Chapter 9: The Influencers (Freshman 15 Snippet)

Here’s a snippet from Chapter 9: The Influencers:

I have formulated a couple of tests to determine if I have gotten callused.  You know you have become callused when a friend asks you how a movie was, and you have to reply, “It wasn’t that bad.  It only had a few cuss words in it.”  Busted.  If you have to qualify a movie or music based upon the minimal amount of unedifying material, you have become callused.  What I have found is that normally there was actually more inappropriate stuff in there than I admitted or even recognized; I just have gotten so desensitized to it that I didn’t acknowledge its presence.  When a movie only has a few inappropriate elements, most collegiate Christians rejoice that they don’t feel as guilty to enjoy that flick.  In an attempt to find the lesser of the evils, we can easily put our stamp of approval on things that honestly are not Christ-honoring.

Another simple test: would you watch that movie, listen to that song, or post on that site if your pastor was in the room with you?  If you would feel uncomfortable with that scenario, you may have become callused.  I was talking with a couple of students once at our church who started to sing a particular song, and then all of a sudden, they started blushing and said they couldn’t finish the song.  When I inquired why, they said they would feel awkward to utter the upcoming words around me.

Leading up to the time around when I get to release Freshman 15, I wanted to provide you a snippet every day for 15 days at 15:00 in the afternoon.