Friday, August 13, 2010

An Honest Question

Seriously, no guilt undertones here at all.

Would Jesus watch TV if he were to walk here today?


Questions of cultural relevance, community ideals, use of 'down time,' quality of entertainment...all sorts of things make me wonder about the answer to this question. I honestly have no clue.

6 comments:

  1. This is a tough question to answer. While many people have this picture of Christ as a machine who never rested, the gospels make clear that there were times that He stepped away from others to be alone. Furthermore, He regularly relaxed with friends at dinner parties, etc. I'm not too up on my ancient Israeli culture, so I am unaware of how they may have entertained themselves, whether by games, music or whatever else. But I think it's safe to assume that the parties that Jesus attended weren't deprived of these activities, and I think it may even be safe to say that Jesus, being a human as well as God, would have found pleasure in such merriment.

    But television. This is a tough one, because 90-100% of shows have some form of rubbish in them, all sorts of perverted truth and images. But, I wonder if the wedding at Cana was so different. I'm sure their weddings were a lot less reserved than those of today (but remember that the reason the poor wine was saved for later was because people would be too drunk to recognize that it was crappy wine, so I think it may not be too farfetched to suggest that some form of debauchery occurred at weddings in those times).

    Literature, to tell you the truth isn't too different from television. Read the Great Gatsby and find for me a moral character... you can't. But that's what makes it real. But, we can learn from these selfish people, we can look at The Great Gatsby from a biblical perspective and ask why things worked out the way they did.

    Look at the things we read in the bible... granted the lessons are obvious and the people, such as David, Abraham, Jacob, Paul, etc, are redeemed by God/ Christ directly, whereas in literature and television authors often times present us with other forms of redemption. However, it is easy to see how this redemption does not last eternally. But, the acts of many of the real people in the Bible are as scandalous as those of either fake characters of real people we see on television or in books. Therefore, we can note that Christ may not be the theme of many literary works, but as sons and daughters of Christ we can look at these themes and ideas from a biblical perspective. Christ, I think would do the same.

    Would Christ watch TV? Well... He DOES watch TV, because He is everywhere and He sees everything we see. If it was around 200 years ago, I don't know. Christ was not a legalist, and watching television is not sin. Sloth may be sin, and excessive television usage may be considered sloth, but Christ would certainly not do this.

    Sorry, this comment is very unorganized. I guess I'm just trying to say that, I don't know, but I also don't think Christ's use of a television set is a completely absurd thought. I think as a human there are many programs we should avoid altogether, but I also see some shows being beneficial to the ways we think, and I've seen fellowship erupt from discussion of them. And if fellowship is involved, then Christ is there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i think Christ would partake only in things that advance his kingdom. I think when he relaxed on earth it worked toward advancing the kingdom because it was enabling him to complete his mission... ...better. I think when he did go to the wedding at Cana, he may have enjoyed the entertainment, but he may also have detested it, that we don't know. And he didn't go to the wedding for the purpose of viewing entertainment, he was going because he was invited and ultimately, while reluctant at first, he went to perform his first miracle. And while there may be similar sin in Biblical stories that can be compared to television in modern day and even in literature from today and from the past, the sin in the Bible is represented as sin, and in television, 99% of the time, it is not represented as sin. ( I have no proof of that statistic. hehe) I'm not sure if you were even saying that Adam but that's my opinion Scott

    ReplyDelete
  3. No, that's not what I was saying, but I also don't think that it would be impossible for Christ to advance His kingdom through watching television. What I was saying is that I don't know, that I know all of the reasons why people would assume that He would not watch TV, but in the end Christ could use watching TV for His glory just like He could anything else.

    And I recognize that in the Bible sin is presented as sin and that this is not the case in television. However, that does not mean that as followers of Christ we are unable to recognize sin when we see it and therefore learn from it. Which is not to say that we should subject ourselves to things that cause us to stumble.

    So, my answer is that I do not know, but that I wouldn't rule out the answer "yes," just like I also won't rule out the answer "no." Obviously.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jesus did and experienced everything we did, but as we all know, He never sinned during any action, thought or experience. So maybe the question should be - can one watch tv without sinning? Jesus also didn't do anything without a purpose, so another question might be ... to what end would Jesus choose to watch tv? Which naturally leads to another question - why do I choose to watch tv?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the thoughts, all. The Cana wedding thing has brought up another good point, not necessarily related to TV. I have thought a lot about it. It is interesting that Jesus does a few things.
    1. This is his first public miracle (that we have recorded, anyway). It is interesting to me that it is of this nature...not a healing, not followed by a sermonic explanation of the gospel, not a sight-giving, ...simply turns water to wine, averts embarrassment for the hosts, and allows people to keep celebrating. What an incredible demonstration of incarnational ministry. A God who helps us celebrate what we celebrate (weddings, celebratory strong drink, etc.)...bringing Himself glory and us, joy.
    2. How many of us 'good Christians' would label Jesus as a sin-enabler in this instance? We often do this with alcohol or like issues (TV?) Jesus busts out some really good wine AFTER people had already been partying. Is it really the wine (TV, excess food, literature..) that causes the sin, or is it the heart of the drunkard? I'm certainly not ready to call Jesus an enabler or the One who causes stumbling.

    But I guess if the Bible's wine was really grape juice, it's a moot point... ;)

    Yeah, I'm sure people were claiming that Jesus pulled out all the stops to bring the good 'grape juice.'

    ReplyDelete