Do You Want More God-Honoring Shows on TV? We Do Too!
posted on March 2, 2012 at 4:11 am
Media is so influential these days. We may not be fully aware of its power, but I’m sure that if we evaluate much of our behavior and beliefs, we’ll recognize the influences. It may be apparent in the way we talk, dress or act, and often the emulation is involuntary.
Unfortunately, today’s media offers very negative messages. Television is inundated with reality shows featuring people behaving badly. Movies and television shows are constantly promoting infidelity, violence and dark messages.
In a past post, Christian Girls Beware! Study Indicates that Reality Shows Affect Self-Image, I presented a study that discusses the negative affects of reality shows. Not only are young people emulating the bad behavior they watch on reality shows, such as Jersey Shore, but also they believe what they see is true to life.
I know it’s difficult to avoid some unsavory shows, especially since they seem to make up the bulk of our media. And you certainly could argue that there just isn’t anything good to watch on television. But that doesn’t mean that we should resort to watching what’s on. No matter what the media has to offer, we have a choice to accept it or not.
We have a choice to fill our minds with negative media, or simply switch off the television.
While browsing one of my favorite sites, Focus on the Family, I came across an interesting contract that prompted me to write this post. It’s called the Family Covenant for God-Honoring Media Choices. Basically, it’s a pact that any family can sign to promise to only watch positive media.
Parts of the covenant read as follows:
Despite poor decisions that we may have made in the past, we desire to secure the blessings that come from obedience…we ask the heavenly Father to guide us and strengthen us as we work to make wise entertainment choices, striving with all our effort to be imitators of God through the empowering of the Holy Spirit who is in us. Knowing that God says, “Above all else, guard your heart” (Proverbs 4:23), we pledge to guard our hearts from harmful media influences…In the rare event that one of us feels an exception to the above should be made, we pledge to bring this issue and the reasons for it to the family to discuss and evaluate, rather than make the decision in isolation (Family Covenant for God-Honoring Media Choices, Focus on the Family).
I think that signing such a contract would be beneficial for any family that desires to live by Christ’s commands. And although I do believe that it would be a difficult promise to keep, it’s not an impossible one. Your desire just has to be real and strong.
Do you think you’ve been negatively influenced by the media choices you’ve made? How? What do you think about the Family Covenant?
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…No kidding. My best friend used to rave to me about how awesome shows like Pretty Little Liars and Degrassi were. One episode of Degrassi later, I felt somewhat condemned. Of course, she dismissed most of my first comments, and, okay, the rest of them, too. They influenced the both of us, too. I know the shows I watch affect the way I act and think, and wheen glorify things of the world, well, I can tell it’s wrong. Sometimes we dismiss it, though, and I can see the pact is a great idea. Focus on the Family always has great ideas.
Love it! Taking part
I’m thinking that my Dad will never sign it because he’s not a Christian.
Q: Is Modern Family bad??
Jersey shore, Pretty Little Liars and pretty much any other ABC family shows are TERRIBLE!!! That’s why I just watch movies on the Wii and Disney!
That’s a great idea! I was at a sleepover a couple weeks ago and all of my friends were like “Let’s watch Breaking Dawn, Part 1!” and I am over 13, so I thought it would be okay and I asked them if it was really bad, because I kind of knew the story line, but they said it wasn’t anything worse than The Vow. Let’s just say it was A LOT worse than The Vow and the worst movie I’ve EVER seen! Also, lately my friends have gotten really perverted and one of them is just mean all the time.I want to go hang with other people, but then they keep asking me to come back and sit with them. They used to be funny and nice, but now they are just weird. Don’t get me wrong…they are almost all Christians and have great families, but just lately it’s been annoying. I don’t know, maybe it’s just the end of eighth grade and I’m just fed up with everybody or should I find some new friends? Thanks!
This kind of happened to me in last year in eighth grade. What I did is leave the negative influences in my life and found new REAL christian friends and I would suggest you do the same.
Maybe they’ll get mature. I was in eighth grade this year and my whole class was super perverted. I wanted to have friends, and they were all nice kids besides their innapropriateness, so i made a lot of bad choices throughout the year and now I’m regretting them. I don’t know how to deal with the kids next year.
So I’m hoping it’s an eighth grade thing.
God gives us so many things to help us resist temptation,but we ignore them way too much. The Family Covenant is a good idea. There are tons of people who need that right now.
How about we should sign a petition? I think that would have positive.
We could do some kind of petition (through Project Inspired) and have users sign a comment simply stating they would be avoid negative shows! I want to be one of the first sign-ers if that’s okay. It won’t be easy, but I know through prayer and petition (hey that verse actually works!), we can do it!
Good idea! Lets do it!!!!
This is kind of a controversial topic. On one hand, I think it’s good for Christians, especially young girls, to be exposed to what’s out there in the real world. I also think it’s important to see the dangers, effects, and consequences of living certain lifestyles that are portrayed in reality series such as Jersey Shore, Real Housewives, among a few. I also think that some shows on ABC family, ABC, and CBS also open up good discussions about what’s wrong and right, and help bring up more issues that may not be discussed regularly in a family. I do know some shows, like ABC’s new Once Upon a Time, which, while it isn’t uplifting about God and has some questionable themes, definitely draws the difference between good and evil, and the struggle of being good in a world where evil reigns. It definitely has some parallels to C.S. Lewis’s Narnia Chronicles, and it has become a family favorite in our house.
I also think that ABC family is in deep trouble. Did you know it’s called ABC “Family” because it started as a Christian channel in which it must always have “family” in the station title? Clearly it has since drifted and become one of the largest media grabs for teens that glamorizes sex, money, lying, and typically poor family values.
I also wish that there were more encouraging shows. Does anyone remember 7th Heaven? It was the WB show about a minsiter’s family. It dealt with real life issues like drugs, sex, dating and relationships, but presented in a wholesome way, and the bad things were never glorified. It’s one of the only shows that I keep up with (I watch them online since it’s off air).
My family’s solution is to watch the shows from when they were growing up, since you can get pretty much everything on DVD these days. It works well because everybody enjoys it (except maybe the Brady Bunch…deep sigh) and the content is often better than what you’d see on TV now.