To Angie:

If you’re considering adjusting your time committed to the TV, count yourself blessed. I think that its the Holy Spirit working to convince you in your hear that there are other priorities in your life that need your attention.

For what it’s worth.

Grace & peace be with you all.

As I said, this is something I really need to consider. You have given me a lot to think about. Peaches do sound good. Yum Yum. I love Jesus just need the peaches!

I have felt, for a long while now, that TV is a means by which the “dark one” NUMBS our minds and our spirits… When my son was very small, I recognized it in an entirely new way, when I saw his little eyes “glaze over” when he had been in front of the TV for an hour or so. He would get SO excited, when we would drive by a McDonald’s, and jump up & down, begging to go there….not so much because the food was all that special, but because of the TV commercials with Ronald McDonald (who my son called “Ronnal Donnal”)…. VERY early on, I began to selectively “limit” his TV viewing, and the sound was TURNED OFF during the commercials. The Saturday morning cartoons were turned off by 11 a.m., and it was time to get outside into the fresh air to play.

It’s very obvious with the adult population, as well….in the medical office where I work, my co-workers report that there are certain programs that are of such vital importance, that the world comes to a complete HALT when they are on. No one moves…or talks…. (does the work “obsession” fit the bill?).

TV is a form of “background noise” in most homes….and I have been guilty of that as well. Perhaps the “silence” is too “deafening”?

How many parents use the TV as a form of “babysitter” for their children? It’s so “convenient”, isn’t it? Like hooking them up to a “feeding tube”, and leaving them unattended, not ever really knowing what form of “nutrition” they might be receiving (if any at all)…

When you turn on the TV and see the (hundreds of) programming selections available to us in this day and age, it’s rather unsettling… frightening even. As a society, it seems that our minds, spirits and consciences are “glazing over”, much like my young son’s eyes did, at the age of 2 and 3. This “background noise” isn’t as “harmless” as it might seem. It’s helping to dull our ability to think for ourselves….even to recogize “right” from “wrong”.

Thank you, Pistol Pete, for this very TIMELY reminder of something that many people don’t even give a THOUGHT to….
and for once again, helping us to remember WHY it’s important to THINK, and to look just a little bit deeper beneath the surface of our daily lives…..as Christians, we have a (huge) moral responsibility to do so.

The Pistol fires back: Boy, you’ve given that a lot of thought. Now, go eat a peach and think about Jesus.

The Pistol fires back: I take perverse pride in proclaiming that my 6 year old has never in his life seen a TV commercial. He stills watches a steady diet of Barney, Wiggles, etc…, but they are all from videos. We haven’t had TV hook-up for over 13 years, and are none the worse for wear.