Jump to content
  • Welcome Guest

    For an ad free experience on Online Baptist, Please login or register for free

Unplug the Family From Hollywood


Recommended Posts

  • Administrators

December 17, 2009 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

“Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing” (Deuteronomy 7:26).

TV+unplug
One of the wisest things parents can do today is throw out the television altogether, except for watching educational programs and perhaps some carefully selected movies, and the selection of the latter will be slim indeed.

In looking back on my childhood growing up in a Baptist church, attending services at least three times a week, the two major influences that stole my heart for the world were public school friendships and television programs. We got a television when I was about eight years old (1957), and though the programs were nothing like they are today, they certainly did not encourage me spiritually. We got our television about a year after Elvis appeared on the
Ed Sullivan Show. I remember that by the time I reached junior high school, I did everything I could to stay home on Sunday nights, because that was when the most exciting programs of the week were on, such as the Disney Hour and The Ed Sullivan Show and the Dinah Shore program (“See the USA in your Chevrolet”). I don’t remember if I was home that Sunday night in 1964 when the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan, but I could have been. I was in high school and about that time my parents were having a lot of prOBlems and had pretty much given up on trying to keep me in church. I had already started drinking and carousing around with my buddies every weekend. There is no doubt that television and movies fed my carnal imagination in a way that nothing else could have and, together with rock & roll, inflamed me with a passion for the things of the world.

Posted at http://www.wayoflife.org/files/cd88e8c5b9a0c2ee77f1b6d0be796851-479.html#unique-entry-id-479
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The TV is like the computer in many ways(except computers are better ;) ). Both give access to various forms of media and both require discernment in the kind of media you access on them. To say that TV was responsible for over-drinking and a passion for the world is a bit far-fetched, to say the very least. If I watch the Brady Bunch every day for the rest of my life, I very much doubt that it will have any kind of negative effect on me. There are definitely some TV shows that I believe Christians should stay away from but to say that we should throw out the TV is reactionary and irrational.

The Bible says that where a person's heart is, that's where their treasure will be. The Bible actually places a great amount of emphasis on the heart as guiding our actions and motives. The foundational commandments are to love God and others with all of our hearts and minds. The paths we take are not as a result of watching TV or listening to certain kinds of music or going certain places, they are a result of where our heart's desires lie. Quite the opposite, really, the TV we watch, the music we listen to, and the places we go are a result of where our heart's desires are.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

Kevin, Cloud quoted the verse you referenced in your post (about abomination and abhor), but he wasn't saying the entire tv was an abomination - read the sentence where he says "except." In order to watch what he mentions, one must have either a tv, a monitor or a computer. Of course, the heads of individual homes make the decision on what to watch... (We should abhor much of what is on the tv - and much of what is available on the internet - it is an abomination to God!)

And just because someone gets rid of their tv does not mean they are being irrational or reactionary. That's a judgment call for every family that you nor I have a right to make! We do not know how God deals with the hearts of each and every family, so that is a broad brush to paint with.

As to what we watch, listen to, etc. Yes, many times that is an indication of where our hearts are. Because we watch or listen to that which appeals to us. But!! You are wrong when you say what you watch or listen to won't affect you (or anyone, for that matter). If it weren't a prOBlem, God would nowhere in His Word caution us as to what goes into our eyes or about avoiding the world's philosophies (which tv programs are most certainly imbued with, as is much music).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

There are definitely some TV shows that I believe Christians should stay away from but to say that we should throw out the TV is reactionary and irrational.


To actually never stand against anything EXCEPT those standing against worldiness and false teachings IS IN ITSELF REACTIONARY AND IRRATIONAL on your part. The only things I have seen you stand against here on these boards are those who stand against things the Bible says to reject or have nothing to do with!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members



To actually never stand against anything EXCEPT those standing against worldiness and false teachings IS IN ITSELF REACTIONARY AND IRRATIONAL on your part. The only things I have seen you stand against here on these boards are those who stand against things the Bible says to reject or have nothing to do with!

Where does the Bible stand against television? :wink

I'm against things and have said so before. You're just so used to us being in disagreement that you haven't noticed the times that we agree. lol

And if I did stand against nothing except those standing against so-called worldliness and false teaching, which I don't, that would be neither reactionary or irrational. OB has a Bible, directory and game section but no dictionary? Maybe Matt can add that in sometime, might help. :thumb:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Kevin, Cloud quoted the verse you referenced in your post (about abomination and abhor), but he wasn't saying the entire tv was an abomination - read the sentence where he says "except." In order to watch what he mentions, one must have either a tv, a monitor or a computer. Of course, the heads of individual homes make the decision on what to watch... (We should abhor much of what is on the tv - and much of what is available on the internet - it is an abomination to God!)

