MTV Generation

Below is a post I wrote 2 years ago after a volunteer meeting. I am reposting it because of the the previous blog titled "MUSIC" I posted earlier today!

Yesterday, during one of my meetings the topic came up about what I and others watch on television. I don’t think it was a negative thing, I just think some people were surprised when I said that I watched MTV. In shock the next question was, "Do you watch it to learn teen culture or for entertainment?" I simply said, "I watch it for both reasons!" After I said that, it was almost as if people looked at me in a different way. Like they were shocked that I had just said that I watch MTV for entertainment purposes. Now please hear me when I say this, not everything on MTV is good, but not all of it is bad either. The question here really isn’t IS MTV OK, the question is what is the content and purpose of what you are watching on any network channel, MTV or TBN. We have become people that are more worried about what people might think instead of challenging them to think and relating to them. Yes, there are some shows on MTV and other popular, more “Christian acceptable” TV stations that my wife and I won’t watch simply because of the message or the vulgar content of the show. But at the same time there are many things that have caused us to talk though and challenged us to take our faith deeper. On the same note, I have also had countless opportunities to have spiritual conversations with people who don’t have spiritual conversations because of something that we both have seen on TV.

The truth is simply be careful what you watch, and be able to explain why you don't watch something or you don't listen to something. Let me give an example. When my son was first born my wife would watch a show that was designed to help women start over and get a better handle on life. The show was a great tool for those women. But for us it caused a lot of problems. After watching a few shows, my wife began to over analyze our marriage and family and look at all the negative things instead of looking at the positive things. It really became a battle for us and we began arguing about things we never use to argue about. When we sat down and talked it out, we realized that this show was creating some problems that we really didn’t have. (some of you may be thinking I was trying to cover up a problem, but there really wasn’t one. The enemy was using this show to produce doubt. He does that you know John 10:10) So we cut that show off and things amazingly got better. You see even though the show was something very good, for us it had become something that was damaging to our relationship. Now does that mean others shouldn’t watch it . . . not at all, it just isn’t something we are going to watch.

Now I understand some will try to bring out the extremes and say does that mean I should get drunk to be accepted by people who get drunk in order to share my faith with them. The answer is no, the Bible tells us not to be drunkards for one but we miss the point. I am simply saying that there has to be willingness to learn and relate to a world that desperately needs Christ. How we do that is the dying question. What makes something good and what makes it bad? What makes something Christian?

I realize that all truth is from God, and it may come from places that are least expected. Example, the death of a WWE superstar caused the gospel to be heard by several people watching a couple of weeks ago when WWE did a memorial event to recognize and celebrate the life of Eddie Guerrero.

Here are a couple of verses I think of when it comes to this topic, check them out and let me know what you think if you have the time!

Galatians 1:10; 2 Corinthians 10:5; 1 Corinthians 9:19-23; 1 Corinthians 10:31-33; Philippians 4:8; Colossians 2:2-6