all the frogs are boiling!

disturbing t.v. trend i've been noticing: networks subtly and slowly make changes to their shows' content to slowly desensitize us to things that are actually wrong - and it's working without the american public even realizing it!!!
if our values are frogs in pots of water, they are being heated to boiling under our very noses. and here we float, blissfully unaware of impending death.
it's already happened with modesty, especially on women. ever since the 70s (i wasn't around, but i've seen reruns of older shows and that's when i noticed the big rise in immodesty...), the networks have been slowly introducing shorter and shorter skirts, more and more cleavage, tighter and tighter outfits... and like i said in my last post, if we laugh at something that is supposed to be wrong, like a guy gawking at a woman's chest, we will no longer take the sin seriously. (see the post: laughter)
now, on regular primetime t.v., i consistently see bra advertisements that not only show a woman in a bra, but have her acting extremely seductively.
show after show portrays many or all the women in 'stylish,' form-fitting outfits, while men still wear normal, baggy outfits. (interestingly enough, the immodesty is starting to spread to men more too.)
then we arrive at the olympics. safe, right? WRONG! beach volleyball... are you serious!?? those women have on the tiniest bikinis known to man and we don't bat an eye. what has happened to our ability to sense impropriety? what has happened to our minds that immodesty doesn't even phase us?
the modesty frog in the proverbial pot has boiled to death without even knowing it.
and now, another pot is coming to a boil without us feeling the heat: the desensitizing of the american public to homosexuality.
americans have already fallen for the subtle push to believe that homosexuality is an inherited trait. according to my observations, this is how that happened: back in the 90s, scientists put out the word that they were searching for a 'gay gene.' that's all the news had to do to make the public believe that there WAS a gay gene: just label the suspected gene and report that scientists were looking for it. nothing came of it, and no gene was ever found, but the general belief among all americans i've talked to and overheard talking is that homosexuality is genetic. and that makes all the difference in their argument - if something is genetic, like race, how could anyone ever say that it's WRONG??! that's good logic, but the problem in this case is that homosexuality is NOT genetic. so the argument is based on a lie.
(the only genetic link is the same kind of link that they find with other problematic predispositions, like alcoholism or drug use or serial killing. many serial killers share particular genes, but there is no 'serial killing gene' and serial killing is still WRONG, even if someone is slightly more susceptible to the behavior based on their genes. if a man molested 5-year-olds, we'd put him in jail, even if he had some sort of genetic imbalance that predisposed him to the behavior. if a woman had the tendency to be addicted to heroin, we would try to help her stop because it's destructive and wrong behavior.)
so back to the ever-heating pot with the american public's values in it.
we used to have the 'token black guy' in different shows. he or she was there so that all races would be sure to be represented. kinda funny/odd/obvious, but GOOD. but now they're using the same tactic with homosexuality. this time, NOT good. the Bible clearly lists homosexuality as a SIN. it's NOT 'how you're born,' it's a wrong act, just like any other sin. it may be an extra-difficult one to overcome, like alcoholism or drug use or pedophilia, but it's still wrong. (for Bible references, in case you wonder, see the end of this post.)
for a few years now we've noticed that some of the competitive reality shows we watch, like CBS' Amazing Race or NBC's Celebrity Apprentice, repeatedly include a 'token' gay couple or a gay guy. slowly desensitizing us... causing us to get used to seeing their lifestyle portrayed - they kiss or discuss their 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend' or 'partner,' as the case may be. we are left thinking, 'lots of people must be gay, right??' and 'everyone thinks it's ok, right??!' we'd better get up to speed, lest we be seen as judgmental!
in 2009, an ABC show came out called Modern Family. even the title is a subtle message playing to the desire of all americans to be MODERN. we just couldn't stand being called 'out of date!!!' so, the message is that if you want to call yourself 'modern,' you'd better be perfectly happy with a gay couple in your family.
now a new and slightly more daring twist comes this year: a show called The New Normal. this NBC gem features a gay couple. the main story line, according to the ads, revolves around how they use a woman as the 'surrogate' parent to have a child. again, the title says it all to the american public: if you want to call yourself 'normal,' you'd better get with it and be ok with gay couples having children.
(you may be wondering why i think it's intentionally done by the media. well, here's one reason: americans have generally been more reactive and 'homo-phobic' about men, not women. guess what gender almost ALL of the homosexuals on these shows are? MEN.)
most americans won't even realize they are being indoctrinated and desensitized to these ideas. we like to think we've come to our beliefs all by ourselves! but when someone like me comes along and calls the act of homosexuality 'wrong' and 'a sin,' the arguments against me will go something like this: 'how dare you JUDGE them for being gay!? that's how they were born! it's NORMAL! stop holding onto those backwards beliefs, and start living in the MODERN WORLD!!'
americans are being fed these ideas and arguments by the media, without even realizing it. and it's not just immodesty and homosexuality, it's all sorts of things: disobedience to parents, adultery, and the list goes on.

how about you? 
are you listening to the Bible for your guidance, or are you slowly being convinced by the shows you watch to change your morals?
are your values on their way to being boiled to death?
or will you take notice and get out of the pot?



verses about homosexuality:
Leviticus 18:22 - the original command against homosexuality
Romans 1:26-27 - listed in the history of sin
1 Timothy 1:10
1 Corinthians 6:9 - in the list of sins which cause you to lose your rights to the kingdom of God... BUT as a Christian, it is possible to turn from ANY sin: 1 Corinthians 6:11 "... that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

laughter isn't always the best medicine

my husband recently shared with me something he'd heard on a radio sermon: a hollywood producer was overheard saying that to make a successful sitcom, you have to break at least 3 of the Ten Commandments. then as viewers, we laugh at it... the pastor, adrian rodgers, made this very good point: as soon as we laugh at something, we won't take it seriously anymore.
think about it.

