Is Christian television truly Christian?

Fox News, called by Sky Channel. Hardly family friendly.

BTW, I love Fox News Channel.

Call me a sentimentalist sap, but my favorite movies to watch over and over are The Sting, Dave, and King Ralph. (caveat: some mild language).

 

to answer the OP - NO, christian TV is a mess - after 5 pages I think we have proven it conclusively - which includes TBN, John, just so you know where I stand

[ February 15, 2006, 07:51 PM: Message edited by: eloidalmanutha ]

 

There are many stations that claimed to be Christian when they opened.

TBN claimed so,
WTKK out of Manassas Virginia claimed to be 'all christian'
CBN claimed to be christian
Insp claims to be christian.
Kidz TV claims to be christian.

Do a search, there are many out there.

And yet, they show many programs that do not portray Christ at all. Oh, they do have many programs with good morals, but good morals without teaching Christ are just an example of man's righteousness, filthy in the Lord's eyes.

 

I dunno. The problem with shows of the 50's and was that they simply weren't real. But the cold war attitude of the 50's fostered a desire to escape realism. By the 60's though, that unrealism was seen as ridiculous. But the problems of the 60's still left people with a need to escape. Hence, we got sitcoms like I dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Gilligan's Island, And, my personal favorite, Hogan's Heroes; plus shows like the Twighlight Zone. All shows where people were in situations that were real problems, but their attempts to deal with those problems were done through humor or suspense. By the 70's that changed again, and those shows were replaced by shows like the Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, All in the Family, and, as mentioned, M*A*S*H (the Bradys and the Bunkers were churchgoers). Again, shows that, to some extent, dealth with serious issues, using humor as the mode. The 80's were an era of mostly action adventure shows. But by that time, the sitcoms became more realistic. The Cosby Show and Family Ties were the most popular (the Hustables were, btw, a church-going family). Yet spiritual issues weren't really dealt with until shows of the late 80's and 90's, such as Highway to Heaven, Christy, and Touched by an Angel. But something changed. Some folks took these shows a bit too seriously, and complained that they either weren't spiritual enough, or that the spiritual aspects didn't conform to their own spiritual beliefs.

You almost get the sense that TV was more wholesome when it wasn't realistic, and didn't mention religion much. Yet people say they want more spiritual-friendly programming. So when tv production companies respond, those same people complain that the shows aren't adequately spiritual to their liking.

I have no doubt that, if the miniseries "Jesus of Nazareth" were aired today instead of the late 70's, there would be no shortage of Christians complainign about some aspect of it, be it the manner in which the crucifixion is portrayed, the application of dramatic license, or anything in between.

 

From what you have described, it seems to me that instead of seeking God and His Word for spirituality, we turned to media, which assaulted christianity as well as the world.

Although I mostly agree with your synopsis of TV the last 50 years, I see a deeper element of evil at work - a dumbing down of what was considered unquestionably evil, to viewing it as entertainment. Now, new age, eastern mysticism, and kabbalah are affecting the very fiber of Christianity and changing it slowly into an all-encompassing expression of spirituality with no dividing line. Nothing new under the sun, eh?

 

That's exactly my point. But it is not unbelievers who are turning to the media for sirituality, it is Christians who are turning to the media instead of where they should be. I myself never have. I used to watch Touched By An Angel in its first few seasons a bit (never watched it towards the end of its run), and never once confused it with scripture, even if a show was scripturally dead on. But some Christians are too lazy to use discernment, and complain when the show doesn't meet their own spiritual expectations.

I don't know a single Christian who is affected by such things. It's easy to claim that this is happenning, and to some extent, probably is (there's always evil of one kind or another attempting to permeate the faithful). But we mustn't use them as a scapegoat for all of Christianity's problems. Our biggest problems are within, not without. As I mentioned earlier: the influx of legalism and hyperfundamentalism, not to mention ultraliberalism, universalism, and the like. But some of those things have been chipping away at the faithful for 100 years or more, so we can't say that this is in any way new.

 

I don't know a single Christian who is affected by such things. It's easy to claim that this is happenning, and to some extent, probably is (there's always evil of one kind or another attempting to permeate the faithful). But we mustn't use them as a scapegoat for all of Christianity's problems. Our biggest problems are within, not without. As I mentioned earlier: the influx of legalism and hyperfundamentalism, not to mention ultraliberalism, universalism, and the like. But some of those things have been chipping away at the faithful for 100 years or more, so we can't say that this is in any way new. [/QB]</font>[/QUOTE]I will try and keep my remarks within the confines of christian TV or I will end up using the page allotage to this thread

My statements refer to believers, not unbelievers. So I will repeat that christians are turning to the media for their spirituality. If you are watching TV, listening to the radio, tapes, reading a book - you are being affected by it - even if it's numbing your mind to truth.

Deception comes little by little. It is for the most part imperceptable. Compromise here, compromise there.

"Ultraliberalism, universalism, and the like" are new age, eastern mysticism and kabbalah with different names. Legalism and hyperfundamentalism are not new either. As I said, nothing new under the sun - Solomon wrote those words The disciples ran into the same things.

Now, however; things are speeded up. The new wave of ecumenicism to going to break it apart, in my opinion. TV preachers are paving the way, so are programs like "Touched by an Angel" and whatever else is out there in TV land that's considered "spiritual". There IS an agenda, even if you don't want to see it.

 

Yeah, what up with this guy? It appears that he is on there a couple times a week. I found this evaluation on the net:

http://www.uia.net/~messiah7/spl_RoodAwakEvalua.htm </font>[/QUOTE]ahhhh yes . . . michael rood . . . funny how he keeps popping up . . . he's about as anti-christian as it gets - I wonder how he's lasted on Sky Angel

 

MR has led a lot of people astray, in my opinion. He teaches that Christianity is paganism, and as Mr. White was looking into orthodox Judaism, it is probable that MR contributed to Reggie's continued rejection of Christianity. I know they spent some time together in Israel during one of MR's "tours".

 

I am thrilled and thankful that this guy was turned back from heresy [as I was].

I looked at the link, and can't help but be horrified that Mr. Judah finds comfort in the fact that Reggie was becoming more Torah/Hebrew knowledgeable, obscuring the fact that Reggie was in fact seeking Judaism, not Messianic Judaism.

I think this is a valid topic, maybe a bit off thread - but if this kind of thing is being promoted on Chr TV then it needs to be exposed.

 

The nail on the head hast thou hit, mon frer. That was what I was referring to earlier. It's ridiculous for Christians to see a necessessity of Christian entertainment or media. I have no problem with Sky Angel or any other media outlets, but to think we can just order Sky Angel and wash our hands of it, that's just ridiculous. When there's programming that we object to, we shouldn't be pointing the finger at Sky Angel, we should be pointing the finger at ourselves for our laziness.

You're exactly right. I will assume that, since I'm in agreement with you, the Second COming must be near.

 

I never take slogans as promises of performance. To do so is simply naive. Otherwise, I should complain about "must see tv", because I rarely watch that station. Or "I'm luvin' it" because I don't always. Or "have it your way" because if I want a burger rare, I can't have it my way.

Anyway, you get my drift.