If You Do Watch T.V., Watch It Actively

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8).

I like Home Improvement. I think there is something nostalgic about it for me. Yet, I began to notice something I had never paid much attention to before. Wilson, a character who I think is great, someone who almost all the characters of the show have gone to for help, turns out to have the most abhorrent worldviews I have ever known. He is into every religion, philosophy, custom, and food that you can think of (maybe the last one isn't so bad, with the exception of Eel Pie and the like). He gives advice as to what remedies can help the Taylor home "improve," but never does he point to Jesus. Never. It was when that epiphany began that I started to realize the benefit of watching any T.V. show or movie in a new way.

I have nearly stopped watching T.V. altogether. I told my wife that when our television set dies, and it's over then years old, then that's when we are ridding our lives of it for good. However, when I do watch television, I will watch it actively as opposed to passively. I think you will see the benefits of doing so.

Passive Watching
What I mean is that, if I am going to watch it at all, I am now not sitting inactive and mindlessly as a means of resting. This is what most people do when they approach the boobtube. They come to rest their mind and use up their time to be entertained. They do not want to have to think or do anything. It is a time to allow the executives at NBC to do the work of moving you to tears or feel compassion for T.V. friend. Some even cry and mope when a show they love has closed its final season.

Active Watching
I have been watching my T.V. actively. I watch with my wife when she wants to take a break and I am listening closely to the words, trying to see how the script is crafted. More often than not, I have noticed that it works to subtly change my worldview without me noticing.

I honestly feel like I am onto something when a man that I look to for inspiration to follow Jesus says something that helps to validate my thoughts. Thirty-three years ago, John Piper said the following:

"...my suspicion is that television in general does not train active seeing but rather encourages passive watching. Nobody goes to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to watch a painting; you go to see, to look at, to inspect. But you go home to watch T.V. Therefore, I am not very encouraged by our culture, because even though we are more visually dependent today, I don’t think we are more visually acute or perceptive. Our skill in active seeing is no better and perhaps weaker than in the pre-T.V. days."

Pay attention to the way television tries to portray abnormalities and sin as normal, or even as funny. You will begin to see men and husbands viewed as helpless and stupid, timid and as stay-at-home dads. You already know that casual sex is portrayed as just something that people do, but how does the Bible view it? If you have time to be in the Scriptures and know them, you will be more alert to see it. Jeremiah prophesied, saying, 

“Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
      No, they were not at all ashamed;
      they did not know how to blush.
   Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
      at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” (Jer. 6:15)

I do not think there are too many younger generations of Christians who know how to blush at the sight of ungodly activities.

A Benefit of Watching Actively
I see the greatest benefit of watching T.V. and movies is that we can use it as a ministry help to those under our spiritual care. Help your people see how Hollywood is working hard to change their worldview. But if they are in the battle watching actively, they have the upper ground. You can use this to help your youth groups (or  your kids at home) to see how the boobtube feeds them lies, and does not point you to Christ. Oh, sure, there are ways of watching television and movies "spiritually," seeing all the Christ-like characters and biblically reminiscent plots, but they are not purposely crafted to point them to Jesus! The goal of T.V. is not so that they worship the Creator.

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority (Col. 2:8-10).

Your Turn
With an active mind in watching, you are ready to start using T.V. and movies as a way to question your family or others to whom you minister to start thinking about what they just watched. Use this time as a way to dialogue and question their worldview and see what the Bible says.
 
Avoiding the T.V. more and more has deeply helped in my walk with Jesus, and it has allowed for more time in the Word and contemplation, for solitude and silence, for journaling, for reading the stacks of books I have been wanting to get to. 

Yet at the same time it has opened the flood gates for spiritual warfare. Be prepared for this tension, and be aware of it when you see it. There is never a time to let down your guard. To watch actively takes work, just like reading a book actively takes work. But if the benefit of doing this is so that our people (and us!) will worship Jesus, will trust in the promises of God for strength, then what we working with the Spirit in changing lives more fully into the image of God.

We have so little time on this earth, how will you use it to point the sheep to Jesus?