Cultivate Beauty.
I want to encourage you to turn off your TV. I really want to encourage you to cancel your cable and throw your TV away. Although there are a few people who can watch TV in moderation and not be tempted to sin, I believe that the rest of us need to stop watching television and cultivate beauty.
Do I sound too extreme? I am a member at Sojourn. There comes a time every year that Sojourn encourages her members to turn off their televisions and cultivate beauty. I want to encourage the same, only as a lifestyle. This isn't the time of year that Sojourn does her "Cultivate Beauty" month, but for some reason, my anti-TV passion is aroused.
I rarely watch television, but when I do see a show or a commercial, the theme is quite consistent. Sex. Immodest women flood television shows. Commercials meant to arouse sexual feelings in the viewer soak each commercial break. A friend of mine tells of television's involvement with his divorce. His wife was (is) a TV addict. They would come home from work and sit in front of the TV until it was time for bed. They even ate dinner in front of the television. Such a mainstream box in this couple's living room stole hours and hours from their relationship. The wife was unwilling to give up the TV and felt it was better to give up her husband. His attempts to cuddle with her during her "show" were annoying anyway. In fact, 40% of Americans watch television while they eat dinner.
Do I sound too extreme? I am a member at Sojourn. There comes a time every year that Sojourn encourages her members to turn off their televisions and cultivate beauty. I want to encourage the same, only as a lifestyle. This isn't the time of year that Sojourn does her "Cultivate Beauty" month, but for some reason, my anti-TV passion is aroused.
I rarely watch television, but when I do see a show or a commercial, the theme is quite consistent. Sex. Immodest women flood television shows. Commercials meant to arouse sexual feelings in the viewer soak each commercial break. A friend of mine tells of television's involvement with his divorce. His wife was (is) a TV addict. They would come home from work and sit in front of the TV until it was time for bed. They even ate dinner in front of the television. Such a mainstream box in this couple's living room stole hours and hours from their relationship. The wife was unwilling to give up the TV and felt it was better to give up her husband. His attempts to cuddle with her during her "show" were annoying anyway. In fact, 40% of Americans watch television while they eat dinner.
"American children and adolescents spend 22 to 28 hours per week viewing television, more than any other activity except sleeping. By the age of 70 they will have spent 7 to 10 years of their lives watching TV."-- The Kaiser Family Foundation
What about kids? More than half of 4-6 year olds would rather watch television than spend time with their fathers.
In many families the television seems to substitute, rather than facilitate
dialogue among people. A type of 'fast' in this area could also be healthy.
-Pope John Paul II during a speech calling for a 40-day TV-Turnoff
Instead of watching hours of TV, read a book. Paint a picture. Learn to sew. Pray. Take someone out for coffee. Learn to play an instrument. Go for a walk. Learn a new sport. Make out with your spouse. Do something that cultivates beauty!
Is everyone "T.O. ed" yet? I know that there are good channels out there. The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, FOX News, ESPN...I know. In fact, one of my favorite things to do with my fiance is watch Georgia Tech football games on television. However, the majority of television is trash. If you can own a TV with cable and only watch God-honoring shows, then by all means, keep your television! If not, consider getting rid of cable. If that is too extreme, limit your watching time. Do something else. Cultivate beauty.
posted by Nikki Leigh Daniel @ 9/24/2005 09:05:00 PM
16 comments
16 Comments:
I agree that we all watch too much TV. As a school teacher, I see the effects of this everyday. My kids don't know how to spell, write sentences, even think. They don't know how to use their mind.
I must say, however, that this past week, TV has been essential to those living on Texas' Gulf Coast. I would have no idea what was going on with evacuations, returns, hurricane projected paths if it hadn't been for the news.
I don't really understand by what you mean by "Cultivate Beauty." What kind of beauty do they want to cultivate? How 'bout "Cultivate a Heart and Yearning for Christ"?
~Leslie
Leslie's Blog
Leslie- I think that when the leadership at Sojourn speaks of cultivating beauty they are speaking of cultivating relationship with Christ. Real beauty can only be found through Christ. Without Christ I do not htink we would even know what beauty really is. Let us instead of watching TV cultivate beauty by meditating on Christ's beauty:
One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD
And to meditate in His temple.
Psalms 27:4 (NASB)
To get back on subject-- get rid of those TVs! Just kidding. We don't have a TV but this weekend I really wanted on to watch the hurricane stuff- internet did not help. So, there are places for it. But our culture has taken TV watching to the EXTREME. Instead of living reality, we watch it. That is just crazy to me! It is so easy for me to get sucked into TV when I am @ a friend's house
I wish there was "a la carte" television channels. That way, you would only have to pay per channel that you choose. In my ideal "a la carte" TV package, I would have:
Fox News
HGTV
Discovery
History
Whatever that channel is that only plays old shows (I Love Lucy, Donna Reed, Patty Duke).
