While we are not obliged to reject television or sports outright, as Christians we must cherish, protect, preserve and nurture the culture of the word, which is something God-given. We must recognize danger in order to deal with it. If we spend all our free time watching television or engaged in other forms of activity whose primary goal is entertainment, there will be little or no time left to read and reflect. If we allow our children to grow up in a way determined by social trends, we risk producing a generation which is so used to strong forms of stimulation that it will not exercise its ability to read. Of people who actually read at all, many confine themselves to the lowest form of reading matter.
Book stores are full of popular fiction written to cater to the taste of television watchers.
Newspapers, which demand our time and attention, are filled with filth, scandal and banalities, in addition to whatever valuable information they may provide. They often devote more space to coverage of entertainment and sports than they do to more serious matters. By the time we have waded through the foul swamp of the newspaper, we may have no time or energy left for reading history, poetry or literary classics, not to mention books which speak to us of God, which are the most sublime form of literature. I can think of nothing more helpful for spiritual life than the reading of religious books. Of course, the essential element in our spiritual lives is prayer.