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Dr. Del Tackett is the author, architect and teacher for Focus on the Family's The Truth Project, a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.
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Warning: There is Salmonella in Your TV!
Posted on November 10, 2008
Filed Under Philosophy/Ethics |
I will set before my eyes no vile thing. Psalm 101:3
What do all of these have in common: anchovies, orange juice, puffed wheat, alfalfa sprouts, cantaloupe, jalapeño peppers, pork cracklings, baby spinach, chicken breasts, ground beef, fruit trays and Veggie Booty Snack Food? Sometime during the last two years, their producers have issued recalls due to contamination with salmonella bacteria. People who consumed these products were at health risk. But this is only the list of salmonella recalls.
Tons of products have been recalled due to contamination by tiny organisms like E. Coli, Melamine, and Listeria. Many more have been recalled simply because the product contains undeclared ingredients like eggs, sulfites, hazel nuts, peanuts, milk products, or wheat. Since I am an avid tomato soup consumer, the recent recall on October 31 interested me. It came from General Mills, who issued a voluntary recall on a single day’s production of its Progresso Hearty Tomato soup. Why? Because the label didn’t list egg, milk and soy, which could produce allergy symptoms in its customers.
There are thousands of other recalls that are underway: necklaces containing lead that could be ingested by children; lithium batteries that might overheat; wooden toys with small parts that could break off and pose a choking hazard for small children; a treadmill that could speed up unexpectantly; etc. The list goes on and on: trailer axles; computer docking stations, boat tops, motorcycles, trucks, cars, tires, child safety seats…and, I kid you not, a pacemaker. That’s not easy to recall if it has been installed.
I am actually thankful for all of this. Although I don’t have a pacemaker and don’t consume jalapeño peppers, pork cracklings or Veggie Booty Snack Food, I would like to know that my puffed wheat is safe to eat and when I sit down to enjoy a hearty bowl of tomato soup, I would like to know that there isn’t something strange lurking in the hidden depths of my bowl. This is especially true with my morning oatmeal, when those kinds of thoughts could drive you crazy (oatmeal has a million things in it that look suspicious).
Sometimes I have felt that we have gone overboard with these recalls, but in the end, I suppose I would vote for being overly cautious than too cavalier.
However, this quick trigger to pull product doesn’t seem to be a part of the entertainment industry. I have heard many entertainment “stars” passionately get involved in social issues and cry for banning products that endanger health, like cigarettes. But when it comes to pulling their own products, there is nothing but silence.
Last week, a most interesting article appeared. Maybe you read it. Here is the opening paragraph:
“Groundbreaking research suggests that pregnancy rates are much higher among teens who watch a lot of TV with sexual dialogue and behavior than among those who have tamer viewing tastes.”
Duh!
Groundbreaking? That’s like saying groundbreaking research shows that people who eat chicken with Salmonella are prone to get sicker than those who eat bacteria-free chicken.
I remember years ago being floored by a government sponsored study to determine why children fall off of bicycles and tricycles. The heavily funded research found that they fall off because they lose their balance or run into something.
Amazing!
So, now we have a well-done Rand Corporation study that shows a strong link between behavior and what we watch on TV. This shouldn’t shock us. Advertisers pay millions of dollars hoping that their 30-second “spots” will change our behavior.
The Rand study found that “teens who watched the raciest shows were twice as likely to become pregnant” as those who watched few such programs. The study involved 1,792 teens and their viewing habits of 20 TV shows that contained lots of sexual content, such as “Sex and the City”, “That 70’s Show”, and “Friends”.
Now, it seems to me that there should have been an immediate voluntary “recall” by all of the producers of the 20 TV shows: HBO, FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC, MTV, etc. The headlines should have read: “MTV Recalls MTV”, or “NBC Recalls ‘Friends’”. The column should have then detailed how these producers were recalling their products with an apology and warning like this: “HBO is recalling all versions of “Sex and the City”, including all DVD sales and issues a warning that these episodes have been strongly linked to teenage sexual activity and possible pregnancy. We wish to apologize to the American public and pledge to insure further TV productions will be screened carefully to prevent this kind of contamination from being released into the public airways. Please be assured that HBO is committed to producing a healthy product and regrets this failure.”
