Why? Well, because we have forgotten how to do things with each other that don't include sitting in front of a movie or TV screen. It's called entertainment. Artificial entertainment in the sense that it is manufactured and reproduced on a screen. We all sit and watch the same thing, eat popcorn and laugh or cry about the manufactured images we see on the screen.
I think there is a better way to be a family. I'm not saying all movies are evil, even though some probably fall into that category, but a steady diet of manufactured electronic entertainment is not good for us. It robs us of real, one on one time, looking in each others face, touching each other physically and emotionally. I replaces the reality of human interaction on a deeper level than entertainment we devour today.
Our appetites are ravenous for electronic entertainment and I personally know this to be true since this week of fasting. Attitudes get real cranky, biting each other verbally, boredom sets in, listlessness and plain old laziness. We need a touch from God, a life giving transfusion into our souls. It is shameful how attached we have become to movies and electronic entertainment. Even, I would venture to say, bordering on adulterous.
We have replaced God with The TV screen. What comes off that screen is recited afterwards for a long time. Remember the commercials songs you were fed as a child. You still remember them don't you? Reciting lines from movies is next. My kids can almost tell you word for word what those movies said and the physical activity that goes with them. They know the names of the characters and how they dress and talk. How well do they remember the Bible verse we talked about or the stories we read last week?
Now there is a lot to say about all this but I am experiencing first hand the repercussions of a movie-less week and thinking we really need to change some things around here. We put out DVD's and VHS tapes (yes, we still have some of those things) into storage. It helps to not be tempted by them sitting around for us to lust after.
How will this experiment turn out? I'm not sure yet, but I do know that we need to address the cravings and the addictions we have for electronic stimuli. The rest we will see as we seek God for a balance or negation of what we have been doing. We need to repent from the addiction and trust God will show us what to do from there.
How about you?
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