"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." - Colossians 2:8
Hmmm, right? Where am I going with this one?
Lately I have been thinking about entertainment. What I watch, what I listen to, what I read, etc. What goes into my mind and subconscious, whether I'm intentionally and intensely paying attention to it or even just having it on for "background noise?"
I'm sure to offend some of you with the following thoughts, but I am just trying to make you think here.
We don't have television, which I know I have mentioned on here before. We use our computer to watch movies as well as shows that are online. The amount of tv we have watched has gone down drastically because of this. Then, by choice, it has dwindled even more. We have wrestled with ourselves and each other as we wade through this process of deciding what is good for us to watch and what we should cut out.
Thankfully, "Scrubs" is now done because I don't think I could continue watching that in good conscience and we only have one more season of "Lost" left (and that doesn't even start again until January 2010!) We could drop "House" and not have it make a difference but I don't know if Tim can give up "Fringe." He likes the sci-fi X-Files-ishness to it (did that make sense?) I, on the other hand, usually read while he watches it because it tends to leave me with bad dreams at times.
That leaves "Wipeout" which is just a summer show. A funny one at that, although I think it was better last year. This season people know about the different events ("the big balls", "the sweeper", etc.) and they WANT to do it still to conquer it.
How about them movies?
We don't watch them much anymore and they have to come recommended by certain people for us to see them.
I guess I'm becoming more challenged to be aware of what I'm taking in. I don't want to just sit on the couch at night and "veg out" to a show that contains half-naked girls, people sleeping around, sex jokes, drugs, alcohol is fun and other ideas that leave me feeling like I wasted a half-hour or more of my time.
I also am not big on reality shows anymore. Oh, there was a time when I was...until just a couple years ago. But now I can't stand the thought of "The Bachelor" or "The Bachelorette" and how pathetic these people look by thinking they're going to find their true love on a television show. I hate that on "American Idol" the producers pass the untalented people on through to the judges so that they can make entertainment out of it. I hate thinking what that does to the people who actually think they have some talent and they've been encouraged! And we all sit at home thinking, "Wow, they really thought they were good?!" Well, who can blame them for getting their hopes up if they've been encouraged on to another round.
And this whole "Jon & Kate Plus 8" drama...goodnight! Tim and I watched a few episodes this past year for the first time. I couldn't believe the way Kate treats Jon with such disrespect and as if he was one of the kids. I know that some of it can seem worse due to editing but, if you were watching your own show and didn't agree with the way you were portrayed, wouldn't you say something? Or stop doing the show? Which, in my opinion, is what they need to do. Stop the show. Focus on your marriage then your kids. It's not a hard decision if your priorities are straight. After earning up to $75,000 an episode for a 40 episode season for how many seasons now?, it seems like you would have some money saved up to be able to quit and find a normal job. She's a nurse. They're always in need in the medical field. And he needs to step up and start being a man. OK, so that's my rage on them.
On to the serious stuff.
I heard this said on Focus on the Family a couple weeks ago when they were doing the movie reviews (May 22, 2009.)
"I believe our Lord and Savior is not anti-entertainment, but He is very much anti- those types of entertainment that glamorize the very things that He died on the cross to save us from."
Do you think God is pleased with what you're watching on tv? I know He couldn't be with some of the shows Tim and I have watched over the past few years. When I look back, I'm ashamed of some of the things we've wasted time viewing.
Oh, but Andrea, you're being so "righteous"...so "holier than thou"...you're taking the Bible so literally.
Really?
This is from an interview with Francis Chan at the end of his book Crazy Love (which you really must read if you haven't...or at least watch or listen to one of his sermons on this website.)
Q: What do you tell people who say that you are taking the Bible too literally?
A: If someone told me that I took the Bible too literally, I would really get them to question their own heart. I would ask them if they really believed that we're not supposed to take it that literally, or if it's the influence of other believers who say we're not supposed to. I like to get people to think for themselves and not just go with the flow. When believers are alone with the Word, they come to the same conclusion that I do.
-p. 185, Crazy Love
I don't think the church in today's culture is challenging believers to discern what is in media. Instead, they are trying to find ways to tie in popular culture to their sermons and series to make the church more appealing to non-believers. They might show clips from movies that someone will then be intrigued by and so they want to see the whole thing. This can lead to the viewing of a movie that could contain images and ideas that are not beneficial to a believer.
