My Love Affair with TV - Part 3

Belief in the unconscious is pretty much accepted by most, if not all, psychologists. All that we see and hear is retained somewhere in our brains, even if we are not aware of it. Furthermore, this background material has an effect upon our moods, our attitudes, and our behavior. You are probably familiar with the computer term GIGO (“garbage in, garbage out”). If we flood our minds with ungodly stuff, it will drag us down. On the flip side, if we look at and listen to things that display God’s beauty, holiness, and truth, we will be affected in a positive way. This is not to say that we lose our ability to choose, like the lawyers who argue that the boy who killed his parents was driven to it by listening to heavy metal music. We remain ultimately responsible for our actions. However, our actions and motivations will certainly be influenced by our environment.

We are right to be wary of pornography and godless programming. And there is good to be found in shows like NCIS: the strong leadership values of Gibbs; the joy and enthusiasm of Abby; the positive display of teamwork in the pursuit of truth and justice. But, this show (and pretty much all the rest of what TV has to offer) is not about seeking after God and serving Him. I would not wish to model my life after any of the characters. It’s exciting, it’s unusual, it’s intellectually stimulating – but is it good for me?

If the Christian’s goal is to be conformed to the image of Christ (see Eph. 4:13), then what we do with our leisure time is important. I would do better by turning off the TV and reading a devotional or spending time doing Scripture memorization (something I’ve gotten back to after many years of neglect). Or attending a course on “Love Languages” that is being offered at my church tonight and for the next seven consecutive Tuesdays (what my wife and I will actually be doing). We won’t even be home when NCIS airs. However, there’s the matter of the VCR……..

My Love Affair with TV - Part 2

Following up on my previous entry, I want to analyze me viewing habits and what they say about me and my walk with the Lord. What I was intending to write three days ago has evolved as I’ve given it more thought, and this entry is different from what I had been intending to write.

Looking superficially at my choice of TV shows, it appears that I favor science fiction, crime dramas, and programs with a leaning towards God. Star Trek and its children have always been judged as popular because they offer a future of hope for the human race. (On earth, war, disease, and poverty have been eliminated, and mankind is reaching out to citizens of other planets to spread the benefits of “federation” – the Pax Terra as it were). Crime dramas are a depiction of good triumphing over evil. Even the modern-day Puritan theologian J. I. Packer has expressed his preference for murder mysteries because of their mental stimulation and their satisfying way of bringing justice to bear on human evil. (I apologize for having no reference for that – I read it in one of his many books a long time ago.) And I do find it interesting to see what Hollywood makes of God and Christianity. I found that Little House on the Prairie (the first few years), Touched by an Angel, and even Joan of Arcadia (on occasion) had real merit in a medium that flaunts sin and secular humanism. At the very least, they made faith in God relevant in an age when He is denied and ignored. [Although, in true Hollywood fashion, this God either (1) exists in our past, (2) sends angels to deliver us from our messes, or (3) appears Himself in various tangible guises and sends us on improbable assignments.]

I can justify my TV viewing easily enough. A good friend of mine once told me that entertainment is acceptable if (a) there is no profanity used or overt sexuality portrayed and (b) the depiction of good and evil is accurate (in other words, there is no Macbeth situation where “fair is foul and foul is fair”). This is a more liberal approach that would allow the watching of all manner of Hollywood product, and the man who shared this is a Bible translator and a person whom I have great respect for. I sense that many Christians would agree with him. It certainly allows us a broad range of shows to watch. Also, by watching some TV and select movies, we keep an ear to the culture around us so that our words will be relevant. In one of his essays, Charles Colson related how he used his knowledge of the Woody Allen movie Crimes and Misdemeanors to launch a discussion on sin and salvation with an unsaved friend. Someone once wrote an article for the Christianity Today publication Books and Culture that was entitled “Two Cheers for TV” where the author argued that TV can provide the glue to hold a culture together, like when we all participate in national tragedy (the Kennedy assassination, the Challenger explosion, September 11) or national triumph (Neil Armstrong’s setting foot on the moon; the inauguration of a president). TV helps to give us a sense of national identity.

And then there is the Bible. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2a); “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 15). These verses, and others similar, were not written with television in mind, but they certainly can be applied to how we spend our leisure time. I know that, when I was hooked on China Beach, I loved that show. I went out of my way to make sure I didn’t miss a single episode, and I was often saddened when an episode reached its conclusion.

