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Television!
Should It Have A Place In
The Christian's Home?
by Paul Wilson
We feel constrained to examine the subject of television in
the home, especially as it affects the Christian. With this latest giant of
the entertainment world growing rapidly, and with the appeals to Christians to
open their homes to this masterpiece of human invention increasing, it seems
that the question should be faced squarely.
A question once put to King Hezekiah by the prophet Isaiah may
be appropriate in this connection—”What have they
seen in thine house?" 2 Kings 20:15. This modern medium of communication will
bring an assortment of sights into the home for the mental fare of its
occupants and its guests. Will it be
to God's glory? Will it further occupation with heavenly things? Will it
be a means to help us grow in the knowledge of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? or will it be one more
thing to distract us from the only One who is worthy of being our chief
occupation?
Perhaps the greatest challenge video makes concerns the welfare of children.
In areas where it is already available, the children in the world have become
thorough devotees of this form of amusement. It has a special appeal to
the young, and their plastic minds are very easily influenced by it. And what
are they seeing with such evident delight?— folly, madness, crime, and
moral corruption, among other things. The same things that have poisoned the
youth of the country in the picture shows, and brought about much of the
juvenile delinquency and lawlessness are now being served hour upon hour,
day in and day out, in many homes. This influence will accelerate the coming
of the moral conditions in the world similar to those in the days of Noah, and
of Lot, as foretold by our Lord (Luke 17:26-30).
A survey in Los Angeles counted “127 murders, 101 ‘justifiable
killings,’ 357 attempted murders, 93 kidnappings, 11 jail-breaks,” and
many other crimes in just one week in the programs
seen in that city. A Chicago
survey in December, 1952 counted in four
days, “77 murders, 7 kidnappings, 53 shootings, and a total of 216
crimes of violence” on so-called children’s programs. Children
saw almost every conceivable method of killing demonstrated. The results of
such crimes being enacted constantly before the youth of the land will
produce either a frightened, unhealthy state, or a cold,
calloused indifference—a cheapening of the value
of human life, and a reckless disregard for all virtue. Wil1 anyone dare to say
that Satan is not behind all this? He is leading the so-called Christian
nations down the road once trodden by the depraved Roman Empire.
A liberal, visual education in sin and lawlessness is being broadcast day and
night. The seeds of crime are being sown now in abundance; the reaping time
will bring a harvest that men will not know how to handle. Everything is being
readied for the final scenes of man’s lawlessness. The red horse of
Revelation 6 will bring in a time of bloodshed—peace will be taken from the
earth, and men will kill one another.
Christian parents, beware of television for your dear children. You would not
think of taking your precious charges from the Lord into the dance halls,
theaters, arenas, alleys, and dens of the earth. Shall you bring such sights
into your living room? Perhaps it will
be said that as they grow up they will meet these things, and that you cannot
always shield them. That has a certain amount of truth in it, but have you not
a definite responsibility to Him who gave them to you? Their youth is the only
time that is yours to help mold them, and to instruct them in the ways of the
Lord. Shall these fleeting days he lost? while instead of truth they become
acquainted with fiction and fable, crime and horror? You shield their precious
bodies from chemical poisons; shall you do less for
their impressionable minds?
Stop then, dear Christian, and consider seriously before making such things
available to those in your home. You have a more difficult task today than
ever before in bringing up your children in “the right ways of the Lord.”
Special grace and wisdom will be needed from above. God’s instructions are,
“Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” but how can
this be done if television is allowed in the home? How can parents teach the
ways of the Lord to children while they are being taught all sorts of crime
and moral corruption, and the principals of the world.
Let us suppose a case in a home where television is allowed: the children
have been drinking in all the hair-raising, breath-taking excitement of a
telecast, when the father says, “Turn off the television, and let us read
the Word of God.” Now, we ask, are those children capable of sitting quietly
and listening to the calm reading of the Word of God? To say that they are
would be to display a complete lack of understanding of human nature. They may
have to turn off the switch of the instrument, but be assured, that current of
thought will not be turned off in their minds.
To bring television into your home is like planting the most noxious and poisonous
weed among the choicest flowers and hoping the weeds will not grow. Some of our
readers may reply that their children
will see these things elsewhere; perhaps this danger can be eliminated or
greatly reduced if they are properly instructed in what is pleasing to the
Lord. In any event, they can learn that you do not approve of television, and
will not allow it in your home. If your neighbor keeps rattlesnakes in his yard,
it is no reason for you to do so. It would be folly to
keep the venomous reptiles so that the children would learn how to handle
them.
