What's a media fast? What about the educational use of inappropriate movies in public schools?
Q: What is a media fast?
A: Technically a "fast" is when you go without something, primarily food, in order to seek God and humble yourself. Christians have often fasted from food as a discipline to draw nearer to God and to show a seriousness when seeking the Lord in prayer.
Our challenge is to encourage a "media fast" which means to go without certain media for an extended period of time in order to humble yourself, seek God, and help your heart to clear from many of the media "toxins" that can distract us from God or grieve His heart. Often times, people who go on a media fast begin to realize the addiction they have to media and the impact is has on their life. But the idea is not just to fast from media for a couple of weeks only to binge on media again.
We want to encourage a generation to become "resensitized" to things that they have been desensitized towards in media and beginning to develop convictions about our media choices and habits. Over all we not only need to scale back on the amount of media we consume everyday but also be very cautious about the limited media we do consume. We need wisdom not necessarily rules and our relationship with God should be more important than entertainment which is often profane, godless, and immature.
Media often deceives us into thinking we are living real life but it is often a counterfeit to the life that God really wants us to live. Jesus said... "The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life---life in all its fullness" (John 10:10).
Q: What do you think about educational use of movies in public schools that may be inappropriate?
A: I used to be a full time youth pastor and I would be shocked to hear what movies were being shown to students and many times they was not even under the guise of "education". A "PG" movie indicates the need for Parental Guidance and a teacher is not an appropriate surrogate for the student. The audacity of schools allowing PG-13 and even R rated movies is not beyond my comprehension but rather indicative of where our culture is at.
The problem lies in a society that doesn't agree on what is "inappropriate" and worse yet does not agree in such a thing as "inappropriate". The post modern view of relativism has blurred any lines of right vs. wrong. Many in our generation want to do away with truth and ultimately with God. Neither truth nor God are going away based on the vote of the majority or the veto of a single person. Jesus said, "...I am the truth..." and a person who follows Jesus must also be a follower of truth.
I don't believe schools should be using movies that are in the least questionable, but that is merely one issue I have with the government education system today. Technically they should not be allowed to use a PG film without specific permission from parents. Unfortunately there are too few parents who are concerned about inappropriate media at home much less a questionable movie on occasion in school.
"There has been enough time for you to be teachers---yet you still need someone to teach you the first lessons of God's message. Instead of eating solid food, you still have to drink milk. Anyone who has to drink milk is still a child, without any experience in the matter of right and wrong. Solid food, on the other hand, is for adults, who through practice are able to distinguish between good and evil." (Hebrews 5:12-14 GNB)
Q: What is a media fast?
A: Technically a "fast" is when you go without something, primarily food, in order to seek God and humble yourself. Christians have often fasted from food as a discipline to draw nearer to God and to show a seriousness when seeking the Lord in prayer.
Our challenge is to encourage a "media fast" which means to go without certain media for an extended period of time in order to humble yourself, seek God, and help your heart to clear from many of the media "toxins" that can distract us from God or grieve His heart. Often times, people who go on a media fast begin to realize the addiction they have to media and the impact is has on their life. But the idea is not just to fast from media for a couple of weeks only to binge on media again.
We want to encourage a generation to become "resensitized" to things that they have been desensitized towards in media and beginning to develop convictions about our media choices and habits. Over all we not only need to scale back on the amount of media we consume everyday but also be very cautious about the limited media we do consume. We need wisdom not necessarily rules and our relationship with God should be more important than entertainment which is often profane, godless, and immature.
Media often deceives us into thinking we are living real life but it is often a counterfeit to the life that God really wants us to live. Jesus said... "The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life---life in all its fullness" (John 10:10).
Q: What do you think about educational use of movies in public schools that may be inappropriate?
A: I used to be a full time youth pastor and I would be shocked to hear what movies were being shown to students and many times they was not even under the guise of "education". A "PG" movie indicates the need for Parental Guidance and a teacher is not an appropriate surrogate for the student. The audacity of schools allowing PG-13 and even R rated movies is not beyond my comprehension but rather indicative of where our culture is at.
The problem lies in a society that doesn't agree on what is "inappropriate" and worse yet does not agree in such a thing as "inappropriate". The post modern view of relativism has blurred any lines of right vs. wrong. Many in our generation want to do away with truth and ultimately with God. Neither truth nor God are going away based on the vote of the majority or the veto of a single person. Jesus said, "...I am the truth..." and a person who follows Jesus must also be a follower of truth.
I don't believe schools should be using movies that are in the least questionable, but that is merely one issue I have with the government education system today. Technically they should not be allowed to use a PG film without specific permission from parents. Unfortunately there are too few parents who are concerned about inappropriate media at home much less a questionable movie on occasion in school.
"There has been enough time for you to be teachers---yet you still need someone to teach you the first lessons of God's message. Instead of eating solid food, you still have to drink milk. Anyone who has to drink milk is still a child, without any experience in the matter of right and wrong. Solid food, on the other hand, is for adults, who through practice are able to distinguish between good and evil." (Hebrews 5:12-14 GNB)
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