Does a true Christian watch TV? I'm hit with the question once again. Intersecting with all the hubbub about the LOST series and its deeper meaning is the question some of us still raise, and one I haven't answered: are we supposed to watch this stuff or not?
I was looking at Marva Dawn's book, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly, last week while preparing for a sermon and was reminded that she doesn't watch TV. I also read John Piper's reasoning behind rejecting TV: "Why I Don't Have a Television."
When I was in seminary, my wife and I rejected TV one year for Lent. It was the year that X-Files was at its peak, and was a favorite of ours. We had decided we wouldn't watch TV, but we did allow ourselves to rent movies. So here's how we did it...
...we taped X-Files, and allowed ourselves to watch it later! I don't know what was more fun for my wife and I, the creative explosion of alternative activities we tried, or the creative justifications we came up with for breaking the no-TV-for-Lent rule.
If there's a running theme in Dallas Willard's, Divine Conspiracy, it is that we have allowed the world to shape our view of what's normal--what's really real--and we have to allow Christ to reshape our minds with His Word.
Television viewing is an exercise in life-simulation. Everything we absorb, every minute of it, is normalcy training. I think I need a different kind of brain training, a habit of Christian study that shapes my mind. I need my mind to be trained to where God's reality is normal and it is actually possible, it is actually probable, that the Kingdom of God exists.
But I'm not sure I'm ready to kick the TV to the curb.
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." Titus 2:11-14.
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Thu, 06/10/2010 - 09:26 — lwesterlund (not verified)"We have to allow Christ to reshape our mind with His Word."
A seven-fold Amen! But in response to your question, seems to me there are no formulas. We long for rules, but it is a matter of the heart. Does the time spent watching TV mean less time encountering God in His Word? Is this recreation that rests me and re-creates my energy, or an escape that subtly influences my thinking? Does regular watching diminish the reality of God's prudence? We are in a spiritual battle--God's word continually reminds me of this. But only prayer and God's Spirit, applying His living and powerful Word, can discover to us our hearts. Thanks, Tim, for a good question!