Well, that’s what we should have heard. However, selling chicken that might make someone sick for a few days obviously is much more serious than leading our kids into promiscuous sex, pregnancy and, no doubt, abortion.
We hold one accountable and turn a blind eye to the other.
Someone out there should care about this stuff.
P.S. Parents, since “recalls” of unhealthy TV programs will probably not happen anytime soon, you will have to take the role of protecting your teens. Don’t forget to look for contamination in movies, music, teen magazines and, yes, even video games. Guard yourself as well. Set no vile thing before your eyes or the eyes of your children.
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37 Responses to “Warning: There is Salmonella in Your TV!”
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The media could have a strong influence on people’s lives that effects the way they live. The channels on television that keeps bringing the same information over and over again can make you feel convinced it is true (bad channels or shows). In reality it’s illusional. Like what Dr. Dell Tackett said that, “The study found that “teens who watched the raciest shows were twice as likely to become pregnant” as those who watched few such programs.”
Here is another example from a web source at http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Tristani/spgt916.html: “One of these dangers were tragically demonstrated by an event in Dallas, Texas this past May. A 7-year-old boy killed his 3-year-old brother by copying a wrestling move he saw on TV. According to the police, the older boy slammed his little brother to the floor with a running straight-armed punch to the neck, a move called a “clothesline” in the wrestling world. Asked to show what he had done, the boy ran at a life-size doll from about ten feet away. As he got close to the doll, he stuck out his arm at shoulder-height and struck the doll in the neck, knocking it backwards. The 3-year-old boy died from brain swelling caused by his head striking the family’s concrete carpeted floor. The 7-year-old was devastated, crying to the police that he didn’t mean to hurt his brother.”
Thank you for the information for today Dr. Dell Tackett.
Amen and well said! The double standard is alive and well.
Thanks for your comments on “recalls” especially linking it to the study referenced on the Nov. blog, Del.
‘There are more teens who watch “Sex in the City” who end up pregnant than those teens who do not watch such programs.’ Dah, is right! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know the Enemy uses TV to breakdown the Godly heritage we Bible believing Christians teach to our children and grandchildren. We need to be more outspoken and in control of the TV programs we allow in our homes for both children and adults. Thanks for being vocal about your insights. Judy & Bill
Well Said….
It is unfortunate that many Christians have no problem with watching these kinds of shows. We value our “entertainment needs” above keeping our minds pure. We have come to the point now, where many people are desensitized to viewing immoral behavior, and consider it all totally normal and even humorous. Satan has used humor to cause many of us to look over sin - What we laugh at, we do not take seriously. We Christians are very familiar with Romans chapter one discussion of human depravity. How familiar are we with the last verse which gives a strong rebuke to those who “give approval to those who practice” these immoral acts. By allowing these actions into our homes, and paying for them in our entertainment pursuits, are we not giving them approval?
We unplugged our television over a year ago, on August 13th, 2007. We decided to do this after we noticed our then 4 and 6 year old children had many more TV show dialogs memorized than Bible verses.
We are not disconnected with the going-ons of the world. We are not suffering, nor are our children. We can read the news online, and can filter ourselves from a lot of the toxic details we had saturated ourselves with in the past.
Another thing that we noticed is that most of our children’s imaginary play was actually recreating scenes from favorites shows on television. It took about 6 weeks before my children showed evidence of original thought in their play.
Of course, the time they had previously spent mindlessly watching television was just substituted with something else - reading books (or having them read to them.) I found it curious that when other stories are presented in this way it didn’t affect their play in the same way that TV did. In fact, just the opposite, it seemed to fuel more original thought.
I am so grateful that we were able to deal with this issue now. Your post has only added more confirmation in my mind that we did the right thing. No matter how drastic some may believe it to be.
“All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching?” ~Nicholas Johnson
Pardon me if I missed it, but where did the observed correlation in the basic study data (TV habits / behavior) support the assumption of cause? Were the TV viewing habits affected by a predisposition to a behavior, or was the behavior the outcome of TV viewing habits?
In response to Bob:
No, we can’t prove from this study that watching the shows influenced the teens to be sexually active. However, good common sense tells us that actions are often a reflection of what has been observed. Anyone who has children can tell you this. What we watch does affect us, or else we wouldn’t watch it. In this case the desire effect is to be entertained. However this kind of entertainment can have some unintended side effects.
