The Importance of Guarding Our Christian Influence with Our Choice of Entertainment

         The entertainment industry is a booming business in the world today, especially in the United States. In America, there are hundreds of ways to spend your free time and money in the pursuit of a “good time.” As Christians, it is our duty to make wise decisions about the entertainment that we choose to enjoy. Whether it be watching movies, T.V. shows, listening to music, participating in sports events, or any other pastime we enjoy, we must make sure that our influence is not harmed in the process of participating in such optional activities.
       It is so important for Christians to guard our influence before others. What does it mean for a Christian to “guard” his or her influence? To guard one’s influence means that a Christian is choosing to monitor his or her behaviors and actions in the world so that others who may or may not be Christians themselves can be led closer to Christ through that Christian’s good example.
          It is a requirement for Christians to not cause other Christians and non-Christians to be tempted to commit sin. When a Christian influences another person to commit sin, even if that negative influence was unintentional, then that Christian has cast what the Bible called a “stumbling-block” before the person he or she has negatively influenced.  In Romans 14:13, Paul speaks about how Christians should not be stumbling blocks before others:  “Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.”
          One might say that it is the other person’s fault if he or she chooses to commit sin, and thus, a Christian who participates in a questionable activity cannot be held accountable for the actions of others. It is true that every person will have to answer for their own sins (Matthew 7:21), however, it is also our jobs as Christians to lead others to Christ, and to be a light in a dark world. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16). How can our lights be brightest in a dark world when we make inappropriate choices that Christ Himself would not choose?  Let’s consider this in the realm of entertainment.
      When it comes to the subject of “inappropriate entertainment choices,” no doubt many Christians may think that I am only referring to watching inappropriate content or listening to profanity in movies and  television shows or engaging in other sinful behaviors such as drug and/or alcohol use.  All of the activities that I’ve just mentioned are sinful, and many sinful people in the world engage in these things for entertainment. However, one branch of the entertainment industry that promotes sin that is often overlooked by Christians is the music industry.
            One can only turn on the radio for a few minutes and hear various songs containing lyrics about such sinful behavior as alcohol use, inappropriate relationships between unmarried men and women,  profanity, as well as other sinful vices. It seems as if the more popular a music artist is, the more profane the lyrics are in the songs that he or she sings. A good example of a musical artist who is not a good example herself for her fans is Taylor Swift. I focused on her at this point, because she is often in the eye of the media and a lot of attention is placed upon her and her “Swifties” (fans of Taylor Swift).
          Taylor Swift has been a popular artist in the music industry for many years. She began writing songs as a teenager and began her music career in the Country Music industry. Over time, she left country music and began writing and performing songs for the Pop music genre. Since leaving Country Music, Swift has seemed to quickly go downhill when it comes to the lack of morals that she displays before her endearing fans.  Not only does she dress very immodestly, with many of her stage costumes looking more like undergarments rather than actual outfits, but the lyrics in her songs also appear to make fun of Christ and Christianity. Here are some examples of lyrics to some of her songs that are in her newest album, "The Tortured Poets Department," which, by the way, has a total of fifty-seven uses of profanity, according to an article in USA Today:
    1.Guilty as Sin
What if I roll the stone away?
They're gonna crucify me anyway
What if the way you hold me is actually what's holy?
If long-suffering propriety is what they want from me
They don't know how you've haunted me so stunningly
I choose you and me religiously
 
    2.The Smallest Man Who Every Lived
The smallest man who ever lived 
I would've died for your sins, instead, I just died inside
*This song also has very strong profanity*
 
    3.But Daddy I Love Him
But daddy I love him
I just learned these people only raise you
To cage you
Sarahs and Hannahs in their Sunday best
Clutchin' their pearls, sighing, "What a mess"
I just learned these people try and save you
'Cause they hate you
 God save the most judgmental creeps
Who say they want what's best for me
Sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I'll never see
Thinkin' it can change the beat
Of my heart when he touches me
And counteract the chemistry
And undo the destiny
You ain't gotta pray for me
Me and my wild boy and all of this wild joy
If all you want is gray for me
Then it's just white noise, and it's just my choice 
         Anyone who is a Christian should be able to see how Swift’s lyrics ridicule Christians and Christianity as in the case of “But Daddy I Love Him” as well as speaking against Christ Himself in “Guilty As Sin” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.” Not only that, but Swift uses the worst profanity possible in her music. 
      By paying money and choosing to spend time listening to songs by Taylor Swift which have lyrics like the ones I’ve mentioned above, Christians not only enable her to continue her sin of blaspheming Christ and belittling Christians, but these same Christians also give the impression to others in the world that they are OK with this sinful behavior.
​      By allowing others to witness us choosing to spend our time and money to watch and listen to these sinful celebrities that our depraved world exalts, we, Christians, are failing to set ourselves apart from the rest of the world, which we are commanded to do in Romans 12:2; “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  
          We must obey God in all things, and we must make sure that we are spending the short time that we have here in this temporal world focusing on eternity rather than allowing the temporary things of this life to distract us from the goal of winning souls for Christ. If our actions and appearances look like the rest of the world rather than making ourselves set apart from the world, then we will receive the same punishment as the rest of the sinful world on the day of Judgment, for no sin can enter into Heaven; “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10)
       Let’s make sure that our Light is not dimmed by our promoting the sinful behaviors of others, and that we are teaching others around us to do the same. Taylor Swift will have to answer to God for how she is misusing her powerful influence to lead her fans astray, and we have to remember that our own Christian influence can have a powerful impact on the lives and salvation of others.
      Let’s make good use of our time by spending it on working to win as many souls for Christ as we can, for as James 4:14 says, “For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” May we make our entertainment choices with the knowledge that God is always with us, and ask ourselves the question, “Would I be listening to this song, watching this program, or participating in this activity if Christ was sitting next to me?” The answer to that question should spur any Christian to make the best choice possible for their own salvation, as well as for the salvation of others.
 
 
 
 
           
 

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