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Upright Downtime: Making Wise Choices about Entertainment
Living in a society that pursues and worships pleasure, believers today often struggle with a right view of entertainment. How much time should entertainment consume? What types of entertainment may a Christian enjoy? Some in the world simply withdraw from all forms of entertainment, while others refuse to admit any need for moral restraint. How should a believer react to these extremes? Throughout Scripture, God provides principles by which we can weigh the value of entertainment in every form. Upright Downtime distills these truths for practical understanding and application, offering a biblical, balanced response to the pleasure-loving world we live in.
116 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2008
23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 16, 2016
Este es un tremendo libro que te ayudará a reflexionar sobre el lugar de diversión y entretenimiento en tu vida. Dios hizo todas las cosas e incluyó diversión y placer lo cual debe buscarse en Su sabiduría. Este libro contiene muy buenas guías para aprender a discernir sobre diversión.
May 24, 2025
This book provides a “basic pattern of entertainment analysis” that is thought provoking and helpful. The author provides an explanation of a list of principles, examines wrong philosophies of approaches to entertainment and then gives a test case. I found the book very helpful for thinking about entertainment and any issue that requires discernment
November 10, 2012
Great book and short enough that everyone should read it. Hand helpfully analyzes the role of entertainment in the Christian life. One of the things I really liked is that because he works so hard at being biblically founded, the book challenges different people on different issues. In other words, rather than making assumptions about what you need to be corrected on, Hand is presenting what the Bible has to say and forcing the reader to make honest applications. I thought it was helpful to recognize that relaxing / entertainment is a legitimate thing and that Scripture tells us we need to stop and relax sometimes. Of the books I've read on media and entertainment, I thought this was one of the best concise presentations of the biblical data. I also appreciated that Hand didn't just immediately go into Postmanesque Media Ecology, which is what most of the media / entertainment books do. While we can have a debate about the merits or demerits of Postman's view, we have to all concede that it isn't as certain as the biblical data, and I would much rather start with that.
A few notes:
4 - def of entertainment: "any action that is calculated to provide diversion, pleasure, interest, and amusement."
8 - since entertainment is what we do for pleasure, it reveals a great deal about our natures.
10 - four traps for entertainment: addiction, distraction, escapism, and contradiction of the truth.
21 - biblical criteria for entertainment: pursue conformity to Christ, approve beauty and excellence, guard personal contentment, reject earthly and sensual domination, test the means and reality of knowledge, maintain extensive personal labor, retain scripturally directed and sensible priorities, have a godly purposefulness in activity, exclude all that defiles purity, build edifying relationships, exhibit discerning wisdom and hold fast to truth.
23 - "we are conformists by nature.... We must imitate. Each generation faces the same desire to be differentt, to do its own thing, to be rugged individualists—by looking exactly like everyone else in its generation. Children wish to be unique by wearing the same clothes that their peers are wearing.... The only question concerns WHAT one will imitate."
39 - "rest is as much a biblical concept as work. Enjoying God by observing His creation and reveling in the pleasure that comes from His hand are righteous pursuits."
42 - in addressing the issue of a person's "not being bothered" by the sin he sees in the movie, Wayne A. Wilson notes that the more important question to ask is 'should this bother me? ... A cold heart is not a reliable standard by which to live.'"
48 - grab the BBC dedication statement as an illustration
60 - Scripture never condemns our desire for relaxation. In fact, the desire corresponds to the biblical example of God resting.
61 - look at the essential vs. accidental distinction with the image of God.
64 - many aspects of creation reflect God's intention to bring pleasure to man.
66-69 - good survey of BT data on God's pleasure in created things and even taking pleasure in man's creative acts.
58-78 - helpful analysis of the biblical data, demonstrating that Scripture speaks of entertainment positively, negatively, and sometimes without clear evaluation in either direction.
81 - even if we have differences of opinion on what specific forms of entertainment are acceptable, one option that simply won't work is to say everything is acceptable.
*88 - great quote - we tend to blame our problems on a single cause rather than taking responsibility for goes on in our lives or the people we influence.
*89-90 - great quote at end of the page.
*97 - there are unanswered questions in why God determined to allow pleasure and leisure as part of our daily lives, but there is biblical support for it.
*107 - really helpful review of the book
Check out Shane Hipps - the hidden power of electronic culture...
A few notes:
4 - def of entertainment: "any action that is calculated to provide diversion, pleasure, interest, and amusement."
8 - since entertainment is what we do for pleasure, it reveals a great deal about our natures.
10 - four traps for entertainment: addiction, distraction, escapism, and contradiction of the truth.
21 - biblical criteria for entertainment: pursue conformity to Christ, approve beauty and excellence, guard personal contentment, reject earthly and sensual domination, test the means and reality of knowledge, maintain extensive personal labor, retain scripturally directed and sensible priorities, have a godly purposefulness in activity, exclude all that defiles purity, build edifying relationships, exhibit discerning wisdom and hold fast to truth.
23 - "we are conformists by nature.... We must imitate. Each generation faces the same desire to be differentt, to do its own thing, to be rugged individualists—by looking exactly like everyone else in its generation. Children wish to be unique by wearing the same clothes that their peers are wearing.... The only question concerns WHAT one will imitate."
39 - "rest is as much a biblical concept as work. Enjoying God by observing His creation and reveling in the pleasure that comes from His hand are righteous pursuits."
42 - in addressing the issue of a person's "not being bothered" by the sin he sees in the movie, Wayne A. Wilson notes that the more important question to ask is 'should this bother me? ... A cold heart is not a reliable standard by which to live.'"
48 - grab the BBC dedication statement as an illustration
60 - Scripture never condemns our desire for relaxation. In fact, the desire corresponds to the biblical example of God resting.
61 - look at the essential vs. accidental distinction with the image of God.
64 - many aspects of creation reflect God's intention to bring pleasure to man.
66-69 - good survey of BT data on God's pleasure in created things and even taking pleasure in man's creative acts.
58-78 - helpful analysis of the biblical data, demonstrating that Scripture speaks of entertainment positively, negatively, and sometimes without clear evaluation in either direction.
81 - even if we have differences of opinion on what specific forms of entertainment are acceptable, one option that simply won't work is to say everything is acceptable.
*88 - great quote - we tend to blame our problems on a single cause rather than taking responsibility for goes on in our lives or the people we influence.
*89-90 - great quote at end of the page.
*97 - there are unanswered questions in why God determined to allow pleasure and leisure as part of our daily lives, but there is biblical support for it.
*107 - really helpful review of the book
Check out Shane Hipps - the hidden power of electronic culture...
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews