“Turn off the television. It is not necessary for relevance. And it is a deadly place to rest the mind. Its pervasive banality, sexual innuendo, and God-ignoring values have no ennobling effects on the preacher’s soul. It kills the spirit. It drives God away. It quenches prayer. It blanks out the Bible. It cheapens the soul. It destroys spiritual power. It defiles almost everything. I have taught and preached for twenty years now and never owned a television. It is unnecessary for most of you, and it is spiritually deadly for all of you.”
–John Piper, “Preaching as Worship: Meditations on Expository Exultation” (Trinity Journal 16 [1995]: 29-45): 44.
I agree…I have a lot of friends who watch a lot of movies and watch a lot of TV and justify their laziness by saying they are staying up with the culture. TV and movies are entertaining and do give a glimpse into pop culture but it is not the best way to “study” culture. Media in general can supplement our understanding of culture but there is a much better way to discover what the thoughts and motives the hopes and fears of the culture around us…engage! Reading the paper or watching the news or a movie can be good every once in a while to inform our understanding but the absolute best thing we can do to know the culture is through conversation and sharing our lives with our neighbors. Amazing that Jesus’ teaching on our neighbor is still the best way to understand culture. He said to love your neighbor as yourself. He answered the question, “Who is my neighbor?” by telling the story of the Good Samaritan. Love your neighbor and get involved in your community. Have people over to your house. Spend time in theirs. This is the best way to understand the culture around us. Stop watching TV and start living life!
Thanks for this great post.
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