Join us now for the chapel hour, coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Following the introduction by Dr. Stephen Jones, our speaker will be Dr. Dan Olinger, professor of Bible at BJU. The title of his message is, What Do You Do for Fun? The text is from Revelation chapter 4, verse 11. Alright, please go ahead and take out your Bibles. something to write with and on. You've probably already guessed today's chapel is going to be slightly different because it's not every day that you can see the back of a laptop from where you're sitting up here. So you've already gauged that it's going to be somewhat different, but let me just explain a little bit about it. The desire, the burden of the administration of the faculty and the staff who have committed our lives here to this ministry is That you have a place where you can learn academically, that you can grow in that way, you can grow socially, but most importantly, that all of that is taking place in the context of a place where you can grow spiritually. That this university be a spiritual greenhouse. Is everything perfect? Clearly not. None of us would say it's perfect. We change as the Lord points out things that need to be changed. Our desire is to glorify Him, but we do that imperfectly. To minister to you, to give you tools for life, We need to know where you are, and we regularly try to get feedback about where you are, the things that you are wrestling with, the questions you have. So we need to know that, and we try to get at that in a number of ways. You know that the university has policies, has regulations that affect the way you live. They affect the way I live. Now, some of those are just organizational policies. They're just because there are 5,000 of us sharing a limited amount of real estate here. Others of those things are scripturally based and they have their basis in the Bible, and so therefore they are binding on all of us who claim to be Bible believers and God lovers. And that's like your home. I mean, your home probably couldn't point every policy, every rule you grew up with just to something specifically in scripture. There were things that were just organizational or just familiar, just preferential. Bob James University is not perfect. And as you prepare to leave here to go into whatever field the Lord has called you, the issue is not what you will be held accountable to before the Lord is not what does BJU like. As you stand and as I stand the day we stand before the Lord, which all of us will to give account for how we have lived. The issue is not going to be either. What do I like? The issue is going to be for all of us. What is God like? And then beyond that, what does he like and what has he demanded in the lives of believers, those who claim to follow him? That's what we will be accountable for and to give an answer to the Lord for this chapel is going to be different by intent. You will be using your Bible. You will be going to biblical principles because the goal is to prepare you for what you will face, what you already face. And these are things that we know you're already asking about and struggling with. Dr. Olinger will be our preacher today, but the topic was actually suggested by the student leaders, your peers that you've elected to student leadership. In just a second, Patrick Gomer is going to explain a little bit about how we arrived at that topic. But as he comes, let me just ask you to do this. Listen carefully and listen completely. Don't take single statements that Dr. Olinger may make and take them out of context, else you'll arrive at the wrong conclusion. Listen to the whole listen to the application and then compare it with scripture, because again, that is the thing that we will all be accountable for. What is God like and what does he like? So Patrick's going to explain a little bit and then Dr. Olinger will come and preach. Hello student leaders, we have been meeting with Steve Sindelar, Mark Eggerdahl, Lord Jeff Cott, Ashley Morgan, Ashley Love Forrest-Maddox, Joe Fant and Jessica Pittman, Student Body Presidents and Inter-Society Council Presidents and President-elects. We've been meeting with Steve Sindelar a couple times per semester, discussing various topics, various issues that would be controversial, that would be of controversy in Christianity today, but that would be extremely relevant to our student body. And we discussed areas such as social drinking, gambling, and various entertainment choices. We then narrowed our discussion down to specific areas of entertainment, and that were pretty heavily debated amongst the student body, as we perceived. But our purpose, obviously, is not to cause distinction among the student body, is not to cause arguments, but rather to discuss difficult topics and approach them from a completely biblical standpoint. from a standpoint based upon biblical principles. We narrowed our focus down to entertainment choices such as movies, especially movie theaters, and internet choices, Facebook, blogs, gaming, and just general surfing. We've all agreed as student leaders that these are areas where we have wavered in from time to time about what we believe and the stands that we take. And these are areas that I am so personally developing principles are