Entertainment

What is Quality Entertainment

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Al Menconi
President, Al Menconi Ministries
April 26, 2001

What is quality entertainment? What makes a TV program, video, or movie good?

How would you answer these questions? The typical response by today’s young person is typically “It was funny,” “It was exciting,” “It was sexy,” etc.” But they have a hard time answering question, “Was it any good?” I’d like to share a story I heard recently that may help you answer that question.

As a father was doing his best to teach his children to make wise entertainment choices, he kept getting frustrated by their combative response. They didn’t care that the program might not be appropriate for their innocent minds; all they were concerned about was what their friends had to say. Their father tried explaining that if they put garbage in, garbage was going to come out.

They didn’t care. They had all the excuses. “It was just a little sex scene. They really didn’t show anything. They all have it. I hear more profanity in my gym class. I don’t let it affect me. It’s just a movie, what’s the big deal? You just want to keep me from having fun.”

Nothing the father said made any difference. They wanted to watch what their friends were able to watch and if they didn’t they were going to be angry. He didn’t want to lose communication with his children but he couldn’t make them understand by telling them it was wrong. Maybe if he tried a positive approach?

On the next Saturday morning, he announced that he was going to be making his “world famous” brownies as a special treat for that night. He was well known for his brownies and his children always looked forward to this special treat. He didn’t use the boxed brownie mix. He made them from scratch and he only used the best ingredients. He even bought extra rich chocolate chips to make them real gooey. As an extra special treat, he bought the family’s favorite ice cream to top it off.

After dinner, the children could hardly sit still. The brownies were still warm from the oven. Dad cut each child an extra large slice and topped it off with ice cream. Just as they started to dig in, he reminded them that he only used the best ingredients. He also, reminded them that they were real gooey because he used extra chocolate chips. And they were extra flavorful because of all the chopped walnuts he put in.

They couldn’t wait. They all started to dig in again. Just before they brought the treat to their mouth he added, “And I only put in a little dog poop. It’s not very much and I mixed it in really well. You probably won’t even notice. Go ahead eat up.”

For obvious reasons, his family refused to eat the brownies. No matter how good his ingredients were, they weren’t going to put something in their mouth that had dog poop in it–no matter how well it was mixed in. It was then that they began to understand the point he was trying to make about entertainment.

How about you? Would you eat the brownies? No? Why not? Are you more concerned about what you put into your physical body than what you are putting into your spiritual life?

What is quality entertainment? This question could be answered in a lot of different ways, but one thing is for certain: For entertainment to be considered quality, its basic ingredients should not be polluted with the empty values of this world that are against God’s Word.
(See Colossians 2:8)