I am tired of television setting our code of moral ethics. There is no end to its moral intrusions, its decadent trivialities, its immoral and illicit suggestions. It does not police itself morally. It is constantly introducing something to top last night’s filthy suggestion or naughty innuendo. Of late, in fact, there are little or no moral restraints on television. And why is it that when television news announces a thing to be right, it automatically becomes right—and without any doubt or examination? Do we honestly think that such a medium, which has no interest in spiritual matters, is qualified to tell us what is morally acceptable and right?

I am tired of television taking so much of our time. I have gone to talk with people about their soul—the most important possession in their control—and have been forced to talk between crises on The Days Of Our Lives, Jeopardy, or some other show. How many people come home from work, park in front of the television set; watch; eat a snack; watch; nap a bit; watch; entertain the neighbor next door while they watch the Today Show, The Tonight Show, The Late Night Show, The Late, Late Night Show, then wander off to bed? That same person will often openly avow that he “just can’t find time” to study his Bible, write a card, or visit the sick.

I am tired of television approving what the Bible disapproves. Homosexuality is a sin and the fact that it is openly regarded as acceptable by television does not change that verity in the least. Televison has distorted the Biblical view of the wife and mother and even disregarded God’s teaching on the proper relationship of women by promoting such things as the Women’s Liberation Movement, a movement that actually erases women’s “rights” and demeans their role as the wife and mother. And men, in almost all the television commercials, are made out to be ignorant, imbecilic, namby- pamby weaklings without the strength or ability to take control of their own role in society. How sad they look!

I am tired of television giving respectability to sin. Yes, I said sin. Remember sin? Can you think of a single sin that has not been given some respectability by some television program? If it is not openly approved, it shows the person who commits it to be a victim of circumstances, one not really accountable for his wrongdoing. I strongly suspect most of the folks in Sodom or Gomorrah would have liked today’s television. Folks, abortion is a sin, premarital sex is wrong, extra-marital sex is still adultery, and oral sex is fornication, even if some high-ranking official says it’s not. No amount of excusing these immoralities can make them approved.

I am tired of what television has taught. Do you know that many people know more about the rules for “roughing the passer” than they do about what it takes to be saved? They know more about “keeping both feet in bounds” than about keeping your spiritual demeanor within the limits. They can cite the rules for “roughing the kicker,” but can’t tell a person where to find the passages for what they must do to be saved. It’s not wrong to watch football, nor is it wrong to know and be able to quote the rules that govern it, but it becomes a mis-managed use of your time when you rule out the rules for eternal salvation in preference for the rules governing some football infraction.

I think it’s time to recognize that moderation needs to be used regarding our use of television. I think it’s past time that some discrimination be used about what we watch on television. I like television, but I’m not married to it. I like television, but I love my kids more. I like television, but sometimes it turns me off. I like television, but sometimes I like television best when I’ve turned it off.

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