INTRO:

INTRO: Watch That Television! (#1) by Daniel Ridinger

A. I’m The Slime by Frank Zappa, from album Overnight Sensation, 1973.^[1]

“I may be vile and pernicious

But you can’t look away

I make you think I’m delicious

With the stuff that I say

I am the best you can get

Have you guessed me yet?

I am the slime oozin’ out

From your TV set”

B. Just about every home has a TV, if not 2 or 3.

C. Our lesson this morning is entitled Watch That Television! (#1)

1. I'm using the word television to refer to more than just what we call the TV set. The TV set is just a material object, neither moral or immoral. Reference is to the shows, sitcoms, movies, news reports, et al that we see on our televisions.

2. This morning's lesson will focus on The Real Dangers of TV. Tonight we will look at Part 2.

3. Let us consider that television is dangerous because: (I) Promotes Violence (II) Propagates Profanity (III) Popularizes Immorality (IV) Perverts Truth (V) Provokes Passions (VI) Pollutes Our Minds (VII) Possibly Alienates The Family Purpose: To encourage us to be more careful about what we watch on television.

DISCUSSION: Let us consider that television is dangerous because:

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I. Promotes Violence

A. Training Killers is an article written by David Grossman.^[2]

1. Mr. Grossman is a retired military psychologist. He claims to be an expert in the field of killology. His profession involved grooming soldiers, law enforcement personnel to kill - take another person’s life.

2. The main thrust of Mr. Grossman’s article is that psycho-logical tactics that he employed for many years to condition young men to kill are now incorporated into…the entertainment outlets such as TV. The Pt: Young people are exposed to the same bad effect, resulting in more & more children becoming killers at incredibly tender ages.

3. Mr. Grossman furthermore observed that the effect of constant exposure to violence on television & video games such as, fights, rapes, murders, screaming profanities, etc, do something to a child’s mind. He cited data from the Journal of the American Medical Association to document the destructive impact of media violence on young people.^[3]

B. Albert Bandura (psychologist): His research proved that behavior seen on television are repeated in the lives of the viewers. People began to act what they see.^[4]

Lesson:

A. Some may believe that watching violence on TV has no negative impact on one's thinking & conduct. But studies have showed otherwise. A steady diet of anything bad can adversely affect a person.

B. Q: Should violence (talking about the blood & gore variety) be entertaining to a Christian? ANS: No!

C. A person needs to examine his thinking if watching a man gunned down with blood & guts spewing everywhere entertains him.

D. Phil.4:8

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---Thus, television promotes violence.

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II. Propagates Profanity

A. Q: Have you ever heard someone say, He cusses like a sailor? OR Pardon my French, but….? Q: Do you know someone who cannot express himself unless he uses profanity?

B. W. Jackson: We are exposed to it [profanity, dmr] at the super market, over the back fence, and at ball games. It fills our novels, movies, and is profuse on television….^[5]

C. It is difficult to find a TV show that is expletive free.

1. “A recent study of the Parents Television Council found that the use of profanity during the so called ‘family hour’ (8:00-9:00 Eastern time) is up 58 per cent from two years ago. And the nature of the language (e.g., sexual explicitness) is getting qualitatively worse.”^[6]

2. The first 2 episodes of the detective drama, Fastlane contained 17 & 23 profanities respectively. The premiere of the NBC sitcom Scrubs used 20 profanities in an half an hour show.^[7]

Lesson:

A. Q: Would you allow a person to use profane language in your family’s presence in your home? Would you permit suggestive jokes be told in front of your children? NO!

B. I suggest that most of us probably are inconsistent. We wouldn't allow anyone to use coarse language in our homes, but we permit strangers, television actors to bring it into our homes via TV.

C. Likely profanity is used by some of your fellow employees. That is one of the vexations of employment in the world. But why would we invite people via TV to cuss in our homes?

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---Thus, a danger of TV is that is propagates profanity.

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III. Popularizes [Glorifies] Immorality

A. In the early days of TV married people slept in twin beds. Cowboys such as Roy Rogers & Gene Autry did not engage in bedroom scenes with their leading ladies.

B. Today, the TV scene is a total contrast.

1. Some shows are pornographic. [ILL: Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show which aired Nov.,02 revealed so much skin the FCC investigated whether the network violated decency regulations.]^[8]

2. Many of the contemporary soap operas & sitcoms make a mockery of the traditional family ie, husband/wife/ children.

a. “Those who tune in daily to the soap operas will be served up a…feast of adultery, explicit sex….”^[9]

b. On some of the sitcoms the home is made up of an unmarried couple living together with their children.

