Entertainment

Here are the criteria for choosing any entertainment: Including books, music, television, and movies. It's in the Bible, Philippians 4:8, TLB. "And now, brothers, as I close this letter, let me say this one more thing: Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about."

Avoid inappropriate activities. It's in the Bible, Psalm 101:3, TLB. "Help me to refuse the low and vulgar things; help me to abhor all crooked deals of every kind, to have no part in them."

You cannot enjoy many of the entertainment pleasures this world offers and still be a friend of God. It's in the Bible, James 4:4, TLB. "You are like an unfaithful wife who loves her husband's enemies. Don’t you realize that making friends with God's enemies—the evil pleasures of this world—makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy the evil pleasure of the unsaved world, you cannot also be a friend of God."

What are some of the evil pleasures of the world? It's in the Bible, Galatians 5:19-21, TLB. "But when you follow your own wrong inclinations your lives will produce evil results: impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, spiritism (that is, encouraging the activity of demons), hatred and fighting, … murder, drunkenness, wild parties, and all that sort of thing. Let me tell you again as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God."

The definition of worldly pleasures and entertainment expands: It's in the Bible, I John 2:15-17, TLB. "Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love these things you show that you do not really love God; for all these worldly things, these evil desires—the craze for sex, the ambition to buy everything that appeals to you, and the pride that comes from wealth and importance—these are not from God. They are from this evil world itself. And this world is fading away, and these evil, forbidden things will go with it, but whoever keeps doing the will of God will live forever."

Everything we do should be done in harmony with the name of Christ. It's in the Bible, Colossians 3:17, NIV. "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

(c) 2024 Banning Seventh-day Adventist Church.