A Night in Front of the Television

As a child I remember being intrigued by TV shows such as Little House on the Prairie and Looney Tunes cartoons. It was a more innocent time, when you didn’t have to be concerned about foul language and sexual images plastered over your television screen.

Being a mom now, I find myself more concerned about the choices available to youngsters today. Yes, we do have parental controls on our television to limit access to these choices….but it’s getting to the point where almost every show has something that I don’t wish for my children to see. Have you noticed that even commercials are becoming filled with crude sexual humor and images? I cringe when the Victoria Secret commercials come on and my 14 year old son is sitting right there. What kind of a message does that send to our kids?

I scanned through the choices available to me right now to watch and am amazed at the variety. I could watch a show about a Bear Whisperer…or a reality show about 16 year old girl pregnant with twins by a fellow student she has only been dating for a few weeks…or a show about the latest Hollywood gossip…or a show about the Playboy mansion…or a show about someone going through plastic surgery…or a show about a man with no legs…or a show about home renovations…or a show about weight loss…or a singing competition…or a show where couples are told whether to break up or get married…or a movie about an affair that escalates into murder…or a cartoon riddled with sexual innuendos…or a show about how food is made…or a documentary about a murder mystery. I could go on and on….the possibilities are endless!

But where is God in this? What happened to all the wholesome family values and the Christian influence? What happened to the days when we didn’t have to worry about what our kids are viewing? What happened to the fear of God?

Now I’m not saying that all television is wrong. My family has several shows that we regularly watch together. Instead, what I’m trying to say is that now sin is so blatant. Sin is cool. Sin is acceptable. It is so easy to become desensitized to the true affect of sin. Sin will get a foothold on your life and will latch on to you before you even realize it. My husband has used this illustration many times while preaching….if he grabs someone’s foot while they are standing, he suddenly has control of them. Sin is just like that. The foothold will control us.

If you are a Christian, the Bible says you are in the world…but not OF the world. We are here to be an influence on the world around us…not to become influenced by it ourselves.