We have Netflix, we get children’s movies all the time. My wife and I watch them with the kids, and sometimes we make mistakes on which films to get! But we watch them WITH our kids usually, and if the content isn't suitable, we are present in the room and we can turn the TV off.
Mark Batterson (Lead pastor, National Community Church), quotes the following statistic; he says “70% of non-believers worship and get their theology from movies & music.” This is staggering to me. At first I thought it was silly, but if we stop and think about it a while... is it so silly? Think of the way we react to the Harry Potter series, or young tween-age girls respond to the Twilight films.
Proverbs 19:18 says “Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.” Now the key word in this piece of Scripture is "discipline." It assumes an action on the part of the parent. The point is, I think, that we need to do something with our kids to help fight against the prevailing culture. We cannot - I'm afraid - do nothing! Parking them in front of the television for hours at a time, sending them to their room just to get them out of our hair, or relinquishing them over to their friends without supervision are all examples of transferring the duties of parenting. Now please don't assume that I am completely clean regarding all of this when it comes to my own kids. I have 3 young ones, and it can get overwhelming. Compromises are sometimes made.
Everything in this world either belongs to God, or to the Devil. The Bible tells us there is no middle ground. If we are right in line with popular culture, then we are playing for the wrong team. We must actively instill in our kids, therefore, a value system (preferably by example)… or the culture will win.
It is easy to float into autopilot with our full-time jobs, our children’s sports, our busy summers, etc. But children WILL be influenced by something, so try not to miss out on being the one who does the influencing - especially when they are young. What a gift this responsibility is.
Mark Batterson (Lead pastor, National Community Church), quotes the following statistic; he says “70% of non-believers worship and get their theology from movies & music.” This is staggering to me. At first I thought it was silly, but if we stop and think about it a while... is it so silly? Think of the way we react to the Harry Potter series, or young tween-age girls respond to the Twilight films.
Proverbs 19:18 says “Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.” Now the key word in this piece of Scripture is "discipline." It assumes an action on the part of the parent. The point is, I think, that we need to do something with our kids to help fight against the prevailing culture. We cannot - I'm afraid - do nothing! Parking them in front of the television for hours at a time, sending them to their room just to get them out of our hair, or relinquishing them over to their friends without supervision are all examples of transferring the duties of parenting. Now please don't assume that I am completely clean regarding all of this when it comes to my own kids. I have 3 young ones, and it can get overwhelming. Compromises are sometimes made.
Everything in this world either belongs to God, or to the Devil. The Bible tells us there is no middle ground. If we are right in line with popular culture, then we are playing for the wrong team. We must actively instill in our kids, therefore, a value system (preferably by example)… or the culture will win.
It is easy to float into autopilot with our full-time jobs, our children’s sports, our busy summers, etc. But children WILL be influenced by something, so try not to miss out on being the one who does the influencing - especially when they are young. What a gift this responsibility is.
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