It's Who You Know

There are a lot of television shows now that glorify the negative — reality shows with backbiting between contestants, nasty commenting judges, or the life/family of a wannabe celebrity that generally isn't fit for a family to watch together; and tons of crime shows that pull us into the horror of the crime, replete with mangled dead bodies and gruesome storylines. That doesn't mean we should never watch these shows, but we should consider limiting our exposure to the worse of the worse of them, as well as the number of these we watch, especially for our children — whatever their ages.

Now, we are seeing the glorification of things that go against our spiritual values ... Desperate Housewives has now given way to Swingtown, a group of swinging couples who trade partners; Dexter, a gory serial killer who finds other serial killers and takes them out of commission with his own torturing killer methods; Reaper about a 21-year-old guy, whose parents sold his soul to the devil before he was born (I believe it's suppose to be a comedy); and many other shows that degrade our Christian values, especially those of our children, if they watch.

One night, there wasn't much on television. I was doing cross stitch and needed the distraction of TV to keep from getting bored with stitching. (I'm ADHD. I have to keep both sides of my brain working with certain activities in order not to get bored, even though I love stitching.) I really wanted to see a show that was on that night, but there was an hour before that didn't have anything worth seeing. In order not to miss the show I wanted to see, I turned the TV on to that station and tried to concentrate more on the stitching than the TV set. Of course, it didn't work.

The show was "Moonlight" about a "good guy", who happens to be a vampire. For me and for this article, it actually had a moral lesson I doubt the writers intended. There's a female interest, who really is a good person. At one point, a paparazzi discovers the vampire doesn't die and attempts to blackmail the girl with the exposure of her vampire boyfriend, if she (a reporter) doesn't give him a lead on every story she gets. She finds that if the vampire learns that someone knows his true identity, he'll leave the area and never return. She, of course, not wanting to lose him, goes to the "head" vampire in the city and tells him about the paparazzi. He tells her something along the lines of "you realize what this means". She answers yes and leaves. In the next scene, you see two vampire guys attack and kill the paparazzi.

The moral lesson in this? Even if someone seems to be a "good guy" (or gal), if they are hanging with the wrong crowd and you hang with him, you'll get caught up in it sooner or later, as well. When choosing people you associate with as friends, love interests and especially mentors, look at who they associate with before making them your good buddies. You cannot look at them only when they are with you. What do they do and with whom when away from you? Does this side of their lives jive with who you are as a Christian?

by Patricia Hawke
Copyright 2008, Patricia Hawke

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