We Christians have an obligation not to submit passively to the cultural environment that surrounds us but to develop standards for judging it. The stewardship of leisure is a proper field for pastoral concern. The quality of our minds and thought is being determined largely by what we do with our free time. We can't escape the arts; they won't let us alone. And if I have spoken of discrimination and standards, I have not meant to imply that we should shut ourselves away from what is new and unfamiliar in the arts. We can't develop aesthetic standards and discrimination unless we are willing to be open-minded toward what is new and unfamiliar, even when we don't at first understand it.

Listen to the Apostle Paul: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble..." You know how eloquently his words flow as he goes on to speak of "whatever is right-pure-lovely-admirable..." And then he concludes with the imperative, "think about such things"...

We've noted in the past that we are responsible for our own dryness of soul.  At one time it suited us to blame The King or some hirsute Liverpudlians for the problem. But we were warned. The discussions here on Remonstrans tended (for historical considerations) to follow one line of reasoning which featured the warnings of men like Machen and Tozer, but those were two out of many. Frank E. Gaebelein was one who also warned us.

Personally, I think Gaebelein tended to be less helpful on the theoretical end and more useful in expressing the intangible appreciations which are essential to a cultivated heart. He knew real music and real musicians. I don't think he was able to make the connection between the Davidic muse in the O.T. and what we do in the concert hall. But his words here make it clear where the fault lies.

When he speaks of leisure he speaks of it as discretionary time, time we have to do as we please, time not filled with bread-winning. Work was necessary but it was not serious, and there is a nice distinction there; the Christian needs to be serious on his free time. We speak of leisure as time for our own indulgence. Or as Christianity Today would have us believe: time to watch a good movie. A time—to speak precisely—to be a-mused and un-thinking.  Then afterward one can express his spirituality by getting together with other Thoughtless Ones to play find-the-redemption-story.

Now years later we are paying the piper for the tune we called. Now our liturgy has the odor of Hollywood movies, Broadway hits and television commercials. Now we lack the "discrimination and standards" so that Rachel speaks vaguely of some transcendence absent among those who want to speak to us of a transcendent God.

Where do we learn what is true, noble, pure and lovely?