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Worldly Amusements: Restoring the Lordship of Christ to Our Entertainment Choices
Do we love movies more than God? Have we compromised God's standard by letting Hollywood assault our minds and hearts with sensuality? "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Matthew 5:8
- GenresCulturalChristian Living
297 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1999
32 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 23, 2019
It seems that most of the Christian commentary I have read on Hollywood and entertainment comes from people who are either fully immersed in culture (with no real ability to tell the forest from the trees) or fully removed from and ignorant of Hollywood (with no real ability to tell a tree from a dump truck). That is why I so greatly appreciate this effort by Pastor Wayne A. Wilson, a student of films and a student of Scripture.
Here are just a couple chapter highlights:
Chapter 3 investigates what church history has to say about the theater (dramatic portrayals of real or imagined stories), gleaning some helpful principles that directly apply to the medium of film. (I hadn’t realized that spiritual heavyweights such as Tertullian, Richard Baxter, Blaise Pascal, William Wilberforce, Charles Spurgeon, and John Wesley had strong opinions on such matters.)
Chapter 7, “The Law of Love,” in which Wilson examines how nudity and sexual acts affect the actors themselves, is especially enlightening. Too often, Christians are inward focused, concerned only with how a work of art affects them. What we also need to do is look outward, and develop a greater love for those we pay to entertain us. This greater love will cause us to take a hard, honest look at how our patronage can contribute to the abuse of our entertainers’ privacy, dignity, and sexuality.
With his feet firmly planted on the solid ground of Scripture and his finger expertly planted in the wind of culture, Wilson strikes what I think is the perfect balance required for evaluating a topic such as movie watching. He is a lover of film, but he has not succumbed to the seduction of the entertainment industry.
It has been said that the church is strengthened by persecution from the world and weakened by seduction from the world. In a culture where the entertainment choices of Christians and non-Christians are practically identical, Pastor Wilson shines the much-needed light of Scripture into the heart of his readers. His discernment and Biblical wisdom are exemplary.
I was challenged, convicted, and encouraged all at once. Applying the Biblical principles Wilson expounds on has already garnered much fruit in my life, particularly in my marriage. My standards for movie watching have been forever altered—for the better.
Here are just a couple chapter highlights:
Chapter 3 investigates what church history has to say about the theater (dramatic portrayals of real or imagined stories), gleaning some helpful principles that directly apply to the medium of film. (I hadn’t realized that spiritual heavyweights such as Tertullian, Richard Baxter, Blaise Pascal, William Wilberforce, Charles Spurgeon, and John Wesley had strong opinions on such matters.)
Chapter 7, “The Law of Love,” in which Wilson examines how nudity and sexual acts affect the actors themselves, is especially enlightening. Too often, Christians are inward focused, concerned only with how a work of art affects them. What we also need to do is look outward, and develop a greater love for those we pay to entertain us. This greater love will cause us to take a hard, honest look at how our patronage can contribute to the abuse of our entertainers’ privacy, dignity, and sexuality.
With his feet firmly planted on the solid ground of Scripture and his finger expertly planted in the wind of culture, Wilson strikes what I think is the perfect balance required for evaluating a topic such as movie watching. He is a lover of film, but he has not succumbed to the seduction of the entertainment industry.
It has been said that the church is strengthened by persecution from the world and weakened by seduction from the world. In a culture where the entertainment choices of Christians and non-Christians are practically identical, Pastor Wilson shines the much-needed light of Scripture into the heart of his readers. His discernment and Biblical wisdom are exemplary.
I was challenged, convicted, and encouraged all at once. Applying the Biblical principles Wilson expounds on has already garnered much fruit in my life, particularly in my marriage. My standards for movie watching have been forever altered—for the better.
November 23, 2020
This is probably the best book I've read all year. A very challenging book to read in an age where we Christians watch pretty much whatever movies and TV shows we want, without considering whether the content is honoring to the Lord. The author calls this out for what it is in this book that is both painful and captivating all at once.
This book hits on many different topics, and the author does a great job discussing all the nuances pertaining to the subject.
The book primarily attacks the licentiousness that has pervaded the church in regards to watching movies with sexual content within it, but he also discusses the issue of profane language or gore in movies as well. He makes arguments from both church history as well as the Bible to show how out-of-step the church is today.
This book has left me with a call to action as I seek to redefine my viewing choices by the unchanging standard of God's Word versus the relativistic standard that we Christians have adopted for the last several decades.
The book is hard to get, but I encourage you to grab a used copy for yourself.
This book hits on many different topics, and the author does a great job discussing all the nuances pertaining to the subject.
The book primarily attacks the licentiousness that has pervaded the church in regards to watching movies with sexual content within it, but he also discusses the issue of profane language or gore in movies as well. He makes arguments from both church history as well as the Bible to show how out-of-step the church is today.
This book has left me with a call to action as I seek to redefine my viewing choices by the unchanging standard of God's Word versus the relativistic standard that we Christians have adopted for the last several decades.
The book is hard to get, but I encourage you to grab a used copy for yourself.
October 10, 2025
Helpful crique of Hollywood and movies and appreciate his commitment to the sufficiency of Scripture.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews