| Poster | Thread | GaryE
Member
Joined: 2005/4/26
Posts: 376
Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania
| | Re: | |
As I wrote earlier, I don't watch the TV or go to movies. When I was a child it was different. My parents had the cable when most families were using an antenna. The cable back then was three chanels then. Saturday was the day the kids went to the movies. Both TV and the movies did not have the filth on them that we have today. Comedians did not have to talk vile talk to be funny. The old Red Skelton, Leave it to Beaver, and Beverly Hill Billys etc. were really funny without a swear word back then.
Things weren't perfect back then but we weren't in near as bad a spiritual condition as a people that we are today. Back then if you were a Christian teacher in the public schools, you still had the right to witness or even pray with a student. TV on Sunday mornings was full of Christian programing. Even if you were un-churched like I was, you ended up watching Christian programs because there often wasn't any cartoons on. I've met young adults today that never heard the gospel message.
Where I grew up, public profanity was not very common when I was a child. Murder was almost unheard of. Today it is much different. I've often wondered if the media is affecting us or if the media is just a reflection of us. In either case, it would be nice if some things would go back to the way it was when I was a child.
In Christ,
GaryE
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Gary Eckenroth
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|  2005/9/18 18:26 | Profile | repentcanada
Member
Joined: 2005/5/9
Posts: 659
| | Re: | | I agree with these words of GaryE, "Movies are the same way. What do I want to sit and listen to someone curse my Lord or mock moral values with filthy jokes?" We have basic cable here but all we really watch is some news, the weather channel, some basketball, and the odd documentary type show. I know as God is continually sanctifying me I now hate the things I once loved, Praise Him! I love these following Scriptures:
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. (Phillippians 4:8)
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. (Matthew 5:29, 30)
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. (I Peter 1:15, 16)
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| | 2005/9/18 19:15 | Profile | hredii
Member
Joined: 2004/8/1
Posts: 218
Fresno CA
| | Re: how many christians do not go to the cinema or watch televison or go the movies | | I want to testify that I do not watch cinema, televition or go to the movies. If there is anything that I do watch in the nature is a sermon or a teaching.
I would recomend thereading of the article by A.W. Tozer called [url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=314]THE MENACE OF THE RELIGIOUS MOVIE [/url]
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Adam Fell
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| | 2005/9/18 21:51 | Profile | Compton
Member
Joined: 2005/2/24
Posts: 2732
| | Re: | | What's interesting about Tozers' article is that he is not so much against movies and cinema per se, but against using the medium to convey the Gospel. He felt that the use of actors, sets, music, and special effects to create a dramatic illusion has the effect of diminishing the Gospel's utter and final reality. By bombarding the senses with the gospel, Tozer believed religous movies keep the heart from hearing and seeing the Spirit for onself.
I'm not sure I'm convinced by all his conclusions. (edit: I believe this discussion is an extension of the centuries old debate over icons) I do think he makes some very insightful and important points.
Television and movies are technologies that control the presentation of reality, and therefore limit perception of truth into mere reception.
MC
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Mike Compton
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| | 2005/9/18 22:56 | Profile | deltadom
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Joined: 2005/1/6
Posts: 2359
Hemel Hempstead
| | Re: The reason I gave up movies and the buts | | If we give up something I do not want to give ground for anyone to say!! You have given up TV but you watch movies so that doesnt count. It is like in my christian life. I do not want to give ground for the enemy me to attack me on. Along time ago we did a study on corinthians about offending your brother if he is weaker than you, that you should give whatever your brother is finding harder so that he can continue on alot better in his walk.
I have wanted to give my all for Jesus and everything and try to be perfect as he is perfect even thou my righteousness is as filthy rags.
The issue of christian movies is a dodgy issue but I think it are capaticity to think and to experience life in a more fuller way that I have found to be helpful to me. Sometimes when giving things up, we think that you will not have the choice or you will cut yourself of from the culture but are we not to be living holy(Kadosh) Set Apart for him are maker.I need prayer for purity for the things that we get from of the highstreet and the surrounding areas and the internet. I guess my senses sometimes pick up things that some people do not pick up.
I am just trying to note the effects on me and other people, I would have liked to have answered all the issues that have been raised in this post but for me personally I want to find more christians who do not and I am interested in even the small issues that you bring up.
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Dominic Shiells
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| | 2005/9/19 19:35 | Profile | Wildhorse
Member
Joined: 2005/8/28
Posts: 48
Australia
| | Re: how many christians do not go to the cinema or watch televison or go the movies | | I don't watch a lot of TV as such because there is a lot of rubbish on, like Big Brother, here in Australia where guys and girls pair off and it is basically a sex show, it breaks the 10 commandements and even then some... It is just trash.
These are the only things i watch off TV:
- Star Trek
- Stargate SG-1 & Atlantis
- Thunderbirds
- JAG and the alike shows
- M*A*S*H
- News (sometimes)
- Christian TV Channel, however some of their stuff apparently is biblically questionable
- Documentaries (rarely)
So basically i don't sit in front of the TV all the time. It doesn't worry me if i go for a week or two without watching TV.
Cheers,
Your Brother in Christ
Michael H.
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Michael Hancock
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| | 2005/9/19 20:58 | Profile | roadsign
Member
Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777
| | Re: | | Quote:
Tozer believed religous movies keep the heart from hearing and seeing the Spirit for onself.
I know a lady who was saved (for real!!!! )watching the movie Jesus Christ Superstar. She saw her sins on the cross right there in the movie, and was totally broken. She surrendered her life to Christ. The depth of her faith ever since then has been amazing.
If we are spiritually alert, we will see all kinds of divine messages relayed through movies. It may not be the intention of the movie producer, but God can superimpose his message anywhere he wants and any way he wants. He works to awaken the conscience. To God, using movies, etc, may get through better than any church could ever do.
