The ~Christian Country Farm~

Do you set wicked things before your eyes?

In our age of never-ending entertainment, it seems there is always something to keep our minds occupied. By far the thing that is best at keeping our attention must be the television.

While Momma is busy cleaning house, the children can sit in front of the TV and leave her with little worry about whether they are getting into trouble. Dad can watch his favorite sports teams on Saturday afternoon. Mom can keep up with her "stories" every weekday afternoon. And, after a good supper, the entire family can catch the local and world news. Then they can all sit back and enjoy a good movie on one of the Big Three networks. Or they may even be able to see their favorite stars in their latest theater release, available on video only months after it was at the local cinema.

It all seems so harmless, doesn't it? But is it really? Or is the devil using the television to put things in our minds that we would not normally allow him to put there ? Let's examine four reasons that a Christian should exercise extreme caution with regard to television, including the rental of videos.

1. The immoral lifestyles you see

Most of us would never dare to let someone come into our house and commit fornication in our living room, right before our eyes and the eyes of our children. But when we watch television, and especially movies, we are just as guilty of promoting sin as if we had invited someone into our house to commit it. By way of the boob-tube, we watch people indulge in all manner of sin, including drunkenness, fornication, adultery, murder, and blasphemy. We observe them treat marriage partners as they would an appliance - just swapping them out if they seem faulty. We let our children see other children treat their parents with disregard, then we have the audacity to wonder why they talk back to us. We should take the attitude of David in Psalm 101:3, "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes..." We also hear people cussing and taking the name of our Lord in vain, and we then wonder why those words "slip" from our mouth when we are angry. All these wicked things we see and hear remain in our minds, whether we ever admit it. And these thoughts eventually come out in our hearts. That's why Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." Because, as Jesus said in Matthew 12:34, "...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." What gets into your heart came in through your mind. What gets into your mind came in through your eyes or your ears, for the most part. That's what happened to Lot, 2 Peter 2:8 tells us: "For that righteous man...in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their wicked deeds."

2. The ungodly music you hear

Whether you ever consciously think about it or not, the music you hear remains in your mind as much as the other things you see and hear. Whether it's the demonic beat of rock music, the adulterous lyrics of country music, or the hypnotic tune of rap music, in any song in which the musicians, the music, the message, or the motive are not pleasing to God, that song cannot be good for you to hear. Did you ever wonder how you found yourself humming a song you didn't remember hearing? Then it hit you - it was in that movie you saw the other day. Just as much as godly music runs off the devil and brings peace (as it did when David played music before Saul in 1 Samuel 16:23), ungodly music removes peace and brings devils on the scene. And most popular movies have such songs in them.

3. The testimony you bear before others

What would happen if you went on visitation with the church, and a certain sinner you felt impressed to witness to just happened to be the clerk at the video store where you rent movies? Would you be able to talk about how God wants us to live as Titus 2:12 says, "soberly, righteously, godly, in this present world" to that sinner? How could you tell him that God expects saved people to be separated from sin, as 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 teaches, while he knows the content of the movies you watch? If you hand out tracts most everywhere you buy anything, such as the grocery store, the gas station, and the restaurant, do you hand them out in a video store? If you did, the clerk would have every right to call you a hypocrite, because you violated 1 Thessalonians 5:22, "Abstain from all appearance of evil." You are a Christian 7 days a week, no matter where you go or what you do. If you bear a bad representation of Jesus to the world, some sinner may be able to point to you at the white throne judgment and see his blood on your hands. And in this life, you will give "occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme," as Nathan told David in 2 Samuel 12:14.

4. The thoughts that linger

Not only do you have to contend with the immoral thoughts you see on television, but have you ever found yourself wondering about the details of a movie you saw ? "What if this person had done this differently?" Or, "how would things have turned out if that had happened another way?" It may seem silly to you, but think of a movie or show you really liked, and then remember how much time you spent thinking of how the whole story developed. What's so bad about that? Well, in itself, nothing. But, all that time you spend thinking on those things is time that could have been spent meditating on the Word of God (Joshua 1:8, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then shalt thou have good success."), talking to the Lord in prayer, telling a sinner about the marvelous love of God, or fellowshipping with a brother or sister in the Lord. Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." You can't think on Godly things when your mind is filled with worldly things.

It all comes down to this: what are you using your television for? If you are choosing to watch only wholesome, pure things on it, then it is certainly no more a hindrance or sin to you than owning a radio. But if you, like most people who have one, are not doing that, then it is your Christian duty to rid yourself of it. James 4:17, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."