{Please allow me to do more of an opinion piece than a Bible study today, although it does speak to our eternal needs.}

Let me start off by saying that I am not fixed on TV- I am transfixed by it. I grew up eating dinner watching George Reeves as Superman saving the world, with Batman and Robin fighting evil (dahdah-dahdah-dahdah-dahdah….BATMAN!!!)

Today, my wife has a small mirror attached to a long handle to put under my nose when I’m watching TV to check if I am still breathing.

I don’t like most of what’s on, and we watch mostly animal shows and cop shows, with an regular flip to the Discovery and History channels. Like most Americans, we spend about $100 a month to have more channels than we can count, none of which have anything really worth watching. It’s like Imelda Marcos going into her closet and saying, “I can’t find a pair of shoes I like.” (that really dates me!)

So, why am I rambling about TV? Because I grew in a time when we practiced going into the hallway at school and putting our head between our knees waiting for the bomb to land. Yet, despite the threat of “Commies” everywhere destroying our nation, it was not the Communist threat that destroyed the American family, it was the TV.  That little electronic box sitting in the family room that dominated our attention.

At first TV was a form of entertainment. It was too expensive for most people and advertisers were hard to find. Stereotypes were not just accepted, they were exploited so that people, like sheep, were led to believing that what they saw on TV was real life. The TV slowly grew into including a VCR, then DVD and cable shows. Again, at first the cable was new because you paid for it.You paid so that you didn’t have to watch all the stupid commercials (although some are funny). Today we pay through the nose for our cable and it has as many, if not more, commercials than old TV did. My gosh- even the movie theaters have TV commercials now!

So, where is the threat? It’s right there- in front of you! It’s what we are watching. Soaps demonstrate the lowest of human degradation; the “reality” shows are disgusting displays of how low people will sink, airing out their dirty laundry to the world, so that the public can feel better about themselves by knowing they don’t weigh 650 pounds, or hoard until their house is condemned, or act like Diva’s. And the movies that eventually show on TV are about vampires that are really loving and compassionate, and witches that are just regular girls trying to make their way through the world.

Don’t forget about the video games we play on the TV- Grand Theft Auto, where children are rewarded for stealing cars and causing civil mayhem. All the zombie killings and war-related games. Aliens that are always aggressive and have to be shot and blown up. Killing, destruction, mayhem…and it’s all for the kiddies. Didn’t someone say that a child shall lead them? Maybe there are two sides to that thought- there was a child who led us to salvation, so could there be another child who will lead us to destruction? If so, he or she is being trained now, with every minute in front of the TV set or on-line playing games.

Violence, sex, lying, deceit, self-importance…Bridezilla’s, Cops, Hoarders, Bar Rescue, Diva’s, Jersey Girls, and on and on and on. It’s all just drek!! (Yiddish for garbage)  Try , just try, to find a news station showing anything but murder, theft, sex scandals or horrible things happening to people. And let’s not ignore Televangelists! Sorry- but I don’t think God is really going to heal you if you touch the TV, and why do I have to send a check just so that the “Right Reverend” will pray for me?

TV has become a bane of our society, and I am just as guilty as anyone- even more so because I think I realize what it is really all about, but I haven’t stopped.

TV transmissions go through the air, and the Bible calls Ha Satan the “prince of the air”. Get it?

I will continue to watch TV, although I am trying to get away from it. It is a terrible habit, just like any other sin- it appeals to our lowest nature and is hedonistic. Anything but Godly.

Just like Shaul said, I do what I don’t want to do and don’t do what I want to.

I want to spend more time with my wife, maybe playing Scrabble or talking, or sitting in the hot tub (yes, we have one- it came with the house. It’s soooo nice after a rough day) or just sitting next to each other. We have tried, and for awhile we will set up the dinning room table for dinner and not have the TV on, but it is just so easy to sit there and watch while we eat and all we need is one time to say, “Let’s just eat watching TV tonight” an that’s it- back to the old habit .

Sin is just that way- it is easy, comfortable, and like a barbed hook: once it is in you it just keeps digging itself in deeper each time you try to remove it.

Will I get rid of the TV? Will I cancel the TV part of my ISP bundle and throw away the remote? (OH NO!!! PLEASE- not the remote!) Doubtful. I am stuck, like everyone else.

The best I can do (hopefully, if you agree with me, you can do better than I do) is become more selective about what I watch, not buy products that advertise for smut and Devil-related shows, and try to eat out on the porch or anywhere else but in front of the TV.

TV, movies and video games are teaching our children that satanic creatures are not just OK, they are actually cool, they have superpowers and we want to be like them; robbery and murder have no consequences, killing gets you a reward and if you are killed you just reload the game; and they are honored for being more treacherous and violent than the next  guy.

And  by our own choice we allow this dangerous and harmful thing in the center of our family, introducing our children to it before they are even old enough to know right from wrong.

Something to think about.