Television

[HappyChristian]

Don't make him angry, Larry...you wouldn't like him when he's angry! 

[John81]

Being the pessimist and old curmudgeon that I am, I can't help but think it would eventually end up just like the rest of the so-called christian stations eventually.  Un christian commercials, questionable programming and music, etc.

They were a good idea to begin with too.  Might be worth a try though. 

 

God bless,

Larry

That's why the station would have to be totally ours, not partnered with anyone else, and why we would have to keep guard of it just as we need to keep guard of our churches.

 

No doubt the risk for corruption would be there, but it's everywhere, including our colleges and churches.

 

The Christian TV stations I'm aware of started at least somewhat watered down and compromised, with those in control not on solid footing to begin with.

 

As the "fire and brimstone" preaching was mentioned above, it's interesting to remember (for me, from reading) how many of those sort of preachers were on the radio back in the earlier days of radio.

 

Like most things today, who gets on TV or radio is mostly about money. Those who draw the larger audiences, which bring in more money, are the ones given preference. Since more people like to have their ears tickled than singed, the "soft message" preachers have the edge.

[Galations 2:20]

I love the idea of an IFB TV station.  My husband and I got rid of cable a few months ago.  How refreshing it has been to choose good God honoring programs through Netflix instead of inundated by outlandish programs and commercials which send those sly subliminal messages.

 

Praying that God could provide an IFB church somewhere to be pricked in their hearts about this and be obedient to the call if it be His will.

[irishman]

The churches that have them now, probably didn't have too much on the ball anyway.  They start with the wrong Bible, then the wrong (works) gospel, and then the wrong people.

 

It would be good if we could depend on the 2nd generation to keep it going too.  Too many 2nd generations are not like the original; case in point: "Our Daily Bread" started by M.R. DeHaan was right down the line, KJB, soul winning, fundamental etc.  It didn't take long for it to go by the wayside after Dr. DeHaan died.

[Anon]

The Catholics and the Mormons have TONS more money than Baptists. Much of it is because the giving, at least with the Mormons, is totally mandatory, basically a religious taxation.

I don't think Baptists would consider a television station with old movies to be a good use of scarce funds...

[Guest]

Something like this, to be successful,  is only undertaken by freewill giving as a supported mission. Quarterly or semi-annual share-a-thons might work; it works for BBN. No tax breaks (no government interference of any form), no grants (from other than IFBers), no advertising, no compromise.

 

IFB preaching (volunteer IFB taped sermons), IFB trained volunteers to interview for...home-schooling, debt free, there are a myriad of programming types helpful for Christian living, news (trained IFB persons), movies (approved by a board voted on by all the supporters and term limited), etc, etc.

 

Can you imagine hearing a hearty AMEN from your living room while watching the daily 10:00 AM broadcast of "Separated Living In a Sin Sick World?" Now imagine what happens because no one supports missions.

 

2 Corinthians 8:2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

 

How willing are people to support such an undertaking? What form of offering are you willing to sacrifice?

 

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

[JerryNumbers]

Having been a member of the LDS church I can say that they first of all have the money to do it. Also they have a great deal of an organization behind the scenes. I did some transcribing for the church over the years and there are thousands that volunteer 100's of hours each year to provide "service" to the church. We are to give of all of our talents to the church and this is taken very literally! I'm a very fast typist so my talent would go to the church first before anything else. The members are very dedicated and committed so the church relies heavily on the members to support all these public forums such as TV, Radio, and Internet.

 

One thing about the IFB's is that they are not an "organized church' meaning they do not fall under an umbrella like other churches do. If the IFB wanted to do such a thing like coming together to support a TV station that would mean going against what they stand for and that is they are independent from each other. They would have no choice but to eventually unite under one umbrella to have not only the money but the man power to run something so large.

 

Just my view point since I have experience in both churches

 

True, many of our Baptist brothers & sister don no know much about the Mormons. They are the rich people, for the most part. And the real Baptist people & their churches are nothing like them.

