Joined: 13 Jun 2006
Posts: 134
Location: Texas, Ye-HAW!
Thu Aug 24, 2006 3:16 am
Kill the TV
Yes, you read the title right, I believe in death to the television.
Why?
Does it encourage you to grow deeper in your walk with the Lord, or worship him, or help others, or anything but waste your time? No – all it is is a way to waste your time on fantasy.
And of course it follows God’s word where it says:
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK ON THESE THINGS.” - Philippians 4:8
After all, it’s not like 3000 times a week there’s a soft-core pornographic image on MTV, or that the average movie made is rated “R”.
Is there ANYTHING good about the television? Absolutely!
Whenever I ask someone about the benefits of owning a TV I always get the classic response – “The Discovery Channel”, I mean, without their daily shows on how we evolved from apes where would we be? Has YOUR child been told he’s an ape today? If not turn on the Discovery Channel.
(Of course you couldn’t possibly learn whatever else they had to say in any form of book or online source like ICR.org.)
And what about the news? Personally, if it wasn’t for the TV news I would not have known about that wonderful Gay event that when on yesterday, or seen the newscast about the rapist who murdered six kids. And thanks to the news I don’t have to hear about anything that is truly important in our world; they make sure to leave it out. Yes, if I was forced to get my news from the Internet I may have to hear about real things happening in our world. (*shudder)
You know the old saying “garbage in, garbage out”. What we see every day on the TV shapes as whether we want it to or not. IT’S BEEN PROVEN. So how’s it shaping you? Are you better Christian because the TV, do you love people more? Or thinks to the latest HBO movie, do you now know how to rape someone?
Basically it comes down to whether or not you would be proud to stand before the holy Almighty God of the universe and shown him an episode of sex in the city or the Simpson’s. And as scary as not having a TV to suck the life out of you sounds, you won’t die from it. I haven’t had a TV in my house for 16+ years and I’m not dead. As a matter of fact I actually have more time to spend learning, reading God’s word, hanging out with friends, donating time to help people, and just living life. Like a friend of mine says; “Jesus is ether Lord of your life, or He isn’t Lord at all.” and the TV wants to make sure he has no place in your life.
Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial.
Just because television may be considered just fine by our culture, including Christians, doesn't mean that it is necessarily helpful to our walk with the Lord. And if our goal is to glorify God in everything we do, what role does TV play? Or Xbox for that matter? I'm not saying that you should never watch TV or play Xbox- I do both. But maybe it is time to ask ourselves what our priorities are and whether or not we should change the way we spend our time in order to become more mature.
Joined: 13 Jun 2006
Posts: 134
Location: Texas, Ye-HAW!
Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:50 pm
Just Pray
I may not have TV, but I still play video games. I use to like video games more than anything (like 7+ hours a day anything! ), but I knew that they were just wasting my time and my life. So since I couldn’t stop myself from playing them I just asked God to take that interest away from me and help me to use my life more for His work.
Well, two years later… I only play a game with my brother every week or two! God answered my prayers and helped me to stop my addiction to games just by me asking him. So what about you? What can God help you to quit?
I hardly ever watch TV because there's nothing on, so I can honestly say that that is not a problem. The other day as I was getting into bed I realized that I had spent a large portion of my day playing or watching Xbox. I was like, "How is this glorifying God?" I didn't even have the excuse of playing Xbox to spend time with my friends.
I don't want say that playing Xbox is wrong. I just don't think that its beneficial to me. I'm praying that God takes that desire away.
Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 11
Location: Greenville, TX
Thu Aug 24, 2006 8:48 pm
Hey guys, timeout...with all this talk about tv and xbox, what about what you're on right now...the computer...the computer has probably been more damaging to Christians than xbox or tv, because its so private people can easily access thousands of porn and other similiar centered sites with the click of a button...blockers help, but not everybody has blockers, some parents just don't care...so what should we do about that? Is there anything we can do?
Where I can see where you're coming from, I was talking about me personally. Although I do spend a large portion of my time on the computer, it is almost always in order to educate myself or keep in contact with other people, where as Xbox does neither and the TV rarely gives me a decent learning experience.
Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 11
Location: Greenville, TX
Thu Aug 24, 2006 9:08 pm
Re: Internet
InChrist wrote:
Where I can see where you're coming from, I was talking about me personally. Although I do spend a large portion of my time on the computer, it is almost always in order to educate myself or keep in contact with other people, where as Xbox does neither and the TV rarely gives me a decent learning experience.
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Like a friend of mine says; “Jesus is ether Lord of your life, or He isn’t Lord at all.” and the TV wants to make sure he has no place in your life.
), but I knew that they were just wasting my time and my life. So since I couldn’t stop myself from playing them I just asked God to take that interest away from me and help me to use my life more for His work. 