If the lawless deeds and foul sayings of the Sodomites vexed Lot’s righteous soul
from day to day, what did they do for his children? The demoralizing effect on
them was great—some were lost in Sodom, and those who were not became a
shame and a disgrace. It is an old story of the parents allowing something
that grieves them, while the children go wrong.
The contrast to this baneful influence was found in the plains of Mamre. There
Abraham, the friend of God, lived in separation from Sodom, and there he
enjoyed communion with God. Would not he have been defiled if the words and
ways of the sinners of Sodom had been televised in his tent? Would he then have been in a fit condition to receive
the Lord as his guest? And would not his family have suffered also?
Lot got into Sodom by degrees; declension is always gradual. He first lusted after it with his eye, then pitched his tent near it, later got into
it—out of his tent and into a house—and finally became a municipal judge,
and all to his sorrow and ruin. And will not the television scenes of
borderline immodesty (if not worse), with all the defiling conversation,
dull the Christian’s senses until at length he comes to not be vexed by the
things that would shock anyone of spiritual sensibilities? Let us ask ourselves whether we want to be Abrahams
or Lots. If it is the former, then let us not bring into our homes a direct -
connection with Sodom
There will not be lacking those who will contend that what we
have written is one sided and that there are also good things in video. Recently we had occasion to review a book which ostensibly sought
to evaluate the good and bad of television; it was
written by Edward John Carnell, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology,
Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California. He found plenty of bad in
video, but the good things were
the very elements of the world which lies in the wicked one. (How can Christians forget the character
of this world?) Concerts, orchestras, religious fiction, and such like are
things found on the clean side of the broad road. That road is broad enough to
accommodate everything—it has its clean and its filthy side. (And may we add
here that we feel religious fiction to be one of the worst of all fictions,
for it invariably distorts the Word and gives, in effect, a lie. It is
particularly deceptive.)
We presume that Sodom had some good things also—perhaps
some things that Lot pointed to with civic pride, but it was all under the
sentence of judgment, and was only deluding its populace. By the same token,
Cain’s world (Gen. 4) had some good things. This murderer invested it with
commerce and industry, and the arts and sciences; but could the children of
his murdered brother (if there were such) relish anything of Cain and his
world? And this world has murdered the Son of God—your Saviour and mine,
fellow Christian. Shall we then relish its so-called harmless attractions?
Shall we rearrange our homes to make room for it to move in? Let us not forget
that it is stained with the precious blood of our Redeemer, that Satan is its
god and prince, and that by these very things he is deceiving men and leading
them on to destruction. The “desires of the mind” and the “lust of the
eyes”—the better things of the world—are ranked in the Word of God with
the grosser things of the “lusts of the flesh” (Eph. 2:3; 1 John 2:15,
16).
After the children of Israel were redeemed by the blood of the lamb, they
began a journey to the land of Canaan; and every poor sinner who comes under the shelter of the precious blood of
Christ has started on his way to the Father’s house. The Israelites’ journey made them
pilgrims in the wilderness, and strangers to all in the land of Egypt. They
could no longer enjoy Egypt’s refinements (and it had many) any more than
they could serve in its brick-making; they were strangers to the one as well
as to the other. And every Christian occupies a similar place here—he is a
stranger and a pilgrim, and is on his way to a better land. (May the sight of
its glories, and of Him who is its glory, draw our hearts thither-ward.)
Christians still have an old nature that if allowed unjudged will readily
indulge in things that are unworthy of Him who has called us. And just as the
Israelites lusted after the leeks, onions, melons, and garlic
of Egypt when they lost their relish for the manna, so can we enjoy the things of the world when our hearts
grow cold toward Him who is the true Manna—”the bread which came down from
heaven.” May we sing from the heart these words:
“Jesus Thou are enough
The mind and heart to fill;
The patient life — to calm
the soul;
Thy love — its fear dispel.”
The Lord taught His disciples to pray, “Lead us not into temptation”; and
the disciples in the garden were told, “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into
temptation.” Bold and self-confident, or sadly indifferent, must be the
Christian who can place such temptation in his home, neither considering
himself, his children, or his guests. It is bringing temptation right in, and
deliberately courting its consequences.
Some people think they can control TV in the home. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” We do
not believe it can be
controlled, but suppose you can control deadly poison, are you willing to take
a chance and have it laying around the house, perhaps on the food shelf?
Furthermore, your having television may be a snare to others to whom you set
an example. Let no man set an occasion to fall in his brother’s way (Rom.
14:13).
