When God's name is blasphemed on TV should it be switched off?

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Richard
CofE
UK

Yes

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Bob Howes
Framingham, MA

A reoccurring thought:

Rev 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Of course, I believe that the TV, being the source of temptation that it is, should be disconnected from the antenna and only used for movies which can be carefully screened.

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Rev. Lane Keister
Teaching Elder, PCA, North Dakota (working out of bounds in a CRC and an RCA church)
http://greenbaggins.wordpress.com
http://brahmsgreenglove.blogspot.com
http://accenttranslation.blogspot.com
Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Turned off and thrown away.

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Patrick Arnold
Covenant OPC, Brighton, MI
MA student in philosophy at the University of Michigan

I would say that a TV is a means of communication, it does not balspheme, the person making the statemnt that is being broadcast is the one blaspheming.

I do not think that it is as simple as switching of the TV, that act in itself does nothing, you cannot punish transformers.

I do not watch certain programmes that I find offensive, but I do not switch off every time that someone takes the Lords name in vain. This is the sad state of the culture that we live in.

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Mike
London City Presbyterian Church
London
England

"Surely, we wish to be orthodox, but we must first learn what real orthodoxy is. Surely, we wish to be progressive, but we must first have a basis to progress from."

OK, OK, I confess. When yesterday's news ran that piece on Rev. Jeremiah Wright (Sen. Obama's spiritual advisor) where he used "God" and that d word for condemnation repeatedly, I was so shocked that it put me into a stupifying paralysis. No, I did not get up and turn off the set, but should have done so.

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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Absolutely!! We shouldn't watch movies that contain blasphemy either. Unfortunately, this limits our consumption of both of these forms of media.

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Dan
Member, Soaring Oaks Presbyterian (PCA)
www.soaringoaks.org
Northern California
The duty of a theologian is, not to please the ear with empty sounds, but to confirm the conscience by teaching things which are true, certain and profitable.
John Calvin, 1559

Yes it should be turned off... But even better... Avoid in coming broadcasting by disconnecting the Antenna and just watch screened DVDs and VHSs...

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Michael Daniels
Reformed, RPCNA
Denton, Maryland

[i][b]As For Me And My House, We Will Serve The Lord[/i][/b]

[SIZE="1"][I][FONT="Century Gothic"]Unum Deum in Trinitate: Pater, Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus [RIGHT]Sola scriptura - Sola gratia - Sola fide - Solus Christus - Soli Deo gloria - Solum psalterium - Lex talionis[/RIGHT][/FONT][/I][/SIZE]

Depends on context like in Indian Jones and the Last Crusade there is a scene where he takes God's name in vain and then his Father slaps him to tell him to stop the blasphemy. So it depends on context In Othello by Shakespeare Christ is blasphemed in the first act by Iago if Othello was running on television and you caught that scene would you shut it off then? I wouldn't it fits the character just like if you watch an episode of The Sopranos there gonna talk like violent amoral hoodlums not cultured sophisticates So in concluosn no I wouldnt shout the t.v. off if God's name was blasphemed because a work of art reflects the world it is in and to deny or pretend like that doesnt exsist is like an ostrich sticking it's head in the sand and another good example of where blasphemy is used then condemned is in Kill Bill Vol 1 right after The Bride and the wedding praty are mowed down the son of the sherif takes Christ's name in vain and is then rebuked by his father

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Aaron
Independent Baptist
Holland MI
Blog: earthdwell22.blogspot.com

Can one apply the same kind of logic to reading?

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Independent Reformed Baptist Church (NE England, nr. Durham)

This is the same question I asked in the thread on drama. As I see it, it does follow that we would have to trash all the books with X sinful content.

You have only two punctuation marks in that paragraph of no less than seven sentences. Don't do that to us, man!

Other than that minor issue, I'm glad someone finally disagreed with the status quo. Let the games begin!

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Davidius
Husband of Emilia
Member: First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham (RPCNA) - Durham, NC
Currently in the process of transferring membership to an as-yet-undecided church in Chapel Hill
Student: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, German Literature and Classics

For those who would turn it off, would you do the same if you lived in an Arabic country and the word "Allah" was thrown around casually on TV or in a movie? Why or why not?