I have so many more thoughts in my head that I am still trying to form into words or complete thoughts so I'll just end here.
Think about it, though. Really think about it. When you say, "Oh, I'm so addicted to such-and-such tv show and I could never actually give that up" are you actually being held captive by it? Is it drawing you closer into relationship with Christ or farther from?
Thoughts?
3 comments:
Amen and amen! As always, thanks for your challenge and your honesty. We have a TV, but it sits in the basement and rarely gets used. (Now that we didn't buy the converter, it's doomed!) We also watch movies on our laptops, and occasionally watch The Office online. (We used to watch Lost, too, but started missing episodes a while back and haven't caught up. I don't know if we'll ever go back and finish it.) All that to say, even Lost and the Office aren't wholesome, and if I really sit and think about it, it would be a better decision just to NOT watch them at all.
We've also been watching Little House on the Prairie with our kids (sounds nerdy, I know), and it's pretty wholesome. (Though one of the episodes we watched recently had a swear word on it! Gasp!)
There is so little "entertainment" that is wholesome that it's almost laughable to try to find it! But isn't it worth it to be that picky? Isn't that what "discernment" is all about? (Good ol' Rex would be so proud that I pulled out that word!) :-) Why in the world would we want to fill our minds with smut, swearing, unfaithfulness, etc? I've gotten engrossed in an episode or two of Grey's Anatomy, and I always feel dirty after watching it. It's terrible!
It's so unpopular to *not* watch TV or movies, and so hard to convince other Christians that it's worth the so-called sacrifice. Why?
Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox! Thanks for the challenge today!
It is nice to hear this from someone outside the LDS culture. I've gotten a lot of nasty comments about this over the years because I am really careful in regards to the media I watch/read. (the mormon church asks members to refrain from r-rated movies, excessive TV, terrible music and un-uplifting books etc)... That's not to say I have always followed that particular piece of sage advice and that is not to say I follow it to the letter now either, BUT it is really good advice.
Adam and I turned off our cable in 2005 and never looked back. We didn't even watch TV at all until this past year. Now we watch The Daily show a couple of times a week. If a TV show strikes up our fancy, we will check it out on DVD and watch it at our leisure (aka 2 hours here, 45 minutes there, sometimes in the hour before we go to bed). Even doing that we have only watched Firefly, a season or two of curb our enthusiasm (before we just didn't enjoy it anymore), Dexter (only season 1), a season of scrubs, and right now we are watching freeks and geeks. We have tried a lot and just shut them off (Lost, Heroes, etc) and for the most part they feel like we are wasting our time, so we turn them off.
We do watch a lot of movies, but again, we use netflix and at most- between tv and movies, we watch twice a week.
I don't think you are being self righteous. We are a media culture and A LOT of the media is just horrific. It is stupid- and I don't mean that as a throw off turn, but it speaks to the lowest common denominator. I am not saying I only like high brow entertainment, but smart entertainment uplifts me personally.
What I like about media is that we are given the agency to discern what is best for us- there is no hard line to never cross. I loved Star Trek- but that isn't for everyone. Some people like shows we don't watch- and that is fine. It is the sheer quantity that people consume that is so appalling.
We actually have two TVs. Once is for the vintage video games (remember Adam works in video games) and the other is actually hooked up to our Windows machine in the living room. Well the windows machine, two video game consoles, and a DVD player. Even surrounded in all this media, we still turn it off :)
So keep on soap boxing- why talk about something that isn't personally important to you ;)
Great Post! It is so true! I seems to always say to other people that nothing on TV seems to be wholesome anymore. I have caught myself using this as an excuse to watch the Office since there have been some seriously rauchy stuff in it this last season. It was very disappointing. I am thinking that this will drop off my list of TV shows now too. This means all we watch is Lost - which by the way is also not too wholesome either. One thing that particulary bothers me about Lost is the fact that they have the guy on there who seems to do palm reading (I cannot remember what it is called) which is definitely demonic (which is something we should seriously stay away from). Good thoughts.
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