The Simple Pastor
Simplicity & Generosity
Bibliophilia (09.09.10): An abundance of reviews this week – which means lots of choice and recommendations and sh... http://bit.ly/9Kpslp 3 hrs ago
It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of the television, in fact I’m glad to be rid of it. Here Mark Meynell reflects on the recent purchase of Channel 5 by Richard Desmond and gives this devastating quote from David Dark.
“Yet as it is, television most often caters to our own worst instincts, driving us to base our identity in what we’re able to purchase, hijacking our hopes with the emptiest of slogans and scenarios, and wasting our sympathies on tales that are devastatingly shallow and sentimental. It can even be argued that our relationship with television has crippled our ability to recognize, within ourselves, the need for a better way. We’re numbed to our own deterioration. Actor/entertainment personality, Ben Stein has prophesied that by the year 2030, it will all be pornography. (Dark, p43)”
Read the whole thing
I just read about my friend Mark’s decision to unplug the TV and Roald Dahl’s hatred of the box in this excellent poem and so I decided to put a few more thoughts down on life without a TV seven months on.
So the World Cup has just finished and of the total 64 possible I watched just 3 (two England matches and the final). Four years ago I watched more than that live in the stadiums let alone on TV and you know what, I don’t think I’ve missed anything. I watched the highlights on iPlayer and saw all the goals and read the reports, so my football interests were satisfied.
But I wasn’t caught up in the hype, I didn’t see a single advert, I wasn’t consumed by something that lasted a mere month. I think it helped with a bit of perspective which TV can skew so easily, the world is shaped by what we see, by what we react to on the TV as much as anything else. I don’t miss the TV and I’m glad that at the age of two my son still isn’t really aware of the existence of a TV.
To be honest I still live too much of my life in front of a screen but it’s down to just one screen now. I’m not wasting time on consoles (if you’re a parent you can scare yourself by reading this article and seeing the pictures! pdf) and we don’t have a TV any longer.
The battle is now with the laptop, to controlling the urge to check emails just before going to bed (how pointless is that?) or read the news headlines constantly. I’m resorting to strong measures (I’m using this programme) to help me focus and shift my energies into more worthwhile and enjoyable things.
Screens are everywhere now, life is mediated through a screen, and I’m becoming aware that for myself this technology is a great servant and a terrible master. I prefer real freedom and real life rather than the sort I see on TV.
Recently Channel 4 showed a fascinating documentary on Alpha. For the next 28 days you can watch it online here.
It’s always good to get an insight into how others see you – does Alpha really have a ‘mathematical niceness’ about it? Is it too nice? Is it endearingly flaky?
They showed some footage of the Toronto Blessing and my most dominant emotion as I watched it on my own was one of embarrassment. I heard a man I respect speak in tongues and I cringed. Alpha would be easier without those things but at the same time knowing God is unlikely to be an encounter that fits neatly into my cultural world view, it should blow my mind or at least blow away the cobwebs. Worth watching.
Josh Harris recently blogged on a new TV drama about King David and he said this, “Hopefully they’ll handle the more sordid aspects of David’s life tastefully”, which made me wonder how you handle the sordid ‘tastefully’. So I asked Josh for his thoughts and he (surprisingly to me) answered the question with this post. It’s a good reply and I agree, I think, with much of it. This is my reply, (added to his comments)
“Dear Josh,
Thanks for the taking the time to reply, I appreciate that. I agree with much of what you said. You’re right to expect too much of TV would be naive. A healthy culture needs good storytellers (I recommend Slumdog Millionaire as a good example of a powerful story, well told. Rated 15 in the UK so not suitable for children). For Christians the issues of language, sex and violence pose continual issues.
I do sometimes wonder if we have sanitised the Bible so the gritty, grim reality of it and the sometimes shocking nature of what it says no longer shocks us. Perhaps its because we’ve been desensitised by films and TV or have become accustomed solely to the visual.
I agree with you that film & TV consistently shies away from the consequences of sin and glorifies the moment of sin and we need to be more aware of that. I agree also that the old movies through the power of suggestion and implication got their message across without the need for gratuitous sex and violence.
You say ‘the Bible itself is the perfect example of’ telling a sordid story without being sordid however putting words onto screen is the challenge for screenwriters. When David sees Bathsheeba, what exactly should we see if this is on screen? Should we see what he saw, is it any better for it to be left to our imagination? That’s not an easy question to answer even if you were interested in upholding godliness, which I guess many TV execs are not. So yes we should pray and be constructive not reactive to such attempts, which may not always draw the line where we think it should be drawn.
I’m not sure I understand your distinction between sex and violence and how you would make a call on what sort of violence is ok to watch and what isn’t because Colossians 3:8 would apply as much as Colossians 3:5 wouldn’t it? Anyway, thanks again for your answer. I’ve appreciated the opportunity to think about TV, what I watch and don’t watch and what effect what I see has on my soul.
For Him
Phil”
This documentary about 13 yr old Deborah Drapper is interesting. Some of it made me uncomfortable because I’m not sure about it and some of the discomfort was good because Miss Drapper really gets the urgency of evangelism. You can currently still watch on BBC iPlayer.
No, not with me – I’m very happy with my wife. I’m talking about taking part in the TV programme. We’ve had an email from them, here it is:
I believe Jesus when he said 'life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions'. I believe he offers something better. This blog is mostly about that search.