in the thinking tree: Media Cleanse Buzz

There's already some great discussion going on about August's Media Cleanse, which will start in just a couple of days! Here are some highlights:

From Koleesa Amundson of Dogs, Wars and Femininity:

"I have done things similar to this very recently and have found it extremely worth while."

From Sarah Lee Bryant of KBR Ministries:

"This is an important idea... for all of our life at all times, as believers. Thank you for hosting it and encouraging our generation to think Biblically and evaluate everything in light of God's precious, enlightening Word. One media cleanse I have done in the past was to completely fast from internet, except email, for an entire month. The Lord used this powerfully to redirect my focus to the pure wholeness of His Word, eliminating all the distractions of modern media. "O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word." -Ps 119 Blessings to each of you who honor Christ by cleansing your temples."

From Andrew Romanowitz of Sons of the Remnant:

"Thank you... for encouraging us all in the obedience of Christ. Let me take a moment and say to my friends who have received this invitation that I would heartily encourage you to take this opportunity to re-evaluate your media consumption habits in the light of God's word.

It takes a lot less effort to be very, very scrupulous and keep the gates closed to that which is unwholesome and spiritually toxic in the world of media than it does to recover lost ground where you've made concessions, because you've eroded your convictions and compromised your conscience.

Don't let those gates down; we must fight for every inch of ground against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Discernment does involve being able to determine truth and error, good and evil in what we consume. But being able to identify poison does not give us a free pass to consume it.

If you have let those gates down, the fact is that you've become gradually desensitized in your mind. If you're vegging out over and over on media that teaches what is contrary to the commands of Christ, you need to consider whether you are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. When lawless thoughts are introduced into our minds, how do we respond? With holy revulsion or at best passive disapproval?

I've kept the gates closed all my life to lawless media. A couple of times they've begun to come down, but I've quickly closed them again. So I don't have as much de-toxing to do. The one area where I've made concessions is musical aesthetics, and because I have convictions on that matter, what I intend to do during this upcoming month is take a break from that music for which I've made concessions and re-evaluate how it has influenced me for good or for evil. I say this to point out that, in our media-saturated society, all of us have something that we can do to reform our lives in this area. Maybe what you're listening to isn't necessarily wrong in and of itself, but tends to shift your personal focus from serving Christ to pursuing your own pleasures. Maybe you've just been spending so much time with media that it's crowding out important relationships. Maybe you're consuming so much media that your mind is being weakened by passively receiving so much content, and your intellectual strength is weakened. These are all things to consider; content is not the only issue.

While you're detoxing, instead of vegging out on entertainment, let me encourage you to spend some time listening to biblical instruction on making media choices in the light of following Christ. My friend Mr. Phillip Telfer has a ministry called Media Talk 101 which is dedicated to helping Christians with this very thing. Over the past few months they've begun to produce some podcasts which deal with a whole range of issues surrounding the obedience of Christ in the world of media. You can download these podcasts for free here..." {Here's the link.}