What started out as a prudent measure to reduce expenses after we purchased our home has turned out to be an unexpected blessing.
As we faced the reality of a mortgage payment, Chris and I looked at our expenses and evaluated where we might be able to save money. Chris didn’t suggest it…because he knew that I was used to cable TV. However, I felt the strong leading of the Holy Spirit…that when we moved into our new home that we should forego cable TV for a season, at least until we refinanced our home.
Although I knew I would miss HGTV, TLC, Fox News and a few channels that have some good entertainment…I thought that it was the right thing to do. Not only would we save money, but with our busy schedules, we probably wouldn’t have much time to watch TV.
Before long…that which seemed like it might be hard to get used to was something we didn’t really miss.
While we were in our interim apartment, our TV viewing habits consisted of house hunting and decorating shows with the occasional “What Not to Wear” thrown in for good measure.
Fox News which had once been my news channel of choice now had all the cutting edge technology…and in the process lost some of its substance. With the change in administration, and their desire to be “fair and balanced”, Fox News looked a more like CNN rather than Fox New which used to give conservatives a voice. I found their news served as an irritant, rather than something that provoked thoughtful debate.
The one downside to no TV…is that I feel really out of the loop. If there was a national or local emergency, we would likely not have a clue. I used to listen to talk radio, but now I spend my commute time in prayer or listening to Bible study CDs.
On occasion, I log on to a local news station or Fox News to see what’s going on. More often than not I’m appalled by the horrific things that are being reported. Things that are so sick that they are unthinkable to a decent mind.
In the past couple of weeks…some of the news stories included a baby that was brutally tortured to death by his mother, a man kidnapping and holding a girl captive as a sex slave, children assaulting other children because they have red hair, mass slaughter of 200,000 animals in a religious ritual to appease (false) gods, and two dogs thrown into a canal with their mouths taped shut. That’s just a few stories…a small sampling of what’s being reported as “news”.
Why do I need that garbage in home? I don’t need those images filling my mind…because once they are in there…they don’t go away.
That doesn’t even take into account what is passing as entertainment these days. If you are a Christian…a person of faith with moral values…you’d better keep that remote control close at hand. It’s not going to be long before you see something which God has declared sinful pass before your eyes. How will you respond?
Most of the sexual situations on TV are extra or pre marital sex. Rarely do you see a healthy loving marriage portrayed. Scantily clad women are the order of the day from TV shows to commercials. Frankly I don’t need those images filling my husband’s mind. Men have the equivalent of a pictorial rolodex in their mind…images that they’ve seen. Images are added to the rolodex whether a man has purposely witnessed something or by accident.
How are husbands supposed to keep their thought life pure when continually being assaulted by those images? How are men and women going to resist the temptations of an extra marital affair when constantly seeing that portrayed on TV as normal and good? How are single people, young people going to be committed to remaining virgins and wait to have sex until marriage…when all they see on TV and in movies is everyone having sex outside of marriage?
Do you wonder why people stumble and fall into sin? It’s because we fill our minds with thoughts and images which appeal to our flesh, our sinful nature. In doing so, we lose sight that God has clearly stated in His word, in no uncertain terms, those choices are sinful. We see the temptation, take the bait, but fail to remember the consequences of our sin.
How do TV and movies portray how women should dress? How does it deal with alcohol and drugs? How does it portray sex outside of marriage and homosexuality? What defacto messages are you getting from TV?
Sin loses its sinfulness when we continually fill our mind with imagines and thoughts from TV, movies, books and music that are in direct contradiction to God word. We stop seeing sin as sin.
We don’t see adultery as sin, we see it as “an affair”. We tell ourselves that God just wants us to be happy. Guess what…God doesn’t just want us to be happy. He wants us to be holy. He cares more about our character than our happiness.
It’s nearly impossible to have the things of God in mind when we are filling our mind with the things of this world. When we laugh at or just go along with, or turn a blind eye to that which God has declared sinful. When we see those images…do we remember that Christ died for those sins? Do we want to heap sin, upon sin?
Or do we desire to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength? Do we want to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ? Part of taking every thought captive is guarding our heart and mind in Christ Jesus…and choosing not to take in or dwell upon sinful things. It’s purposely saying Jesus Christ is Lord of my life in all areas.
When we first moved into our new home…it took some getting used to not having a TV. It wasn’t long before we both realized…it’s a good thing to not have it around.
Rather than watching TV, we now watch DVDs that we’ve chosen. Many of which are from Christian film makers…films or shows that uphold our faith and values.
What about you…do you find yourself wanting to turn off the TV which contradicts and assaults your faith? How about it…it’s easy…cancel the cable and turn off the TV. Even better you will save some money to boot. No TV is truly a blessing.
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