“If our doctrine be true, and our lives be wrong, how terrible
is our sin! For then we have brought despite upon the truth itself. On the
other hand, however, it is also very sad when men use the social graces which
God has given them, and the moral momentum of a godly ancestry, to commend a
message which is false. Nothing in the world can take the place of truth.”
J. Gresham Machen, Christianity
and Liberalism
One of the battles that the church of Christ has to wage in
every generation is the battle for a pure doctrine. In today’s world, that is seemingly
more important than it has been, perhaps more so than at any time in this
country’s history. The hallmark of our current generation is the abandonment of
doctrinal truth, or at the very least its neglect, at the expense of getting
along and being “tolerant.” The modern church is awash in the attitude that our
current generation has of overlooking truth in order to be more accepting.
Witness the reaction from a so-called “evangelical” against the Nashville
Statement (you can read the full article containing the quote here):
Several months ago, I commented
to a fellow church member one of the things that my generation, and seemingly
every generation, is quick to forget: that all subsequent generations are, in
large measure, a reflection of the previous ones. As the saying goes, nothing
happens in a vacuum. If today's generation has grown up with a sense of
entitlement and a very, very thin skin (think of “snowflakes” and their eternal
aggrieved status!), it is due in large part to the fact that its ancestors
promoted such thinking.
Please give this video a look. I know some of you may not
appreciate the way the host goes about saying what he's saying, but the
words are absolutely true. We often try to convince ourselves that, as the host
here puts it, "we're adults" and those things on TV are not really
going to affect our minds.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus said that what
comes out of the mouth is a reflection of what's inside the man. If that is
what is constantly coming out of the mouths of the people you're watching on
TV, then that's what's in their heart and by definition that is what you're
going to be ingesting into your brain (and heart). Sooner or later that is going to have an
effect on you. If you begin to think that you're immune, be careful that you do
not fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).
I heard a believer one time tell me "well, if you're going to
eliminate all the cursing and dirtiness you see on TV, you'll never be able to
watch TV at all." Well, why is that a problem? If it takes not watching TV
in order to avoid the constant barrage of filth that some shows are known for,
then stop watching. You wouldn't watch an X rated show, would you? If so, where
exactly will you draw the line if you start watching things that base their
stories on garbage. It's one thing to watch something that now and then has
some questionable things in it (although even that should be subjected to our
censorship). But it's another all together to watch things that make it their
aim to scandalize the viewer as much as possible! Television producers are humans like the rest of us. In most cases, sad to say, they are depraved human beings who are out to push a particular agenda on the viewing public.
We need to be discerning. As a famous preacher once said,
"don't watch on TV things that could place your soul in jeopardy." I
don't think it can be said any better.
And by the way, I don't want any of you to think that I'm
directing this personally at you because I believe you're engaging in such
behavior. I don't know whether you are or you're not. I simply want to call your
attention to something that all too often goes unchecked because we
just don't think about it often enough. The key here is to follow the
injunction in Philippians 4:8 and think on things that are edifying.