If teens (and adults) repeatedly watch sexual material, what do you think they will be thinking about? And if you think about enough, it will likely be reflected in your actions. Sure, there are other factors that contribute to the increase in extra-marital teenage sex. But, one thing is certain: these shows can not be part of the solution to reducing teenage sexual activity.
I liken the mind to like planting a garden, if one wishes to grow weeds… throw a bunch of weedy seeds into it……..although if one wishes to grow a beautiful garden of beautiful flowers with awesome beauty than plant those kinds of seeds.
Our culture is full of beauty………unfortunately one will not find this without a search. The symphony whilst it is not regularly programmed on television (well as far as I know….i threw a brick through my televison some years back) theatre, arts, and music literature is a great way to enrich the mind and feed the soul. I hope it is still on tv.
Dr. Tackett about the time you were returning home from Viet Nam………..along about 1975 I was in High School coincidently in Kansas City, hey! every man a Wild Cat! the media nation wide was owned by more than 1500 different companies. You can now count the owners of the entire Nations media on one hand.
It isnt hard to first come to the conclusion how easy it is for a few to control the masses, and it is called entertainment WOW! cause lets face it television can be the very vile thing in and of itself! a self induced manipulation of ones mind if you will, cause it is a choice to watch the box. If you actually believe what you see on television you are apt to believe what one of the largest defense contactors in the world wants you to beleive.
What happened to fishing with dad, walks and picnics in the park. I rarely see our parks filled with families picnicking on a Sunday??
but in the end how else can the media not govern by fear, degrade our society, corrupt the minds of our youth if they dont throw a bunch of weed seeds at the viewer
I suppose the real question is what kind of soil does the viewer have? or wish to have? Do we need to change the station?….or better yet throw a brick at the TV!!!! I prefer the latter.
Though my first response was somewhat sharp with regards to tv entertainment i do care about what is going on. our adults in our generation need to grab ahold of the controls and offer our next generation the kind of education that will bring satisfaction and success.
We need to rescue the adults that are addicted to the stuff or simply by pass them and embrace the children!
My wife and I have kept are family TV free for the past 4 years and our 2 sons ages 11 & 13 have
not suffered any adverse effects due this deprivation. Our “free” time is spent in prayer and reading the bible.
Wow! Very well written and so true!
I wish parents would wake up to the salmonella they’re feeding their children in their living rooms and bedrooms by remaining silent and using TV as a babysitter! Would they ever think of leaving them with a babysitter who constantly feeds their kids infected food?
Does it seem strange to anyone else that we’ve heard such frequent announcements about the upcoming switchover to HD? Who doesn’t know by now? One would think somebody’s expecting a groundswell of panic, violence, or depression should the uninformed carelessly lose their daily “fix.” Content is one serious component, but time wasted - not used in creative pursuits and relationships - is a major factor also.
Kent said;
“We have come to the point now, where many people are desensitized to viewing immoral behavior, and consider it all totally normal and even humorous.”
**
The reflection of our culture says it all!
If I may, What is your steady diet; You are what you eat (what I’m referring to is “watching”).
Our family of three sons is raised and they are out on their own. With the empty nest syndrome we were watching more TV. In many instances TV programming can be an insult to the average persons intelligence. The value of a human life has been taken away. How many murders do they say a child sees by the time he or she is ten years old ? Roll models for our younger generation is a joke to us.
Many evenings now our TV is off. We are reading more and getting involved with crafts and things like puzzles. Back in the days of only Three major TV networks plus an educational channel the programming wasn’t too bad. Now with cable and the need to fill so much air time it’s no wonder these networks are grabbing at straws to fill air time. Thus very questionable programming is out there. Parents should be paying more attention to what is coming into their homes.
Over thirty years ago a sociolgist made the declaration that to not allow your children to watch TV would make them socially deprived….. my immediate thought was…. it is better to be socially deprived than socially depraved….
This was back when TV was relatively safe… today?
