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My Year Without Television: Part Three

I have some friends, Gary and Charity, and they have a great strong family of three kids and they have taken in Uncle Spencer as well. They have a television. They LOVE Monday night football. They are still a great and strong family. With this series of posts, I am not trying to throw a guilt trip on people who watch TV. That is not the goal of this post. I am trying to wake up people who use television to fill a void of story within their own life.

Gary and Charity use television in their home to spark conversations, and even the spontaneous wrestling match. They get to take sides on who they want to see win and banter back and forth as a family. When they are watching television, they are not disconnected with each other. Television can be a BAD thing when everyone in the house has one in their room and everyone is separate watching their own shows and not interacting.

There is the BIG difference between a family like Gary and Charity, that uses television for interaction and family time, and a family that uses television for distraction and scattering out. So take a look at what television is inspiring you to do. Does it draw together the family and spark conversation and interaction? Or does it cause scattering, fighting, bickering, or disconnection.

What I guess my challenge to any reader I have, is to look at your time spent in front of the television and ask
1. is it used to build and sustain relationships with my family?
2. how much is used to inspire me to live out God's adventure for my family?
3. is my family comfortable with silence once in a while?
4. can I turn off the television without going into withdrawal?

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"Let people feel the weight of who you are, and let them deal with it."
-John Eldredge

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My Year Without Television: Part Two

Putting the television in the garage has caused a change in how we run our family. We were not avid TV watchers before this. The boys watched PBS in the morning, and Kara and I watched 24 one night, and PBS’s cooking shows Saturday morning.

So what do we do to fill the time that we used to use television for? I get asked the question much when people hear that we have no television, “Well, what do you do then?”

I have found that the people who ask a question like this are the ones who should probably look into an addict program. If you have no idea what to do with yourself without something, it is usually called an addiction. Dictionary.com defines addiction as: the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming.

If you are lost and confused and go into withdrawal symptoms without the stimuli of something, that something is an addiction. Father Rolheiser says in his book Holy Longing, “We are entertaining ourselves to death.” It is true. When I hear a statistic like: 20% of an average American’s life is spent in front of the television, that scares me. There is too much to do, too many people who need connection and community, and too much work for the kingdom of God to accomplish to simply sit and stare at a box and be entertained for one fifth of your life.

Father Rolheiser also says in the same book, that we are the first culture who does not have to ask the tough questions in life, because we have enough to entertain us and occupy us until we die. That scares me too. The truth behind this statement is that we are shaping a culture with no depth.

I am NOT saying that all people with a television are hollow shallow people. What I am saying is that people who are addicted to television have the same INTERNAL issues as someone addicted to other forms of stimuli. We use it as an escape, a comfort, and a crutch. We get to pretend that we are not the bored, lonely, workaholic people that we are. We get to live out vicariously through our favorite television show what we wish was true in our own life.

What I am saying with this is that some movies and television shows can really inspire us to be better, that is the power of a story. But when we refuse to take the inspiration of that story and deposit what we have received into some adventure that God has for us, and we just redeposit it back into another show or movie, we get caught into an addiction cycle. This is where many people of our day get caught.

TV is good for communicating story and inspiring us to do something with our life. That is the power of story. God uses story to inspire us. But we have to do something with that. We have to give that inspiration a direction other than back into another story to entertain and occupy us.

Jimmy Doyle on the election

Here is a great statement by Jimmy Doyle. He really puts the results of the election in perspective.

1. For all the "losers" who are followers of Jesus: Remember that the Scripture tells us to pray for our leaders and seek their welfare. Don't let your anger, frustration, or whatever over this election remove you from your obligation to love others (including politicians). Remember that it is only four years, only 1460 days. Despite the statements of many emails and outspoken "conservative" leaders, our country is founded upon a system built to ensure that one man can't do unmanageable damage. In light of that, relax and be glad that you have that system. it should also be said that a lot of angry, ignorant, fear-mongered, and religiously intolerant things have been said during this campaign season. If you are guilty or responsible for any of this, it also may be good if you apologized to someone or at least admitted that you have behaved in a manner that did not increase Christ's honor in the eyes of others.

2. For all the "winners" who are followers of Jesus: Remember that only Obama is just a man and a politician. He is not going to bring about the change that only people by taking action in their own lives can bring. He's not going to put food on your table. He's not going to make you healthy. He's not going to make you happy or bring peace to the world. He may accomplish a few good things, but probably not most of what he talked about during his campaign The reality is that if you want change, you will have to act on the kind of change you want to see. My friend Mark Riddle expresses this pretty clearly here. As I reminded those in point #1, you also should remember that our country was not built to run on the desires or influence of one man. Be a pragmatist not an idealist is probably a safe call. And don't forget, as I posted on earlier this year , the more that someone tells you that they are "not the politician" this should only confirm that they are.

My Year Without Television: Part One

After Kara and I moved into our house in October of 2007, we decided to move most of our stuff into the garage and slowly move everything into the house. First we moved in all of the essentials, Kitchen appliances, furniture, toys for the kids etc…, then we would move in the non-essentials slowly.

As time moved on, the television was not moved in, and we noticed that we didn’t notice it so much, and we really didn’t miss it much either, so we thought we would leave the television in the garage. It is still there after a year, and it is still not missed, by Kara, myself, or the boys.

What this year of television is NOT
Many Christians who get rid of their television get all self-righteous about it and talk about how the peons who still have a television are unintelligent couch potatoes, but I find that this is not true of many television watchers. So us ridding ourselves of our TV is not an attempt to raise our intelligence level or holiness status above any other person.

Many Christians who rid themselves of their television do so out of fear of culture and out of wanting to bubble themselves into their homes and stay far away from the negative effects of media. While I agree that there is a lot of junk on the television, this is not our attempt to hide from evil or culture.

We are not on a television “fast” either. If we are at someone’s house and the TV is on, we don’t run and hide, or anything like that.

We simply wanted more simplicity and silence as a family, and this is our choice on how to do so. And it has certainly worked. We love life after TV, and we have no plans to go back any time soon. We love the simplicity and silence that it brings to our home.

Quote of the Day:

I only have so much energy. And, I want it to go to my family, my church, my community, and those who need Jesus. So, stick to your boycotts, your silly battles that feed your identity, and majoring in ineffectiveness.

Don’t waste my time. It is a precious commodity and I am not letting you rob me any longer.

God, please bring unity to your church. Remind us what matters. Give us energy and purpose and vision and creativity and resources to incite change. Make us lovers. And, for those who want to stall the process of being Jesus to a world that needs hope—please shut them up and move them out of the way. If WE ever are that people, shut us up and move us out of the way. Then, break us and rebuild us and set us right again.

-John Voelz, Worship Pastor Westwinds Community Church

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