Television
The Stranger
A few months before I was born, my dad met a stranger who was new to our small Tennessee town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer, and soon invited him to live with our family. the stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later.
As I grew up, I never questioned his place in our family. In my young mind, each member had a special niche. My brother, Bill, five years my senior, was my example. Fran, my younger sister, gave me an opportunity to play ‘big brother’ and develop the art of teasing. My parents were complementary instructors—Mom taught me to love the word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it.
But the stranger was our storyteller. He could weave the most fascinating tales. Adventures, mysteries, and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our whole family spell-bound for hours each evening. If I wanted to know about politics, history, or science, he knew it all. He knew about the past, understood the present, and seemingly could predict the future. The pictures he could draw were so lifelike that I would often laugh or cry as I watched. He was like a friend to the whole family. The stranger was our storyteller.
He took Dad, Bill, and me to our first major league baseball game. He was always encouraging us to see the movies, and he even made arrangements to introduce us to several movie stars. My brother and I were deeply impressed by John Wayne in particular.
The stranger was an incessant talker. Dad didn’t seem to mind, but sometimes Mom would quietly get up—while the rest of us were enthralled with one of his stories of faraway places—go to her room, read her Bible and pray. I wonder now if she ever prayed that the stranger would leave.
You see, my dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions. But this stranger never felt an obligation to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our house—not from us, from our friends, or adults. Our longtime visitor, however, used occasional four-letter words that burned my ears and made Dad squirm. To my knowledge the stranger was never confronted.
My dad was a teetotaler who didn’t permit alcohol in his home—not even for cooking. But the stranger felt like we needed exposure and enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer and other alcoholic beverages often. He made cigarettes look tasty, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished.
He talked freely (probably too much and too freely) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing. I know now that my early concepts of the man-woman relationship were influenced by the stranger. As I look back, I believe it was the grace of God that the stranger did not influence us more. Time after time he opposed the values of my parents. Yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave.
More than thirty years have passed since the stranger moved in with the young family on Morningside Drive. He is not nearly so intriguing to my Dad as he was in those early years. But if I were to walk into my parents’ den today, you would still see him sitting over in a corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.
His name? We always just called him T.V.
The Fourth Dimension, November, 1998, pp. 13, 17
Television Compared to a Snake
I had never dreamed of having a snake for a pet until I saw one at my friend’s house. I had always been afraid of snakes – they somehow gave me the willies. But this one was different. It wasn’t slippery and slimy like most I had seen, and its colors were beautiful. Somehow it was intriguing. I knew it was poisonous, but it looked and seemed so harmless.
So I bought one for myself. I was living alone at the time and somehow its presence comforted me. I didn’t feel so alone anymore.
Later, when I married, my husband took right up with it and to my surprise, he grew to love this creature even more than I had. Before long I realized I was very jealous. My husband seemed to visit more with the snake than with me. This snake caused many arguments between us and I began to hate it. I resented their relationship so much that I refused to participate in their fun and games. I spent many evenings behind the closed doors of our bedroom, in loneliness and tears.
This snake was allowed to do absolutely anything it pleased. When the children were born I became even more frightened.
“Honey,” I pleaded, “we must get rid of this snake. If it bites one of the children, it could be fatal!”
“Oh, nonsense,” he responded. “We’ve had it this long, and it’s done no harm. Besides, it’s kept in a box. I’ll watch and make sure it doesn’t harm the children.”
One night the snake hissed at my daughter. Poison filled the air. We had to pray hard that night before she could sleep. Somehow the more frightful and violent it seemed, the more pleasure my husband derived from it.
One night I dreamed of praying over the snake and it withered an dried up. So I had friends at church join me in prayer. One saint came to the house. We laid hands on its box, praying that God would free us from this evil.
Soon my husband agreed to get rid of it. “But let’s sell it,” he implored. “We can’t destroy it!”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said. “It’s poison – we can’t endanger someone else!”
I finally gave in and agreed to sell it. At least my children would be safe. Still I feared for this new innocent family. It was my joy to keep this poisonous creature from intruding on them.
One night while I was at church alone (my husband stayed home), the snake died. Just before it died it made one big long hiss-s-s-s-s! The picture tube went out—some innocent family was spared!
Source unknown
Television has Caused More Crime
Television may be responsible for doubling our crime rate in the United States, suggests Brandon Centerwall, psychiatrist at the University of Washington, in a recent study reported in the June 1992 Journal of the American Medical Association.
Centerwall analyzed crime statistics both before and after TV was introduced in several communities. Those comparisons cause him to conclude that prolonged exposure to violence on TV has increased the number of murders in the U.S. by 10,000 each year. He sees TV as a “causal factor” in about 70,000 rapes and 700,000 injurious assaults annually.