Dr. Tackett, thank you so much for the Truth Project!!! Every church body in the country needs to go through it! And thank you for this perspective on destructive TV shows, and the negative influence they have on us and our children! Whatever happened to the F.C.C.! It was alive and well in the 60’s - 80’s…
I entered the following in the search window of an internet search engine:
study tv watching affects sexual behavior
The following is the first link given by the search:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/114/3/e280
Here is the abstract for the study reported at this link, published online over four years ago. As far as I know, there have been no recalls based upon this study, done by the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Given that there was a control group, and also the number of subjects, I believe we have the necessary correlation to support the conclusion. Especially since the study controlled “for respondent characteristics that might otherwise explain these relationships.”
Realize that this is not a religious study!!
PEDIATRICS
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS
Published online September 1, 2004
PEDIATRICS Vol. 114 No. 3 September 2004, pp. e280-e289 (doi:10.1542/peds.2003-1065-L)
ELECTRONIC ARTICLE
Watching Sex on Television Predicts Adolescent Initiation of Sexual Behavior
Rebecca L. Collins, PhD*, Marc N. Elliott, PhD*, Sandra H. Berry, MA*, David E. Kanouse, PhD*, Dale Kunkel, PhD**, Sarah B. Hunter, PhD* and Angela Miu, MS*
* RAND, Santa Monica, California
** University of California, Santa Barbara, California
ABSTRACT
Background. Early sexual initiation is an important social and health issue. A recent survey suggested that most sexually experienced teens wish they had waited longer to have intercourse; other data indicate that unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases are more common among those who begin sexual activity earlier. The American Academy of Pediatrics has suggested that portrayals of sex on entertainment television (TV) may contribute to precocious adolescent sex. Approximately two-thirds of TV programs contain sexual content. However, empirical data examining the relationships between exposure to sex on TV and adolescent sexual behaviors are rare and inadequate for addressing the issue of causal effects.
Design and Participants. We conducted a national longitudinal survey of 1792 adolescents, 12 to 17 years of age. In baseline and 1-year follow-up interviews, participants reported their TV viewing habits and sexual experience and responded to measures of more than a dozen factors known to be associated with adolescent sexual initiation. TV viewing data were combined with the results of a scientific analysis of TV sexual content to derive measures of exposure to sexual content, depictions of sexual risks or safety, and depictions of sexual behavior (versus talk about sex but no behavior).
Outcome Measures. Initiation of intercourse and advancement in noncoital sexual activity level, during a 1-year period.
Results. Multivariate regression analysis indicated that adolescents who viewed more sexual content at baseline were more likely to initiate intercourse and progress to more advanced noncoital sexual activities during the subsequent year, controlling for respondent characteristics that might otherwise explain these relationships. The size of the adjusted intercourse effect was such that youths in the 90th percentile of TV sex viewing had a predicted probability of intercourse initiation that was approximately double that of youths in the 10th percentile, for all ages studied. Exposure to TV that included only talk about sex was associated with the same risks as exposure to TV that depicted sexual behavior. African American youths who watched more depictions of sexual risks or safety were less likely to initiate intercourse in the subsequent year.
Conclusions. Watching sex on TV predicts and may hasten adolescent sexual initiation. Reducing the amount of sexual content in entertainment programming, reducing adolescent exposure to this content, or increasing references to and depictions of possible negative consequences of sexual activity could appreciably delay the initiation of coital and noncoital activities. Alternatively, parents may be able to reduce the effects of sexual content by watching TV with their teenaged children and discussing their own beliefs about sex and the behaviors portrayed. Pediatricians should encourage these family discussions.
It would also be interesting to know how many people convicted of violent crimes are ardent fans of horror movies. Especially serial offenders.
Obviously, sin doesn’t originate in media. It lurks inside each one of us. When media producers follow the darkness inside them in making productions, the productions logically appeal to that same darkness in those who view them. For these talented folks to say that they are not part of the problem is blatant, shameful irresponsibility.
A big challenge for me and my fellow believers is this: Am I aware of the ways our culture has/is pressuring me into it’s mold? Our culture because of it’s early Christian influences is perhaps more morally compromised than any other culture in history. Some of these areas of compromise get complicated, especially in the realm of medical practice.
Mike W
I agree with you, Dr. Tackett, but I would hope that as Christians we will discern between a television show that contains sexual content and a television show that endorses sexual immorality.
An example that people use to make a similar point is Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. It is a very violent play, but it is a very moral tale in that the villains get there just desserts in the end. On the other hand, there are many examples of TV shows and movies that glamorize and promote violence.
