Had to give up the Simpsons, and Family Guy is next

Status
Not open for further replies.

Anton Bruckner

Puritan Board Professor
sad to say but these are and were my favorite shows, but they have offended my sensibilities too much in mocking God. Last sunday Family Guy, had a parody of Passion of the Christ 2, in which Jesus came back as a Divorcee driving a corvette. What is even more sick is that Fox brought this over at 9:30. ouch.

Sad thing is, the guys behind these shows are pure genius, but they go over the line too much. So they have to go.
 
hhhmmm, I have yet to see anything on these days that don't go over the line. Even the shows like CSI, Cold case, and Law and ORder show a lot of sexuality and other dark things. My son was watching cold case when I walked into the room it was about a missing girl who was actually a guy!

I've told my son that we are disposing of the TV this weekend. He's all for it. I might let him have it in his room for his video games.
 
Originally posted by Slippery
sad to say but these are and were my favorite shows, but they have offended my sensibilities too much in mocking God. Last sunday Family Guy, had a parody of Passion of the Christ 2, in which Jesus came back as a Divorcee driving a corvette. What is even more sick is that Fox brought this over at 9:30. ouch.

Sad thing is, the guys behind these shows are pure genius, but they go over the line too much. So they have to go.

I watch KING OF THE HILL. We love it. It pushes the envelope also. That is the only thing we watch on Fox.
 
Last night I was sitting down with my mother as she was doing patchwork. It can't have been much after nine. The show she was watching just ended and she had me change the channel as the next show was a bit dodgy. I flipped through all the channels we have and couldn't find one that didn't have sexual material on it as soon as I switched to it.
 
It is difficult to say without being regarded as "legalistic" by some, but I believe modern television is such that it is a very bad idea to have a television set at all.

I find myself fairly often on long-distance flights which show movies and British and American television shows, and though I sometimes try watching them, I have found that there are almost no shows or films to watch which would not be, in my opinion, partaking in evil. Almost every one has blasphemous use of the Lord's name, and I am convinced that I should not continue watching any programme once the Lord's name is taken in vain, and so I end up not getting far into any film before I must turn it off. Not to mention the other obvious filth in the shows, along with the more subtle but also damaging effects of sarcasm and excessive levity.

And witnessing what the habit of daily partaking in the "entertainments" of this world have done to others I know, I have come to almost loathe the very existence of television. I heard there was a book written called "Entertained to Death". I have not read this book, but I do believe that is exactly what is happening in the modern world. People are being entertained to death, sucking in worldliness and rebellion against God, being completely numbed to life and everything good. I believe it would be better were the machine never invented.
 
Jie-Huli hit the nail right on the head.

As a pastor I continuely deal with Christians that struggle in their comment to spiritual disciplines, maintaining Godly thoughts and speech, and so on. Usually at the root of these problems is a behaviour tied to the television in one form or another.

Frankly, it apalls me that so many who claim to be Chrisitian would waste their time and take the Lord's name in vain by watching television shows or movies that are bawdy or suggestive, whether in theme or byline; no matter how well written. That behaviour is incongruous with a regenerated heart. The standards of acceptable Chrisitan behaviour are falling quickly. It is not a matter of Christian liberty. It is a matter of Christian morality.

As my grandmother would often say, 'If Jesus Christ walked into the room right now would he be pleased with what you are doing/watching?'
 
Originally posted by LawrenceU
Jie-Huli hit the nail right on the head.

As a pastor I continuely deal with Christians that struggle in their comment to spiritual disciplines, maintaining Godly thoughts and speech, and so on. Usually at the root of these problems is a behaviour tied to the television in one form or another.

Frankly, it apalls me that so many who claim to be Chrisitian would waste their time and take the Lord's name in vain by watching television shows or movies that are bawdy or suggestive, whether in theme or byline; no matter how well written. That behaviour is incongruous with a regenerated heart. The standards of acceptable Chrisitan behaviour are falling quickly. It is not a matter of Christian liberty. It is a matter of Christian morality.

