“We have lost our ability to see and savor the complexities of truth and the depths of simplicity. Douglas Groothuis explains the connection between this weakness and television.”
“The triumph of the televised image over the word contributes to the depthlessness of postmodern sensibilities. … One cannot muse over a television program the way one ponders a character in William Shakespeare or C.S. Lewis, or a Blaise Pascal parable, or a line from a T.S. Eliot poem, such as ‘But our lot crawls between dry ribs / to keep its metaphisics warm.’ No one on television could utter such a line seriously. It would be “bad televison” - too abstract, too poetic, too deep, just not entertaining. … (Not only that) but the images appear and disappear and reappear without a proper rational context. An attempt at a sobering news story about slavery in the Sudan is followed by a lively advertisement for Disneyland, follwed by an appeal to purchase panty hose that will make any woman irrestible, etc., ad nauseum.”
“Therefore the man who stands before God with his weel-kept avoidance ethic and his protest that he did not spend too much time at the office but came home and watched TV with his family will probably not escape the indictment that he wasted his life. Jesus rebuked his disciples with words that easily apply to this man: “Even sinners work hard, avoid gross sin, watch TV at night, and do stuff on the weekend. What more are you doing than the others?” (see Luke 6:32-34; Matthew 5:47)”
John Piper / Don’t waste your life.
good friends all day long at Bethany. So I was a little discouraged. But God has been good to me and I rejoice everyday. Basically it’s simple: I have joy and I am encouraged because I have little doors opening in front of me, opportunities to “spread the thought of God” to people who don’t know him. It is not that I explain the Good News to people every time, but it’s simply that I can explain to people what a bible college is and why some people attend them, why I go to church. I talk to people about many little things that are related to the Bible, God and Jesus, as I talk about the word “faith” or a certain verse written on my binder, or about what Jesus is to me with people around me at university or in the streets. To me, it’s little seeds I’m sowing in people’s hearts. They might now hear the Gospel right away, but God can use little conversations like that to make people think about Him and maybe push them to seek Him. There is a time for everything. Anyways, these days, that is what brings me great joy, the privilege to be different, to have a sure hope and be able to share bits of it with people that are hopeless.