3. Also, homosexuality is presented as a normal, attract-ive, acceptable lifestyle.

a. ILL: A group of southern teenagers were asked, What percent of people living in America are homosexual? The ans. were fired back in quick succession, “30%”; No, another spoke up, “40%”. The final number escalated to 70%.---ANS: The correct answer is about 3%.^[10] Q: How can we account for the distorted perception of these young people? ANS: TV!

b. Comedy shows touch on the subject [homo-sexuality, dmr] for laughs, and movies often deal with bigotry and violent acts committed against this minority.^[11]

c. Also, the news reports frequently mention & show homosexual parades & protests.

Lesson:

A. Immorality on TV should be repulsive to a Christian.

B. Prov.8:13 - The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil: Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, And the perverse mouth, do I hate.

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---Thus, television popularizes immorality.

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IV. PERVERTS TRUTH

A. The nightly national news reporters don’t always give us the correct information. [I believe in the past (1950’s) that the news reporters were basically honest. But now the news is politicized to a great extent. Newscasters distort the news toward their political views. They don’t always reveal the whole truth to the public. This is one of the reasons why the major networks have lost a great share of their news audience.]

B. Nature & astronomy programs on PBS/DISCOVERY, et al teach the theory of evolution as fact. [We have had atheistic evolution forced upon us through television. These kind of programs do not take into consideration the Bible creation account (Gen.1:1).]

C. TV shows, movies about Bible events usually misrepresent the Bible depiction of that event. [ILL: Years ago a TV movie about the life of Christ aired that was supposed to be accurate Biblically. But, it depicted John the Baptist pouring water on the head of Jesus as baptism (Mt.3:15).]

D. Too, some TV movies may be historical fictions ie, they are mixture of historical fact & fiction. [The Pt: Too many people cannot separate the facts from the fiction, because they do not know their history. Result: People will have a distorted view of real history.]

E. Prov.14:25 - A true witness delivereth souls; But he that uttereth lies causeth deceit.

F. Warning: Don’t accept everything that you see & hear on TV as being the truth.

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---Thus, television perverts truth.

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V. Provokes [Prompts] Passions

A. When Elvis Presley made his 1^st appearance on the Ed Sullivan show the producers showed him only from his waist up. Why? His bodily movements were considered indecent.

B. Shows with sexually suggestive or explicitly pornographic scenes will arouse the passions of a normal person.

C. Also, sexually suggestive or explicit language will do the same.

Lesson:

A. Christians should not watch programs that would lead to lust in the hearts.

B. Mt.5:28

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---Thus, television provokes passions.

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VI. Pollutes Our Minds

A. Garbage pollutes the environment. Likewise, many of the programs on TV are garbage & will pollute our minds.

B. Also, some TV programs can desensitize us ie, make us insen-sitive to sinful things & to our fellow man.

1. AFA Journal: With each dose of vulgarity, profanity, pornography, promiscuity, assault, murder, and other violence, we become less and less uncomfortable with those crimes and vices, until at last our consciences lose the ability to object to them.^[12]

2. In my judgment, some people are more tolerant today of premarital sex, the living together arrangement & homo-sexuality due to TV’s influence. Also, in my opinion, some have less respect for life, their own & others, because they have repeatedly watched shows filled with violence & gore.

Lesson:

A. Mt.5:8

B. 1 Tim.5:22

C. 1 Jn.3:3

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---Thus, television pollutes our minds.

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VII. POSSIBLY Alienates The Family

A. Strong families communicate with one another.

B. Watching television can interfere with that process, especially if the children have TVs in their rooms. [ILL: Dad might be in one room, mom in another & the children in another watching their favorite TV programs. Result: The family does not communicate with one another. They will not get closer to one another in such circumstances.]

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---Thus, some of the real dangers of television.

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CONCL:

A. Watch That Television (#1) (I) Promotes Violence (II) Propagates Profanity (III) Popularizes Immorality (IV) Perverts Truth (V) Provokes Passions (VI) Pollutes Our Minds (VII) Possibly Alienates The Family

B. Tonight, we will look at Part 2 of this lesson.

C. Prov.4:23

Preached: Oliver church of Christ, Rogersville, AL (3/9/03, AM)