As my grandmother would often say, 'If Jesus Christ walked into the room right now would he be pleased with what you are doing/watching?'

WWJW What would Jesus want
 
WWJW What would Jesus watch?

Hey, there's no way I'm giving-up my SIMPSONS!

Did anybody see the episode where Bart switched the church organist's music to "In-a-Gada-da-Vida?"....the unsuspecting choir sang it....the Pastor had Bart mopping the floors in pentinenace. The point of the episode was whether Bart had sold his soul to the devil (attested by his mischievious actions.)

In the end, the profound question was implied: "could Bart (someone wicked) be saved, though he acted wickedly?"

:detective:

in my opinion, there's more TRUTH on the Simpsons than Christian radio!

:2cents:
 
I guess the initial attraction in the simpsons et al is that they savagely mock modern culture (all the while being a part of it). I haven't watched simpsons in a while, though. The struggle for me is with shows like C.S.I. The acting is quite good and the methodology they use is intersting. However, is is quite dark.
 
Originally posted by Draught Horse
The struggle for me is with shows like C.S.I. The acting is quite good and the methodology they use is intersting. However, is is quite dark.

And I find such programs as CSI utterly boring!
 
Originally posted by Robin
WWJW What would Jesus watch?

Hey, there's no way I'm giving-up my SIMPSONS!

Did anybody see the episode where Bart switched the church organist's music to "In-a-Gada-da-Vida?"....the unsuspecting choir sang it....the Pastor had Bart mopping the floors in pentinenace. The point of the episode was whether Bart had sold his soul to the devil (attested by his mischievious actions.)

In the end, the profound question was implied: "could Bart (someone wicked) be saved, though he acted wickedly?"

:detective:

in my opinion, there's more TRUTH on the Simpsons than Christian radio!

:2cents:

Do you know how they got the Title for the Song In-a-Gada-da-Vida.

After writing the song one of the guys asked what the Title of the song was. He was so drunk he couldn't talk. He was trying to say IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN. But his buddy wrote this stupid title.Song Facts
 
Originally posted by puritancovenanter
I watch KING OF THE HILL. We love it. It pushes the envelope also. That is the only thing we watch on Fox.

Did you ever see the episode where Hank starts praying to God, and in one of his first prayers in years, he introduces himself as "Hank Hill, Methodist." When Bobby asks Peggy what makes them Methodists, she tells him, "Methodism is a rejection of Calvinism." I figure, at least they have their history correct!
 
Originally posted by Slippery
sad to say but these are and were my favorite shows, but they have offended my sensibilities too much in mocking God. Last sunday Family Guy, had a parody of Passion of the Christ 2, in which Jesus came back as a Divorcee driving a corvette. What is even more sick is that Fox brought this over at 9:30. ouch.

Sad thing is, the guys behind these shows are pure genius, but they go over the line too much. So they have to go.

Most of the writers on these shows are avowed atheists and muckracking skeptics that like to punch holes in the fabric of tradition and make American expressions of religion to be a bunch of superficial hocus pocus wrought with rank hypocrisy...

In one episode of The Simpsons, Reverend Lovejoy sent Homer off on an airplane full of Bibles to be a South Seas missionary... as Homer left, Homer blasphemously said, "But I don't even believe in Jebus."

In another episode, a interrogative Bart Simpson queries his dad about his religion for a school assignment. When Homer tells him... he says something to the effect of-- 'what's that religion with all of the high-sounding ethical principles that don't work out in real life... oh yeah Christianity....'

Ned Flanders is the neighborly religious nut who takes Christianity seriously and is the bane of derision for Homer and Rev. Lovejoy (who finds his petentent piousness annoying.)

[Edited on 7-14-2005 by Puritanhead]
 
Originally posted by Me Died Blue
Originally posted by puritancovenanter
I watch KING OF THE HILL. We love it. It pushes the envelope also. That is the only thing we watch on Fox.