We are not neutral observers in this world; what we gaze upon with our eyes affects us.

To be continued...

My Love Affair with TV

My interest in television viewing has waxed and waned over time. When I was growing up, I probably watched at least two hours of TV a day. This increased when I fell in love with Star Trek in the early 70’s and found reruns on a syndicated station. My mother actually allowed me to take my dinner downstairs and watch Star Trek on the basement television while the rest of my family had dinner in the kitchen. She told me later that she thought it was good to stimulate my imagination, but I question her wisdom to this day. I also watched many other shows – I won’t list them here.

College cured me of television – I watched nothing at all for four years. Then, when I moved to California, I brought with me a portable black and white that I used exclusively to watch reruns of WKRP in Cincinnati until it burned out. After that, nothing for another two or three years.

While attending Fuller Seminary, I visited my mother over Christmas in 1988 and saw a portion of China Beach. It was enough to hook me on the series. (To this day, I consider it one of the best shows to ever grace television.) I also caught bits and pieces of Thirty Something and Twin Peaks because my apartment mate watched those shows. Oddly enough, I studiously avoided Star Trek: The Next Generation, although I’ve since made up for lost time.

Joining Wycliffe and traveling first to France and then to Cameroon separated me from television once again, and I’m sure I didn’t miss anything important. In fact, I was blessed to have completely missed the O.J. Simpson trial and the Monica Lewinski scandal – one of the benefits of serving overseas! When on furlough in 1996 and serving in California, I tried to watch Star Trek: Voyager, but it didn’t take. (As with Star Trek TNG, I have since made up for lost time through the magic of DVD’s.)

Marriage changed my viewing habits. Bonnie and I would watch Touched by an Angel on the PAX network during the first year of our marriage. She was also a big fan of JAG, so we watched that as well. Later, while serving in Cameroon with my wife and kids in the early years of this decade, my wife’s sister would mail to us recordings of JAG, so we were able to keep up with that even though out of the U.S. When NCIS first appeared, we got videos of that as well. We still watch it. Bonnie’s mother also sent us recordings of Joan of Arcadia, an extremely interesting, very well acted show with some controversial theology. We stopped viewing that after two years. (We don’t even know if a third year aired, nor do we care.) Through our upstairs neighbors, we were able to watch all of Voyager and most of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on their DVD collections. It was fun while it lasted.

Once back in the U.S. in July of last year, we tuned into NCIS, Numbers, and The Mentalist, as well as network news, mainly for the weather. We also got our fill of the Beijing Olympics. With the help of a local library, I have enjoyed watching several Ken and Ric Burns documentaries (The Civil War, New York, and various biopics; I’m currently nearing the end of Baseball). Also, their complete collection of NCIS has helped us to fill in the years we were in Cameroon.

To be continued…

Water lilies

My family and I visited the Dallas Arboretum while it was still $1 per person (i.e. before August ran out), and Christina insisted that I take a picture of the water lilies presented here. Turned out to be one of my better pictures. Enjoy!

Getting the hang of this

Well, I've added a banner picture. It's a sequence of stitched shots taken at Kribi on the coast of Cameroon in June 2007. I hope it adds a little pizzaz to this rag.

Spent some time this morning reflecting upon Psalm 139 and the Lordship of Christ. God knows us so well, how can we think that we can hide from Him or run off and do our own thing? His patience with His children is beyond comprehension. Reading "you perceive my thoughts from afar" (v. 2b) made me think of the "idiot chatter" mentioned a few posts down. What must the idiot chatter of 6.6 billion minds sound like to the Most High? White noise? Can you imagine for one minute what it must be like to BE God?

Better quit while I'm ahead :-)

Blogging

A blog is a curious thing. It resembles a diary, but diaries are normally private matters not for public consumption. There is a desire on the part of the blogger to make his or her thoughts known to the wider world, perhaps based upon a need for popularity or recognition. This is (or should be) balanced with the humility of knowing that said thoughts might not be particularly interesting or, worse, might be offensive to some reader out there who stumbles upon them. Is a blogger who publishes whatever happens to be on his mind being courageous, insensitive, or boorish, like a guy who buttonholes you at a cocktail party and blabs on and on about baseball stats or hog futures or something else you couldn’t care less about?

This is what I’m up against at the moment. I should probably rename this “The Reluctant Blogger”. Oh well…. With an audience of about four, I’m not too worried.