TV and the Decline of Christianity

I used to watch a lot of TV. Wait, I still do watch a lot of TV. I wish I didn't watch so many shows, but I just can't seem to help myself. It is like the TV Execs know exactly how to get me to sit on the couch week after week and watch their program. I watch a variety of shows (comedy, drama, romantic, action, or sometimes it's a little bit of all of them) and it doesn't really depend on what mood I am in. It seems like the story plots have gotten more intertwined and the audience (I) can identify with the characters. I come home after a day of "busyness" and I know what shows are coming on. I make dinner with my wife, get out the TV trays and sit on the couch as we laugh and talk about our favorite shows. Sometimes I really do think it is a bonding moment for us to talk about the shows.

Wait....(insert scratching record sound as this blog comes to a halt) did I just say we bond over TV shows? I wonder how many people in America can identify with the above paragraph to some extent. The last few weeks the question has come up in our household, What did people do before they had the amount of exposure to TV as our generation does? It is weird question to ask. What would you do if you couldn't watch TV when you come home after work that had a bad case of the Mondays and its to cold to go outside? What would you do on a Friday night, if you didn't have TV, when you can stay up as long as you want because it's the weekend and you don't have to go to work the next day? What would you do when you come home from church on Sunday and the football game was not on TV to sit and relax and enjoy the game?

Now don't get me wrong, I am not accusing the TV for causing the small and steady decline of Christianity as we know it. I am accusing us, the Christians, for being sucked in and becoming so addicted to TV that it changes our lives. I am not saying get rid of the TV but for some it might have to come to that point. When you and your family is bonding over TV, and not Christ, we might have a problem. When you talk about TV shows more than you take an interest in your family's lives, there might be a problem. The average household has close to 3 TV sets in their house. How many do you have? The average family watches anywhere between 6-8 hours of TV in a given day. How much TV do you watch on a given day?

There are some good shows on, remember the first paragraph, trust me I know. There are some shows that you seem that you just can't miss them. How does it make you feel when you can't watch your favorite TV show in the same week that it comes on? Does it drive you wild just waiting for the second that you can watch it? Do you have to close your ears anytime you hear someone remotely talking about the show, because you don't want to know, you would rather watch it for yourself?

How do you feel when you miss going to church on a Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, or any other activity they might put on? How do you feel when you miss your prayer time with God during a given week? How do you feel when you miss reading your Bible during the day?

Now you tell me, as Christians, what have we put more emphasis on in our lives? My wife and I have tried to do this just this past week. We turned the TV off early and read a devotion and a passage from the Bible. After doing this we looked at each other and said, "This feels weird, almost awkward." We have become so accustom to bonding over TV that when we shut it off to bond over Christ, it was something that we weren't used to. I believe that it will continue to be awkward until we get in the habit of this routine, but I think that our lives will be better off.

Can I challenge you this week to take time out of your regular scheduled programming to read your Bible, pray and think about God? Well, I don't need your permission, I am challenging you to do just this...by the way it's a challenge that I am taking up as well.

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.(Joshua 24:15)