I ran across the following quote on another blog today… thought provoking stuff.
I believe that amusements were created by the devil to take the minds of dying men off of their dying. I believe that entertainment and amusements are the work of the enemy to keep dying men from knowing they’re dying and to keep men who are enemies of God from remembering they are enemies. . . . Fallen human nature plus the work of the devil have given us something to keep us thinking harmless thoughts and pleasant thoughts in order that we might not settle the matter of eternal soul welfare. The man who comes home at night, God in heaven knows, and nobody else does, that just three weeks away is a coronary thrombosis that will drop him on the sidewalk. God knows it and he doesn’t and his family doesn’t. If he knew it, he’d be calling in the preacher and reading his Bible and getting straight with God. And why isn’t he going to call anybody and get right with God? Too many funny things on the radio, too many funny things on T.V., too many Life magazines, too many comic strips, too many things that he can do! Too many bowling clubs, too many theaters, too many night ball-games, too much everything to take his mind off the fact that his troubles are real and that the agitation and disharmony and discord within him are the result of his fall and his sin. . . . Now if that’s radicalism, you can quote me, I don’t care. I believe that.
— A.W. Tozer
What do you think? Is there much truth in this? How should whatever truth this quote embodies be implemented in our lives?
This is, of course, a generalization and I resent all of them. In fact the entire display lumps all folks into one grouping, which is quite the opposite of Jesus’ love, which is revealed individually, and is individual in nature.
At best, he seems to indicate that it’s the guy who is seeking entertainment who has some obligation to, rather, seek right-standing with God. It mentions nothing of the body of Christ reaching out to the lost.
His dissertation reminds me of the Emails for some high and noble cause, which tell me that IF I care, I’ll forward it to umpteen others, and if I don’t, it means I don’t care.
I routinely delete them all.
So is Tozer not opposed to day games? Does that mean he was a Cubs fan?
It makes one wonder what he believed life was about prior to the fall. And is there a possibility that “amusements” properly understood and balanced in life might point to what awaits us after the resurrection?
Great point, Wes… being a Cubs fan might explain a bit of the depressing nature of the quote… 🙂
Seriously though, I think there’s a bit of truth in this quote. I certainly wouldn’t agree with all of it… I don’t think entertainment in and of itself is of Satan. It is, however, almost undoubtedly a tool he uses… just keeping us so busy that we don’t have time for God.
That’s something we all need to guard against… whether due to over-indulgence in entertainment or overcommitment in ministry.
I believe Satan will use any and everything hoping that we will cling to something as an idol rather than the only One worthy of worship. If entertainment works, Satan has done his work. For some it may just be entertainment and it will never get in the way of a walk worthy of the calling placed upon that individual’s life, but for many it will definitely be the drug/idol of choice or just one of many drugs/idols of choice.