I grew up in the era of The Waltons. And, in fact, ended up living near the real “Walton’s Mountain” in Virginia for a short period of my life as Earl Hamner, the creator of the show, was from a town near where we lived. His series about his growing up years that took place there in the 1930s was quite popular back in the 70s. The Waltons was viewed as a wholesome show the whole family could watch together. And I guess, overall, it was that.
Last night I came into our bedroom to find my husband watching an old episode of The Waltons to wind down a bit before sleeping. On the TV was Grandma helping her grandson, John Boy, learn how to preach. He had been asked to fill in for the preacher and was quite nervous about it. Grandma was pounding her fist and taking the hellfire and brimstone passages and speaking them in a loud, angry voice. Of course, you can imagine how Hollywood handled that. And you would be right.
In the next scene, John Boy is on a mountain and his Grandpa comes up to him and starts talking about how Grandma has her own style of religion but he worships God in “his own fashion”. He and God have an “understanding.” As he continued to talk about his god, it was quite easy to tell he wasn’t talking about the One True God of the Bible. He not only worshipped in his own fashion but he worshiped a god he had fashioned on his own.
In the final scene we watched, we find John Boy in his room at his desk, surrounded by several big books, presumably commentaries. He is frustrated about this sermon he is supposed to preach. His father walks in and gives him counsel: “Just stop listening to everyone around you and put those books away and look inside you. What do you want?”
As we turned it off, John Boy was listening to his father and doing just that.
I found that fifteen minutes rather fascinating. For it was a foretelling of what most professing Christians would believe fifty years later.
Most professing Christians ignore or even despise sermons that speak the plain truth of the Word—particularly the unpleasant truths, such as sin and hell (like they ignored/wrote off Grandma Walton).
They fashion an idol of their own making that suits their own desires and call it “God” (like Grandpa Walton shared). But this isn’t God. The Bible is either true or it isn’t. And if the Bible is true, then God has quite a bit to say about Himself and we’d better pay attention.
And most professing Christians these days—even preachers— look in their own hearts for ideas and to other men for counsel without any consideration for what the Bible has to say at all (like John Boy).
Fifty-plus years ago, Hollywood was already spewing out garbage about God and His Word. And we ignored it. We rationalized it away. We just thought it was a nice show “except for…”.
If we look back, we can see this dynamic with a number of TV shows. They very deliberately shift the beliefs and morality of the culture.
The Waltons normalized not only a wrong view of the Word but also normalized women as the spiritual leaders of the household instead of men; The Cosby Show normalized career-oriented moms (purporting the lie that you can have it all and nothing will suffer); Three’s Company normalized adults living together outside of marriage and opened the door for homosexuality; Murphy Brown normalized babies out of wedlock; Love Boat normalized infidelity; Star Wars normalized new age philosophy, and Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Harry Potter normalized witchcraft and sorcery.
There are so many other examples. All these years later, these things aren’t only accepted by the world, many of them are even accepted by many Christians.
It’s actually pretty amazing how Hollywood has wormed its way into our homes and minds through that box that sits in our family rooms.
I am not saying don’t watch TV. That’s between you and the Lord. I still watch some. But perhaps we need to pay closer attention to what is being suggested to our brains through this medium. We like to turn off our brains when we watch TV but I am realizing more and more that we just can’t do this. Entertainment (even if it’s labeled “Christian”) is never just entertainment and we need to be vigilant and watchful, understanding that entertainment is one of Satan’s greatest tools in shifting a culture a specific direction.
I was planning to write the sequel to last week’s post this week, but I’ll try to do that next week. This was fresh in my mind and seemed more important for this week.
Oh, that we may remember that we have an enemy that seeks to devour us and he will use all methods and means to do so. Let us be sober and vigilant…even when—perhaps especially when—we are watching TV.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. (I Peter 5:8)