Once the Lord used the music of the Phantom of the Opera to show me that he wanted me to play my music for HIM (and not the crowds). It was a very genuine divine revelation. I obeyed (reluctantly) by preparing and playing a concert for an audience of one. God's presence was very real during that.
One day I went to visit a friend and she INSISTED that I watch a nature show about birds. I was offended because I wanted to visit her, not watch TV. I had no choice, she was so insistant. I did not know that it was of the Lord, and he used one episode in it as a prophetic picture to reveal something very important. (too much to cover here)
While we need to keep ourselves pure of the world, we also must remember that simply cutting out the pictures on the screen doesn't necessariy cut it. Because we need to be cleaned out of such things as fear of man, worry, materialism - all kinds of things in the heart.
In fact, a movie may portray a character who has the same blind spots as us, through whom God may using us to bring conviction.
I agree with Tozer in a sense that Christian movies can dilute or replace the power of the Spirit.
They can also be too direct, and formula-istic, and portray the religous view point of the writer.
But, for some a certain religous movie may "stike", even if it doesn't seem like much.
I think Michael Moore's Farinheit911 and Bowling for Columbine has potential to bring deep conviction even if one feels he is not entirely accurate.
Getting people to THINK, to quesition, to feel uncomfortable - that is what brings people to a step closer to God. And so, we need to be alert for the convicting voice of God - even where we least expect him.
Edit: Most people don't go to church, but they watch TV. If they have a sensitive conscience, they may feel the conviction of such sins as racism, materialism, hypocrisy, dishonesty, dilsoyalty, etc etc in movies. Since I watch almost nil modern shows, I can't give too many examples. (not that there are many)
Diane
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Diane
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| | 2005/9/19 22:36 | Profile | tinluke
Member
Joined: 2005/4/8
Posts: 220
New England USA
| | Re: | | I used to watch discovery channel and Home and Garden TV. I was starting to feel convicted about my time watching tv, not so much that what i was watching was bad, but that it was simply a waste of time.
I don't watch any TV, but I am married to a TV addict!! Football, new, movies and everything in between. We have a sattelite dish and get probably 500 channels.
I keep waiting on the Lord for the go ahead to throw the TV in the lake, but I don't think that will happen anytime soon. When I pray about it, the Lord just tells me to be an example and pray against this alter that my husband has set up in our home! I'd much rather do something drastic like cut the cord or smash it to a thousand pieces, but that won't work. Man's wrath never works to righteousness...I have to remember that!!
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tina
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| | 2005/9/20 0:24 | Profile | hredii
Member
Joined: 2004/8/1
Posts: 218
Fresno CA
| | Re: | | Quote:
I don't watch any TV, but I am married to a TV addict!! Football, new, movies and everything in between. We have a sattelite dish and get probably 500 channels.
I keep waiting on the Lord for the go ahead to throw the TV in the lake,
I came across this poem if it is a poem? in a sermon by Moses Stoltzfus. The sermon is called [url=http://charityministries.org/tapeministry/detail.cfm?index=2895]Why I Don't Have A Television[/url]
The Stranger
Author unknown
A few months before I was born my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning Dad was fascinated with the enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months latter. As I grew up I never questioned his place in our family. Mom taught me to love the Word of God and Dad taught me to obey it, but the stranger was tour story teller. He could weave the most fascinating tales, adventure, mysteries, and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our whole family spellbound for hours each evening and was a good to the whole family. He took Dad, Bill and me to our first major league baseball game. He was always encouraging us to see the movies and he even made arrangement to introduce us to several movie stars. The strange was an incessant talker. Dad did not seem to mind, but sometimes Mom would quietly get up while the rest of us were enthralled with one of the stories of faraway places go to her room and read her bible and pray. I wonder now if she ever prayed that the stranger would leave. You see my Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions but this stranger never felt an obligation to honor them. Prophanity for example was not allowed in our house not from us from our friend or adults. Our long time visitor however used occasional four letter words that burned my ears and Dad squirm. To my knowledge the stranger was never confronted. My Dad was a teetotaler who did not permit alcohol in his home not even for cooking. But the stranger felt like we needed exposure and enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer and other alcoholic beverages often. He made cigarettes look tasty cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely much too freely about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant sometimes suggestive and generally embarrassing. I know now that my early concepts of the man woman relationship were influenced by the stranger. As I look back I believe that the stranger did not influence us more. Time after time he opposed the values of my parents. Yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave. More than forty years have passed since the stranger moved in with the young family on morning side drive, But if I were to walk in my parents den today you would still see him over in the corner waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures. His name we always just called him T.V.
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Adam Fell
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| | 2005/9/20 4:28 | Profile | roadsign
Member
Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777
| | Re: | | Quote:
I'd much rather do something drastic like cut the cord or smash it to a thousand pieces, but that won't work. Man's wrath never works to righteousness...I have to remember that!!
Tinluke, I've been there - when I was a teen, and my sister kept watching TV, I cut the cord. The results were not good. Now as an adult, she hardly ever watches TV. So, yes, let God deal with it.
We can only control ourselves and our choices.
When TV invades our home against our wishes, it can be a miserable existance. But it can't stop us from going on with God and finding joy in him.
Perhaps it is a trial permitted in our lives to strengthen our endurance and determination to be faithful to God.
May God be your greatest treasure. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus and the things of earth will grow strangely dim." (a song)
ps Pray that the Lord will speak to your husband through what he watches. (It's happened before)I'm in the same boat as you are (in a sense), and believe me, I understand the frustration and the feeling of powerlessness over the problem of worldliness being brought into the home.
Diane
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Diane
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| | 2005/9/20 6:56 | Profile |
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