Television

I love to watch television, but I feel that I watch too much of the bad stuff.  To me the bad stuff are things that I have no business watching like those filled with blood and gore and promiscuous sex.  There are other things I should look out for such as those who curse, those who commits other sins without guilt, or whatever shows feed my obsessions.

Television can be a great tool.  Many people became born-again due to watching religious programming. Many people get their spirits fed because of religious programming.  There are others who watch educational programming.  Those people get their minds fed because of educational programming.  There are those who like to watch family programming.  To many, they take them back to a more innocent and simpler time. Those are shows that all of us should be watching.  These shows are at least safe for kids.

I admit that I watch shows that are unsafe for me as a Christian woman and as a person who has the issues that I have.  I watch shows that feed my obsessions and I also obsess about the content of shows or movies to watch.  I have obsessive thoughts about infidelity and the male v female dynamic among other things. Television and the internet can be great for families but they can be detrimental for us as well.  We are all to keep our eyes, our mouths, our hearts, and our minds on guard.  We are natural learners and I believe we are all naturally curious.  However there are times when curiosity kills the cat so to speak.

Television and other forms of media are an example sometimes of curiosity killing the cat.  We are to guide our hearts for out of it flow the issues of life.  I believe that television is a powerful influence to both children and adults.  Adult men yell at the live games on television.  Adult women yell at soap operas and movies. Kids spend countless hours playing video games on TV and watching cartoons.  What we watch may be a determinant of our spiritual lives.  I say may because I may watch something unsafe, but since I am redeemed, I know and realize that what I should be doing is turn the TV off or change the channel.Television can either be a blessing or a curse.

There are a lot of ungodly things on television and there are a lot of godly things.  We cannot be believers and just watch something that is a blessing to you or something that is a curse and ungodly.  I sometimes have to decide what to watch based on the content not because of its godly or ungodly content but because I feel drawn to that show based on my thoughts.  As a believer, avoidance is something that I don't take lightly.  I mean avoidance as something I do to avoid triggers to another obsessive thought.  It is as if I have allowed my thoughts to determine what I should watch instead of my spiritual convictions and that isn't a good thing.