television

Neil Postman, in Amusing Ourselves To Death, "What is happening in America is that television is transforming all serious public business into junk ... Television disdains exposition, which is serious, sequential, rational, and complex. It offers instead a mode of discourse in which everything is accessible, simplistic, concrete, and above all, entertaining. As a result, America is the world’s first culture in jeopardy of amusing itself to death."

I like John Piper's spin on Lk 6.32-34 and Mt 5.47, "Even sinners work hard, avoid gross sin, watch TV at night, and do fun stuff on the weekend. What more are you doing than the others?"

How well are we using our lives? Have you taken a serious look at the amount of time spent watching television (or now on the internet)? How has that time benefitted others or prepared you to benefit others?

Television has definitely transformed the world but I don't think for the better. While I don't think we need to be prescriptive regarding time spent in prayer, Bible reading, meditation, etc., it seems we can prescribe how much TV should be watched - or at least provide a starting point, something like zero ...

Personally, I'm a movie watcher. While I don't try to deceive myself that this is not a "time waster", I'm convinced that at least it isn't seem addictive. Whether right or wrong, as a movie watcher, I take a moment to acknowledge that I am intentionally wasting time. Regular TV watchers tend to watch out of habit or addiction, seemingly unaware of the amount of time spent doing so.

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