[robmac68]

Why does it have to be a TV station?  Someone mentioned Netflix.  Isn't that a cheaper modem then television?  My DVD player I bought a year and a half ago has Netflix capability built in.  I don't have to use the computer to watch on the 32" TV.  Anyway, my wife has a laptop that I have used to plug into the TV to watch a rented video from Amazon.  Trust me, if I can plug a computer into a TV, anybody can. (I side with Jerrynumbers on that programming a T-stat, even with the instruction book, I can't do it.) 

 

Anyway, if some of you had access to video taped sermons that would regulary upload them on this forum, I would regualry "borrow" my wife's laptop and watch the sermons on a 32" TV rather than a small computer screen. 

 

My DVD player also streams youtube vids and there are Christian videos uploaded that I can watch.  Problem with youtube, though, is filtering all the garbage that comes across the screen before you get to what you want to watch. 

 

The problem is, and I don't like to be pessimistic either, but I don't think there would be much interest in the fundamental circles.  Everyone wants to be entertained and if the programming didn't greatly lean towards "entertainment" people wouldn't tune in.  I don't know how it is in your church or area, but the church talk needs left at church!!  Much more interesting things to talk about other than God all the time!  I have a brother-in-law who is an IFB missionary and you would think he would like to have some talks like what is discussed on this forum, but no he doesn't.  If it doesn't revolve around guns or ammo, we might as well not talk.  I can sometimes talk to my wife, mom and 1 or 2 at church about "God" centered topics, but it needs limited.  Now if I want to talk about this world going to "hell in a hand-basket" I can find all sorts of people to talk about that.  The thing is, it is just talk and nobody wants to do anything about it. 

[irishman]

The Catholics and the Mormons have TONS more money than Baptists. Much of it is because the giving, at least with the Mormons, is totally mandatory, basically a religious taxation.

I don't think Baptists would consider a television station with old movies to be a good use of scarce funds...

 

I suppose it would fall under the heading of "entertainment", but meanwhile the air waves are dominated by heathens and cults.

 

maybe it could come under the auspices of a mission program.

[John81]

Why does it have to be a TV station?  Someone mentioned Netflix.  Isn't that a cheaper modem then television?  My DVD player I bought a year and a half ago has Netflix capability built in.  I don't have to use the computer to watch on the 32" TV.  Anyway, my wife has a laptop that I have used to plug into the TV to watch a rented video from Amazon.  Trust me, if I can plug a computer into a TV, anybody can. (I side with Jerrynumbers on that programming a T-stat, even with the instruction book, I can't do it.) 

 

Anyway, if some of you had access to video taped sermons that would regulary upload them on this forum, I would regualry "borrow" my wife's laptop and watch the sermons on a 32" TV rather than a small computer screen. 

 

My DVD player also streams youtube vids and there are Christian videos uploaded that I can watch.  Problem with youtube, though, is filtering all the garbage that comes across the screen before you get to what you want to watch. 

 

The problem is, and I don't like to be pessimistic either, but I don't think there would be much interest in the fundamental circles.  Everyone wants to be entertained and if the programming didn't greatly lean towards "entertainment" people wouldn't tune in.  I don't know how it is in your church or area, but the church talk needs left at church!!  Much more interesting things to talk about other than God all the time!  I have a brother-in-law who is an IFB missionary and you would think he would like to have some talks like what is discussed on this forum, but no he doesn't.  If it doesn't revolve around guns or ammo, we might as well not talk.  I can sometimes talk to my wife, mom and 1 or 2 at church about "God" centered topics, but it needs limited.  Now if I want to talk about this world going to "hell in a hand-basket" I can find all sorts of people to talk about that.  The thing is, it is just talk and nobody wants to do anything about it. 

We are going to need to buy a new DVD player because our old one is having problems. I've seen those players which say they have Neflix and YouTube access. Don't you need to have a WiFi connection for that to work? Someone told me that was needed and said the setup for the WiFi can be complicated.

 

I like watching some of the sermons I find on YouTube but I don't like having to watch them on the computer screen, which is one of the reasons I've been trying to find out more about those DVD players that can stream YouTube.