Similarly, it seems like discerning parents could discern between Friends episodes that seem to promote premarital sex and, say, an episode of Boston Legal that had a very balanced discussion of abortion. Interestingly, Boston Legal was actually praised on November 11 by this very conservative media watchdog group, the Culture and Media Institute, for how it presented the abortion issue.
Boston Legal might be a bad example for other reasons, but I just wanted to clarify that not all sexual content contains a moral that promotes sexual immorality, and discerning parents may wish to bring up and discuss these issues with their maturing teen as they become ready, and sometimes TV could be a conversation starter.
Very good comments from everyone about TV and its affects! The content on TV is why I watch so little of it.I am glad that Focus on the Family has Plugged In (both in print and online)to give insight into TV and movies and other media.
I’m with you all, Amy and Max, my wife and I got rid of our TV and Xbox 5 years ago, the only time I long to sit and veg out in front of a tv is when I really don’t want to study, pray, or do anything productive around the house. I notice that my sensitivity has increased to things that I usually was indifferent to. This is patially due to not watching tv. I know this factually because when I am over at someones house that has a TV on, and they are watching some popular show, I get a knot in my stomach, my wife and I always look at each other and think/say the same thing ,”Thank God that we were able to get rid of our TV”
Having had upfront experience with a son who was diagnosed with ADHD, I cannot stress enough how vital it is to either remove TV watching completely or to curtail it drastically. The difference in his concentration levels and the dramatic change in his behaviour has been remarkable. He is only allowed to watch 2 hrs per weekend and nothing during the week and the choice of channel has to be a good one e.g Animal Planet, National Geographic etc. I definitely find that the so-called “harmless” cartoon channels make him “nuts”, as we like to call it - defiant, rude, petulant and willful. Life is much more peaceful without this kind of negative input and I have to say, that his relationship with the Lord has grown in leaps and bounds. Rubbish in, rubbish out!
Unfortunately this behavior is not isolated to teens. It happens to adults too. Thank you Truth Project!
I was raised in Christian home and when I was young, my parents were eager to obey the Holy Spirit as they asked Him to help them raise my sisters and I according to revelation that their parents did not have.
Though we only had a set of rabbit ear antennae that picked up 4 or 5 local TV stations, the first rule was that we could not listen to commercials. During Saturday morning cartoons, I can still hear my mother yelling from the kitchen, “Mute the commercials or it’s going off!!!” and we had the option to mute the commercial and yawn until our show resumed, or change the channel to another cartoon while we waited. God had shown my mother that commercials were strategically designed to create discontentedness.
She was vindicated one Christmas when the man loading our Christmas tree onto the car tried to make conversation with me:
“What are you asking Santa for Christmas?”
6-year-old me just smiled and shrugged my shoulders.
“Are you going to ask him for a new doll?”
I thought about it, then replied, “No, I already have one.”
My mother about jumped for joy.
I am 24 now, and I did not grow into some strange and culturally isolated individual because I couldn’t watch commercials or date until I was 18. I’m fully financially independent, debt free, a year away from my Master’s degree, single with no children out of wedlock… And the only tv I own was given to me by friends who thought I was deprived. It has never been plugged in and sits in a storage closet in my spare bedroom.
I know full well that my parents’ submission to the Lord early in my life set me up to become and keep becoming who God wants me to be. My Dad used to always say, “We’re oftentimes so intent on giving our children all the things we DIDN’T have, that we forget to give them what we DID have,” refering to the material luxuries that tend to ruin us when provided without limits and replace the things that develop character, creativity, and initiative.
I am a senior in high school, and I just wanted to thank you, Mr. Tackett, for reinforcing the Truth that is found in the Bible. I think too many Christians in today’s society, especially my genereation, don’t really take the time to think about how they will witness to others. If someone does ask you a question about what you believe, are you prepared to give an answer for the hope you have? I ABSOLUTEY love Mr. Tackett’s famous statement, “Do you really believe what you believe is really real?”
Thank you, Focus on the Family for all you are doing.
God bless.
