The Question of Amusements by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 28, 1908

The Question of Amusements

By Editor

In the address of the bishops presented to the Methodist General Conference now in session at Baltimore, Md., there is a deliverance upon the subject of amusements which is worthy of the serious consideration of all who desire to maintain a vigorous Christian experience. We quote the following paragraphs:—

‘Improper amusements and excessive indulgences in innocent amusements are serious barriers to the beginning of the religious life, and fruitful causes of spiritual decline. Some amusements in common use are also positively demoralizing, and furnish the first easy steps to the total loss of character. We, therefore, look with deep concern on the great increase of amusements and on the general prevalence of harmful amusements, and lift up a solemn note of warning and entreaty particularly against theater-going, dancing, and such games of chance as are frequently associated with gambling; all of which have been found to be antagonistic to vital piety, promotive of worldliness, and especially pernicious to youth. We affectionately admonish all of our people to make their amusements the subject of careful thought and frequent prayer, to study the subject of amusements in the light of their tendencies, and to be scrupulously careful in this matter to set no injurious example.

We adjure them to remember that the question for a Christian must often be not whether a certain course of action is positively immoral, but whether it will dull the spiritual life and be an unwise example. We enjoin on all our bishops, presiding elders, and pastors to call attention to this subject with solemn urgency in our annual and quarterly conferences and in all our pulpits; and on our editors, Sunday-school officers, Epworth League officers, and class leaders to aid in abating the evils we deplore. We deem it our bounden duty to summon the whole church to apply a thoughtful and instructed conscience to the choice of amusements, and not to leave them to accident, or taste, or passion; and we affectionately advise and beseech every member of the church absolutely to avoid “the taking such diversions as can not be used in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

We pass along this note of warning and word of exhortation upon a most important subject, especially commending the matter to the prayerful attention of the young people of this denomination.