TV to Avoid
Pay movie channels: Filled with filth, profanity and the using of God’s name in vain, these channels seldom have anything to view that fits the Christian life style. I have seen cable movie channels help destroy marriages. This is a good start for our list of TV to avoid. You’ll do better spritiually if you don’t wallow here.
Sitcoms (most): Sitcoms were really the first televised avenue of heightened sexual innuendo. Now it is no longer just innuendo; it is in-your-face immorality. I remember when sitcoms began to become uncomfortable to view. They have continued to stretch the envelope. So much of the humor revolved around sex that some programs admitted that’s what they were about, e.g., “Sex and the City.”
And you don’t even want to accidentally surf past a sitcom on a premium channel … another good reason not to have them.
Most sitcoms are full of spiritual poison. I regret that many Christians, like the frog in the pot, don’t notice the heat being turned up because it is so gradual.
My goal in this series is not to decide for you, but hopefully to make you think, then decide for yourself.
Ask yourself this question with any TV program you watch: “Would I be comfortable watching this with Jesus in the room?” Because He is.
Christians just don’t need sitcoms.
Christian television programs that spend a large portion of their time asking for money: At best these are misguided; at worst they are charlatans. Watch Christian television that is God-honoring, not money-grubbing. There is nothing wrong with a ministry making its financial needs known. It is wrong if money is what they talk about most. I believe you should support ministries who let their needs be known in a humble and Godly manner, and have proven they are good stewards of donated funds.
The Moment of Truth: Seeing commercials for this program was nauseating enough. I couldn’t tolerate viewing the actual show.
Television is outdoing itself, exploiting gullible people, and destroying families and lives. That’s all that can happen with this show.
The wife of a New York City cop admitted, on Fox’s The Moment of Truth, that she cheated on him. Oh, and she also let him (and the world) know she wishes she was married to a former boyfriend instead of him.
The show’s Web site says contestants “answer 21 increasingly personal questions honestly, as determined by a polygraph, and win up to $500,000.”
Ironically, the couple has apparently destroyed their marriage for nothing, since they won no money after the wife was caught in a lie by the lie detector when asked if she thought she was a good person. She had said, “Yes.”
Lauren Cleri told the New York Post, “We’re kind of up in the air right now—I want to [get back together], but I don’t think he does.”
“It’s not very easy to overcome,” said her husband, Frank Cleri.
This is TV at its lowest … exploiting people, appealing to greed above decency, and destroying lives.
Commercials: Yes, advertisements have been on my TV to Avoid list for a long time … but for increasingly different reasons.
I have muted commercials for years. I don’t like the volume or the propaganda. If you think about all the time in your life you have sat in front of that box letting propagandists pour their refuse into your soul, you should be duly appalled at the wasted time in your life. It’s actually worse than wasted.
Today, commercials are good to avoid for another reason. Along with our cultural slide, commercials have become increasingly personal and controversial. It is uncomfortable to watch them in mixed company anymore. Feminine and male products and sexual aids are just the tip of the iceberg.
I recommend muting all commercials or, better yet, recording your programs and fast forwarding through the propaganda.
I am also disturbed when I hear Christians discussing which Super Bowl (or other) commercial is their favorite … and the answer is usually a beer commercial. We find ourselves entertained by promos for something most of us would have nothing to do with.
Something is wrong.
Yep, this is good advice. Avoid commercials.
The Simpsons: D’oh!
The totalitarian regime of President Hugo Chavez made news by labeling The Simpsons unfit for children and pulled it from the 11 a.m. slot of nationally-controlled Venezuelan television. Even a stopped clock is right every now and then.
Children definitely should not be subjected to this vileness masked in cartoon form.
The bigger problem is, some Christians actually watch—and enjoy—this perverted stuff. I can’t imagine God could be pleased with that.
Put The Simpsons (and its ilk) on the list.
