September 29, 2008

Media Choices: Convictions or Compromise?

Recently, an advertisement for a biblical presentation regarding the impact of media on our children caught my eye. It was the title seen above. It got me to thinking about how little time and effort most of us give to the selections we all make regarding our media choices.

How discerning are we, really? How much informed effort do we put into choosing what we see and do with all the modern media tools available to us? Let’s consider some facts on the subject.

The average adult spends 11.7 hours a day using technology. The average teenager consumes 6.5 hours of media each day. It is well documented that the average child will watch 18,000 hours of television by the time they graduate from high school. C.J Hitz a speaker from Findlay, Ohio adds that one out of every five toddlers under the age of three now have a television in their bedroom!

Pornography is a huge issue in our society. I am told that upwards from 20% of men and 17% of women struggle with pornography. It has been reported that 53% of the men attending a recent Promise Keepers event viewed pornography the week before the event. I think J. Wolf was right on the mark when he said, “Sin takes you further than you planned to go, keeps you longer than you planned to stay and costs you more than you planned to pay.”

Notice too that the use of sites like “MySpace” and “Face book” has exploded. Students in high school and college spend literally hours a day communicating through these sites. And texting gives everyone that added shield of privacy to say just about anything!

Consider too our television and movie appetites. Is our sensitivity meter on our personal “moral screening device” turned up high enough? One writer suggested that a good definition of the Christian’s “entertainment maturity” might be,”When the things that anger and offend God have the same impact on us.”

This week, as we consider our media choices and whether they reflect our convictions or maybe our compromise, think about these two adapted verses:

Psalm 101:3a I will screen my entertainment viewing choices and “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.”
I Cor. 10:31 Whether I am watching TV or wandering through the internet, “I will do all to the glory of God.”

Warmest regards in Christ,
Sherry L. Worel
Stoneybrooke Christian Schools