Hollywood vs. America by Michael Medved, (Harper Collins/Zondervan, 1992), quoted in Leadership, Summer 1993, p. 76
Prime Time Hour of T.V. Contains
“A Florida State University study reported that a typical prime-time hour (of television) contains an average of 1.6 references to intercourse, 1.2 references to prostitution and rape, 4.7 sexual innuendoes, 1.8 kisses, and 1 suggestive gesture. In all, TV characters talk about sex or display sexual behavior 15 times an hour, or once every four minutes.”
Youth Worker Update, quoted in Signs of the Times, June, 1993, p. 6
Kierkeaard Wrote on T.V.
Long before the advent of television, long before Johnny Carson and David Letterman, philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote: “Suppose someone invented an instrument, a convenient little talking tube which, say, could be heard over the whole land…I wonder if the police would not forbid it, fearing that the whole country would become mentally deranged if it were used.”
Against the Night, Charles Colson, p. 41
Hollywood
Hollywood really is different from the rest of the country. A survey of 104 top television writers and executives found that their attitudes toward moral and religious questions aren’t shared by their audience.
Believe adultery is wrong:
Hollywood
49%,
Everyone else
85%.
Have no religious affiliation:
Hollywood
45%,
Everyone else
4%.
Believe homosexual acts are wrong:
Hollywood
20%,
Everyone else
76%.
Believe in a woman’s right to abortion:
Hollywood
97%,
Everyone else
59%.
The Center for Media and Public Affairs, in Newsweek, July 20, “The Elite and How to Avoid It”
Surveys
• Percentage of sexual acts depicted or referred to on soap operas that are between married partners: 3%
• Percentage of American’s who watch TV during dinner: 50%
What Counts: The Complete Harper’s Index, edited by Charis Conn
Religion is Virtually Invisible on T.V.
Religion is virtually invisible on network television, a recent study concludes. Scholars from three universities who monitored 100 prime-time TV shows aired by ABC, NBC, CBS, and the Fox Network determined that references to religion rarely appear on the screen, and when they do, religious beliefs or practices are seldom presented in a positive light. The survey found that 95% of all speaking characters on TV programs have no identifiable religious affiliation. Thomas Skill, a University of Dayton researcher who helped compile the report commissioned by the American Family Association, said television’s treatment of religion “tends to be best characterized as abuse through neglect.” Skill said ABC showed the greatest respect toward religious behavior, while Fox most often ridiculed religion or linked it to humor.
National & International Religion Report, March, 1992
Resource
• C. Swindoll, Growing Strong, p. 326
• The Rebirth of America, A. S. DeMoss Foundation, 1986, pp. 117ff
TV Programming
Only 700 people—writers, producers and actors—produce 75% of all TV programming. According to a Lichter-Rothman survey, 86 percent never or seldom attend a church or synagogue; 84 percent say government should make no laws regarding sex; and 95 percent believe homosexuality is not wrong.
Intercessors for America Newsletter, Vol. 15, No. 6 (June, 1988)
SAT Tests Declined Because of TV
The A. C. Nielson Co., which measures television audiences and their behavior, revealed that in the average American home the television set is on six hours and fourteen minutes per day. This is 2 hours more per day than the daily average in the 1960’s which is approximately the same point in time that the Standard Achievement Test scores began to decline. This time frame is significant because the first generation to cut its teeth on TV began taking SATs in the early 1960’s, which is, of course, when the decline in scores started. Media and Methods reported that while the TV is on in the American home approximately 2100 hours per year, the average American spends only five hours per year reading books.
Resources, #2, May/June, 1990
Watch More with Cable TV
The average number of hours that a U.S. household with a pay cable hookup spends watching TV each week is only nine minutes less than 60 hours! That works out to nearly two-and-a-half days per week. A household with basic cable spends 54 hours and 35 minutes before the tube, while a household without cable TV spends 47 hours and 17 minutes.
Resources, 1990
Parents Do Not Control TV
The average young teenage American girl views 1,500 references to sexual acts on TV annually, according to a study at Michigan State University. Boys of that age view an average of nearly 1,300 such and attend 17 R-rated movies annually. According to the teens studied, parents “never” or “not often” limited their TV viewing. There’s little indication that parents exercise any control, positive or negative, over TV viewing.
Homemade, March, 1989
Favorite Way of Spending an Evening
Percentage of Americans who say watching TV is their favorite way of spending an evening: 33. Who watch TV during dinner: 50. Who say a TV set is a necessity: 64.
1988 Gallup Report on Book Buying, reported in Zondervan Publishing House press release; Roper Organization, reported in American Demographics, 12/88; Roper Organization, reported in Psychology Today, 3/89
TV Guide
On the table side by side; The Holy Bible and the TV Guide. One is well worn but cherished with pride, Not the Bible, but the TV Guide.