• have you ever been watching a show and heard someone yell, 'O MY G-D!' in a crazy and hilarious way? were you tempted to laugh? or did you bust out laughing without even thinking?
• or how about this? the other night we were watching Wipeout on ABC. they paired a supposedly 'Christian' girl with a guy who claimed to be enlightened and into far eastern religion. the commentators joked about him having a third eye, which, i confess, i laughed long and hard about because they drew an obnoxious eyeball on his forehead. i didn't even notice that i might be laughing at the worship of another god besides God. at one point, he was struggling and the girl said, 'maybe you should pray to Buddha!' ...said as a joke, but not a joke. worshipping another god will result in spending eternity in hell! that's scary, not funny!
• i know i've seen those moments on tv where someone is claiming not to be superstitious, but then the camera cuts to their collection of rabbit's feet, or some crazy shrine they have in the corner of their room... and we laugh at their inconsistency, ultimately at them having an idol.
• as far as the Sabbath day commandment goes, i think so many americans already don't take that seriously that they don't even need to laugh at it anymore to be desensitized...
• 'honor your father and mother.' i'm sure you can think of someone on a sitcom rolling his eyes at his parent or making funny faces behind their backs... we chuckle... no big deal, right?
• we may not think we laugh at murder, but what about shows where the scene suddenly breaks away to show what the person is thinking? a businessman is sitting in his office chair and his boss comes in and complains. the businessman listens intently and promises to make a change. as the boss walks away, the scene shows the businessman wielding a huge machine gun and blowing the boss into oblivion. but then the camera clicks back to reality with the businessman frustratedly watching the back of the boss leaving. and we laugh... partly because we can imagine having that thought. but it's murder.
• adultery? the laughter never seems to stop on this subject. we laugh at men gawking at women they're not married to. we laugh at women cheating on their spouses with the mailman. we laugh at the wife joking about sleeping with a coworker. we laugh at men thinking about another woman while kissing his wife... the list goes on. it's no wonder we don't take marriage seriously in the US anymore.
• have you laughed at a guy surreptitiously looking around to make sure no one's watching before taking someone else's lunch from the work fridge? or how about a kid being told not to touch the cookies mom just baked, and the next scene you see is the mom walking in to find one lone cookie left on the cooling rack? you're laughing at stealing. it might seem small, but it's wrong.
• what about lying? that same scene with the missing cookies might end up with the mom asking the kid if he ate those cookies. 'no,' he says, with cookie crumbles on his face... and we chortle. or how about this recent phone ad that was supposed to be funny: a man is at the office working late and gets a call from his wife, who reminds him that it's their anniversary. he looks shocked; he clearly (to us) forgot. but because of his crazy/amazing phone he can lie and tell her he remembered and tell her he's on his way while he multitasks and looks up restaurant reservations and purchases flowers fast, all to keep his lie alive and mislead his wife. people laugh... he lied and got away with it; isn't it funny?
• lastly, coveting. this one is laughed at and enjoyed almost as much as unfaithfulness. the 'cool kid' walks into the lunchroom at school, in slow motion and glowing, while the outcast kid looks longingly at him. or neighbor couples are having dinner together and one of the men inadvertently lets it slip that he thinks the other man's wife is 'hot.' we laugh at his freudian slip. we laugh at his wife looking horrified. gross. and as i write this, an ad just came on for KFC chicken. a guy and his lady are sitting and eating their chicken. some dreamy music starts and the man looks up wistfully at another woman who is dipping her chicken in all sorts of sauces and putting it slowly in her mouth. suddenly he gets tapped by his lady, the music stops abruptly, and she says, 'keep your eyes on your own chicken.' everyone watching knows the double entendre is 'keep your eyes on your own woman,' but for some reason it's presented as clever and supposedly funny. in reality, you're laughing at coveting, at lust.

sometimes we are laughing at our humanness, at our mistakes, and it's ok to realize we shouldn't take ourselves so seriously. BUT when we carelessly laugh too much, we refuse to acknowledge the seriousness of sin. we are wandering into dangerous waters.
think about what you're laughing at. don't be careless. sin is serious. your soul is at stake. tv may be your way of escaping for a few minutes from your busy world, but we must stay on guard! the spiritual fight doesn't stop when you turn on the tv. in fact, most of the time, the battle gets heated up! Satan knows how to attack when you least suspect it.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, 

but against the rulers, against the authorities,

against the powers of this dark world 

and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

Ephesians 6:12

don't put down your sword when you need it the most.