Quote:
Originally Posted by Praxeas
lol...well Im sure someone thought it was amusing...if not all that clever  |
Clever, amusing, and up past midnight!
For a conservative, he's quite the
party animal!
Those that have discussed self control make a good point. But how do you all dovetail the teachings of self-determination and self-control with the biblical admonitions to be like children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, or to obey them that watch over you? How do you reconcile this with all the parables of sheep and good shepherds?
Not to make any accusations, but rather to make the observation that the mindset of self-determination can quickly lead people into an area of hard-heartedness where people are unable to bear sound doctrine.
Good shepherds continually monitor the sheep to keep them within safe perimeters, so they don’t wander off and become ensnared in difficult terrain or devoured by wild beasts. Occasionally, sheep become entangled in fences. That is a vivid thought for this analogy, and makes me wonder both about the attitude of a sheep that likes to constantly challenge the boundaries, and also about the construction of the fence. Seems like it might have some gaps in it. Shepherds will bind the sheep that tend to wander too much, and sometimes even break their legs so they will spend some time getting accustomed to close proximity to the shepherd.
If your pastor were to ask you to do something, like attend a special prayer meeting, or come to revival services, or teach a bible study, you’d probably recognize that he is encouraging you to do something for your own good, and you’d comply. But if his request were to invade the comfort zone, or invade some part of your private life or lifestyle, now all of a sudden he’s a controlling pastor? He makes a judgment call about which evangelist to bring in, what special services to hold, how to conduct outreach, and he’s making a judgment call about what is best for the sheep when he teaches restraint and constraints. Usually with your best interest at heart.
Self-control is essential, but it is also idealistic. Look around your church next Sunday and figure the percentage of skinny people in the congregation. Is there a lot of self-control represented? Everybody has various weaknesses. People don’t realize how sheep-like they really are. The self-determination movement can deceive people about their own decision making abilities, much to their long-term detriment. People will end up watching things that are inappropriate and harmful.
I’m not contentious or judgmental about TV. I have friends that have TV. I am being as sincere as I know how about this.
I have had my convictions reinforced by reading David Kupelian’s The Marketing of Evil.
It isn’t really possible to engage in informed discussion of the topic without reading this book. 
It is made clear that when we dabble with television programming, we are ladling the sewage of the world into our own soup bowls. We teach certain right principles and worldviews in Sunday school and at home, and then we turn right around and support the writers and producers of programming in their blasphemy and in their undermining of all the Christianity stands for. Spiritual authority, male authority, righteousness, and self denial are ridiculed and carnality, wanton sex, greed, multiculturalism, moral relativism, situational ethics, and the homosexual agenda are promoted.
Some have said, what’s the big deal, the resolutions only cover advertising and televangelism. However, if the org approves these, they remove the legs from the arguments of any pastors that still teach their congregation to abstain from television programming. Such teaching would become inconsistent, regardless of what is stated in the articles of faith.
If the org approves these, they grant implicit approval to the partaking of television programming that is already going on, and probably encourage more of it, when they ought to be sounding the clarion call of warning.
Kansas Preacher, don’t stop warning people about the incompatibility between Christianity and the vast majority of television programming.
My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. 
"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and
Linear Mode