Dr.Tackett, I want to thank you & all involved in the Truth Project! My husband & I are Life Group leaders & host fellow Christians in our home weekly. This series has been truly inspiring & thought provoking. It has increased our faith & desire to spread God’s Truth in all areas of our lives. We very much agree with your blog on T.V.quality. We find less & less programing to watch. We feel that even the news is slanted & cannot trust what we hear. We have another subject that maybe worth discussing, that came up @ the last Life Group session on the dvd #9-State.
Question of how the Patriot Act my be understood & if it could lead to persecution of the Christian faith, if the State(ruling authority)did not want Christian gatherings.? Thank you for your time. God’s blessings to you, keep up the good work the Lord has started in you.
Here’s something appropriate pertaining to this subject of T.V. and what it does to us.
Modern Psalm 23
The T.V. is my shepherd. I shall not want; It makes me lie down on the sofa; It leads me away from the faith; It destroys my soul. It leads me in the paths of sex and violence for the sponsor’s sake. Yea, though I walk in the shadow of Christian responsibilities, there will be no interuption, for the T.V. is with me. Its cable and remote control, they comfort me. It prepares a commercial for me in the presence of my worldliness; It annoints my head with humanism and consumerism, my coveting runneth over. Surely laziness and ignorance shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of watching T.V. forever.
Psalm 101:3 I will set no wicked thing before my eyes.
TV’s influence? I haven’t had a TV in ???? ,aybe 6 or 7 years or more. Newton Minnow (circa 1950’s) comment on TV’s being a vast wasteland is still true.
In response to Bob, God’s Word, proof enough for me,
1 Cor 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
KJV
1 Cor 15:33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
(from New International Version)
My mom had Psalms 101:3 written out and taped to the top of the TV…everytime we watched it, we saw that scripture, it was a great, constant reminder to my sister and I as we were growing up.
Dr. Tackett, thank you so much! God has given you such a great gift in your teaching and communication. Through you, the Holy Spirt as stirred a fire in me that had grown luke warm. NOT NO MORE
Thank you for this excellent article. I have marked your website as a favorite and will visit it again. As a teenager my first cigarette was a Marlboro because I thought the cowboy on the horse was free and relaxed as he smoked. Fortunately, I haven’t smoked for 35 years and the appetite that was awakened by a scene on the television is dead. Praise the Lord!
Dear Brother Tackett,
All I can say is I thank God for your hard work in the Kingdon of God. My wife and I have just
taken twogroups of people thru the Truth Project and they were really blessed.
You are quite a blessing to us. We give all the
praise nd glory to our Father God.
Please keep up the great works you are doing.
God loves you and so do we.
David and Carol
I like your correlation.
I am in the process of previewing a beautiful presentation of the world, nature, and I think eventually, the universe, put out by the BBC. It has nothing to do with the statistics you bring up about promiscuity and tv, however, it is chalk full of subtle comments about our assumed evolution making it impossible for me to allow my 9 & 10 year olds to watch it. As much as I want them to see it, I know their little minds would bury the seeds of the lies it tells for young undiscerning children bringing division and doubt in later years, rejecting the creation and the God who created it. Even what appears to be good and beautiful is full of corruption.
Thank you for calling the media our on this. It was a good reminder to my be careful with what I watch and listen to and who I let in fluence me. I have found that when I am with friends that are not walking with Christ or my not careful with the music that I choose to listen to it is easier to adopt the same life style as them. This is also true, as stated above, with all froms of media. Paul warned the Corinthians of this in his first letter to them:
“Do not be deceived: bad company ruins good morals.”
I just returned from visiting my father, a former pastor, who has Alzheimers. He doesn’t remember me much anymore, and cannot carry on a conversation, either. So, I sing to him old hymns and songs from my childhood that he’d taught us. He still remembers them, and sings along in his whispery little voice. This blog reminded me of a song my dad taught us whose verses read like this…
1. Oh, be careful little eyes what you see…
2. Oh, be careful little ears what you hear…
3. Oh, be careful little mouth what you say,
Oh, be careful little mouth what you say,
There’s a Father up above, looking down on us
with love
Oh, be careful little mouth what you say.
I think we all can agree that an ungodly worldview is alluringly portrayed in many programs on television. I would also be interested in comments concerning the types of literature we allow, or do not allow, our teenagers to read. What standards should be set, what boundaries should not be crossed, and when should a parent refuse to allow their teenager to read a required book for their high-school English class?