Did you ever see the episode where Hank starts praying to God, and in one of his first prayers in years, he introduces himself as "Hank Hill, Methodist." When Bobby asks Peggy what makes them Methodists, she tells him, "Methodism is a rejection of Calvinism." I figure, at least they have their history correct!

Yes, I saw that episode but the so called female Pastor is incorrect. Methodism started out Calvinistic. Whitefield is given the credit for founding Methodism. The Wesley brothers were also involved with him. They made their Society asscociations arminian while Whitefield remained a Calvinist. Methodism was a word that was meant to put these pursuers of God in a bad light as the word Puritan was. Methodism was a word that described what these men of the Holy Club were teaching. They were teaching methods that brought people close to God.

[Edited on 7-14-2005 by puritancovenanter]
 
Indeed, and then with Wesley's own pursuits and influences, Whitefield sort of decided to let Wesley "have" Methodism in a sense. But that was so early in its founding that it has basically represented an Arminianistic system throughout its entire history, hence the unfortunate basic accuracy of that description.
 
I was once at an unbelieving relative's house when they flicked onto the Simpsons to hear Bart giving thanks for the family meal and it went something like "Dear God, we bought all of this food with our own money, so thanks for nothing."

We've done everything we can to keep poisonous programs like this off our telly.

Matt
 
This has been a struggle for me too. I really enjoy a good Sci-Fi fantasy story. We also play video games. We do not watch TV. We do not have cable. We try to sift through the yuck by getting Blockbuster online. That way we can pick and choose what we watch. We have been watching alot of the classics. Father's Little Dividend was cute.

It is, however, getting harder and harder. I think as our consciences, through sanctification, grow more and more tender it will become harder and harder to countenance sin. How can one live in this world like that??

It is hard to know what to do.
 
My wife and I initially gave up the tube eight years ago. I was in my second year of undergraduate studies and just could not study rightly with that thing on (of course I could have studied at the library, but we have never enjoyed being apart for too long). A few years later we plugged it in again and things had gotten so bad that even the commercials made us blush! Attempts at watching old favorites like the Simpsons and the X-Files fared no better. Christ's growing work in our hearts combined with the obvious downward slide in content (both visual and conversational) combined to give the T.V. a final boot out the door.

We didn't think that we'd ever have another in our home, but as we've been homeschooling we have realized the benefits of that form of media for instruction, and so we have recently purchased a TV/DVD/VCR combo for our children's various schooling programs. It has been a great blessing in supplementing our efforts.

At one point I was completely resistant to affirming the benefits of this technology at all, because it has been used as a tool of unrighteousness in the hands of the wicked far too often. That has changed as I have learned to make a distinction between tool and product of that tool. What hasn't changed is my confusion over why Paul's admonition to Christians in Philippians 4:8 is continually disregarded by those who should know better.

I attempt to be gracious in this area towards others as regards personal admonition, knowing that I myself have failed in this area in the past, yet the level of sin in the church in this area is really sad. Her leaders in training are no exception. One of the most difficult things for me to deal with at both of the seminaries that I have attended is the complete acceptance of, and even excitement over, some of the most ignoble and unchristian movies, video games, and T.V. shows around by students and even by some professors. This is true much less so at my current seminary, but it shows up here nonetheless. This is not being legalistic, but rather a wondering of how we are supposed to put out preachers who demonstrate and exude the holiness and majesty of God in their lives and preaching when on Saturday night they've been out watching something at the theater which is completely antithetical to what they are attempting to preach? I do not wonder at the reason behind much of the spiritual dryness in our churches and pulpits. We must pray for our churches and their future pastors in this area.
 
Originally posted by Archlute
My wife and I initially gave up the tube eight years ago. I was in my second year of undergraduate studies and just could not study rightly with that thing on (of course I could have studied at the library, but we have never enjoyed being apart for too long). A few years later we plugged it in again and things had gotten so bad that even the commercials made us blush! Attempts at watching old favorites like the Simpsons and the X-Files fared no better. Christ's growing work in our hearts combined with the obvious downward slide in content (both visual and conversational) combined to give the T.V. a final boot out the door.

