Christian entertainment is a most important part of the
issues facing Christians today. Our youth need good and healthy forms of
entertainment. There are complex questions to deal with. Does Christian entertainment have a high moral standard to
maintain? Can Christians keep a pure reputation to pursue a career in the
entertainment media? Pray for Christian discernment in a mass media culture to
gain valuable insights on how to live a spiritual life in a global, high-tech information
and entertainment culture. It is all about forming correct Christian values and
ideals in the media age. Christians must celebrate the saving power of Christ
in all spheres of life including the entertainment media.
Public opinion and culture is hugely shaped, expressed,
controlled and dominated by the global communication media conglomerate. Christian
discernment observes our mass media culture with the eyes and ears of Christ to
ascertain the real values that control our cultural environment. It has the innate
power to discern how the media is actively used to shape our lives. What truly inspires
our sensibilities and moral sense? Which kind of comedy amuses us to the point
of healthy laughter? What makes a drama particularly appealing to our artistic and
aesthetic senses? Which new film or refreshing sound of music awakens us to admiration,
awe and wonder?
The media provides a constant and steady stream of news, information
and entertainment. Our senses are avidly bombarded by sensational news and a
vast variety of conflicting opinions and views, to highlight the vivid images, graphic
sights and high-tech sounds on the computer, internet, radio and television,
and the printed newspaper, magazines and books that keeps us dramatically up-to-date.
Today, the staggering influence of mass media like the internet and television is
absolutely mind-boggling as it constantly conveys a continually relentless stream
of information and entertainment instantaneously and simultaneously to people around
the globe.
Critical awareness analyzes media content. Christian
discernment requires silence and solitude in our life, peace and quiet amid the
daily routines, precious moments to listen to God and to be creative in our
media use, an integral part of our whole lives. A culture is a mutually shared
view, a joint collaboration of values, ideas and ideals. Songs, stories, dramas
and news highlight the issues and conflicts of our culture. This is a selective
interpretation of reality, not a transparent view of reality. Mass media reflects
our culture socially, politically and culturally.
Critical awareness generates a critical appreciation of media
content to enrich our lives and culture. Look for quality content that inspires
and educates society. Be active users, alert and conscious of how the media subtly
integrates into our lives. Mass media has the great potential to enrich our
lives. Christians must find ways to improve media content effectively. Critical
awareness of mass media content deepens our perception of media culture. It
allows us to communicate better in our daily lives. As we reflect on the
communication process of the mass media, critical awareness highlights the basic
defects and deficiencies of communication. Christian discernment sees the numerous
faults and flaws of the media with wide-open eyes.
Genuine communication builds up a common understanding in
which great values and ideals are shared with a courageous and fearless
dedication to truth. It gives us the power to agree or disagree in an
atmosphere of bonhomie, camaraderie and co-operation. Our disagreements are safely
cocooned within a framework of mutual respect and understanding. Communication celebrates
human dignity and equality for all. At the heart of communication is the true willingness
to listen more to what is not said than to what is actually said. This is the
art of great communication that has the power to move hearts.
A contemplative spirit integrates critical awareness into
daily Christian living. It opens our life to the power of prayer, a glorious
testimony and powerful witness to the work of God in our lives. It helps us to see
with Christ's eyes and hear with Christ's ears, as we pray for justice and forgiveness,
mercy and peace in the world. The media educates us to see the dignity and
beauty of the world, with inspiring stories of selfless courage and bravery, using
pictures, videos and films to heighten our understanding of the human heart.
Christians in the entertainment media are witnesses
to the "Good News" of Christ, torch-bearers to shine His light upon the
world. The love of Christ transforms
the lives of people daily. Christian discernment in a media culture
allows us
to see what is truly valuable in life, endows us with a Christ-like love
and deep-sighted
reverence for our honorable culture under the true standard of Christ.
Raise
the banner for Christ and His cause!
© Miriam Jacob
Saturday, February 8, 2014
CREATIVITY, FOR GOD’S SAKE
Creativity brings our vivid imaginative ideas into the bright
light of reality. Imagination gives us ideas but if we do not transform them
into reality, we are not creative. Creativity brings a new idea into existence
in a mind-revealing experience of deeply heightened awareness and
consciousness.
Innovation implements an idea. For
innovation to flourish, we must create an atmosphere that fosters creativity.
Innovation is a special combination of invention and insight, a mutual exchange
of knowledge and ideas.
Creativity is the ability to perceive the
world in brand new ways, to bring hidden patterns into existence and to make
brilliant new connections.We live in the sparkling new age of creativity, with
the high-tech information age of knowledge scientists and brilliant conceptual
age of creators and artists. All people are naturally creative.
Creativity is a skill that can be
developed. It starts with a fount of knowledge, as we strive to learn a
particular discipline, and to master a unique way of thinking. Creativity
follows its own set of rules. We are creations of God.
Creativity is the God-force speaking
through us. This is creativity for God’s sake. Creativity is God's special gift
to us and we honor our Creator when we use this great God-given gift for His
glory. Creativity requires the innate courage and determination to throw
certainties to the wind and launch out into the strange unknown.
Creativity is that rare combination that
results in amazing new ideas and daring, mind-boggling innovations. We need to
reach deep down into our hearts to give shape to a series of brand new ideas.
There can be no creativity with formal constraints and restraints hedging us
in. We need to have the freedom to break out of our shells and create new
worlds to sing in.
To be creative, we must break out of
previously established patterns to view things in an entirely new and totally
different light. Creativity is the heart and soul of the truly enlightened
scholar. When you get a hunch about what to create, that is creativity speaking
to you.
The fields of imagination must be very
carefully cultivated and harvested. The fires of invention must be tended with
temperate caution. The fear of going wrong can be the graveyard of creativity.
Creativity constantly invents and
re-invents itself in a dazzling blaze of glory. Creativity is a beautiful
vision about to be born. The creative act of originality is the seed of true
creativity.
Christians use the power of a sanctified
imagination to enhance their creativity. The Holy Spirit sanctifies our
imagination and inspires us to create new things in our minds and to notice
similarities between things that are apparently dissimilar. The imagination
helps us to perceive what our senses are not aware of. With the power of our
imagination, we are able to see the reality that lies beyond the senses.
Every new invention started with an idea.
The inventor used familiar ideas to create a new thing that did not exist
before. Every talent comes from God, and when we create things, we prove beyond
the shadow of a doubt that we were made in the image of our Creator.
The cleansed and sanctified imagination of
a Christian has the power to perceive spiritual things in the natural world.
Jesus Christ has amazing powers of spiritual penetration and moral sensitivity.
The Christian, who is inspired by the Holy Spirit, has a purified and
Spirit-controlled imagination, divinely blessed with the gift of seeing, and
the supernatural power to peer beyond the veil and see the holy and eternal
things that God, in His great mercy, allows to be revealed to man.
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