Scriptural Warnings That Apply to Television Viewing
Feb/16/10 15:23 Filed in: Family | Entertainment
February 16, 2010 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following Scripture passages have a direct application to this issue and are a loud warning to those who have ears to hear. Parents need to teach their children these biblical principles and guide them in learning how to apply them to their daily lives. It is not enough to have a list of do’s and don’ts.
“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me (Psalm 101:3).
This verse single-handedly forbids the child of God to watch the vast majority of the movies and television programs that are made today. Consider just a few of the wicked things that you or your children will see:
* The breaking of God’s commandments
* Flaunted immorality
* Casual drinking and drug usage
* Drunkenness portrayed as humorous
* Sexually alluring fashions
* Sexually enticing dancing
* Violence and mayhem
* Casual dating and petting (Parents, do you want your children to date after the fashion portrayed in most movies and television programs?)
* Mockery of the things of God
* Mockery of God’s people
* Pagan religions depicted as truth
* Situational ethics
* Occultism, paganism, humanism, evolution, and New Age error (even in cartoons and in a large number of Disney movies)
“I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” (Job 31:1)
The following Scripture passages have a direct application to this issue and are a loud warning to those who have ears to hear. Parents need to teach their children these biblical principles and guide them in learning how to apply them to their daily lives. It is not enough to have a list of do’s and don’ts.
“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me (Psalm 101:3).
* The breaking of God’s commandments
* Flaunted immorality
* Casual drinking and drug usage
* Drunkenness portrayed as humorous
* Sexually alluring fashions
* Sexually enticing dancing
* Violence and mayhem
* Casual dating and petting (Parents, do you want your children to date after the fashion portrayed in most movies and television programs?)
* Mockery of the things of God
* Mockery of God’s people
* Pagan religions depicted as truth
* Situational ethics
* Occultism, paganism, humanism, evolution, and New Age error (even in cartoons and in a large number of Disney movies)
“I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” (Job 31:1)
This verse is similar to the one in Psalm 101:3, but it warns more specifically about looking upon women to lust after them. The Lord Jesus Christ warned, “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matt. 5:28). These verses are solemn warnings to men and boys NOT to watch Hollywood movies, whether in the theater or at home. In public, most men will not stare at a woman very long because he is self-conscious about doing that, but when he is watching a movie he can ogle an indecently-clad female, even if his wife is sitting by his side. Twenty years ago I asked a pastor friend, “Why do you think so many pastors are committing adultery?” I have never forgotten his one-word reply: “Television.”
“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.” (Ephesians 5:3-7).
This is a perfect description of the vast majority of Hollywood movies today. It also describes the sensual rock music that goes hand in hand with practically all of today’s movies. The child of God is not to participate in such things, even by proxy.
“But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth” (Colossians 3:8).
Not only is it dangerous to watch evil things but it is equally dangerous to hear evil things. There are occasions in this wicked world in which we do not have control over what we see and hear, but when we are in our homes, we do have control. And we do have control over where we go and what we do with our own time. Television programs and movies are literally filled with ungodly speech, with the things specifically and solemnly forbidden in Colossians. The ear is a gate to the heart and determines how we live. Proverbs warns, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23). The very first thing that is mentioned in that connection is to “put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee” (Prov. 4:24)!
Movies and television programs are filled with the things forbidden in Colossians 3:8. A few years ago Calvary Contender reported:
“Foul language, including curses, offensive epithets, scatological language, sexually suggestive or indecent language, and censored language increased by 94.8 percent during the Family Hour between 1998 and 2002” (Calvary Contender, Dec. 2003).
Foul language on television has probably increased that much again since 2002.
“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).
“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21).
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
The Bible warns the believer to cast down every evil imagination, because the imagination is the battle ground for the soul. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...” The imagination can go from bad to worse. The flesh is never satisfied. Sin, which began in such a “small” way in the days of Adam, had so permeated man’s mind by the days of Adam’s great grandson Noah that man’s thoughts were “only evil continually.” That describes multitudes in our day, which is not surprising in that the Lord warned, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Mat. 24:37).
The epistle of Romans tells us that the imagination plays a great role in the downward spiral that results in homosexuality and other moral perversions. It is impossible to have spiritual victory if one allows the imagination to dwell upon evil things. It is not difficult in this connection to see the danger of television programs and movies, and to see the role they have played in the moral downfall of modern society. They fill the imagination with vivid images that linger and that return even if not purposefully encouraged. They feed the fleshly nature, but it is never satisfied and it only desires more sensuality, more excitement, more exposure of flesh, more, more, more, and is thus led ever deeper into moral perversion.
“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11).
This passage teaches the child of God to choose the most excellent things in life, not those things that are borderline and questionable. It teaches him to be without offence before God. The believer should ask himself, “Would I be embarrassed for the Lord Jesus to come and find me doing this thing?” We are to be filled with the fruits of righteousness, and that means we have to be emptied of the fruits of the flesh and the world. The child of God has two natures, the old and the new, and the one he feeds and pampers is the one that will dominate his life.
“And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).
This verse warns the child of God not to participate in anything that is questionable. If you cannot say for sure that something is God's perfect will, if it creates nagging doubts, you should avoid it.
“Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thess. 5:22).
Not only are we to abstain from evil itself but even from the appearance of evil. Attending the movie theater today has, at best, an appearance of evil, because the vast majority of the movies shown there are morally vile. The same is true for watching most Hollywood movies at home. If our friends see that we watch questionable movies, they will be encouraged to watch them as well, and they probably will not even be as “discriminating” as we are.
“Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. ... It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak” (Romans 14:19, 21).
Even if I could go to a movie theater and see a movie that was 100% wholesome by biblical standards and not see any movie trailers for wicked movies, I would still be giving a bad example to others. If I go to watch a G-rated movie, I might encourage others to go and watch an R-rated one and thus sin against God. The same is true for what I watch in the home.
“Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:2).
The conscience is a tender thing. It can easily be hardened by unrepentant exposure to evil. This is why television programs and movies have gotten ever more wicked with each passing decade. If one of today’s PG-13 movies had been shown on television 40 years ago, it would have been condemned broadly even by many unbelievers. The same is true for rock music. Eminem or Marilyn Manson would not have been allowed on the Ed Sullivan Show in the 1950s, but there has been a steady searing of the conscience by exposure to the ever increasing moral vileness of the entertainment industry. When Christians allow themselves to watch programs and movies that they know are wrong, the conscience becomes seared so that eventually they can watch things without so much as a twinge of conscience that once would have shocked them deeply.
“For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him” (Genesis 18:19).
God commended Abraham because he would command his children to keep the way of the Lord. Every parent needs to take this to heart. Contrary to the tenets of modern psychology and pop child training philosophy, parents are responsible to command their children and to show them the right way in life. Love is the key to making this work, of course. The father is accountable before God to be the godly head of the home and to oversee all things under Christ. The mother is responsible to work alongside the father as his “helpmeet” in the home, and should never be guilty of undermining any godly thing that the father wants to accomplish. Each believing father and mother will stand before Jesus Christ and give account for how he or she lived in the home and how they raised the children. How wonderful it will be to hear the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matt. 25:23).
Nothing this world has to offer is worth losing the Lord’s commendation.
There is an axiom that what parents allow in moderation, the children follow to excess. If parents are even a little careless about what television programs and Hollywood movies they watch, the children will most likely move much farther into the realm of moral temptation.
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