We have heard a few loose remarks to the effect that television is like all
inventions—radio, automobiles, etc—and that though Christians at first
hesitated to accept them, they were finally accepted by all. This is specious
reasoning. The world has many inventions that the Christian should not use;
for instance, the theater and the picture show have come of age, and are
generally accepted by professing Christians, but are they suitable for a child
of God? The mere passing of time does not change that which is unsuitable,
even though more Christians succumb to the temptation, and forget what manner
of persons they are. May God graciously forbid that television should ever be
accepted generally among the saints of God!
“Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very
desolate, saith the LORD. For My
people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living
waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no
water” Jer. 2:12,13.
There remains one more point to be considered; namely, the use of television
for religious dissemination. Some contend that it will be a powerful
instrument for the spreading of the gospel, but with this we take exception.
Will the Spirit of God endorse video as “communicating spiritual things by spiritual means” (1 Cor.
2:l3; J.N.D. Trans.)?
Will not man he preeminently before the video audience? Will it not rather exalt man than honor God? It may gain a
large audience, but let us remember that it is not the number of people who
listen, nor the cleverness of presentation, but the Word of God in the power
of the Spirit of God that alone will accomplish results.
The book we reviewed admitted that the prime purpose of television is to
entertain, and it warned those who would use it for religious purposes that
they will have to make their presentation attractive or people will switch to
something else. It is well know and the author of the book concurs, that
religious programs will have to compete with the best of Hollywood and
Broadway . What a challenge! But verily true! Did God intend that His
solemn Word should be used to entertain people? Far be the thought. Is that
the way He had His message presented to wicked Nineveh? Jonah was to preach
the “preaching that I bid thee,” and nothing else. Did he have the
accompaniment of an orchestra, or the presence of certain celebrities to make
it effective? We all know the answer.
Did the Lord Jesus ever use showmanship in His preaching? NEVER, NO, NEVER! And yet, Prof. Carnell suggests that
He did. To us the thought is revolting, and Christ dishonoring. When His
brethren wanted Him to show Himself to the world, did He accede? No. The Jews
could not understand Him because they sought honor from men, and He never did.
Think how many times He dealt with souls all alone, and of the times when He
cautioned them to tell no man what He had done. If on one occasion He cried
publicly in the temple on a certain feast day, it was not showmanship, but
doing what He had a word from God to do.
Again, did Paul make the gospel attractive? He said that as he knew the terror
of the Lord he persuaded men; did he get a band to help him? He even reproved
the public display made by a woman in Philippi, and would have none of it
(Acts 16). Did he ever mingle fleshly attractions with the warning to flee
impending doom? When he went to Corinth (where they gloried in human
erudition), he hid his profound learning. He said he was determined not to
know anything among them but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (1 Cor.
2:l-4)—a stumbling-block to the Jews, and foolishness to
the Greeks. The gospel itself
was the power of God, and Paul knew it.
Perhaps some will say, But times have changed. That is admitted, but God’s
ways and powers have not changed, nor have His divine principles. He never
intended His gospel to be adorned with modern inventions to make it palatable.
And yet some Christians are willing to add the world’s attractions to the
precious glad tidings. We are bold to say, It is not of God. Christians who
use devious methods to get an audience are not striving lawfully according to
2 Timothy 2:5. They might as well condone adding the condemned attractions of
a condemned Nineveh to Jonah’s message.
We will, however, add one word about God’s sovereignty. He may, if He
chooses, use something that a man hears to that man’s salvation, even though
it be mixed up with things He cannot approve; but that in no way invalidates
the principles set forth above. He is
sovereign and can do as He pleases, but we are servants who are to follow the
rules. We have heard of people being saved through words spoken by
unbelievers—yes, even by infidels—but that does
not prove that we should enlist the help of such. Let us remember that God is
not dependent on any man, or
any group of men, or any invention or innovation to save a soul. We rejoice
whenever we hear of a soul that gets saved, whatever the means that
were used, but we as instructed in the mind of God must refuse the assistance
of carnal means in our gospel work.
May God give us to have the balances of the sanctuary with which to properly
appraise the things that meet us in the last days. Not everything is edifying,
not everything is lawful. We need the anointed eye to discern the things that
are excellent, and grace to shun all else.
Is not television Satan’s great masterpiece of deception? Does it not
combine his stock in trade—”the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life”—by which he deceives men?
The Israelites had “light in their dwellings” while the Egyptians had
nothing but darkness; you, dear Christian, are a child of light and your home
should be marked by the light of God being there. If you bring in television,
you will bring with it the “unfruitful works of darkness.” Beware of the
devil’s bait. Resolve with the Lord’s help to keep out that which you know
cannot enter your home “to the glory of God.”
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye
do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Cor. 10:31.
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