Dear Friend, This is the second e-newsletter in a series that will cover things that are distracting America from returning to her Judeo-Christian foundations. #2 - TV, Movies, & Video Games - The NEW COLOSSEUM CONTENTS: (1) Foreword by Yours Truly (2) SkyAngel and KTV! (3) Reality or Something Like It BreakPoint with Charles Colson ==================== ==================== (1) Foreword by Yours Truly Dear Friend, I know that you've heard of the saying, "an ostrich with its head in the sand." Well, if you want to see one of the main reasons for our culture sliding down the slippery slope into Hell, you could say it's because of "Judeo-Christian value people with our heads in entertainment." How much time do we spend watching TV? Watching videos? Going to the movies? Surfing the web without constructive purpose? Playing video games? While we're entertaining ourselves, what's going on outside the doors of our homes? What could be going on inside the doors of our homes? Are our children watching mind-numbing or anti-Judeo-Christian culture TV? Do we even vote in primary elections, or do we sit home and watch the boob tube (note: this is not a slang for anatomy, although, with today's TV it might as well be). I believe that our culture is crumbling around us (although it improves when Holy Spirit-filled people take action) because we're "fat and happy" with our entertainment. I've also found that many who are serious about nailing down their theology have been guided into a "defeatist theology" where they believe that things will only get worse, that even indwelled with the Holy Spirit they have no chance of defeating evil, and that they should just stay home and pray about things without lifting a finger except to put them together in a hand clasp for prayer. How many of us find ourselves in a cycle of wake up, go to work (or take care of the kids until they go to bed), come home, eat dinner, entertain ourselves with TV, etc., go to bed, wake up.... Well, it's time to shake ourselves awake. Did Jesus and His disciples just sit in the upper room and pray for people to be saved by the Gospel? Is praying enough, or did Jesus and His disciples actually go out into the world and actually face persecution for taking action in His Truth? Should we model our actions after Jesus and His disciples or not? Are you caught in the Defeatist Theology? Do you know of anyone who is? It's detailed here: http://onlinearchive.org/article.php?sid=495 I ran into my friend Craig from church at the store today. He's reading about eschatology from a book. I've tried learning about it from an audio tape series. Although our church just began offering a Sunday School session on eschatology, it conflicts with several other Sunday School sessions, so the whole church will never hear our church's position on the "end times." Many Christians run their lives according to their understanding of the end times. Can we make a difference now, or are our efforts fruitless? Is Jesus really King of Kings and Lord of Lords now, or is Satan no longer a "prince" but a king over Jesus? Those who believe in a defeatist eschatology sit at home and watch the boob tube figuring that they can't make a difference, so our world may as well go to Hell because they can't do a darn thing to stop it. They're dead wrong. Learn about the Defeatist Theology and see if you've been trapped in it! ==================== ==================== (2) SkyAngel and KTV! Well, I've finally done it! I've been so convicted, knowing that my son has been watching Sesame Street (or should I call it "Sin Street"), Arthur, Read Between the Lions, and other shows on PBS, that I had SkyAngel installed. Am I nuts for calling Sesame Street "Sin Street?" Read the InfoQuest* e-newsletter: "Sesame Street Terrorist, Sanger, and Great News" (5/2/02) at: http://users.netreach.net/InfoQuest/iq_archive.htm Who are the role models that Sesame Street has brought onto its show? Kofi Annan, who supports terrorists. Learn about Kofi here: If this breaks, copy/type it into your URL bar. http://thenewamerican.com/tna/2001/10-22-2001/vo17no22_un_not_friend_print.h tm Sesame Street has had Elton John on its show. Learn about Elton promoting pedophilia here: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=13210 Elton John appeared with the Muppets: http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/treereview.php3?ID=3863 (if mommy and daddy let me watch him with my Muppets, he must be good) Melissa Etheridge, a lesbian activist, has appeared on Read Between the Lions. Go to http://www.kcts.org/ and search on "Melissa Etheridge" In the PBS cartoon Arthur, the school lunch lady quotes Buddhist sayings to the kids as they go through the lunch line! No Christian or Jewish sayings are ever muttered! Arthur also raises up role models of whiny and argumentative kid characters. If you kids/grandkids are going to watch TV, then it should be propaganda-free! SkyAngel provides a fantastic Kids TV channel: http://www.ktvzone.com/ Here's the description: KTV-Kids and Teens Television, which is celebrating its third birthday this year, is a television ministry of the Dominion Sky Angel DBS Television & Radio System! This 24-hour television channel just for kids and teens was created to fill a void in children's and teen programming by moving away from the trend of violence that is so common today in mainstream programming for youth and, instead, providing a wholesome Christ-centered choice in shows that appeal to kids and