I. Scripture Text and Introduction

Philippians 4:8 – 9; John 10:10; Psalm 101:3; Psalm 119:37; Isaiah 33:14 – 17; Ezekiel 20:7 – 8; 1 John 2:16; Proverbs 23:26; Proverbs 27:20; Proverbs 30:13; Ecclesiastes 2:14 (what event? Death and Judgment Hebrews 9:27); Jeremiah 22:17 2 Peter 2:14; Ecclesiastes 1:8

I first presented this teaching in 1991 at a Christian teen group called “Teen Crusaders For Christ” who met regularly at Southern Wayne High School. Since that time television has come a long ways in corrupting our youth and society as a whole. Consider the following stats pulled from various resources off of the Internet today…

 

American Time use survey- 2/7/12

TV stats

28 hours per week per person

5.11 hours a day per person

99% of households own a TV

9 years of an average person’s life will have been wasted watching TV

2 TVs per household national average

65% of homes own 3 or more TVs

67% watch TV at dinner

56% pay for cable

number of videos rented daily 6 million

54% of 5 – 6-year-olds prefer to watch TV rather than spend time with their fathers

number of violent acts seen on TV by age 18 150,000

54% of kids have a TV in their bedroom

average youth plays games 7 hours per week

in addition to 25 hours of TV per week

80% of Hollywood executives say there is a link between TV violence and real life violence yet they continue to produce it at an alarming rate

a study at Indiana school of medicine says there is a link between violent video games and kids being violent

 

Character traits associated with children viewing violent media content found in the study the following things:

1. Increased physiological arousal

2. Chronic release of cortisol (adrenalin)

3. Desensitization

4. Increased aggressive thought patterns

5. Hostile personalities

6. Pro violent attitudes

7. Increased antisocial and aggressive behavior

8. Increased verbal and physical abuse

9. Viewing the world as violent and mean

10. Fear of being harmed

11. Night terrors and nightmares

12. Desire to see more violence in entertainment and real-life

13. Viewing violence as an acceptable way to resolve conflict

 

Stats on violence shows the following:

95% of video games show violence

75% of TV shows show violence

60% of cartoons show violence

 

Genesis 6:11 – 12

violence on TV and games affects our “impulse control” – the ability to control our impulse to act out violently when confronted with conflict. Example – 2008 a 27-year-old man playing on his Xbox a violent game and his 17 month old daughter pulled on some chords and tripped over the Xbox and broke it. The enraged father struck his daughter with such force and so many times he cracked her skull causing her death ( CBS 2008).

There is an increase in violence in our society has a direct result of violence seen on TV, movies, and video games. Our society has become a very violent society. How many rapes were a direct result of some man watching some “soft” porn show? How many murders have been committed as a result of someone watching some “innocent” yet very violent movie?

 

Divorce Stats

41% of 1st marriages end in divorce

60% of 2nd marriages end in divorce

73% of 3rd marriages end in divorce

1 divorce every 13 seconds

4 divorces every minute

6646 divorces per day

46,523 divorces per week

Hollywood glamorizes it by encouraging it in all of its TV programming and then tells the viewer its  your “right” to divorce for “any cause”.

Liz Taylor married 8 times

Zsa Zsa Gabor married 9 times

Britney Spears was married only 55 hours

Every time we look we see on television an announcement of some star who has been married only a short period of time only to end in divorce due to an irreconcilable difference and then just a few months later being remarried again to another person and this happens over and over again devaluing the sacredness of marriage They classify this as normal behavior. Hollywood has redefined what marriage is and is continuing to redefine it through special interest groups that have no moral compass to guide them in this sacred covenant that God established Himself.

Living together before getting married increases your chance of divorce by 40%

43% of children grow up without fathers

half of children witnessed the breakup of a parent in marriage

 

Teen Pregnancy

The US has the highest rate of teen pregnancy/team verse than any other western industrialized world combined. Consider the following facts:

820,000 teens get pregnant every year

34% of teenagers get pregnant before 20

79% are unmarried

80% are unintended pregnancies

The main rise is among girls younger than 15 years old.