Then he is a poor writer because he posted that at the top of an article and then went on to talk about the evils of TV and how we should throw out, with a little tiny exception clause in there that basically allows for....well, nothing Cloud would approve of. lol

And just because someone gets rid of their tv does not mean they are being irrational or reactionary. That's a judgment call for every family that you nor I have a right to make! We do not know how God deals with the hearts of each and every family, so that is a broad brush to paint with.

Au contraire, I wasn't referring to everyone, at all. I was referring to Cloud's advocating that we should throw it out. If you decide to get rid of the TV because it's a prOBlem for you, more power to you. I'm not going to talk bad about you unless you (a) start acting like you're better than me because of it or (B) tell me that I need to get rid of mine. :wink

As to what we watch, listen to, etc. Yes, many times that is an indication of where our hearts are. Because we watch or listen to that which appeals to us. But!! You are wrong when you say what you watch or listen to won't affect you (or anyone, for that matter). If it weren't a prOBlem, God would nowhere in His Word caution us as to what goes into our eyes or about avoiding the world's philosophies (which tv programs are most certainly imbued with, as is much music).

I agree. I think much of what is in our hearts directs the things we do and think but I do believe that caution is necessary in the things we allow ourselves to view or listen to even if our heart is pure before God. I wouldn't want me or my family to view a show filled with sex-talk or listen to music telling people to live for partying or about getting drunk. So I do agree and I'm not advocating an anything-goes philosophy, I was mostly writing in response to Cloud's experience.

He seemed to imply that watching things like the Ed Sullivan show gave him a craving for the world that led to drunkeness and wild living which is absurd just based on the fact that Cloud was unsaved at the time and had a natural love for the things of the world born in his sinful nature. He was dead in his sins, he can't blame TV for something that he would've done anyway as a natural man.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members



To actually never stand against anything EXCEPT those standing against worldiness and false teachings IS IN ITSELF REACTIONARY AND IRRATIONAL on your part. The only things I have seen you stand against here on these boards are those who stand against things the Bible says to reject or have nothing to do with!


There is a much truth in what you proclaimed. :thumb:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

Kevin he is not a poor writer. It looks like you are looking for something in his posts before you even start to read it. I know, you've done to my posts before. You have a chip on your shoulders toward anyone IFB. Frankly, I'm getting tired if the same old rhetoric.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Kevin he is not a poor writer. It looks like you are looking for something in his posts before you even start to read it. I know, you've done to my posts before. You have a chip on your shoulders toward anyone IFB. Frankly, I'm getting tired if the same old rhetoric.

He posted that verse above an article against tv's and advocating throwing them out. If he's going to post a verse about throwing out things that are an abomination and then talks about throwing out tv's then I'm going to assume he meant there to be a correlation. LuAnne said there wasn't so I'm saying he must be a poor writer if that's not what he meant because it seems pretty clear to me.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

This parts is exactly what I was talking about. You are assuming again, that is some of the rhetoric that is getting old. That and your stereotypes toward certain groups.


If he's going to post a verse about throwing out things that are an abomination and then talks about throwing out tv's then I'm going to assume he meant there to be a correlation.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

What?? When a person reads an article, they make an assumption as to what the author is talking about. That's part of the reading process. You don't read an article and just say..."yup, ok, that's good." You discover what the author is trying to communicate.

If I post a verse that says "Love not the world" and then start preaching against movie theaters, you are going to "assume" that I'm making a correlation between the two, are you not?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Kevin it appears to me the translation that would best suite you would be the one that includes verses like:

Thou shalt NOT watch television, or
Thou shalt NOT watch Twilight (vampire movies.)

If you do not have a direct command, you are free? I think not. Else shall we smoke, drink beer, and liquor?

Many of the things that people "stand against" here are not irrational and reactionary, but are based on bible principles, i.e.,

Psa 101:3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; [it] shall not cleave to me.

I have no prOBlem applying that to television, or at least Hollywood television, (both, either, and all for me and my house.)

As I recall you went to see Twilight, and then scoffed at the correction for doing so. Just set me straight here, what type of Christianity do you practice where it is o.k. to do these things? Please show us your bible verse for watching Twilight.

Ben

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...