We didn't think that we'd ever have another in our home, but as we've been homeschooling we have realized the benefits of that form of media for instruction, and so we have recently purchased a TV/DVD/VCR combo for our children's various schooling programs. It has been a great blessing in supplementing our efforts.

At one point I was completely resistant to affirming the benefits of this technology at all, because it has been used as a tool of unrighteousness in the hands of the wicked far too often. That has changed as I have learned to make a distinction between tool and product of that tool. What hasn't changed is my confusion over why Paul's admonition to Christians in Philippians 4:8 is continually disregarded by those who should know better.

I attempt to be gracious in this area towards others as regards personal admonition, knowing that I myself have failed in this area in the past, yet the level of sin in the church in this area is really sad. Her leaders in training are no exception. One of the most difficult things for me to deal with at both of the seminaries that I have attended is the complete acceptance of, and even excitement over, some of the most ignoble and unchristian movies, video games, and T.V. shows around by students and even by some professors. This is true much less so at my current seminary, but it shows up here nonetheless. This is not being legalistic, but rather a wondering of how we are supposed to put out preachers who demonstrate and exude the holiness and majesty of God in their lives and preaching when on Saturday night they've been out watching something at the theater which is completely antithetical to what they are attempting to preach? I do not wonder at the reason behind much of the spiritual dryness in our churches and pulpits. We must pray for our churches and their future pastors in this area.

:amen: and :amen: again. Let me add a :ditto: as my own confession to the above! We talk about impotent preachers on one thread and on another we have discussions on Batman as awesome and the something four on another. I find a incongruity in it all!
 
It is amazing how much time is wasted in front of that thing.... Time which we will all have to give an account for..... :um:
 
Originally posted by Augusta
It is, however, getting harder and harder. I think as our consciences, through sanctification, grow more and more tender it will become harder and harder to countenance sin. How can one live in this world like that??

It is hard to know what to do.

I don't think it's so hard to know what to do. It's just hard to do it. Our flesh enjoys entertainment. But is entertainment a need? Hardly. Peter exhorts us to be serious and sober minded. I don't see where entertainment fits in that.
 
In my humble opinion, having to give up most TV shows like the Simpsons, or other programs of like nature, is like saying "I had to give up crack," or "I had to stop cutting myself with a knife."

[Edited on 7-15-2005 by webmaster]
 
Originally posted by webmaster
INHO, having to give up most TV shows like the Simpsons, or other programs of like nature, is like saying "I had to give up crack," or "I had to stop cutting myself with a knife."

:amen:

The Simpsons and Family Guy are not good for anything. They are even worse than drugs if you ask me because you can ingest them with a sober mind.
 
This whole subject makes me very ashamed. I watch too much tv and as a pastor I do not set a good example for my flock. I think I need to discipline myself more, but it is so easy to turn it on when you live on your own [I need a wife to tell me to stop! :)] In all seriousness I need to pray about this, that I would be delivered from my need to watch it. Please pray for me!
 
Originally posted by poimen
This whole subject makes me very ashamed. I watch too much tv and as a pastor I do not set a good example for my flock. I think I need to discipline myself more, but it is so easy to turn it on when you live on your own [I need a wife to tell me to stop! :)] In all seriousness I need to pray about this, that I would be delivered from my need to watch it. Please pray for me!

One thing that I'm thinking about doing, that might be a suitable solution for you too, is getting my cable shut off so all I get are the local channels, and then spend most and almost all of my "TV time" watching my DVD's and videos of Christian teachings like:
RC Sproul's "Dust to Glory" and "What is Reformed Theology", etc
Gerstner's "History of the Christian Church" and "WCF"
to name but a few.

Then, with the money I save in cable, I can add to my library of Reformed works and teachings to watch.

I've already done the above in relation to canceling my "bigger cable package", but now I'm prepared to "go all the way" and dismiss them from my home completely.

<pending roommate approval>

We can always share tips on where to pick up the best deals via the Board as we run across them.

