Looking for Loopholes

I'm doing a summer Bible study with a group of wonderful girls from the book "No Other gods" by Kelly Minter. The book takes you on a journey looking at modern-day idols and eliminating them from your life. It's been good. Today's study was especially good. If there is one idol I tend to let in my life again and again, it's definitely entertainment. The header for today's study reads, "Behind every false god is a door we've left open." ("The Living Room Series: No Other Gods, Confronting Our Modern-Day Idols", Kelly Minter, p.67). The Scripture was from 2 Timothy 3:1-16. When looking at a list of godlessness, we see: - people who are lovers of themselves - lovers of money - boastful - proud - abusive - disobedient to their parents - ungrateful - unholy - without love - unforgiving - slanderous - without self-control - brutal - not lovers of the good - treacherous - rash - conceited - lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying it's power The book asks how you see these characteristics in the media today? I know all of my favorite shows came to mind, a book I recently read, a song I recently downloaded on iTunes...Sin is everywhere. Paul says "HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM." Here's the tricky thing: as this alluring entertainment worms its way into our homes and gains control (v6), we try to worm our way out of conviction...or at least I know I do. I argue with God, and the dialogue goes something like this: "Just one more week God; I have to know what happens with ___ ." Or, "I'm strong enough in my faith to know that that's wrong." "It's mindless TV; it's not going to hurt anything." As I was typing out this list, I was also convicted of the part that says "lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God." How many times do I forego Bible study and prayer in my day or squeeze in a "quicky" to appease my guilt then spend hours watching TV or reading a book? Minter says on p. 68, "To think that we are unaffected by what we watch, read, or listen to is deceptive thinking...But Paul had a reason for saying, 'Have nothing to do with them.'" Note now the things Scripture is useful for in 2 Tim. 3:16: - teaching - rebuking - correcting and training in righteousness - equipping men of God thoroughly for every good work Entertainment can't quite do that, can it? I'm deceived into thinking I am ok, then my mind is dulled to sin. I start seeing sexual immorality and caring more about who gets together than whether or not it is sinful, I let curse words into my line of thinking and soon enough they slip into my own mindful reactions (or worse yet I say them out loud) when I'm frustrated. I worry over my marriage, why it can't be "that" way or why my husband is not as chivalrous as the man on the TV show or the main character in my book. I feel guilty over not being the supermom portrayed in the sitcom. In my own life, I am definitely seeing how Satan sneaks in there, under the guise of entertainment and "feel-good" to put lies in my heart. The solution, as Paul says in v.14-15 is to "continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through Christ Jesus." Entertainment can't make you wise in the things of God. There have been times, as I mentioned before, that God has called me to cut out a TV show or stop reading a book, and I argue. I look for loopholes, as Minter calls them, because I am sad that I will have to stop watching a show I love or won't find out what happens. Simply put, I wish I wasn't convicted (or maybe that the conviction is so knawing?), because I don't want to stop. But, I love what she says on p. 70, "...true conviction doesn't look for loopholes, and it isn't sad...As we rid it from our lives we will be hopeful with anticipation, anxious to see what God will do with this newly-created space. We will not look for loopholes. We will be resolved. We will know that we are in a position to gain, not to be stolen from any longer." I am asking God what He wants me to cut out and for the ability to obey immediately with a sense of thanksgiving and joy.