BTW, "Allah" is simply the Arabic word for "God" -- it is used in the Arabic translation of the Bible, as well as in the Qur'an.

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Wes Bredenhof
Co-pastor, Langley Canadian Reformed Church
Langley, British Columbia
www.bredenhof.ca

I would say that it depends partially on your motivation for watching/listening to the program, and the same with reading books/magazines. Sometimes it depends on the person and his maturity to not be tempted by these things.

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Casey Bessette
Westminster OPC • West Suburbs of Chicago • My Blog: Paradise Regained

"It is part of the calling of the ekklesia to learn to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge and also to make known within the world of science 'the manifold wisdom of God' in order that the final end of theology, as of all things, may be that the name of the Lord is glorified. Theology and dogmatics, too, exist for the Lord's sake." — Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 1, p. 46

I am a anabaptist I have no TV.

Attached Images

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Bill L.
Presently seeking membership
in a Reformed Church.
NY

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Davidius
Husband of Emilia
Member: First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham (RPCNA) - Durham, NC
Currently in the process of transferring membership to an as-yet-undecided church in Chapel Hill
Student: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, German Literature and Classics

We don't have tv either. I have switched off movies before because of blasphemy. I sifted through my dvd's to weed out blasphemy and I don't have many left.

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Traci
Lynnwood OPC
Psalm 52:8-9
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.

It would be better to say prophaned (taken in vain), blasphemy is a direct attack upon the character of God (i.e. saying that the Lord is a liar).

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

I stand corrected.

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Richard
CofE
UK

We watch movies on our computer, no TV. We saw a very convicting piece by Ray Comfort on this and have been 'culling' ever since. Our DVD collection is a fraction of what it used to be (and shrinking.)

The thought of paying Hollywood to take my Lord's name in vain makes me ill.

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Kevin
Far East
Deacon, Int'l Church

Then again ... this is kind of in the category of how far do we take it ...

I understand blaspeming in the sense that you are verbally using God's name in a bad way .... but taking the Lord's name in vain could go as far as this ... That TV itself (even programs that do not use the Lord's name in vain verbally) could be turning your heart away secretly to look to TV for a form of escape or entertainment that might not be wholesome either ... (ex. a form of idolatry or coveteousness)

But, just a thought ... when you see other sins introduced through a TV show ... would you be equally as ready to turn it off ... murder, lying, adultry, worship of false gods, promiscuous relationships, violence (for pleasure ... fights).

I have not taken the poll yet ... I have alot to think about ... but I will say that it greives me very much when I hear it come out of the TV.

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Anthony Beadles
Christ The King Presbyterian
Clearwater, Florida

I think we should be.

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Richard
CofE
UK

You're right, of course. We do pick and choose to a degree. We had to throw out all our CSI DVDs (they were only $1 each here, and yes, ) because even if the language was OK in an episode, the settings/relationships/guy-that-dunnit were just TOO vile to be tolerated. It always seemed to be that the most inappropriate victim/suspect was always the one that did it. It just got too gross, language or no.

As for do we have to partake in it? What desire is there to do so as believers? Would we watch gladiator slaughter each other in ancient Rome because it "reflects the culture". Say it ain't so, bro.

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Kevin
Far East
Deacon, Int'l Church

This seems to be much more of a matter of personal conviction than some hard-and-fast rule that should be used to bind a believer's conscience.

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Rae W. | Elder @ Grace Central Presbyterian Church | Columbus, OH
not another blog, v2.0

I don't really watch much TV, but I voted it should be turned off when there is blasphemy, usually it is too late.

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~etexas~

It is most interesting. All weekend long, the cable news stations have been playing and replaying the Rev. Jeremiah Wright "G** d*** America" comments. In most cases there is no bleeping at all. But, when they get to his use of the "n" word, the politically correct news is careful to "bleep" out the word.

VERY telling statement on the condition of our culture.

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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?