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Poisonous Candy?
By Robert
Last night while I was at my computer, the TV was playing in the background. My dad was watching wrestling (as is his custom), and this show came on after his program went off, called "1000 ways to die." It sounded interesting, like a documentary or something. Normally, I don't watch a lot of TV, so I don't watch commercials for the programs. Thinking nothing of it, I decided to check it out and see what it was about...
Bad career move.
This "show" depicted unusual, gruesome, and just plain weird demises of unfortunate individuals. Some of these would undoubtedly qualify for a Darwin Award nomination, but that doesn't justify the "need" to graphically depict the freakish endings of the lives of those unlucky or dumb enough to have gotten caught in such circumstances. One such demise involved a man who got his leg caught in a wood chipper while trying to kick a piece of wood free that had jammed it. The results it showed turned my stomach.
Now, please understand that I am not unduly squeamish. That being said, there was no call to depict blood and gore being sprayed all over the place (Discovery, TLC and other networks have documentaries that depict things much more delicately). Spike TV is known for "programs" that are (at the least) crude, and border on just plain filthy and disgusting, and it should have occurred to me that such a program on that station was not going to be very nice, to say the least. Had I remembered what that channel was all about, I would have changed it as soon as my dad's program ended.
And it got me thinking...
We live in a day and age where many think that death is some sort of "entertainment." Much like the gladiatorial combats of ancient Rome, people will sit there and watch the miseries of another, simulated or otherwise, and derive some sort of "pastime enjoyment" from it. "Reality TV', as it is called, seems to be all the rage nowadays, and people in tears, anguish, anger or other emotions are fodder for networks to televise, and for audiences at home to devour. The American appetite for such stuff alone is ravenous to say the last, and "programming" like this seems to have appeal in other countries as well.
You can imagine how God feels about all of this:
"When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood." (Isaiah 1:12-15, KJV)
We call ourselves a "christian" nation, yet we are watching this swill. We claim to love God, yet hasn't the TV set become the "god" of many? They certainly pay it more adoration than they do the one they CLAIM to have faith in. They go to church for a couple of hours a day on Sunday, yet the rest of the week will sit in front of the "Idiot Box" (aptly named) and devote almost their entire waking hours to it. And with the garbage the stations put on the air and the muck that cable fills their "lineups" with, we wonder why people act the way they do?
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. " (1 Thessalonians 5:21-23, KJV)
In an experiment not too long ago, a gentleman by the name of Morgan Spurlock conducted a test in which for a month, he ate nothign but fast food. The results:
As a result, the then-32-year-old Spurlock gained 24½ lbs. (1¾ stone, 11.1 kg), a 13% body mass increase, a cholesterol level of 230, and experienced mood swings, sexual dysfunction, and fat accumulation to his liver. It took Spurlock fourteen months to lose the weight gained from his experiment.
-Wikipedia entry "Super Size Me", Super Size Me - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
If this is any indicator of what a poor physical diet can do, then does it not stand to reason that an equally poor spiritual diet would have equally disastrous effects on a person's mental, psychological and spiritual well-being? This is why we must always endeavor to watch carefully what we intake. if we are not in the word on a daily basis, if we are not in prayer constantly, if we are not being filled with the Holy Spirit, then what ARE we being filled with?
"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:" (Proverb 23:7a, KJV)
We consume all this, then wonder why there is such a disregard for the things of God. Violence in our streets, high divorce rates due to adultery, teen sex and pregnancy, abuse, language filled with curse words that two generations ago would have gotten your mouth washed out, and a total disregard for life and the well-being of others have permeated our culture to such a level and to such a degree as to saturate the fabric of our society, and indeed much of the world, with this vile slime. Our world is being poisoned to it's core by all of this, and like many poisons, the "sweetness" of it keeps us coming back for more.
It is indeed poisonous candy.
Scripture warned us that these times would come:
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." (2 Timothy 3:1-5, KJV)
My suggestion to everyone who reads this; the best thing you can do if you have a TV set is to keep it off for most, if not all, of the day. Use it only for those movies you want to see. Otherwise, if you have no real need of it (and I don't see much need for it to begin with), either stick with simple basic cable, or just get rid of cable altogether.
After all, we don't keep rat poison on the counter next to the sugar for our coffee, do we?
I bid you all peace.
YBIC,
-Robert
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