I have recently heard several Christians whom I know talking about television programs and movies they enjoy watching. I was very surprised. Almost every single one that they talked about they prefaced by saving, “there’s a lot of sex, nudity and/or profanity” but on the other hand, they said that the content more than made up for that.
Really? You think you can ignore seeing things and hearing things that God has expressly told his followers to indulge in? I don’t think it really works that way.
It seems to me, from my own experience, though mostly from reading books, the more that you see, hear or read that falls into those forbidden areas, the less likely you are to feel that there is anything wrong with it all.
The entertainment industry has sure changed a lot since I was a child. Even as a young adult, it would have been shocking to have seen a sex scene, to have characters expressly indulge in sexual immorality or to swear constantly. There were some movies like that, but they were simply not socially acceptable.
Today, those types of programs are pretty much what is available to watch. There are some exceptions but, for the most part, the things that people consider entertainment is actually a slow dissolution of whatever moral code they may have.
Even shows for children are not exempt from a change for the worse. Many show parents as bumbling idiots if not down right evil. For that matter, parents are so far gone in understanding what is right or wrong, they think nothing of letting young children watch graphic shows or play graphic video games.
While parents are the first group I thought of, another group that comes under fire on almost every front, is that of Christians. They are generally the bad guys or considered stupid and unintelligent. It is almost cliché how evil Christianity is portrayed. On the other hand, atheism is alive and well and is applauded.
That certainly not would have been the case when I was young. At that time, when prayer had been removed from schools, most people still went to church on the Sabbath. Stores were closed. There was a respect for the church.
Is any of that still true today? I don’t think so.
I think that a good part of that attitude is because of the indoctrination we receive in school and, more importantly, the indoctrination we receive from entertainment.
Respect for authority as suffered as well. I remember when the troops came home from Viet Nam. They were greeted with horrific names and people spat in their faces. I remember thinking how awful it was for the soldiers. They had done what they were asked to do to defend our way of life.
If it wasn’t a just war, it wasn’t the fault of the soldiers. The news, music and media of the day sure portrayed it as such.
For me, the way they were treated was the beginning of the decline of the goodness of our country.
Today, most people have been so sated by what they watch, see, hear and even discuss, that they don’t know that, just by doing so, they are actually breaking the ten commandments of God.
Jesus told us just thinking about such things is the same as actually doing them. How can someone watching two other people having sex not think about it? How can someone listening to curses profaning God not be a party to the curse?
I haven’t really watched television in years. When I did, I was fairly careful about what I did watch. However, when I had stopped watching for about a year, I went back to watch some of my old favorite shows.
Even though I had thought I was so careful in what I was watching, I was shocked at how truly disgusting they were. For the same reasons I mentioned above. Keep in mind, those shows were mild. They weren’t at all like the ones that I had heard references to recently.
Recall, at the beginning of this post, I mentioned that it was fellow Christians, who were discussing what were fairly raunchy televisions shows and movies, that opened my eyes. Somehow, I had thought that most Christians didn’t indulge in these.
I guess the idea of missing the next best show or movie is too much for even a good number of Christians to stand. I also wonder how many of those same Christians feel like God isn’t listening to them or answering their prayers. Sin stands in between us and God and it will have a huge impact on our relationship with him.
Philippians 4:8-9
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. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.