teens. According to a study conducted by the Cincinnati, Ohio-based organization, National Association for Family and Community Education, a typical child will view 8,000 murders and 100,000 violent acts on television just between the ages of three and 12. Within children's programs, other studies have shown the incidence of violence is especially high with 32 violent acts per hour -- a rate that is greater than that of adult "prime time" shows. Plus, when kids move into their teen years, sex is added into the factor; studies show a typical teenager sees 14,000 sexual encounters on TV each year. KTV is an alternative in children's programming, airing shows that are not only value-based and uplifting in nature, but that provide a Christian foundation for parents to build upon. With the recent return to more traditional family values, Dominion believes there is a definite market for a channel geared toward children that will promote positive behavior and Christian values. KTV is uniquely split into two sections during a 24-hour day period: a 13-hour block for children and a 11-hour block for teens. From 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, KTV only airs programs that appeal to children ages 12 and under, including fun programs featuring animals, crafts and puppets, animated shows, live action kid dramas, educational programs and more. From 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. ET, KTV is programmed just to appeal to teens with edgy Christian music video shows, talk shows on tough teen issues, game shows, clean off-the-wall humor, teen-targeted movies and more. And all of the programming on KTV is always Christ-centered, moralistic or educational, so you won't have to worry about what your kids are watching when they're tuned into KTV. SkyAngel also has two great Christian music video channels. If you pay for the year, it's only about $10/month. It's a worth-while investment if your kids watch TV! http://www.SkyAngel.com ==================== ==================== (3) Reality or Something Like It BreakPoint with Charles Colson Commentary for February 13, 2003 http://www.BreakPoint.org Reality or Something Like It BreakPoint with Charles Colson February 13, 2003 Reality TV and Boredom Let's be honest. Why would anyone want to watch a race between a human and a giraffe, or eavesdrop on a blind date between annoying strangers, or listen to terrible singers wail like banshees? That we do want to watch is unquestionable. So-called "reality" TV is changing the television business. The public has a seemingly insatiable appetite for these shows, and, as one network executive told the New York Times, "We've got a responsibility to satisfy that appetite." And as if what the networks are turning out weren't bad enough, Gloria Goodale reports in the Christian Science Monitor that the public bombards producers with new ideas. Favorites include people falling off buildings or out of airplanes, televised brawls in prisons, and street fights between homeless drunks-already an Internet favorite. The producers have said no to these and other dangerous and degrading ideas, but how long will that last among people who think they have "a responsibility to satisfy that appetite?" Goodale notes that when Natalka Znak first had the idea for Temptation Island-sexy singles romping in the tropics-she was told that it was over the top. Today, it's old hat. The title of a new book by Richard Winter, a psychiatrist and associate professor of practical theology at Covenant Seminary, gives away his diagnosis for the sorry state of TV and why we watch it. The book is titled Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment. "When stimulation comes at us from every side," he writes, "we reach a point where we cannot respond with much depth to anything. Bombarded with so much that is exciting and demands our attention, we tend to become unable to discriminate and choose from among the many options. The result is that we shut down our attention to everything." That is, we get bored. Over-stimulated and bored, we start looking for anything that will give our jaded spirits a lift. Winter says that boredom explains the rise in extreme sports, risk taking, and sexual addiction. "The enticements to more exciting things have to get louder to catch our dulled attention," he writes. And so reality TV gets more risqué and more degrading by the day-a trend that shows no signs of abating. Natalka Znak says that death is a line that no one will cross. I think she's wrong. Boredom will lead us right down the Roman road to the bloody lust of the Coliseum. Richard Winter not only diagnoses the problem, but he also offers a solution: We must recover a sense of passion and wonder. He notes that boredom is part of life in a fallen world. There are times when we will be bored. But engaging the world rather than passively watching can mitigate much of our boredom. He writes, "Finding interest and joy in life involves active engagement with the world. . . . The person who wants to be involved with life knows that it is necessary to move toward someone or something, to want to understand and know." And engagement with the world-that is, wanting to understand and know-is also central to developing a Christian worldview. So if you're bored, read Richard Winter's book, Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment. Your boredom can be a wake-up call not only to reality TV, but also to pursuing passion, wonder, and a Christian worldview.