trying to apply biblical principles to develop standards that would be pleasing to the Lord. We just wanted to take a step back, forget about our preferences for this time, whether they be the perceived liberal or conservative views on this topic, forget about our preferences, and see the biblical steps we can take to come to a conclusion that would be entirely scriptural. As Dr. Olinger comes, let's not just shrug this off as another lecture on entertainment choices, but let's sacrifice our preferences, our opinions and analyze these issues from scripture and with an open mind. OK, open your Bibles, please. To Revelation, chapter four, we're going to start there and we're going to going to go to a lot of other places. I'd like to address the question this morning, what do you do for fun? What do you do for fun? And I suspect that I'm going to say some things along the way that might surprise you. I hope so, because I think you will find that the Bible's position on this question is really quite broad and it's itself quite enjoyable. So, let's try to lay down some basic principles to start with. Observation number one. Fun is good. And I absolutely mean that. I'm absolutely serious when I say that. And that is not because I like fun. That is a moral judgment. Fun is, in fact, good. Entertainment, the kind of entertainment choices you make basically are built on two basic principles. Entertainment consists of a couple of elements. Pleasure. You do you do them for fun and rest. You do them for a break, for relaxation. Now, I happen to believe that my job is a lot of fun, but see, I wouldn't call that entertainment because I actually do that in order to make a living. And I hope in order to make a difference. But we're talking now about specifically the things you choose to do that you don't have to do that, that the obligations of life don't impose on you. You're just doing them for a break, for rest, we could say. Now, I'll observe theologically that the Bible tells us pretty clearly that God greatly enjoys both pleasure and rest. There are a number of things. If you search on pleasure in the Bible and look at the references that refer to God, there are any number of things that God says he takes pleasure in. He takes delight in those things. He takes pleasure in uprightness. He takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants. Did you know that he takes pleasure in those that fear him? He takes pleasure in his temple. It is his pleasure to give us his little flock, the kingdom. God is a generous God, and he enjoys giving stuff to people he likes. Revelation chapter four, verse 11, is the passage I asked you to open to this morning. It's very brief, and we're not going to be here long. The heavenly host says to God in Revelation 411, thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they were created. Now, there's a lot of theological richness in that and we don't have time to explore, but I'm just trying to make the point right now. The pleasure is a good thing. It is, in fact, good enough, important enough to be The purpose for the creation of the universe. It's not wrong to have fun. Before I move on to that, what he wants of us, let me say rest is a good thing to God rested at the end of the creation week, and it wasn't because he was tired. It was because he likes to rest. Now, some people would argue, well, all that means really isn't that he was in a recliner. It means that he simply ceased the work of creation. OK, I'll grant you that point. Jesus, the perfect man, the God man. During his earthly ministry, he sets aside time to rest, he goes out and gets away from the busyness of his ministry and he takes a break. Now, if Jesus did that and did so regularly and intentionally, it is simply obscene to argue that that is a bad thing. Of course, it's a good thing. Now, beyond that, God not only enjoys pleasure and rest, the key elements of entertainment himself, but he wants us to do those things as well. He wants us to enjoy pleasure. The very first thing he did to man was put him into the Garden of Eden and tell him you can eat of any fruit on any tree except one in this garden. And part of his description of that fruit was it's good for food. Enjoy it, have a good time. The psalmist writes at his right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. That's how it's described. It's characterized not as. Now, forgive me, I don't take that out of context, OK? It's not characterized here as a holy place or a safe place or a bright place. It is all of those things. And those elements show up in other passages. But here, David characterizes it as a pleasurable place. And that means that pleasure is a good thing. Our pleasure is a good thing. We should have a really good time. I love that. You know what? I just really enjoy life. It's great. And yeah, there are some bad things in everybody's life, including mine. There are things I'm not satisfied with, not happy with, things I wish were different. But you know, life's going to happen to you whether you like it or not. And you might as well enjoy what comes down the road, because a joyous life is better than a miserable one. And basically, that's your decision, how you deal with whatever's coming. Pleasure is a good thing. Psalm 36, 8 says, Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. Most of you, if I had asked you before this morning if that statement is in the Bible, you would have said, I don't think so. Drink of the river of pleasures. Yeah, it's in there. And he wants us to enjoy rest as well as pleasure, he actually legislated an official day of rest every week, said you got to do this. And again, Jesus, when he took his rest periods, took his disciples with him. He said, come on, we need to get away. Let's let's go away for a while. Let's take a break. So I think I've established my basic thesis that fun is good. Now, some of you, some of the more analytical of you are probably thinking, you know, to compare our entertainment with God's actions of pleasure and rest, there are some really God is more complex than that. And he doesn't need to take a break. You think God gets tired? No, of course not. He's omnipotent. And there's some theological complexity there that I don't have time to go into, but I think I'm safe in saying that the basic premise stands that the key elements of entertainment, of fun, pleasure and rest are both godly and God ordained activities. So. What can we do? Well, that is a perfectly legitimate question. It's the right question in the right context. The fact is, we have all kinds of reasons that we choose what we're going to do for fun. The most common probably is we choose the things that we like. I visited a friend this weekend who likes to do outdoorsy type things. He likes to hunt and fish and ride four wheelers and boat and stuff like that. Other people are more bookish. They like to curl up with a mug of hot chocolate and a good book in front of fireplace. Some people like to play chess. OK. It's not my business to forbid it. Let me suggest to you that while what you like is a legitimate criterion after the first one. It's not a legitimate first criterion. You don't make your decisions basically, primarily on the basis of what you like. If you elevate what you like to the highest standard, then you are essentially engaging in idolatry, worship of self. And nobody in this room has enough mass to be the center of the universe. You can check with the physics department on that. So, but I like it. Really isn't an answer or an argument to any question. It can be an influence on what we choose I like to do some things that I do for entertainment But it's not the basis. It's just a kind of a narrowing guide a Lot of times we choose based on what the culture promotes we say oh You know, this is really popular right now. It's in style. Well, there's nothing wrong with having a little class and Being a little stylish. But you know, when the culture. Fills itself up with trivia. Do we really need to know what Britney Spears is doing today? Is that really important? You know, frankly, I don't even really need to know what the governor in New York is doing today. Do I really? And yet the culture is saturated with it. It's all we're talking about. Well, Cultural mores are not really the same, but everybody's doing so. And I know your parents always said, if everybody jumped off a cliff, would you do that? I'm going to be very careful in this next point, but I think it's a biblical point. We are not driven by what tradition expects of us. Jesus was very clear. that you don't make your decisions based merely on tradition. Now, there are several things I need to say about this, but I'll observe going in that when this university was founded as a college, Dr. Bob Senior said, we're going to have fine arts here and we're going to educate our students in the principles of art and culture and we're going to do plays. And there were a good many friends conservative, fundamentalist, Christian friends of the college who said, you're going to do what theater. But but theater is is so worldly and most of you would be surprised to know that Bob Jones College was actually a little bit ahead of its time in 1927 when it suggested The theater might have a legitimate and godly educational purpose. And there were some people with serious questions about where we were headed. We have a rule about going to the movies. I'm going to say more about that in a few minutes, so bear with me. I'm going to surprise you by what I say next. It is not the university's goal and Dr. Jones said this a moment ago. It is not the university's goal for you to live by its rules for the rest of your life. We actually don't care about that at all in terms of the the logistical and institutional policies and the You know, social enforcement policies, for example, skirts at the bottom of the knee. Why do we have our middle of it? Why do we have skirts at the middle of the knee? Well, because on the back of your knee, there's a little crack there and it makes it really easy to enforce. That's it. That's it. Can your skirts, ladies? Can your skirts be an inch above the knee and you still be a godly Christian? Absolutely. It is not our goal to make you live by our policies. It is especially not our goal to have you live mindlessly by our policies. Well, Bob Jones does it, so it must be right. Our whole purpose here is to teach you to think, so think. Our goal is informed, godly, thoughtful, responsible decision-making in every student who leaves this place. Make