1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Television I believe it to be the most influential piece of technology known to man thus far. I cannot go as far to say that television is inherently evil because I think that would be a stretch but we all can agree without a doubt that this small piece of technology is used for more bad than good. In my short life of 27 years I have seen television take a pretty wicked turn from "Bill Cosby" which would be considered a pretty moral family show to the likes of a show similar to "Girlfriends" or the adult cartoon "Family Guy."
This has become a more obvious reality for me for two main reasons. 1) I have become more accustom to God's Word and I am a lot more sensitive and aware of sin. 2) I have a 18 1/2 month old son and I am more cautious as to how I live my Christian life before him knowing that my example as a Christian man is more important than what I say to him. Personally I absolutely always keep the television off if he and I are at home with the exception of bedtime since I prefer to have some light on so I can see how he is doing but even then the volume is on mute. I know how influential this time is for his mind and young people are very impressionable.
This became really obvious to me more so now than ever. Why? I exercise quite a bit more now than i ever have for a long time and I also read more now in my life than I ever have in the past. So, to my understanding even when I do these things my son appears to not be paying attention-To my surprise this little man was one day on the floor and he started to do push ups just like he sees his daddy do all the time. Another occasion is when he is in the back seat of my car-he picks up some books in the back seat and starts to pretend to read them. I thought WOW!! For many of you that might be pretty obvious but for a young brother like me who has never really had a lot of experience with little children-this is brand spanking new and I learn daily. So in essence my Christian life is now under a microscope and this helps me further realize who my obedience is to-Christ. My son is a constant reminder that this little guy is watching me but more importantly Christ is watching me.
A great brother at my church told me last week as we met for a late snack that his daughter was watching a children's program on the children network and she saw someone practicing yoga. So his daughter unknowingly was in the room sitting Indian style saying with her fingers clinged together "hmmmmm" "hmmmmmm." Now my friend being very much like me had to nip this in the bud and inform his daughter that what she was doing was not Biblical and is dangerous. Now how much so is this the norm in our every day life. Simply watching a football or basketball game and "BOOM" a half naked woman walks across the screen in a commercial. Now we have seen how TV has changed just in the past 30 years and we can only imagine how it will continue to progressively continue to get worse. An example of this can be seen as we listen to the expletives that were not tolerated in the 1970's are now normal words on the basic non cable stations today.
Why do we see such a contrast in our day versus two centuries ago. I just recently started to read Puritan material (thanks to my church) and to me it was startling to see how these guys viewed sin and how much so it is tolerated today and has become common place. Sin has become a part of our very being so much so that when we watch the regular news on TV it no longer has an effect on us to the point where we seek out God in prayer for the depraved people of this world. We have become desensitized to the very thing that got Adam thrown out of Eden-SIN.
As referenced in the scripture above John focuses on the same 3 ways in which Christ was tempted by Satan and I believe every sin can be put in one of these three categories. These things are the very things that are glorified on TV and in the music of our day.
1) Lust of the flesh.
2) Lust of the eyes.
3) Pride of life.
I would like some feedback from you all on this.
1) Has TV had more of a positive or negative influence on you in your life?
2) Do you find yourself spending more time watching TV than reading your Bible or praying?
3) Do you think our society would be challenged to think more critically about everything rather than let television make their minds weak.
