Vain Imaginations
VAIN = Not yielding the desired outcome; fruitless: a vain attempt. Lacking substance or worth: vain talk Excessively proud of one's appearance or accomplishments; conceited. Foolish. To no avail; without success: Our labor was in vain. In an irreverent or disrespectful manner: took the Lord's name in vain.
IMAGINATION = A traditional or widely held belief or opinion. An unrealistic idea or notion; a fancy. A plan or scheme. Not real: fiction, a figment of one's imagination.
Vain imagination = irreverant, disrespectful, prideful, foolish, and fruitless fiction lacking substance or worth.
Sounds like a definition of most Television to me. Or watching professional sports. Or Pern0graphy of any type.
That is, they generally are fictions. They generally lack substance and worth. There generally are irreverant or disrespectful manner. The Lords name is often taken in vain. They generally don't persuade you to do Good or Serve God or believe in Christ. There are many other activites that are of worth.
Our time on earth is limited. There are more *good* things that we can be doing than we even have time for, let alone to waste away time on vain imaginations.
posted by ChssAddct @ 4:32 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I don't see how watching television or professional sports fall into the category of "vain imaginations."
Amusement and "time wasting" are not necessarily bad. President George Q. Cannon said "pleasure and relaxation...may be not only harmless but really beneficial to mind and body."
I submit for consideration the following discourse by President Cannon relating to social enjoyment and amusement:
We have given the religious world a lesson upon this point. We have shown that social enjoyment and amusements are not incompatible with correct conduct and true religion. Instead of forbidding the theater and placing it under ban, it has been the aim of the Latter-day Saints to control it and keep it free from impure influences, and to preserve it as a place where all could meet for the purpose of healthful enjoyment.
Our social parties should be conducted in a manner to give gratification to all who attend them, however delicate and refined they may be in their feelings. Rude and boisterous conduct and everything of an improper character should be forbidden at such assemblages.
Pleasure and relaxation, which in themselves may be not only harmless but really beneficial to mind and body, are often rendered evil in the extreme, because of their surroundings and associations. The thoughtless and inexperienced are frequently oblivious to the harm thus attending something in which there is no essential wrong, and are led to look with allowance, if not actual approval, upon things that would shock them under other circumstances. The indiscriminate commingling of the Saints with persons not of their faith whose habits, history and purposes are bad or unknown to them is fraught with evil and to be strongly deprecated. To expose our youth to the contaminating influence of vile men and women such as often congregate in places of public amusement, where they are thrown together in social intercourse, is more then folly; it is wickedness. It is proper that strangers should be treated with courtesy and respect, but intimacy with them is not desirable, and our young people should be cautioned and guarded against casual acquaintanceship and the society of persons whose intentions and influence may be of the very worst character.
Order should be maintained in the midst of merriment. Indecorous language and conduct should be frowned down. All excess is detrimental. Temperance should govern in everything. Amusement is not the purpose of life; it should be indulged in only by way of variety. When people accustom themselves to constant and oft-repeated rounds of pleasure, the true objects of human existence are forgotten and duty becomes irksome and detestable.
(Apr. 8, 1887, MS 49:297-98)
In the following discourse, President George Q. Cannon comes down hard on people who do not take time to seek pleasure and amusement, including those who do not seek amusement because they are too wrapped up in "doing good." We read:
We have no fault to find with anybody for seeking amusement. It is proper that it should be indulged in, moderately, of course. We may go to the extreme in almost everything, and it is very easy to do so in pleasure-seeking. But while we would condemn that, we would not commend the example of the over-industrious person, who is as absorbed in business and the cares of life as to find no time for amusement. And still more would we condemn that fakir-like class of persons, who, in their religious zeal, consider it necessary to spend their lives in the practice of austerities and stifle the pleasure-desiring attributes of their natures.
Mankind represents the only species of all the creations of our Father, so far as we are aware, which is provided with the faculty of indulging in laughter. We are not endowed with that faculty without a purpose. Though we are taught in the revelations of the Almighty that loud or excessive laughter is not pleasing to Him, we have no reason to suppose that we can please Him by stifling the inclination to laugh or to indulge in pleasurable emotions. Seeking passing pleasure is right, but it is not the sole, nor indeed the highest object of life by any means.
Many, very many avenues of pleasure are open to those who are cultivated intellectually, that are closed effectually to others on account of their ignorance. Among these may be mentioned the innumerable and varied pleasures which the reading of books affords, the practice of literary composition, music in its various branches, and intelligent, instructive and elevating conversation. Ignorant, illiterate people are not qualified to indulge in any such sources of enjoyment as these and are almost forced in their pleasure-seeking to resort to those of a baser kind.
A clear conscience and assurance that our course is approved by the Almighty and, above all, the presence of the Holy Spirit, will tend to afford us pleasure, and without we live to enjoy these, our seeking for pleasure is like chasing our own shadow or grasping at bubbles that vanish at our touch.
(Jan. 15, 1882, JI 17:24)
Actions, such as watching good television or professional sports, are not vain imaginations. Vain imaginations are the false ideas of what those actions will do for you.
Watching good television will not, for example, substitute for daily scripture study. But it will, when done in moderation, provide your mind and body with necessary relaxation and amusement.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/15/tv.cbs.apology.ap/index.html
Producer who broke into 'CSI: NY' fired --
Interruption prompted viewer complaints
NEW YORK (AP) -- CBS News has fired the producer responsible for breaking into "CSI: NY" last week for a special report on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's death, a CBS executive said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The news report came during the last five minutes of the forensics mystery last Wednesday, prompting viewer complaints and leading CBS to repeat the show Friday.
....
CBS issued an apology to viewers the next day, blaming the "overly aggressive" producer for the interruption.
Yeah, cause it's so horrible to have a little **fact** (reality) cause us to miss out on our **fiction** (imaginations).
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