One is used daily to help folk decide, No! It isn’t the Bible, it’s the TV Guide. As pages are turned, what shall we see? Oh, what does it matter, turn on the TV.
Then confusion reigns, they can’t all agree On what they shall watch on the old TV. So they open the book in which they confide No, not the Bible, it’s the TV Guide.
The Word of God is seldom read, Maybe a verse e’er they fall into bed. Exhausted and sleepy and tired as can be, Not from reading the Bible; from watching TV.
So, then back to the table, side by side, Is the Holy Bible and the TV Guide. No time for prayer, no time for the Word; The plan of salvation is seldom heard.
Forgiveness of sin so full and free Is found in the Bible, not on TV!
Source unknown
Mr. and Mrs. Spouse
In the house of Mr. & Mrs. Spouse He and she would watch TV, And never a word between them was spoken, Until the day The set was broken.
Then, “How do you do?” said He to She. I don’t believe we’ve met. Spouse is my name. What’s yours?” he asked. “Why, mine’s the same!” Said She to He. “Do you suppose we could be…?”
But the set came suddenly right about And they never did find out.
From a letter to Ann Landers
Quotes
• There’s already an educational TV channel—it’s called ‘off.’ – Lily Henderson, age 11, quoted in MSC Newsletter
• According to research by the American Family Association, 91% of all sex depicted on TV is outside of marriage. – The Pastor’s Weekly Briefing, March 17, 1995
• Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you would not have in your home. – David Frost
• Billy Graham recently (2/84) reported the results of a survey that found the viewing habits of Christians and non-Christians show no discernible differences in either time spent in viewing or content viewed.
Psalm 101
I will walk with integrity of heart within my house. I will not set before my eyes anything that is base.
Preschool Children and TV
• In the U.S. preschool children make up the largest TV audience with a weekly average viewing time of at least 30.4 hours. By the age of 17 the average American child has logged 15,000 hours watching TV, the equivalent of 2 years, day and night.
Guidelines
1. Priorities: TV should not come before personal and family devotions, church responsibilities, schoolwork, or household chores.
2. Personal growth: TV should not become a substitute for reading good books nor replace family sharing.
3. Principles: TV programs should be rejected if they;
• Present violence as a legitimate way of achieving goals.
• Approve of adultery, homosexuality, or sex before marriage, either directly or by implication.
• Reflect a negative attitude toward the sacredness of the family and fidelity in marriage.
• Minimize the seriousness of such sins as murder, dishonesty, greed, lust, profanity, and immorality.
Source unknown
Pediatricians Advised Less TV Watching
The 39,000 member American Academy of Pediatrics says too much TV watching by your children can turn them violent, aggressive or overweight—and possibly all three. In their first statement in six years on kids and TV, the pediatricians last month advised the nation’s parents to reduce their children’s video-viewing by at least half. Data from the A. C. Nielsen Co. reveal that children aged 2 to 5 currently watch about 25 hours of TV a week; those 6 to 11 watch more than 22 hours a week; and those in the 12 to 17 age-bracket watch 23 hours a week. The pediatricians maintain that by the time today’s child reaches age 70, he or she will have spent approximately seven years in front of the tube.
Parade Magazine, May 27, 1990, p. 13
TV Is My Shepherd
The TV set is my shepherd. My spiritual growth shall want. It maketh me to sit down and do nothing for his name’s sake. Because it requireth all of my spare time. It keepeth me from doing my duty as a Christian, because it presenteth so many good shows that I must see.
It restoreth my knowledge of the things of the world and keepeth me from the study of God’s Word. It leadeth me in the paths of failing to attend the evening worship services and doing nothing in the kingdom of God.
Yea, though I live to be 100 I shall keep on viewing television as long as it will work, for it is my closest companion. Its sound and its picture, they comfort me.
It presenteth entertainment before me and keepeth me from doing important things with my family. It fills my head with ideas which differ from those set forth in the word of God.
Surely, no good thing will come of my life, because my television offereth me no good time to do the will of God; thus I will dwell crownless in the house of the Lord forever.
Source unknown
Statistic
• Actual or implied sexual intercourse takes place 2.7 times every hour, with 88% of all sex represented as taking place outside of marriage.
Youth Leader’s Source Book, p. 21
TV Commercials
Commercials are very interesting. We have been able to calculate that the average kid will see about 750,000 of them between the ages of six and 18, which makes them about the most important source of instruction of our children in America today. They are 30 second teaching modules, and the messages they teach are really quite striking. First, they teach that all problems are resolvable. Second, they teach that all problems are resolvable fast. And third, that all problems are resolvable fast through the means of technology. Television commercials do not stress that problems have origins or roots. Problems just seem to strike, which is, of course, very well suited to TV because TV always communicates a sense of the now, of the immediate.
Neil Postman, professor of media ecololgy at New York Univ., in Dec, 1979 Youth letter, p. 92