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Extract
WHAT
ABOUT TELEVISION
By
Malcolm Horlock, Cardiff
IT
WILL COME as no surprise to you to find that there are no
references to television in the Bible. Nevertheless, the
Scriptures do provide guidance for the Christian who wishes to
know what his attitude should be to many of the things, which
can be seen on it.
We
know that the Lord is very concerned about the mind of the
believer. Indeed, one of the true objectives of gospel preaching
is to take captive a person's thought-life and to bring it into
obedience to Christ, 2 Cor. 10. 5. The apostle Paul taught the
importance of having the mind properly targeted. 'Set your
minds', he wrote, 'on the things above, not on things on
the earth', Col. 3. 2 lit. It does the Christian no good
to have his mind regularly exposed to the amusements and
entertainments of the world.
It
is not possible, of course, for our minds to be occupied always
with spiritual' matters. Paul does, however, provide us with a
set of criteria which we should apply to those things upon which
we feed our minds; 'Whatever things are true, …. Honourable,
….. just, .... pure, .... loveable, . . . of good report
(indeed, if anything is of moral excellence and a fit object of
praise), think on these things', Phil. 4. 8 paraphrase. This
verse provides us with an inspired standard, which can be used
to test, whether the pasture is fit for Cod's flock to graze in!
It is not the Lord's will for us to expose ourselves
deliberately to television programmes which fail to pass 'the
Phil. 4. 8 test'.
There
is no doubt that what we see makes a far more vivid impression
upon our minds than what we hear. Yet the apostle Paul regarded
it a shameful thing even to speak of certain immoral practices,
Eph. 5. 12. We can hardly justify, therefore, choosing to watch
such things when portrayed visually.
Job
could say that he had 'made a covenant' with his eyes; why then
should he look with lust upon a young woman?, Job 31. 1. Many
popular television programmes-contain material which tends to
incite lust. The words of the Lord Jesus still stand true,
'Every one who looks with lust at a woman has already committed
adultery with her in his heart', Matt. 5. 28 lit. It is
foolish for us to supply fuel for our own temptation. 'Make no
provision for the flesh, to fulfil its lusts ', Rom. 1 3. 1 4.
Our
ideas, values and attitudes are influenced profoundly by that
which we regularly absorb. The constant bombardment of our minds
by materialism, violence, blasphemy and uncleanness is not
calculated to produce in us the fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5.
19-24. The word of God exhorts us, 'Do not be conformed to this
world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind', Rom.
12. 2.
We
should also remember that we are stewards of our time.
Television can easily rob us of time which could be spent in
some form of Christian service, in prayer, in reading God's word
or in doing something generally useful. The Lord's command to us
is 'walk carefully therefore ... redeeming the time', Eph. 5.1
5-16 lit; cf. Col.4. 5.
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