 

Do the YouTube videos play good? Any lag time or similar problems?

 

I've never used Netflix so I don't know how that works either.

[robmac68]

We are going to need to buy a new DVD player because our old one is having problems. I've seen those players which say they have Neflix and YouTube access. Don't you need to have a WiFi connection for that to work? Someone told me that was needed and said the setup for the WiFi can be complicated.

 

I like watching some of the sermons I find on YouTube but I don't like having to watch them on the computer screen, which is one of the reasons I've been trying to find out more about those DVD players that can stream YouTube.

 

Do the YouTube videos play good? Any lag time or similar problems?

 

I've never used Netflix so I don't know how that works either.

Yes, you would need a WiFi connection for it to work.  I do not have internet at home.  I bought a router and gave it to my dad, who lives next door to me.  He hooked it up to his computer so my wife can "piggyback" off of him.  He didn't have a bit of trouble hooking it up.  He said he basically plugged it in, answered questions the computer asked him and he was done.  The router is probably 50-75 feet away from my TV and of course through 2 house walls.  Everything works great.  If there is bad weather, youtube or netflix might have to "rebuffer" to get the signal back.  That has only happened several times <10.  I lost signal and couldn't watch anything twice.  Other than that, it has worked great.

 

Netflix works better than youtube.  Trouble when you get interupted and have to finish watching later.  On netflix, the program actually remembers where you left off watching and you have an option to continue or to start over.  On youtube it doesn't.  And to use the "skip" feature on the remote, to find the place you left off, almost takes as long as if you just watched it from the beginning.  Each time you hit the skip button, youtube has to "buffer" to find the video.  Can be quite frustrating if you already watched an hour of "The Ten Commandments" and had to stop and finish later.  I still haven't finished that movie on youtube.  When i do, I will hook the computer up to the TV and watch it that way so I can just "mouse click" on the bar to jump ahead to where I should be.

 

The router I bought was pushing its way to the top of the line, but not too bad to buy.  It got good reviews about streaming and "lag time".  I haven't had a problem with lag time. 

[HappyChristian]

You know, sermonaudio does just the audio of the sermon, so it's easier because a lot of churches don't want video cameras.  But something like Netflix could work - although I'm thinking regular DVDs might be a good alternative, too, because some people (like us) don't have Internet and don't want it.

 

I still like the idea of a truly Christian network!

[Miss Daisy]

Recently I had read on here (I think) about an IFB type radio station somewhere that finally had to fold because so many restrictions were put on it and what they could air that there was finally nothing left that fell within their guidelines. But the local radio Christian (CCM) station was able to continue with no problem.

 

A TV station would never get off the ground because wherever it was broadcast from would be a very local area. A internet site with just IFB preaching/ programing where you can stream it online onto your bigger TV if you wanted is a more realistic idea.

 

Anybody ever heard of SkyAngel TV? It's all Christian TV. But it's CCM and lots of channels like TBN but it does have more channels like Hallmark with more family oriented TV. I looked into it but decided there really wasn't much I'd watch on it either. You have to buy a separate box to receive it's channels. It is cheap though. Someone else may find more to watch than I did and find it worthwhile.

[irishman]

I believe that if the church owned the station, there would be a lot more freedom of selection.  Movies like "Sheffy"(spelling?); "Burning Hell" and "Red River" would be available through Bob Jones University.  They have made their own movies, and I understand they are first class.  These are not Hellywood influenced, and they are quite good.  The Gospel is preached quite clearly on some of them.

 

We get an "angel: station, and they have some good stuff, but they are predominantly charismatic.  The movies are good, and they block out swear words in shows like "Touched by an angel" or Highway to heaven" etc.,whenever they swear in them (which is not much)    Of course those are Hellywood movies too.

[HappyChristian]

My mom watches a couple of religious stations once in a while - the movies, not the preaching.  There are a few clean movies on there. But I'm sure she'd much rather watch things like Sheffy, etc.