OK, Dr. MacMahon, time to break out your video camera!
 
The debate over entertainment, wholesome or otherwise, is not a new one for the Puritan Board. I will repost my comments from another thread:

Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot
The "theology of entertainment" is a very good question, one which I have wrestled with too. It is important, I think, on the one hand, to avoid legalism. The Westminster Larger Catechism, for example, in its exposition of the Seventh Commandment, notes that "lasicivious stage plays" are thereby prohibited. It does not, however, go so far as to say anywhere in the Catechism that all stage plays (movies not yet having been invented) are prohibited. In other words, drama or acting, in the writings of the Westminster Assembly, are not identified as unlawful. Some Puritans and Presbyterians (Increase Mather and Samuel Miller come to mind, plus a certain European Presbyterian denomination today I know of which bans people from the Lord's Supper who watch movies) have argued that stage plays are always connected with immorality and appear to leave no room for Christians to have any invovlement with them as spectators or actors. Others -- I noted in a separate recent thread how Theodore Beza wrote a play about Abraham, for example (meant for production outside the church) -- do not go that far. Some fundamentalist writings that I have seen claim that acting is inherently a violation of the Ninth Commandment because it involves pretense. I don't agree. I am inclined to see warrant for drama in the parables of Scripture. I see imagination and creative storytelling (in oral, written and dramatic form) as a noble art that can and should be honoring to God (and like everything else can be abused as we see in Hollywood today). The dramatic portrayl of sin need not be sin in itself; however, great caution must be used in such instances. I agree with the need to avoid provocations unto sin, as the Catechism states. Sex scenes should be verbotten. Romantic love can be portrayed, but kissing between actors and actresses can lead to trouble. In Pure Country, George Strait, a married man, refused to play his role unless he could refrain from kissing the female co-star. In ye olden times, the role of women in acting performance was severely curtailed or prohibited. Violence can be portrayed in ways that are not gratuitous and convey the honor of a warrior, I think. Bad language is something that I don't think should be part of a dramatic performance. However, as I have noted in a separate thread, it's hard for me to say that certain words can never be spoken in any context. Finally, much more could be said about the distinction between entertainment and recreation. The latter is more profitable, I believe. We should consider how we spend our time. Vegging out in front of movies may not always be the best use of time. One should always evaluate their motives for why they can set aside a chunk of time to watch a two hour movie but they can't find time for private or family worship. Having said that, there is much good that one can find in certain movies. Chariots of Fire, Gods and Generals, and Luther are some examples that come to mind. Braveheart and The Patriot are two remarkable movies which may contain excessive violence and some other objectionable scenes, but also much that is good and praiseworthy. Let us not go too far and bind the consciences of others with respect to movies. And yet let us proclaim the need for drama, its actors and spectators to all submit to the Lordship of Christ in every way. Philippians 4.8, Romans 12.1-2, and 2 Cor. 10.5 are among many verses which ought to guide us in these matters.

[Edited on 3-1-2005 by VirginiaHuguenot]
 
Originally posted by poimen
This whole subject makes me very ashamed. I watch too much tv and as a pastor I do not set a good example for my flock. I think I need to discipline myself more, but it is so easy to turn it on when you live on your own [I need a wife to tell me to stop! :)] In all seriousness I need to pray about this, that I would be delivered from my need to watch it. Please pray for me!

Praying for you brother. But you do realize that even things like the PB can be an Idol, if we let it come between the LOrd and our selves. In all things, moderation. (preaching to self here!)
 
Originally posted by Loriann
Originally posted by poimen
This whole subject makes me very ashamed. I watch too much tv and as a pastor I do not set a good example for my flock. I think I need to discipline myself more, but it is so easy to turn it on when you live on your own [I need a wife to tell me to stop! :)] In all seriousness I need to pray about this, that I would be delivered from my need to watch it. Please pray for me!

Praying for you brother. But you do realize that even things like the PB can be an Idol, if we let it come between the LOrd and our selves. In all things, moderation. (preaching to self here!)

Apples and oranges
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top