don’t check your brain at the remote...

As a general rule, we don't watch a ton of TV in my home; however I do watch some TV. A few months ago I flipped the on the tube, and because I didn't know what was on, we left it where it was...and that is how we watched Law & Order. Now, I have seen a few of these shows and the story is usually this: someone is hurt or killed, the police investigate, figure out the culprit (usually, the least expected person), there is a twist involving the evidence or something, and finally the investigation is over and the culprit is in the hands of the police.

The particular episode that I watched followed the same model, but it was the most blatant political and social statement that I have seen (granted, I don't watch much TV so I may be naive). In this episode a boy was stabbed (causing him to be paralyzed). It is found out that an 8 or 9 year old girl did this to him because he was picking on her because she has two mommies (mother and lesbian partner) and she confessed what she did. Once this was figured out, there wasn't even a veiled attempt to hide the pro-gay and anti-Christian morals objective.

The Story:

Basically, in the culmination of the program, the little girl who stabbed and paralyzed a boy was maybe assigned to counseling (I say maybe, because they didn't really stress what happened to her). But the focus of the program shifted to gay parental rights and anti-gay bigotry by the school (a private CATHOLIC School), and finally nailing a crooked and activist lawyer who is anti-homosexual.

If I could sum up the motive of the whole show, I could do it in a conversation that I will represent as accurately as possible (since I don't have the transcript, I cannot quote it). The characters are the D.A. (speaking the progressive and "sensible" side) and the little girl's grandmother (being the homophobic old religious establishment):

the Setting: Courtroom with Grandma on the stand - the court is hearing arguments for custody of the little girl.

D.A.: Do you believe that a child should be raised by homosexual parents?
Grandma: No.

D.A.: Who, do you think, should raise children?
Grandma: A child should be raised by her mother and father.

D.A.: Why do you think that?
Grandma: Because children raised by homosexual parents are 30 times more likely to be promiscuous, experiment sexually, etc....

D.A.: Where did you get those statistics?
Grandma: From my lawyer.

D.A.: When?
Grandma: Just before the whole issue of custody came up.

This was leading up to and exposing a nefarious plot by the defense attorney to make up bogus cases and then win them to thwart the homosexual agenda.

In a later scene, the D.A. shows that the figures that grandma was using were junk and written by a guy who was expelled from an academic post for misrepresenting statistics. The grandparents are shocked that they had wrong statistical information, and now they have absolutely no problem with their granddaughter being raised by lesbians. Actually, at this point, one of the partners had died, so it was just the one woman (not the biological mother).

My Thoughts:

Now, I know that I cannot expect better from TV (or movies, radio, and theater for that matter) when it comes to dealing with anything in this sinful world, much less the homosexual agenda. However, I do get more enraged when the attack is on Christians, and of course it isn't a fair portrayal of Christians or Christian theology in the story, the Christians are portrayed as being morons, angry bigots, or witless fools.

The only Bible rationale given was a vague reference when the little girl said, "Corinthians says that gay people go to hell." The first thing that we need to ask is does either 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians say this? The answer is yes (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).¹ We must affirm what the Bible says, not to be unloving and intolerant (although we may come across that way), but to show people of all persuasions the true and saving message that was given to all mankind by Christ.

What is my point?

My point is this: Fallen society will always vilify and put down what the Bible says because we are told that they see the Bible and what the Bible teaches as foolishness.

a glutton for punishment:

Not too long after having seen the episode above, my wife and I were again eating a late (way too late) dinner after the kids were in bed and we watched CBS’s “Without A Trace.” We had seen this show before, and so we watched it. Without going into the whole plot line, the synopsis is that a teenage boy was in trouble because he found out that a friend had been raped and he was trying to purchase the “morning after pill” from a drug dealer in the school.

I don’t want to focus on the horribleness of rape and its terrible consequences and trauma that the victim has to endure. I do want to look at the not-so-subtle short dialogue that was the key to the whole story. Once again, I will try to accurately represent the dialogue, but since I don’t have a transcript, I cannot quote it.

There are two characters, a teenage boy and a teenage girl and the girl has just accidentally let on that she had been raped recently, and the boy is the first one to find out.

Boy: Who did this to you?
Girl: I don’t want to tell you.

Boy: Why not? He should get in trouble!
Girl: No, I don’t want to tell anyone.

Boy: Why not?
Girl: I might be pregnant!

Boy: I could get you one of those “morning after pills”
Girl: Don’t you need a parent to sign a slip or something.

Boy: No, I know this guy [the drug dealer] at school who sells them, and I can get you one.

Now, we find out later that the only way that the young man would do this is if the girl told him who raped her. Once he finds out, he confronts the rapist, gets kidnapped, beat up, but eventually rescued. But the point is that the whole story hinged on the availability of this drug. If you could get it from any drug store, the girl never would have told the boy, who then would never have confronted the rapist and therefore would have never been kidnapped.

My Thoughts:

That “morning after pill” is the RU-486 or “emergency contraception” birth control pill that is basically a self administered home abortion. Just take the pill within 72 hours, and any baby will be aborted. The morning after pill is a “high dosage of the birth control pill. It is recommended to be used after sexual intercourse, over a period of 72 hours, to achieve the goal of preventing (or ending) pregnancy.”²

So, the solution in the mind of the unguarded viewer’s mind is “If that girl could have bought that pill herself, then this situation would have totally been avoided.” That was the aim of the program, there is no other explanation that would make sense out of the crisis that was the catalyst for all of the drama that created the conflict in the story.

What is my point?

Everywhere in our culture, the values that we hold are being attacked in aggressive ways³ or the passive ways that were displayed in this show. We must not ever stop our brains from filtering through everything we hear through the Word of God. Whether we are in a movie theater, in our living rooms watching TV, at church on Sunday, or in a group Bible study we need to be very diligent about testing everything that we hear and think in light of God’s Word.

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¹ This passage is famous for it’s specific indication that people who conduct their lives in adulterous, homosexual, thieving, or covetous ways will not inherit eternal life (i.e. go to heaven). However, the beauty of the gospel is seen in the next verse (1 Corinthians 6:11) where Paul says that “such were some of you” and then he describes how Christ and the power of the gospel transformed their lives. It is a beautiful thing to be saved by grace and washed in the cleansing blood of Christ.

² http://www.morningafterpill.org/mapinfo1.htm (emphasis added)

³ The homosexual characters and humor of “Will & Grace” or the promiscuous and casual nature of heterosexual sex as seen in “Friends” would be examples of the blatant or aggressive way that traditional (Christian) values are attacked.