your own decisions, but do so for the right reasons. Well, what are the right reasons? I would suggest that our choices, and you saw this coming, need to be directed by scripture and not merely by tradition. The Bible says, you know, the verse for second, 73, 16, that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. It's useful. It's really handy. It's profitable. And the Scripture says, and you know this verse well, especially if you've been to the wilds, that whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, you do all to the glory of God. So what does the Scripture say? about what we should do for fun. Last year, I spoke to you in chapel about what you put in your head, and that was a broad, broader subject. And at that time, I suggested you start with a couple of passages in First Corinthians. First Corinthians 612 and First Corinthians 1023 are almost their sister verses. They're very similar. Paul says there the remarkable statement that all things are lawful for me. Wow, that's Take that out of context and boy, are you in trouble? But he says, listen, I can do anything I want. But and he gives three restrictions on that, and I suggested last year that they would serve as a good basis for this kind of decision making. All things are not expedient. Not everything gets me toward where I want to go. And where do you want to go? Well, if Christ likeness is the goal of sanctification, if it's the thing that God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of his son, Romans chapter eight, then. We had better choose things that will move us toward the goal of Christ likeness. He says, all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify, not all things build up. And there we're talking about just me, but other people. And I'll come back to that idea in a minute. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. So we've really got three questions we can ask here. The first one is, does it move me toward my goal of Christ likeness? Does it make me more Christ like? Secondly, does it build up other Christians in their Christian walk? And third, will it try to control me or worse yet, will it succeed in controlling me? Let's spend a little time with each of those questions. Does it move me toward my goal of Christ likeness? Look, we need to fill our minds with things that build us up. There's a television in my house. Some of you don't have televisions, and I say, good for you. Good for you. There's a television in my house that we watch. And, you know, I like to laugh. I enjoy a good joke. I enjoy well-executed comedy. And most sitcoms aren't really that well executed. And that was particularly true 20 or 30 years ago, but it's still true today. But there are a few that come along that are really quite well done. They're well written. They're well acted. The comic elements have a nice turn to them. They're well executed. They're funny. Now, if you're choosing on the basis of I like it, well, if it's funny, you're going to watch it. But see, the trouble with that is that you can get in a situation where they are genuinely funny and so you laugh, but they're being funny about something that's not right. I could give you specific examples, but I choose not to this morning. And you've all had that experience, you see something in a sitcom and and it's funny and it's yes, wrong, OK, but but it's funny. And I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't think it's funny. The comedy in that well-executed piece came because the writers of that piece, probably unregenerate, have in them the image of God. And they are able to create things of very high quality and to do a really good job at it. And they did. But see, you saw something that was wrong and it was funny. And so you laughed. And in that instant, You switch sides for a couple of minutes, didn't you? You said to God, I'm not going to play for your team this inning, I'm playing for the other team. And some of you are thinking, oh, come on, it's just a joke. Lighten up. Let me suggest to you that in the first Corinthians 1031 life, nothing is ever just a joke. Everything matters, even the stuff we do for fun. So, will it move me toward my goal of Christlikeness? Will it make me more like Christ or less like Him? Will it build up others in their Christian walk? We have the principle of the stumbling block here. We're told in 1 Corinthians 8 not to be a stumbling block to other believers. Okay, are there movies out there that I could go see with no problem? I think the answer, some people would disagree with me here, and that's fine. But I think the answer is almost certainly, well, of course there are. Of course there are. Well, when I was a kid, movies were in big theater houses with really big screens, and it was really cool to get up close there at a really big screen. But now that doesn't work as an economic model in the theater business, and so now they have multiplexes. And so, Here I am, Bible faculty, I go to see a perfectly decent movie and it's showing in a multiplex with eight or ten others and I'm walking in and out of there and nobody knows where I'm going or where I've been. Nobody knows. Now, look, that's not my problem. They're going to jump to conclusions. That's their problem. