The Great God
Entertainment
by A.W. Tozer
A German philosopher many years
ago said something to the effect that the more a man has in his own heart the
less he will require from the outside; excessive need for support from without
is proof of the bankruptcy of the inner man.
If this is true (and I believe
it is) then the present inordinate attachment to every form of entertainment is
evidence that the inner life of modem man is in serious decline. The average man
has no central core of moral assurance, no spring within his own breast, no
inner strength to place him above the need for repeated psychological shots to
give him the courage to go on living. He has become a parasite on the world,
drawing his life from his environment, unable to live a day apart from the
stimulation which society affords him.
Schleiermacher held that the
feeling of dependence lies at the root of all religious worship, and that
however high the spiritual life might rise it must always begin with a deep
sense of a great need which only God could satisfy.
If this sense of need and a
feeling of dependence are at the root of natural religion it is not hard to see
why the great god Entertainment is so ardently worshiped by so many. For there
are millions who cannot live without amusement; life without some form of
entertainment for them is simply intolerable; they look forward to the blessed
relief afforded by professional entertainers and other forms of psychological
narcotics as a dope addict looks to his daily shot of heroin. Without them they
could not summon courage to face existence.
No one with common human
feeling will object to the simple pleasures of life, nor to such harmless forms
of entertainment as may help to relax the nerves and refresh the mind exhausted
by toil. Such things if used with discretion may be a blessing along the way.
That is one thing.
The all-out devotion to entertainment as a major activity for which and by which
men live is definitely something else again.
The abuse of a harmless thing is the essence of sin. The growth of the amusement phase of human life to such fantastic proportions is a portent, a threat to the souls of modern men. It has been built into a multimillion dollar racket with greater power over human minds and human character than any other educational influence on earth.
And the ominous thing is that
its power is almost exclusively evil, rotting the inner life, crowding out the
long eternal thoughts which would fill the souls of men if they were but worthy
to entertain them. And the whole thing has grown into a veritable religion which
holds its devotees with a strange fascination, and a religion, incidentally,
against which it is now dangerous to speak.
For centuries the Church stood solidly against every form of worldly entertainment, recognizing it for what it was—a device for wasting time, a refuge from the disturbing voice of conscience, a scheme to divert attention from moral accountability.
For this she got herself abused roundly by the sons of this world. But of late she has become tired of the abuse and has given over the struggle. She appears to have decided that if she cannot conquer the great god Entertainment she may as well join forces with him and make what use she can of his powers.
So today we have the
astonishing spectacle of millions of dollars being poured into the unholy job of
providing earthly entertainment for the so-called sons of heaven. Religious
entertainment is in many places rapidly crowding out the serious things of God.
Many churches these days have become little more than poor theaters where
fifth-rate "producers" peddle their shoddy wares with the full
approval of evangelical leaders who can even quote a holy text in defense of
their delinquency.
And hardly a man dares raise his voice against it.
The great god Entertainment amuses his devotees mainly by telling them stories. The love of stories, which is a characteristic of childhood, has taken fast hold of the minds of the retarded saints of our day, so much so that not a few persons manage to make a comfortable living by spinning yarns and serving them up in various disguises to church people.
What is natural and beautiful
in a child may be shocking when it persists into adulthood, and more so when it
appears in the sanctuary and seeks to pass for true religion.
Is it not a strange thing and a
wonder that, with the shadow of atomic destruction hanging over the world and
with the coming of Christ drawing near, the professed followers of the Lord
should be giving themselves up to religious amusements? That in an hour when
mature saints are so desperately needed vast numbers of believers should revert
to spiritual childhood and clamor for religious toys?
"Remember, 0 Lord, what
is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. . . . The crown is fallen
from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned !
For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim" AMEN. AMEN.
This article is placed online in accordance with the U.S. Copyright " Fair Use " clause. This material is exclusively "...for nonprofit educational purposes..." Taken from the book The Root of the Righteous by A.W.Tozer. ©1955, by Christian Publications.
