Walk Not in the Way With Sinners, July 30

Recreation and Amusements

My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.... My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path. Proverbs 1:10-15.ML 215.1

Amusements are doing more to counteract the working of the Holy Spirit than anything else, and the Lord is grieved.^{88Messages to Young People, 371.}ML 215.2

Those who are artificial in character and religious experience too readily gather for pleasure and amusement, and their influence attracts others. Sometimes young men and women who are trying to be Bible Christians are persuaded to join the party. Unwilling to be thought singular, and naturally inclined to follow the example of others, they place themselves under the influence of those who, perhaps, have never felt the divine touch on mind and heart. Had they prayerfully consulted the divine standard, to learn what Christ has said in regard to the fruit to be borne on the Christian tree, they would have discerned that these entertainments were really banquets prepared to keep souls from accepting the invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb.ML 215.3

It sometimes happens that by frequenting places of amusement, youth who have been carefully instructed in the way of the Lord are carried away by the glamor of human influence, and form attachments for those whose education and training have been of a worldly character. They sell themselves into lifelong bondage by uniting with persons who have not the ornament of a Christlike spirit.^{89Messages to Young People, 388, 389.}ML 215.4

You will be invited to attend places of amusement.... If you are true to Christ then, you will not try to form excuses for your nonattendance, but will plainly and modestly declare that you are a child of God, and your principles would not allow you to be in a place, even for one occasion, where you could not invite the presence of your Lord.^{90The Youth's Instructor, May 4, 1893.}ML 215.5

God desires His people to show by their lives the advantage of Christianity over worldliness; to show that they are working on a high, holy plane.^{91Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 324.}ML 215.6