What Do Your Media Choices Say About You?

Written by Dick Staub

In his book “Hollywood Worldviews,” Brian Godawa observes that most Christians are on the extremes in their consumption of popular culture. They are either cultural gluttons, who uncritically consume anything that comes along, or cultural anorexics, who are cut off from culture completely.

For the Christian, media represents a threat because it’s a powerful, pervasive culture-shaper that often conveys beliefs, values, and behaviors antithetical to our faith and does so in a medium that works us over completely. However, it offers an opportunity because it’s the storyteller and common language of our culture, which, once learned, allows us access to a spiritual conversation already taking place in culture.

Paul, one of the most effective communicators of the gospel, was attuned to the cultural conversations of his day. Read Acts 17:16-34 and you’ll see Paul exploring the city of Athens, taking in the sights and sounds, and then starting conversations with the Athenians based on what he had seen and heard. He referred to the statue of an unknown god and quoted their pagan poets. In other words, Paul cared enough about the Athenians to become familiar with their art and ideas, so he could build a bridge for the gospel.

Whether you’re a cultural glutton or a cultural anorexic, here are some suggestions for shaping up your media consumption this year:

For the cultural glutton: Commit yourself to an hour of spiritual cultivation for each hour of media you consume each day. Watching a two-hour movie means you will spend two hours doing such things such as praying, reading Scripture, or preparing for and leading a Bible study.

Jesus woke long before sunrise, and He was able to calibrate His will to God’s each day. You’ll be surprised at how your spiritual health will improve if you turn off the radio or iPod while driving and use the time to pray. Or read the Bible in the morning before turning on the TV and watching the news.

For the cultural anorexic: Force yourself to become selectively aware of culture. If friends at work are talking about a TV show they love, watch an episode and ask yourself what your friends are connecting to in this show. If your teens are crazy about a certain music group, listen to the music with them. In both situations, don’t just be negative — find something positive to say and start a constructive dialogue.

If you want to influence people, you need to love them enough to understand their world (a message for the anorexic), but you also need to be salt and light — spiritually equipped and distinctly different from the culture around you (a message for the cultural glutton).

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