Several precise, yet random thoughts have been floating in my head over the last couple of days. Most of these thoughts seem to have stemmed from a recent discussion in the rarely combined (thank the Lord) junior-senior high Sunday school class. These thoughts could be anything from the speed limit, to the style of music our teens listen to; to the kinds of movies and TV shows we like to watch.
Maybe it was the weak presentation of our Sunday School curriculum, or maybe it was my weak interpretation of the material, or maybe it is just the way teens think. In this case, I would lean towards the last one. It seems that we (not just teens) don’t seem to have a problem with the kinds of media we ingest into our brains on a daily basis.
Not to place myself above this conversation, I love to watch and listen to things that I know I really shouldn’t be watching or listening to. I just justify it by saying things like, “oh, I want to keep up with the teen culture”, and, “I think it has some good qualities to it.” There is a valid argument for not totally removing yourself from our culture. However, I believe it was a certain famous Biblical character that reminded us to be in the world, but not of the world. And you know as well as I do that we all love to blur that line. It is so easy to live in both worlds. Though, I have news and a warning for us. We could be placing ourselves in harm’s way when we decide to import hours upon hours of media garbage into our heads.
I am not telling you what you can and cannot watch and listen to. I am warning you about the dangers of media, and the spiritual depravation that can be caused by certain types of media. I’ll give you an example, one night in youth group, I was sitting with my music interest group discussing different styles of music. I said that when I listen to a certain music group in the car, I tend to drive like I were in the lead position of a NASCAR race. Then, the teens wanted to tell me that the music they listen to didn’t affect them in any way. Violent music doesn’t make you violent. Sexual music doesn’t make you think about sex. (And for teens, that’s a big thing) Drug music doesn’t make you think about drugs, or people on drugs. Believe me, if you listen to enough angry music, you might just become angry.
At the risk of condemning us all (too late), I think we should all look and be conscious of the media that we take in. Whether it be the weather channel, VH1, E!, YouTube, or any other source. Just remind yourself, “if Jesus were standing over my shoulder, would He like this music, video, TV show, or movie?” Oh, I know that God has a sense of humor, but is it like ours?
This article became exactly what I didn’t want it to. It looks like I’m condemning everyone for watching and listening to “secular” material. My intent was to remind you that Jesus is watching every move you make. So I will leave you with a question, do you care? I just wanted to provoke some thoughts and debates within ourselves. If God has some work to do with you in this area, ask Him to work in you. Sometimes our attitudes about issues like this need to change, so let God help. And if you truly believe that He will, He will.