An important element of holiness is being careful about what we expose ourselves to. This includes what we view, hear, and read. This post takes a closer look at the environments to which we subject ourselves.
Viewing and Listening. In the modern world we are constantly bombarded by ungodly images and words. Sex, violence, and materialism seem to be the most popular topics. Images are especially intrusive as they often linger in our memory. It is easy to become complacent or negligent about what we allow our eyes to see, but when we voluntarily and unnecessarily expose ourselves to ungodly images we are affecting our Spiritual life. They make an impression on our soul that conflicts with the indwelling Holy Spirit. The voluntary presence of the image produces a place in our soul that is temporarily out of harmony with God; we have allowed something unclean into the temple of God. The image has stolen a piece of our participation in God’s goodness. Voluntarily listening to ungodly words outside the normal course of life has a similar effect. It is true that some of the images and words are unavoidable; this is part of the fellowship of suffering with Jesus who descended into this unholy world.
Once an ungodly image makes an impression on us then we need to spend time and energy resolving the internal conflict. We exercise the Spiritual fruit of self-control and reject the image. If we constantly expose ourselves to ungodly images or if we view a string of images such as a movie then it will take more time to reject the images and cleanse our soul. Absent this practice, a spiritual dullness can descend on us.
We do need to allow for images of corruption or destruction that teach us about the vanity of sin. There is a place for the artistic expression of the human condition. But we do not need much of these and they do not need to be graphic; real life provides most of what we need in this area.
Therefore, if we seek progress in maturity then we need to be very intentional about avoiding ungodly images, entertainment and speech, even when they are mixed with otherwise acceptable material. This means skipping some movies and shows that may have some good content. It also means figuring out ways to avoid most television commercials and many other ads promoting materialism and hedonism. It means not playing a video game with sexually suggestive content or with substantial violence. It means developing self-control over your curiosity regarding a provocatively dressed woman who walks by or about a provocative image at the bottom of a webpage. The internet is an ever-present beast tempting us to compromise our soul, which makes it even more important to cultivate self-control. As we do this, we will probably discover an increased sense of inner cleanliness and affinity for the holiness of God.
Unreal Environments. Spending a lot of time in unreal environments will normally be Spiritually unhealthy. Examples of this are movies, dramatic shows, fiction books, and role-playing video games. While some unreal environments can provide benefit to the soul, unreal environments are usually worlds where God or his goodness is not a factor and so they condition us to function outside of Christ. It is a judgment call as to how unhealthy a particular environment is, but four subjective indicators are: (1) how vividly it puts one in an alternate world; (2) whether you are regularly using the environment to escape reality; (3) whether you are primarily seeking to experience sensual stimulation; and (4) whether you sense that the environment is enhancing your life in Christ or detracting from it.
We should also ask ourselves if we are developing a holistically healthy Christian life outside the environment. An objective guideline might be that more than ten hours a week in unreal environments is a cause for concern, although one could harm themselves with fewer hours; fifteen hours is clearly a problem. Obviously, there may be short periods in our life where we may spend a lot of time in an unreal environment, such as when recovering from an illness, which can be okay.
Role-playing video games can be especially distracting and addictive. They can be so much more exciting than real life that one’s video game life becomes their primary life or at least one’s preferred life. In any case, we must seriously examine our time in unreal environments in order to discern their Spiritual impact.
