Elephants in Our Midst series: Part 1 Media and Entertainment

A baby elephant can weigh up to 250 lbs. It will stand somewhere around 3 feet tall as an infant and consume around 3 gallons of milk a day. When it grows up, a female can weigh up to 6250 lbs (3.25 tons!). If it is male it will weigh somewhere around 12,500 lbs (6.5 tons!!) There is a reason that the Elephant is the largest living land animal. Elephants are huge!
Imagine if you were to go on a safari hunting for what hunters call "big game". You head off to Africa to bag yourself one of the big cats or one of the larger animals like a rhino or an alligator. For most of us that would be a pretty crazy, scary, or exhilarating experience.
Now imagine that you were out hunting and you wandered into the middle of elephant grazing grounds. Suppose your partner decided to put up camp in the middle of the elephant grazing grounds for the night. Upon your objection to the obvious danger of being smooshed in a random stampede or angry bull elephant feeling threatened by your presence, your partner says to you that it's not a problem, just pretend the elephants aren't there and they will leave you alone!
How would you feel about that?
Assuming there's twenty to thirty elephant's together in a herd, that's an awful lot of elephant to ignore and pretend aren't present.
Well we do that very thing in our Christian walk. There are some very big elephants in our midst, and we often pretend they aren't present or that they aren't important to deal with. Elephants are a big deal and tonight we are going to start a three-week series identifying three of the largest elephants in our midst. But we need to move beyond just identifying them; we need to plan how to eradicate the elephants from our midst.

First Elephant: Media and Entertainment.
The Bibles guidance:

Look at Romans 12:9-11.
Over the next several days, I will be addressing three elephants that are wreaking havoc in our midst as Christians. Today, I want to talk about Media and entertainment that is counter to the work of God through Christ in our lives.
Romans 12:9 says "Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good."

God did a work in us. He sacrificed His son Jesus Christ to accomplish it. Jesus said above all, to love God with all your heart , soul , mind and strength (Luke 10:27). Most people quote Jesus saying the next part, "And love your neighbor as yourself." but they dismiss the first part. People say I am a nice person and I love others, but at the same time, these people turn their back on loving God fully by indulging in video games and watching movies or entertainment that is totally counter to the Work he accomplished. Can someone tell me how a horror movie that celebrates evil is not offensive to God? Can someone tell me how it is not evil?

Can someone please tell me why they think a bloody game of killing and violence and sometimes even sex is not offensive to God?

Can someone tell me how Ultimate fighting championships or WWE are pleasing to God?

again, Romans 12:9 says "Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good."

If we're are willing to be honest with God, these things are attractive to us because they gratify our fleshly desires. God says, "don't do that."

A great teacher has said, "Asking if Christians can do 'this or that', is always the wrong question. The question should always be, 'How can I please God?'"

Just think on it.

Come back tomorrow for part two: What the world says about it and how we should be renewed in our thinking.

With you for His glory