For Class 4, we focused on the impact of entertainment on culture. Last week, we heard from Bill Jack in "Counterfeit Reality" that movies are the most powerful teaching tool in our culture. Today, we watched a lecture titled "Entertainment and the Christian, part 1" by John Stonestreet from the Summit Lecture Series. He talked about how movies, as well as TV shows and music, are overwhelming, culture-shaping forces, that not only change WHAT we think, but HOW we think and believe and know.
A visually beautiful and emotionally appealing story - but this revisionist retelling of a historical event is more about the pantheistic, environmentalist, New Age message than about history.
Our culture worships celebrities, and is addicted to amusement and entertainment. He pointed out how we used to have news shows and entertainment shows on TV, but now we demand that our news shows BE entertainment shows! So we are continually bombarded with stories, songs, narratives, documentaries - ALL of which express someone's worldview - with little time to reflect on or evaluate the message within the media.
Stonestreet challenges students to neither withdraw from nor blend into the culture, but to engage it, as the apostle Paul did when he visited Athens.
Acts 17:16-17 "While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synogogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there."
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