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Additional Titles

FROM SESAME STREET TO MTV TO IMMORALITY

 

By Marsha West
April 23, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

"Friendship with the world is enmity to God." --James 4:4

According to Dr. Jane Brown, journalism professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, "If you believe Sesame Street taught your four-year-old something, then you better believe MTV is teaching your 14-year-old something, because the influence doesn't stop when we come to a certain age."

There's no getting around it. What our children watch on TV effects everything about them, especially their outlook on morality. I think it's safe to say that just about everyone in America knows that the Hollywood elite and product advertisers intentionally target the young. Those who don't believe it are either in deep denial or they're dumber than a fence post! I say that only because advertisers don't even try to hide their marketing schemes from consumers. Why should they? Consumers seem oblivious to the fact that they're being brainwashed.

So, what's behind the effort to turn our kids into good little hedonists? Hollywood knows that if they can win our children over to their depraved worldview, they win the country. Make no mistake about it: The anti-God crowd is winning our children. And while parents are snoozing, youngsters are losing their innocence.

The worldview depicted in the majority of TV and films is anti-God. Yet Christian's viewing habits are not much different than the world's. Believers regularly tune into programs where the men are portrayed as nothing more than oversexed, incompetent, disrespected boobs! Where offspring are smarter and wiser than their dim-witted dads. Granted, we are no longer under the law, we are free in Christ!

But, that doesn't mean we're free to behave like Beavis and Butthead. Believers are called to be holy, which means we should all be striving to be more like Christ. That's a no-brainer. So why are Christians not bothered by sitcoms that portray kids as cynical, full of sarcasm and, worse yet, show no respect for adults? The answer is, they're worldly! Instead of turning off the TV to protest the indecency foisted on the public, worldly Christians will plop down in their favorite chairs and chuckle through programs that are chock-full of profanity and sexual innuendo. Question. What would Jesus have you do?

What really gets my goat is when a child actor is on the set! Case in point, "Two and a Half Men" which stars Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer and adolescent actor Angus Jones. The boy is exposed to vulgar language, crudeness, sexual situations and, worse yet, Charlie Sheen! My question is, why do Christians watch this rubbish? And what's so funny about a child being exposed to sexual situations? I'd like to know why this boy's parents, who are supposed to be his protectors, even allow him to be involved in a program like that. While young Angus is being robbed of his childhood, there are a number of shameless adults that are making big bucks off him.

Whatever happened to programs like "Father Know Best?" Yesterday's decency has been replaced by out and out depravity. Just tune into Fox's the Family Guy and you'll see what I mean. This program is aimed at teenagers. The Parent's TV Council (PTC) had this to say about the show that is #1 with teens: "Anyone familiar with the content on this show knows that it is not appropriate for teens." Episodes this season have included scenes in which a teacher tries to show his high school class a homemade sex video showing him in women's lingerie; references to oral sex; children discussing threesomes and prostitution, and other sexually graphic and indecent content. Could it get any worse?

Yes, it could, and it does. South Park is as depraved as Family Guy and it's aimed at younger kids! According to Focus on the Family, "A near-constant flow of profanity includes hateful exchanges and frequent abuses of the Lord's name. Crude banter and story lines involve everything from urination and dildo jokes, to anal probes, homosexual sex and child abuse."

Youngster's malleable minds are also being corrupted by MTV. Parents TV Council warns that MTV aims at children as young as 12. A recent PTC study, "MTV Smut Peddlers: Targeting Kids with Sex, Drugs and Alcohol," surveyed 171 hours of MTV programming. According to the study, "PTC analysts found 1,548 sexual scenes containing 3,056 depictions of sex or various forms of nudity and 2,881 verbal sexual references. That means that children watching MTV are viewing an average of 9 sexual scenes per hour with approximately 18 sexual depictions and 17 instances of sexual dialogue or innuendo. To put this in perspective, consider that in its last study of sex on primetime network television, the PTC found an average of only 5.8 instances of sexual content during the 10 o'clock hour -- when only adults are watching."

Depictions of violence were higher on MTV than other broadcast networks. "There's no question that TV influences the attitudes and perceptions of young viewers, and MTV is deliberately marketing its raunch to millions of innocent children," said Brent Bozell, President of PTC.

Many Adults are ingesting garbage from wildly popular programs like Sex in the City, where single women are desperate for sex, and Desperate Housewives, where a married woman had an affair with her seventeen-year-old gardener. The whole focus of these programs is sex. And Hollywood bestows coveted awards to those responsible for producing this kind of filth!

In his devotional Bible series on moral purity, Brent Riggs points out:

The world is going "90 mph" down the road of immorality. The typical Christian appears to be pretty "good" because they are a "safe distance" behind the world. But compared to God's Word, we are driving recklessly. Paul emphasizes the nature of his warning by proclaiming the consequences: "Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit." So just to make sure that we don't say, "that's just Paul's opinion based on his experience in his culture," he clarifies his intent by saying, "you're not rejecting me if you ignore this command; you are rejecting God and the Holy Spirit." Very, very strong words. {2}

The majority of the entertainment industry out and out rejects biblical morality; hence they reject God and the Holy Spirit. It is obvious that anti-God filmmakers and entertainers have no conscience about what they're doing. As I said, they purposely single out the younger generation and bombard them with filth. Which is flat out evil! If you think evil is too harsh a word, I invite you to take a gander at the way teens and tweens (9 to 12-year old girls) dress. Young girls go out looking like pint-sized prostitutes! Whom are they emulating? Entertainers like Brittany Spears and Christiana Agularia who parade around on stage gyrating their half naked bodies, sometimes emulating sex acts.

Grrrrrrr.

What I'd like to know is, where are teen's and teen's parents? Why would any sane father or mother allow a fifteen year old to leave the house dressed like a hooker? Even some of the dolls girls play with look like streetwalkers, with their overdone make-up and skimpy clothing! Parents, get a clue! Get control of your kids! Better yet, get a Bible and read what it says about purity.

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable" if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. --Philippians 4:8.

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These are God's own words spoken directly to His people through the scriptures. He gently reminds us what the windows of our minds should take in. Whatever is true-noble-right-pure-lovely-admirable-think about these things. Years ago, when Americans shut their Bibles away in a drawer, we opened up our minds to all sorts of evil. Pull open that drawer and take out your Bible. Wipe the dust off the cover and read it. Then read it again. And keep on reading it until God's precepts are firmly ingrained in your mind.

"For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" --Romans 15:4.

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