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Transcript 330A — The Problems with Television
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Hello I have a real thing with television. I am a Christian, and we haven't had a TV for most of our married life. We've been married about twelve years. And we have three children. But recently we've gotten a TV. And I was just wondering if you would comment a little bit on the effect of television on the Christian family – the spiritual aspects, and communication, and just the general way the TV has gotten a little loose the last few years, and how we've sort of become complacent after a while, watching it.
HC: All right. The question that's raised is concerning the significance in the family of TV. This is a very pertinent question because TV is not only found in the United States, but it's found in almost every nation of the world today.
Actually, in a Christian family we are deeply concerned about God's command to train up a child in the way that he should go. And the Bible's command is, "Fathers, train up your children in the fear and the nurture of the Lord." The question is, can TV assist or not in training my child in the way that he should go?
Now most TV programs are secular in nature; they are not related to the Bible at all. They in some cases might not be negative toward the Bible, and might even be pro-Bible. Occasionally you'll find a program like this. But a great many of them of course are contrary to the Bible. They magnify sin, they portray sin of various kinds. And as you watch TV you tend to vicariously take part in what you are seeing. You can test this of course. If you see a very sad scene on TV, you'll find that you feel sad. If you see a very happy scene, then you feel happy. Vicariously we enter into the action that we're seeing on TV.
Now if we simply put our children in front of TV, hour after hour, then we must realize that what they are watching is going to have a very large impact in their training, as any kind of training will. And so we do it with very great care. There may be programs that can be watched, but there are a great many that should not be watched. All that's on TV is not bad. Much of it is bad.
Then again, we look at religious programs. There are some religious programs on various stations. Again, we have to be very discerning. Some of the programs are really God-glorifying, and some are actually portraying another gospel altogether. And again we must be very concerned about what our children are watching.
I really think that it's a wise thing, if parents want to have a TV set, that they ought to watch with the children, so that they can turn the set off at any point that the program is not God-glorifying.
Another point that should be made is that we have to be concerned about the use of our time. We are put in this world to be an ambassador of Christ, to be available to help others, to use our life efficiently for the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is very easy to fall into a snare where we are just sitting in front of the TV set hour after hour, really wasting our time. The programs we may be seeing may not necessarily be sinful, or at least a few of them might not be. For example, a ball game is not necessarily sinful at all. But if you just watch hour after hour after hour, so that you are not taking time to study the Word of God, you're not taking time in talking about the things of the Lord with your family, then just in the passage of time, the waste of time, it has become a very sinful thing in the home.
CALLER: Well, I was just wondering. I've noticed that a lot of times I have come home from work, and we've had dinner, and so on, and the kids are in bed, then he'll turn television on. If he's not home, I usually don't have it on myself. But I just hate it. I really do. In my personal feeling it just seems like it robs the communication level between husband and wife. Even during commercials, my husband will get so absorbed in the television that he doesn't even hear me when I say anything during TV. And I'm sure that he's like most men. I know you come home from work, and you kind of want to get away from it all. And it's really easy to do. But you can sit, night after night, just turning on the television and going to bed at 11:00, after everything is off, or when the bad things really come on. And so I think that it has a big part in tearing down the communication.
HC: Well, it really can. Now you have had the experience where one of the members of your family has really become absorbed by the TV. And my, then it can destroy the family, because that person, who could be a husband, a child, a wife, just sits, hour after hour. And he just becomes attracted to it, until it makes life unbearable for the rest of the family.
It reminds me. You know, when I was a child I loved to read novels. I was an insatiable reader, insofar as novels were concerned. I just loved to read. It triggered my imagination, you know, to read all of these novels. A lot of them were fanciful in nature. And I found in my young life that it began to be a nuisance, because I would become so absorbed in the novel that I was reading—and these were not bad novels, these were just novels that boys read—that when my mother would ask me to do the dishes, or do my chores, whatever they were, I found I was angry inside because I couldn't finish the novel. I was so attracted by what was being said, I had so entered into the action, that I couldn't wait to get it finished. And many times I would lie awake late at night finishing.
So I found that it was disturbing my relationship with my family. And so God, in His mercy, gave me enough wisdom so that when I entered high school I made a decision, "I'm not going to read any more novels. I can't do my school work, I'm not obedient, I'm angry inside. I Just can't get started. This is a weakness I have. I must not do this." And so the only novels I read thereafter were for book reports, or for high school English.
But this is really where you have to come to.
CALLER: I really believe that we're living in the last days, and that we're sort of lukewarm in our churches. But wouldn't you say that television has a great deal to contribute to the apathy that we have? I believe that most Christians have the TV going most of the time.
HC: Well, I'm sure of this. I'm sure that TV is serving very greatly to form lives. I remember when I was younger that the men in the congregation spent time studying the Word. And it was easy to get them into a theological discussion. Today about the only thing a lot of men—many who are consistent church goers—really want to talk about is the ball game, or about their fishing trip, because they're spending no time in the Word, and they cannot really talk about the Word, because they are spending their time watching TV. This is just commandeering all of their spare time And so it's robbing individuals and families of not only communication but also of talking about spiritual things, of getting into the Word.
CALLER: What then do you think we can do, people who are aware of this? Most people that are listening to this program probably aren't great TV watchers. But what can we do in our different churches to make people aware of this? A lot of people probably don't even realize that this is what's happening.
HC: Well, I think first of all that we cannot point out the sin in others. Secondly, I don't think that most of your friends would agree with you very much. They might agree a little bit, but if they really love TV they'll go right back to watching it anyway. The attraction is so great that they wouldn't change.
The only thing you can do is to make sure in your own life, and in the life of your family, insofar as you're able to guide it, that this will not become a monster in your life. Many homes have done this. They have just passed a rule that no TV should be watched on Sunday, of any kind, because that means that our minds will be not attracted to Sunday School and the worship service, but we'll be thinking about the TV program that we want to see this afternoon. It will take away from the possibility of really using Sunday as a day of worship.
Secondly, serious parents have to talk with each other, and think it out. Are we setting an example for our children? How can we tell our children that there are only certain programs they may watch, that there's a limited amount of time they may see TV, if we sit glued to the tube all evening, every evening? By our example we're training our children as to what they can expect to do.
These are some of the things that can be talked about. And if we find that one of the parents, if both are Christians parents, of course if your husband is unsaved he probably could care less about this kind of a thing. But even then, even as a non-Christian parent, he still will have a concern for his children. But if you find that it is a battle in your own conscience or in the conscience of your husband, it may be necessary to make a parental decision together, and of course your husband would have to be totally agreeable to this, obviously, that TV is not for us. It's just not for us. It's better that we just pull the tube out of it, or sell it. And there are many Christian homes that don't own a TV, because it's not worth the battle. It's not worth the struggle.
Now one of the lurking arguments in our soul is, "If I don't have a TV, I'm going to really miss something." There's that Presidential inauguration or there's that great event that is really being featured on TV. I'm going to miss out. Actually, when we miss these great events that are going on in the world somewhere, we're not really that much poorer. We can read about it in the newspaper. Maybe it really is just a passing thing. Once it happens, tomorrow it's forgotten. And so we don't have to feel sorry for ourselves, if we can't watch something that's really spectacular going on at the moment.