"This beauty is lesser in degree, but it is a reflection of its creator."
That is exactly what I mean :) Creation is a reflection of the Creator, so through Christ who created all things we can see and know beauty. True beauty can only be found through Christ- I don't think the world when it looks at a sunset or a painting or listens to music even thinks of Christ. I think that because we can know the Creator of all, we can know true beauty. Without Christ our beauty is incomplete.
That is not to say that a non-C cannot think something is beautiful But I think that because we know the Creator, Creation has much more significance. It is sort of like knowing the artist of a painting- we can know the story behind it- why did they choose this color, waht does this mean. We can know that all creation is telling the glory of God and therefore we can know a deeper, truer beauty.
nikk- it seems like that should be a possibility- that would be so great if we could have only the channels we want!
Hmmm...my room in Fuller has a tv, but it's unplugged, and doesn't have anything close to a cable connection/subscription. Ask my sister, Nikki, I don't watch tv :)
Oh, except when I chill with Mon over at the house. Then we watch HGTV and the Food Network together. That serves as our "bonding time", 'cause she gets to play food/interior design critic, and I play fashion critic.
Krisin,
This weekend you could've watched Channel 2 news' live feed online. I had a link to it from my blog! :-)
About the beauty thing, I'm not slamming your church, I just didn't understand, it wasn't explained that well. I thought that the phrase, "cultivate beauty" was misleading. I understand what your church is trying to do, but I think most people wouldn't understand.
Nik,
Thanks. I have devised a plan for my life for the month of october. It is basically a plan to get myself healthy....spiritually, emotionally, and physically. I hadn't thought to tunr off my tv, but that's a great idea. I don't watch much during the week but I might as well cut it out all together for at least a month. So that has become part of my healthy, happy october plan.......most of plan is written up in my blog. I'd appreciate accountability.
you know, you could do your a la carte idea by ordering cable, and blocking the channels you don't want, either by password on your TV (just use some self-control not to turn them on) or tell the cable co. you don't want them.
I know this is an expensive solution, but it is an alternative.
It would be nice if cable co. offered a plan where you could pick whatever 10 channels you want.
Overall, I think TV makes you dumb and want things you can't have and don't need.
I've been in favor for no TV for a long time.
It would be great if the channels were like a dollar per channel or something. we should petition!
you had live feed, leslie- that would have been so great!!! Oh well
"Oh TV, I'll never accuse you of lying to me again" -Homer Simpson
I've been railing against the fact that we can't order stations a la carte for years, but the fact is, things will never change. A few big companies own nearly all the channels. They force us to pay for all their channels for the priviledge of watching a few of them.
Nikki,
First and foremost, you ROCK!
Second, this is one post I can totally agree with. I was actually reading some statistics about this on my Starbuck's cup the other day. The average person in the U.S. spends 29 hours a week watching TV! By the time the average person dies at, say, 75, they would have spent years of their life watching a box.
Also, in Italy, the COMMERCIALS are showing nudity. There is no escape. I am also a fan of the a le carte TV! I would like to add a few other stations to your list: ESPN (are you surprised?), ESPN Classic, National Geographic.
Well for that matter, SOMA, why not throw in Espn2 and Espn Gameplan? :)
First, congratulations on your upcoming wedding!!! Marriage is an awesome gift from God! Second, Marianne and I agree with you about the whole TV thing. We chose not to have a TV during the first year of our marriage. During that time we read allowed to each other at night before we went to bed. We played games together. We talked. We visited with friends. And we saw lots of the natural beauty of the bay area that we wouldn’t have seen if we’d been glued to the box every evening after work. It was an awesome year and we do not regret the fact that we chose to chunk the tube!
I remember seeing an add a few years ago, when Sojourn did this campaign, promoting the fact that The Violet Burning was going to be playing in conjunction with your church. Man, I wish I could have been there. Violet Burning does a fantastic job of cultivating beauty by music.
But I hope things go well for you all at Sojourn. I have a great love for this church and what it does, and many friends go there, including Adam Wingate, Joe and Leslie Hoback, and Blake Reas.
(P.S. - Thank John Letoto for the linkage. It led me to your site. I'm pretty sure very few people follow his link to mine. Oh well.)
Post a Comment
<< Home