Transformed By Mind Destruction

2007-06-02

I have heard a lot about how damaging television, and other forms of media, can be to people. The undertones of modern media, however, are quite troublesome. The reason for such concern of modern media is because of the sedentary mode into which people change. We disengage our minds and let the filth, sometimes very subconsciously, forge our worldview. Television is one of the worst because it can transplant ideas to large quantities of people in a short period of time. Concepts of lust, homosexuality, violence, and tolerance of everything ungodly are planted into the mind, so that a few years of exposure to these things has changed the modern world. What was not acceptable fifty years ago is not only acceptable now, but also embraced.

I speak first about television and film, but this also applies to video games. The violence, as I see it, is inextricably linked to these as well. The increase of school shootings is evidence of this. Teenagers are desensitized to killing, thanks to video games, and I was no different. As an unsaved teenager, I became wrapped up with role-playing video games and I wanted to become the heroes in these games. Only Jesus Christ Himself rescued me from traveling down a path that may have been tragic.

Music has also played a role in this. I had played plenty of music, especially as a teenager, that was seasoned with sexuality and violence. As I look back on my life as a non-Christian, I think about how some of the music was just a lot of noise. I have noticed that western music has devolved over the past several centuries. We think of the classic composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the diversity of sounds that were used in large orchestras. In the middle of last century, Big Bands came on the scene, such as Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey, and I once enjoyed their music while growing up. It was only in the following years that music became less diverse, in more recent times, only the cacophony of guitars, drums, and synthesizers remain. As a teenager, I enjoyed those musicians as well. Having lived through these times as an unsaved person, I realized that this type of music sounds exactly how teenagers feel: chaotic, without purpose and beauty, empty, and angry.

Television speaks to the average person and has done terrible things. There was one show about an extended family, which was very popular in recent times, that was very predictable; every episode was the same. First, there were some opening laughs. Second, there would be a conflict between family members, followed by resolution and shallow restoration. Other shows would always keep the main characters in their own status quo, keeping them ordinary. If a great thing were about to happen, it would be a letdown. If something bad were about to happen, it would be resolved. The plot is circular, and people have forgotten that they can rise above the mundane and live a life that counts for eternity. Even all of this says nothing of the evil that is endorsed in everyday television programs.

This is where Romans 12:1-2 comes into play in the negative. We are being transformed by the renewing of our minds... but our minds are not being transformed by the Scriptures. Our minds are being transformed by Hollywood, because we give them dominion over our lives when we watch these programs and listen to that music. I know this from personal experience, and only through a mind that is transformed by the Scriptures can I help my children understand the dangers of blindly buying into the rhetoric of our western culture in these troubling times.