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I got am I going to put the spiritual health of my reputation, first of all, and secondly, my students. Am I going to put that at risk for two or three hours of celluloid? I have bigger fish to fry than that. I got more important stuff to think about. Now, I'm not telling you, I didn't just tell you, we think you shouldn't go to movies. But I'm telling you what I think and how I engage in that process as an illustration. You make your own decisions. A part of this principle of thinking about others is the point that you wanted to encourage edifying relationships. We are relational people. God is a relational God. He exists in three persons. He has never been alone. He has not designed us to be alone. And he said that first day he created man. It's not good for man to be alone. You are not designed to operate socially isolated. God puts us in a church, the assembly, people get together. That's what the word means. And we've all heard about the guy who walks into the mall and shoots a bunch of people, and they always interview his neighbors afterwards, and they always say, yeah, he was kind of a loner, stuck to himself. And my wife and I joke, they ought to find all the people who are just loners and stick to themselves and put them in jail now before they kill us all. Well, look, I understand that not everybody is a people person. I understand that some people are very gregarious. Some people are more introverted. That's fine. There's nothing unhealthy about that. But when you choose forms of entertainment that isolate you from real people. That's unhealthy. It isn't helping others, it isn't developing healthy relationships. I like to play an occasional video game. I'm not really into the shoot-em-up kind of ones. I just never get into that. There's one computer game that I really enjoy, and it is essentially just an electronified version of the old board game Risk. And most of you would consider it pretty boring, but I like it because I like geography, and I like math, and I like calculating the points, and who am I going to attack next. And you've got to admit that conquering the world every few days has its enjoyment. But if you're playing video games to the point where you're ignoring everybody around you, see, that violates the principle. Let me say something particularly about heritage. Can I talk to you as a dad for a minute? I have daughters. I'm a dad. Let me just do the dad thing for a minute. As a son or daughter, you have a uniquely powerful ability to crush the hearts of your parents. Nobody else can hurt them like you can. Your parents brought you up by a certain set of standards. And those standards are precious to them or they wouldn't have bothered to tell you about them and to bring you up under those standards. Let's be frank, your parents might be wrong. They might be mistaken. Parents are fallen creatures and they're in error occasionally. And suppose you come to your adulthood and you decide, you know, my parents thought you shouldn't go to movies and theaters, but I think it's fine. My parents thought you shouldn't do this or that or whatever. Well, look. Obviously, if they're trying to prevent you from doing God's will for your life, if they think you shouldn't go to the mission field and you are just convinced that God has called you, you ought to get some counsel about that if your parents aren't supporting it. But in theory, the Bible accommodates the idea of leaving your mother and father and following Christ. And so, of course, for something like that now with an issue of entertainment. Is it really that important to you to go to movies? And crush the heart of your parents? What did I say about your priorities? How about taking this little gift, this fragile gift of their hearts and carrying it tenderly? How about you don't have to say this to him, but how about thinking to yourself, you know, I could go to movies if I wanted to. I'm an adult and there's nothing wrong with it. I can prove that from the Bible. You might be right. How about you take that liberty you have And you give it to those people who love you so deeply as a gift of love. And you say to yourself, not to them, I don't think I will. That would just tear them up. Now, in movies, whatever, you know what your parents' idiosyncrasies are. How about just being gracious and doing the right thing? Will it control me? Will it control me? Proverbs says that he that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man. Paul characterizes the end times as characterized by people who are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Entertainment's great in its place, but you know, it's not supposed to be the center of your life. I know a guy whose marriage broke up because he wouldn't quit playing video games. You're going to sacrifice your marriage? for a video game. And frankly, that was several years ago. The graphics weren't all that good. You know, it's just stupid. Controlled by this thing, I gotta have it. If I thought for a minute that my conquering the world every few days was hurting my family, I would never conquer the world again. And I mean that. I would delete the program. I would do whatever was necessary. I wouldn't get rid of the computer because then my kids would kill