorify or exacerbate them. Burn Notice is an excellent example. The story of a former spy who tries to piece his life back together while using his skills to help ordinary people, it does have a decent moral center. It also features quite a few bikini-clad beach beauties, always shown in passing, though a female character often dons a bikini of her own. (I suspect the producers set the show in Miami for that very reason.) If you do not struggle with lust, Burn Notice could be harmless fun. If you do struggle with lust, you might want to find another show to watch.

Another thing to keep in mind is worldview. This one is trickier, because it is often difficult to pin down. Most books and shows don’t carry a title card announcing a Judeo-Christian, postmodern, hedonistic, or humanistic worldview (though that might be helpful). However, it is possible to guess the worldview based on how characters solve problems, interact with one another, and the like. Do people sleep around with few, if any, consequences? The worldview is almost certainly hedonistic. Do even the “good guys” do terrible things without regret? You probably have a postmodern show on your hands. Are characters shown as capable of perfecting themselves without God? The writer is probably a humanist. Are wrongs righted, even at great personal cost, while those who willfully do wrong are shown as deserving punishment? The worldview is most likely Judeo-Christian, at least in part.

Now, here’s the big question: Should Christians enjoy entertainment that does not present a Judeo-Christian worldview?

For my answer, I refer to Acts 15: 23-29. Here, Paul settles a dispute between Jewish and Gentile believers over whether the latter should be circumcised by instructing them to “abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from strangled meat, and from sexual immorality.” Now, sexual immorality is clearly wrong, but why tell them to avoid eating meat sacrificed to idols? And why put that restriction on Gentile believers, but say nothing of it to Jewish believers? 

To understand why Paul told them to abstain from those things, a little context is in order. In those days, meat was often left in the temple of a pagan god or goddess as a sacrifice. At the end of the day, the meat was collected by the priests and, since they couldn’t eat all of that meat themselves, sold in the market at a discount. Paul knew that idols had no power over the meat—the idol was nothing but dead stone, and the meat was just meat. Gentile believers, however, came from a culture where those idols were revered as all-powerful, all-knowing deities. Steeped as they were in that reverence for idols, it may have been difficult for them to abandon that reverence when eating meat sacrificed to one. Even though they worshipped God, it could not have been easy for them to let go of all the negative trappings of their pagan culture. Eating meat sacrificed to a pagan god could have been a Gentile believer’s first step toward backsliding.

I believe that worldviews work much the same way. What you can stand depends on your background, your personality, and your weaknesses. Keep all this in mind as you set standards for entertainment—and check those standards against the Word. If you come across something you’re not sure of, ask a friend, parent, or pastor what they think.

Navigating the world of entertainment in our era isn’t easy, and it never will be. But if you set godly standards and stick to them, you should be able to find entertainment you can enjoy with a clean conscience.  

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.—Philippians 4:8