A Referendum on Amusements

The one way to wean man of his love for the lustful things of the world is to make him love Christ more. That is done by showing him in the Gospel what Christ has done for him. This is not our Lutheran way of preaching license, but it is the divine way of making better men and women.

1915 Hans Kollar Moussa The Northwestern Lutheran

The following article by Rev. Hans Kollar Moussa is taken from the December 7, 1915 issue of The Northwestern Lutheran, volume 2, number 23, on page 178. The original PDF scan may be found on the WELS Essays archive.

Recently a Methodist pastor of Chicago propounded the following question to his fellow pastors of the district:

"Do your young people, as a rule, dance, go to the theater, play cards, attend paid concerts on Sunday, attend theaters on Sunday, go to moving picture shows? Is the rule in the Methodist discipline prohibiting indulging in the amusements named a hindrance, a help, or a matter of indifference?"

He tabulated the answers he received as follows: Dance: Yes, 24; no, 28 etc., and the answer to the last question was: Pastors who regarded the rule against the amusements as a benefit numbered 9; a dead letter, 3; without effect, 14; a hindrance, 25.

There will never be a time when the church can disregard the lure of amusements on its members. Especially in our time, which is amusement-mad, there must be reference made to the call of the world as voiced by the worldly amusements. But will a prohibition ever accomplish anything? Certainly not!

Those who shun one or the other public amusement merely because it is forbidden are not one whit better for their abstinence spiritually. It is not a matter for rules and regulations. Among Christians it can only be the sober strength of faith in Christ and love for Him, which will operate in a wholesome manner to keep them free from the taint of worldliness. St. Peter says: "As he which has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy: for I am holy."

Any one of a hundred "respectable" occupations may become a source of unholy worldliness, and the most harmless amusement may become an obsession that drives out the love of God. There are, to be sure, some amusements more dangerous than others and a warning against them must be given, but when a rule is necessary to conserve Christian life, then the law which Christ has abolished for His elect is imposed anew and the seed of unholiness is sown.

The one way to wean man of his love for the lustful things of the world is to make him love Christ more. That is done by showing him in the Gospel what Christ has done for him. In the degree in which this knowledge of Christ grows, his interest for worldly amusement diminishes and is guided into safe channels; an observance of mere rules in shunning the world breeds selfrighteousness and must lead away from Christ.

This is not our Lutheran way of preaching license, but it is the divine way of making better men and women. Fanatics and self-righteous reformers have never yet liked the Bible's way and they never will, but that will not induce us to trade in the living Gospel for the deathdealing law— not even in the form of rules and regulations against dancing, theaters, and the like.

H.K.M.