Both Germany and France combined have a lower teen pregnancy rate than that of the United States (4 times lower)

Japan is 8 times lower

 

Premarital Sex

95% have had premarital sex

1 and 4 Christian girls has an STD

80% of Christian singles have had premarital sex

65% of Christian women have had abortions

 

II. Characteristics Associated With Too Much TV Viewing

 

1. TV Destroys The Will To Resist Evil

1 Corinthians 15:33 – 34

It does this by manipulating your thoughts and redefining morality as a relative thing not to be pursued. One becomes passive and allows the TV to do the thinking for them. It breaks down the persons ability to think rationally and replaces it with the agenda of the networks and producers in Hollywood. (2 Timothy 3:6 – 8)

They began to control your thought patterns and you began to see the world and society through the prism that they create. It is a false reality. They put evil ideologies into the mind of the passive viewer and then brainwash the viewer into accepting their corrupt views. (Proverbs 23:7; Psalm 101:2 – 8)

 

2. TV Destroys The Home

Joshua 24:15

TV attacks the family and home by:

A.  Creating disorder in the home and perverting the roles of husbands and wives as well as the role of parent/child relationships. (1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 6:1 – 3)

B. It distorts the role of women in the home (Titus 2:1 – 8, 11 – 15; 1 Timothy 5:14)

C. Encourages kids to rebel against their parents (Colossians 3:20) and to curse them ( Proverbs 20:20; Proverbs 30:11)

D. It encourages adultery by planting thoughts in the mind and encouraging one to carry out the deed (Revelation 2:22; Matthew 5:28; Exodus 20:14) and glamorizes it with an end result of destroying the home and family.

E. Bringing the “accursed thing” into the home will destroy your family! (Joshua 6:18; Joshua 7:10 – 25)

F. It promotes divorce for “any cause” (see stats) (Matthew 19:3 – 9; Luke 16:18; 1 Corinthians 7:39)

G. TV cancels parents that spanking their children is child abuse (Proverbs 23:13 – 14; Proverbs 26:3; Proverbs 29:15; Proverbs 10:13; Proverbs 13:24; Proverbs 22:15; Hebrews 12:5 – 11)

 

3. TV Destroys The Moral Standards Of Our Society That Are Essential For Good Order

A. TV encourages fornication, living together(shacking up), and all kinds of sexual activity outside the marriage bond including perverted forms of sex acts otherwise known as homosexuality,orgies, pedophilia, and beastiality. (2 Chronicles 21:11; Acts 15:20, 29; acts 21:25; 1 Corinthians 6:13, 18; 1 Corinthians 10:8; Ephesians 5:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Jude 7)

B. TV encourages homosexuality as an alternate lifestyle and tells the viewer that  those who practice it were born this way (Romans 1:21 – 32; 1 Corinthians 6:9 – 11; 1 Timothy 1:8 – 11; 2 Timothy 3:1 – 5; Genesis 19:4 – 13; Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13)

C. TV encourages people to dress provocatively and and not an modest manner so as to attract attention to themselves. (Genesis 3:7 – 8, 21; 1 Timothy 2:9 – 10; Deuteronomy 22:5, 11; Isaiah 3:16, 18 – 23; 1 Peter 3:3 – 4)

D.TV Encourages Profanity, Dirty Language, and Corrupt Communication. E

Ephesians 4:29; Colossians 3:8; 1 Corinthians 15:33; James 3:2 – 15; Psalm 10:4 – 7; Psalm 5:8 – 9; Psalm 19:14; Psalm 36:1 – 4; Psalm 37:30; Psalm 50:19; Psalm 59:10 – 12; Matthew 12:37

 

4. TV Controls The Minds Of Its Viewers

TV controls the minds of its viewers and brainwashes society into thinking how they want them to think and how they want them to view any given subject through the filtered lens of how they want the viewer to perceive it. They then market it accordingly to the passive viewer. (2 Corinthians 4:3 – 7; Genesis 6:5; acts 14:2; 2 Corinthians 10:3 – 6; 2 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 3:3 – 5; 2 Timothy 3:8; Proverbs 21:27)

 

5. TV Consumes Time That Would Better Be Used For The Lord and His Work

Ephesians 5:15 – 17; Colossians 4:5; Psalm 90:12; Ecclesiastes 12:1; 1 Corinthians 7:29 – 31

 

6. TV Consumes Our Attention When It Should Be On God

1 Timothy 4:13; Luke 19:47 – 48; Nehemiah 8:3

 

7. TV Consumes Our Children

Psalm 106:32 – 39; 1 Corinthians 10:20 – 21; Deuteronomy 32:16 – 17

 

III. Concluding Scriptures

2 Corinthians 6:14 – 18; 1 Thessalonians 5:4 – 9, 22; Romans 12:9; 2 Timothy 4:18; Psalm 26:5; 2 Corinthians 5:17; John 3:30

 

An Evil Invention!

Psalm 99:8; Psalm 106:29 – 39; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Romans 1:30