Television... do YOU watch it?

I was going to, but one morning I saw an undescribable scene (preview "coming up next")that I would have mistaken for the Playboy channel if I didn't already know (or think) what I was watching. Then recently (a couple days later) they showed the newest models of boats, but had to add women in skimpy bikinis as the finishing touch. America accepts bikinis, and then wonder what is happening to our children. Duh!

Don't get me started, Steve.

So, are we saying that we can tell our pastors' weaknesses by what he evades in his sermons? Because he has a problem with an area in his life, does that mean he shouldn't preach about it?

Gluttony is a direct sin of the Bible AND it is the number one killer in America (causing heart attacks, diabetes, stroke, etc) yet we continue to serve lasagna cassoroles hamburgers and hotdogs at church picnics.

It's funny how illigal it is to drive without fastening a seatbelt, but we can legally stuff our cheeks until we burst at the seems.

Sorry about that. This isn't REALLY off topic. I learned this stuff off TV.

 

I apologize. I need to readjust my attitude a bit.

My mother recently had a heart attack, my father, mother, brother, and neice were recently diagnosed with diabetes, I was diagnosed with high cholesterol (along with the aforementioned and others in my family) and I don't even weigh 100 soaken wet. The subject of gluttony hit me funny.

 

Who else has a guardian for their TV?

We watch quite a bit of TV, the kids more than my wife and I, but two things have made it a lot better to me. The 1st is the modern cable selection. I can lock out the questionable channels and there are so many choices now between the history channel, food network, speed channel, discovery, home and garden, and others. There are a lot more good choices now and with a little discernment there is a lot of good stuff on. Now if you are talking network TV, I would bet we don’t watch a network program more than once a week and then it is usually Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune while preparing dinner.

The other thing that has made TV watchable for us is the guardian. We bought our first one 5 or 6 years ago at lifeway. It reads the close caption line and mutes the sound before curse words. It is not perfect and sometimes things slip by but I love it. It works on videos and DVDs also. A lot of war pictures were just unwatchable before because of the language. I was able to watch Blackhawk down with the guardian and it was great. Of course most of it was silent.

 

The only television I watch nowadays is cartoons (have kids ), HGTV, Discovery, and History channel. I have not watched anything else in years. I don't even watch my local news channel. Any news I need to know about, or weather, I go and look it up on the computer.

 

I watch sports , history , Fox news and local news ; every once in awhile I'll watch a comedy or The Andy Griffith Show! Now that's a funny show!!!

 

I watch sports, Law-n-Order, sports, Jeopardy, sports, news, sports, documentaries, sports, how-to shows, sports, nature & science shows, sports, and religious programming. But mostly I watch sports.

There seems to be a big run on forensics shows the last coupla years. As a former cop, I'm in a position to pass judgment on them, and on police shows in general. I like L&O because it's quite realistic. I did NOT like Adam 12, Mod Squad, the Rookies, Police woman, etc. because NO cop gets into so many adventures in a career. The ONE shootout I was in was the FIRST AND LAST one for every other cop involved, but it was the THIRD (and last) for the perps involved. A TRUE forensics show is "The New detectives". But "CSI" is close to realistic, as is "Crossing Jordan".(Two aspects of forensics techs aren't emphasized enuff, but then they don't make for good TV drama: They must have cast-iron stomachs to dissect human bodies in every stage of decomposition...and they must be SUPER-CAREFUL about DISEASE. The pathogens of almost every possible illness are carried into a forensics lab.

Another downer is that almost every forensics tech is eventually gonna hafta dissect a friend or relative.

What I do NOT watch is any obviously-profane show, any of those juvenile and stupid reality/dating/relationship shows, those new humorless comedies, "romances", and those that portray GOD in an incorrect light, such as "Touched By An Angel".

Be careful of the "cartoons" your kids/grandkids may watch. "South Park" LOOKS innocent enuff on the surface, but it's full of the most vulgar language to be heard on network TV. The current crop of futuristic chars such as Buzz lightyear or Jimmy Neutron seem OK.

My 2-yr-old grandson's fave is "Jay Jay Jet", a cute little cartoon series about living airplanes.

 

I think it is important to be careful what we watch and for those who simply cannot control it, then not having a TV is a good idea. We mainly watch dvd's or videos of stuff like Andy Griffith, etc. like some of the previous posters mentioned. However, much of what is on today isn't worth watching. If I had cable, I would watch some of the documentary kind of stuff like History Channel or HGTV or Discovery Channel, etc. or occasionally some innocent movie-although those can be deceptive sometimes, they look okay and then they're not what they seemed. The other problem with tv besides indecency, though, is propoganda, which can be more subtle, such as revisionist history, evolution, etc. I'm not saying it's wrong to watch nature shows, but we of course have to tune out all the evolutionary falsehoods.

 

I choose to do without a TV. I especially dislike the advertising, and I don't need something that's likely to be a timewaster for me. I do watch DVDs on my computer, and that includes some TV shows released on DVD. I still spend about 5 hours or so per week watching a show, but I find this way that what I watch is more likely to be something I'll enjoy.

I have no criticism of others who watch TV, but I've decided I don't need it.

 

Well, not without cable or a dish. Where I live there's only four channels you can pick up with an antenna, and one of them's French.

 

Hey where I'm, at if you don't have a cable or a dish, you pick up about 6 stations... 3 of them are spanish, they are all blurry, except one spanish station that comes in crystal clear.

Anyway I have this deal where I get basic channels + TBS + discovery channel. I usually have the TV on playing a movie or TV so I can have some background noise in my apartment. Most of the time I usually watch the discovery channel, American Choppers, American Hotrod, Southern Steel, Mythbusters, Monster Garage, Monster House, etc.

 

I don't watch much TV for all the reasons everyone has mentioned. I get tired of holding up my shield.

To me, Andy Griffith is the best entertainment show ever and it's still funny. The first 6 years, that is (the black & white ones). I could care less about the later ones that are in color. Occasionally I'll watch an All In The Family, but that's it for entertainment shows.

Most of the time I watch Fox News with Brit Hume & the panel and BBC News. Occasional History & CSpan, etc. And I'm bad about watching SEC Football in the fall, my one indulgence, but I don't watch the pros.

At all times I MUTE the commercials, because of the music if nothing else.

 

Our family doesn't have a TV, never have, prolly never will. I do watch it sometimes when I'm babysitting, or at a relative's house. I like a few channels--TvLand (the oldies, like Andy Griffith, Leave it to Beaver, etc., but a few of the oldies shows didn't strike me as too funny), and Discovery Health (medical stuff) are my 2 favorite channels. Every once in a while I'll watch a ball game, if the Braves are playing.

 

Do you believe everything you've been told?

 

KJ, if all you get is the Braves and Blue Jays, that is a sin man.