Finally, brothers and
sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything
is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.- Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
As good keepers of our homes, we are careful about the chemicals that come into our houses. We take care of our health and watch what we put into our bodies.
But what about what we put into our minds?
The Bible tells us to think about things that are pure and right, noble and true. And for the most part, I think that I do strive to focus on the good and keep negativity at bay.
Until it comes to television.
There's so much on TV that isn't right or good or noble. Almost every sitcom on every network regularly portrays something that is definitely impure. For the longest time, I was okay with it.
"It's just TV. It's not like I'm going to live my life that way."
"It's comedy! It's supposed to be a little shocking."
"What's the big deal?"
But really, when I truly think about it, I realize that I'm just desensitizing myself. Sure, I may not sleep around. My husband and I may not have lived together before marriage. By watching shows (and there are a lot of them) that make that kind of lifestyle seem "normal," aren't I being brainwashed in a way to think that living like that is okay? That everyone is doing it? That it's really not a "big deal"?
When I take the time to look at the shows that I enjoy, I can see tons of impurities, lots of wrongs, many things that are despicable, ignoble, unjust.
I watch shows that promote homosexuality, pre-marital sex, casual sex, women using their bodies to get ahead, alcohol abuse, some drug use; shows that portray men as passive while women truly lead the home, broken families, teenage pregnancy, divorce as commonplace, sex as a tool or as a weapon.
How can I possibly say that this doesn't affect my attitudes, my morals, my values?
When I starting thinking about what I watch and considering what to delete from my Netflix and Hulu cues, I got a little sad. Almost everything out there, everything I watch and enjoy, is degrading somehow. It seems to me that our culture is making it more and more difficult (and at times, almost impossible) to keep our minds on the right, noble, and pure, through just the tool of TV.
What do you think about this topic? Have you made any changes to what you watch, listen to, or read because of your faith?
We must be on the same wavelength, to a degree! I posted today about children and cell phones (texting, apps), and how the world presents itself to them through it ... and the fact that our protection of them through that medium is almost zero.
ReplyDeleteTelevision provides so many degrading and godless views and displays them shockingly, or very subtly. We sometimes don't realize what we're really seeing, and sometimes it's so quick, we can't even get away in time.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. You're not alone, and I think many people feel they can weed out the bad and retain the good. I don't think that can be done without a price.
I watch what I enjoy. As far as religion goes, I try to make it more about focusing on my faith than focusing on what to cut out. If I am reading my Bible, praying, connecting with Christian bloggers, or anything else I feel lead to do- then the other things that aren't important or needed will naturally fall by the wayside. Cutting something out of your life doesn't really mean anything if it's not replaced with something better.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really great point! Thank you!
DeleteI understand that. I grew up raised in a Southern Baptist Church, so tv was sorely restricted in our home. By the time I was 7 we were not allowed to watch Saturday morning cartoons because they were "too violent". Movies that were rated PG-13 had to be watched with Mom and Dad. Rated R was not permitted in our house. Neither were Disney cartoons. I remember our youth pastor's kids coming to church one night and saying how they were watching The Ant Bully (Or Iron Giant, I don't remember) and had to turn it off shortly into the movie because of the word "pissed" being used. We had two tv channels, CBS and ABC, and once in awhile we would get PBS. No video games or tv's were allowed in our rooms until we were teens, and when I got busted for having some naughty videos in my room, I had to turn in all my tapes to mom and dad, and could only "check out" one movie at a time. I was just talking to my boyfriend last night about the tv show Friends, saying how he had seen every episode and used to watch it with his mom, and comparing how I was not allowed to watch that show at all. Then he mentioned that the tv show Frasier seemed worse than Friends, and my Mom loved Frasier.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started reading this, there was a song that popped into my head that I used to hear as a child on the Christian radio station kids show. I don't know the name of it, but remember it had computer noises in the background and went "input...output... what goes in is what comes out... that is what it's all about... your mind is a computer (?)... daily you must use..." I am sure I have it on cassette tape somewhere.