me, but I would do whatever was necessary. You can't let it control you. And if you find yourself starting to think, boy, I think some people are like that with their cell phones. Get a life. It can't control you. You have only one master and he doesn't share the throne and he shouldn't have to. Let me very quickly share with you a few other biblical principles. These are the ones I shared last time, and I've just applied them to this idea of of entertainment. Let me share some new ones with you. And I want to say that I'm indebted here for this material to my colleague, Dr. Brian Hand, who is at the moment writing a book that will be published later this year on a Christian philosophy of entertainment. Can I recommend it'll be a thin book? It won't cost that much. I strongly recommend that you get that and read it. It's worth it. I've read it. I have the privilege of being involved in the editing of these books. And while I'm on the subject, let me also mention that Dr. Yeagley of the faculty is also writing a book this year, and it's on the beverage use of alcohol. And that doesn't really fit into my entertainment category, but it's a question that a lot of you have. And I have read it, his book, and it's carefully researched, well documented. Reasonable. I'm fairly confident he's going to get shot at from both sides on this one. It's well done. And when it comes out, I would strongly recommend that you get that. But these principles are a few of the ones that Dr. Hand mentions in his work. There are only a few. There are more. But here are the ones that I thought I could squeeze into today's presentation on the positive side. The Bible tells us that we should appreciate excellence, we should approve things that are excellent. Philippians 1.10 is that passage. Philippians 4.8 says we should think on the things that are beautiful and good and virtuous and true. You need to educate your standards. I heard a woman the other day, I read this in a news account, she was talking about how much she liked to go to a certain mom and pop store in her town because she said, well, you know, I like it because you don't have to get all dressed up when you get there, when you go there like you was going to Walmart or something. And I thought, if that isn't the most redneck line I've ever heard in my life. Dressed up like you're going to Walmart. Raise your standards. Educate your standards. We do opera here. I'm not crazy about opera. My daughter is. I like it, OK. I enjoyed the production. It was funny. But, you know, I wouldn't sit around and listen to opera arias as a form of entertainment. There are three or four people in this world, I suppose, who would. But we're trying to raise the standard, teach us some of the stuff that's out there. I told my children when they were small, the world is filled with beautiful and delicious and lovely sounding and fragrant smelling things. Gather as much of it as you can. It's all part of the image of God in us. and appreciation of what he has created. Raise your standards. Think on excellent things. But on the negative side. Avoid things that make you discontent. Gambling, you always want more. Oh, I was so close. I had a seven and a twelve. I don't even know what that means, but I understand that seven and eleven is like a big deal somehow. I don't know. Will it encourage laziness? Not slothful in spirit. People always want to be on vacation. No, entertainment isn't the main thing. It's a break. Will it defile me? I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. Let me very quickly just tell you a quick illustration will be done. When I was a kid, I was not a fundamentalist. I was an evangelical. One of the churches I went to was Charles Swindoll's church when I was in junior high. 90% of my Christian friends in evangelical Christianity believed in the 60s that you Christians shouldn't go to movies You could go to Billy Graham movies, but they brought them into the church. You didn't go to a theater and go to movies Today, it's completely flip-flop 90% and not just an evangelicalism, but I would guess probably in fundamentalism as well 90% of the people think you can go to movies and I'm not going to take a position on that. You've got to make up your own mind. But may I make an observation as an old coot who has lived a few years and watched things happen over time? What's the big difference between then when 90 percent thought it was wrong and now when 90 percent thought it was right? What's the big difference? The movies have gotten a lot worse. They've gotten a lot worse. The language, the nudity, the violence, the blasphemy. What's happened? We've been worn down and it doesn't affect us like it used to. And when Rhett Butler said that that was a lot of water over the dam, it was a scandal in 1939. Now we don't care. Well, we need to pick wisely. You've been listening to the Chapel Hour coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Our speaker was Dr. Dan Olinger, professor of Bible at BJU. For a cassette or compact disc copy of today's message, send a check for $6 to Campus Store, Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina 29614. Be sure to mention the name of the speaker and today's date. The Chapel Hour has been sponsored by Bob Jones University.