
Bolstered by T. V. dream-makers, our culture is replacing the ten commandments with "The Seven Selfish Attitudes."
The Seven Selfish Attitudes are championed primarily by the Media. Though television can be a wonderful teaching medium, it has become directly opposed to Christianity. Rather than challenging the church to debate the issues, T. V. slithers quietly around the back and destroys its adherent's moral standards and beliefs. Incredibly, some things it presents as promising the greatest satisfaction inflict most pain! Sleekly packaged beers and wines are presented as the route to a good time and sexy friends. Yet one in ten adults suffers from alcoholism and drunken driving still slay and maim thousands each year. T. V. soap operas model unbridled sexual immorality while viewers sit on their couches with the painful and even terminal consequences of a frightening array of sexually transmitted diseases. All the good this wonderful tool of technology offers is being submerged by T. V. 's smutty agenda.
Low ethical standards wash over into society from some television programs. "Being hungry," it suggests, "is a just cause to steal in certain circumstances." "If you say you love someone," it jibes, "it is only natural to become sexually active." Anyone who protests is sanctimoniously told, "God is a God of love! Why do you criticize love? Judge not, that you are not judged!"
Since the coming of television, we no longer have family circles - we have semicircles! Sociologist Reginald Bibby writes in Teen Trends, "If the pulpit was the place of proclamation about what was right and wrong in the past, the television screen is now the norm-creator in the modern world." Popular programs decide the morals of our young people more than any church or preacher. These standards may well be undermined further by an uncensored Internet and World Wide Web. Maybe the semicircles around T. V. will dissolve even further into a network of fantasy-driven solitaries glued to computer screens?
Modern T. V. while being supportive of individual rights and freedoms, ridicules the relevance of the government, police, the institutional church, the clergy and the Bible. Ministers are often portrayed as either bumbling idiots or crazed Bible thumping fundamentalists. Clergy may well have as much training as doctors but they are still viewed as gullible fools. This, despite the fact that many of the developments in society came as a result of the Christian concern for justice and search for truth.
1. Discuss the "Body Rainbow" idea.
2. How is T. V. corruptive?