We believe that it is our privilege every day of our lives to glorify God upon the earth; that we are not to live in this world merely for our own amusement, merely to please ourselves. We are here to benefit humanity, to be a blessing to society. And if we should let our minds run in that low channel in which many who are seeking only vanity and folly permit their minds to run, how could we be a blessing to society, a benefit to our race and generation? We cannot innocently indulge in any amusement which will unfit us for the more faithful discharge of ordinary life duties. (2T 587.1) MC VC

We want to seek the elevated and lovely. We want to direct the mind away from those things that are superficial and of no importance, that have no solidity. What we desire is, to be gathering new strength from all that we engage in. From all these gatherings for the purpose of recreation, from all these pleasant associations, we want to be gathering new strength to become better men and women. From every source possible we want to gather new courage, new strength, new power, that we may elevate our lives to purity and holiness, and not come down upon the low level of this world. We hear many who profess the religion of Christ speak often like this: “We must all come down upon a level.” There is no such thing as Christians coming down upon a level. To embrace the truth of God and the religion of the Bible is not coming down, it is coming up upon an elevated level, a higher standpoint, where we may commune with God. (2T 587.2) MC VC

For this very reason Christ humbled Himself to take upon Him our nature, that by His own humiliation and suffering and sacrifice He might become a steppingstone to fallen men, that they might climb up upon His merits, and that through His excellence and virtue their efforts to keep God’s law might be accepted of Him. There is no such thing here as coming down upon a level. We are seeking to plant our feet upon the elevated and exalted platform of eternal truth. We are seeking to become more like the heavenly angels, more pure in heart, more sinless, harmless, and undefiled. (2T 587.3) MC VC