Cut out the TV
I was reading a book, “The Joy of a Word Filled Family”, and part of it had a section from one of Alvin Reid’s books. Basically it was a made up “message” from Satan to his underlings. The gist of it was to fill our lives up with things that made us “too busy” for God. Things like TV, Music, etc.
My friend Justin posted about not listening to secular music, but I think we should take it a step further and not watch TV.
There is nothing that wastes more time than the TV. It is so easy to get sucked into one less hour of your life with a television. Simply sit in the chair, turn on the tv, and there goes an hour.
I used to very seldom watch anything. But it started to turn out as a means to wake up. I had to watch some tv to fully wake up (or so I thought). Then it turned into more, where there was just ONE show a week I’d really watch. But those commercials soon sucked me into ONE show a DAY. Then it grew, I mean really why would you want to just eat your dinner when you could be entertained at the same time? I mean everyone loves Raymond.
Well my wife and I decided to cut TV out of our lifestyle. I simply unplugged the antenna, and no more channels. The TV itself is still there, but only for the occasional movie. It is fun to have friends come over and watch a funny movie, and that happens very seldom. So I’d still like to do it when it happens, but I know that it will happen so infrequently that keeping it won’t be a problem.
January 1st, 2006 at 4:18 pm
Yeah, TV isn’t big for me … that’s why I really didn’t mention it, I guess. The only shows I watch on TV are “Without a Trace”, the History Channel, or Fox News. I’ll occasionally turn on Court TV’s Forensic Files, but other than that … nothing on TV is worth watching. Eric Close of “Without a Trace” is a Christian, so that kind of got me interesting, but the show’s never really done anything that was that bad (other than curse words). One episode was actually about a guy in prison that changed his life and became a Christian … he went missing because the other inmates killed him, in part, for that belief. That was, by far, the best episode ever.
I hate TV, we had digital cable (because it was “free” for a “limited time” or something like that) and guess what? Out of the added 30 channels or so there was NEVER ANYTHING on! We had Starz, and I probably watched 3 or 4 movies on it … and even most of those were distateful. I enjoyed the love story (I like chick flicks, lol) in The Notebook, but the movie was morally wrong. There should be NO sex before marriage, and the movie presented it like that’s “the thing” to do.
I agree with you though … no one needs to be watching 95% of the garbage that comes on TV. I don’t even remember when I watched a local channel for a regular show (minus my “Without a Trace” show). I watched a movie on Fox the other night (Shallow Hal), but the commercials there are worse than the movie. It’s like going to a porn outlet sometimes … just plain horrible. I hate going to the checkout in grocery stores because I’m shown all this filth on the magazines there.
This leads me to what’s been on my mind though … I may come up with a full movie ban in my life for the next year or so. I may just look at the CHRISTIAN REVIEWS and see if the movie is fit to watch — if it’s not listed, that means don’t watch it. I’m seriously thinking about it … but maybe I need to just so no movies, and lay it down and just sacrifice that … I do like movie entertainment, but I’d much rather please God.
January 3rd, 2006 at 2:16 am
[...] After I posted my last entry about music, my friend Tim took it further and said he’ll be watching no more TV. I watch very little TV as is, but I’ve decided to make a new habbit in the movies and TV I watch. I watch mainly the news, History Channel, or “Without a Trace”, so there’s not much I can cut out there. However, from this point forward if a TV show or movie that I am watches comes to either a sex scene, a part that uses God’s name in vein, or a part which directly offends me or I even have a hint that it may offend GOD — I’m walking out, cutting it off, or returning the video. I believe as a nation we’ve become desensitized by what’s really going on. We no longer place a high price on sin, the verses that says if “you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning” (Romans 14:23, NLT) are like yesterdays news. No one is believing it, no one is living it. I’m tired of it, and I’m no longer supporting it. I’ve pretty much limited all movies that I watch anyway, but I’m going further — I’m not going to be desensitized. There’s an awesome song by Jonah33 called “Desensitized” that I recommend everyone listen to. We need to remember, “the man who has doubts…about eating, and then eats [perhaps because of you], stands condemned…” (Romans 14:23, Amplified, emphisis added). I just got done with a book by Henry Blackaby titled, “Holiness“. At about 100 pages, it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. I’ve noticed a review on Amazon states that “the work will appeal to a limited audience” (AudioFile), while I dislike the review, I think I can agree on this. If in any way it appeals to a “limited audience”, it is because people are too afraid of being offended. I’ve never read a book that was more true and up front about this nations church situation. Parts of it may not be fun to read simply because it might mean that you’ve got to give up something you’re holding very close. The truth of the matter is this: in order to follow Christ we must fear him. This book explains why it’s important and how to do it. The great people you read about in the Bible — they understood this. Today, many of us have lost it. The book is a must read. [...]