I am referring to teen girls’ fashion trends. Many of the
young ladies were dressed in outfits that I never would have allowed my
daughters to wear in any situation, least of all where they were required to
prance across a stage in front of an audience. One example of the “little black
dress” that every cosmopolitan thing must have was skin tight, barely long
enough to cover her buttocks, and it stretched low enough below her clavicles
to be somewhat suggestive. On a high school coed. At a graduation ceremony. I
could only wonder what her parents were thinking when they allowed her out of
the house. That dress looked exactly like something a “working girl” would wear
on the street corner during business hours.
I have written at length about proper attire for Christian
women (see below), so I will not belabor the facts here. My purpose in this
installment is to question how or why we have allowed ourselves to sink to such
a deplorable condition. The graduation ceremony I attended was at a school in a
predominantly Christian, conservative part of our country. I suspect that the
families represented had a higher percentage of church attendance than the
average US population. This was not LA or Miami. If you think I am being too
puritan or provincial, please read the articles linked below: Christian
Cleavage and Women’s Attire. It is true that I am old, but my opinions are
based on the old Book we are supposed to be using to inform our behavior.
It is my opinion that the state of our over-sexualized
society can be directly attributed to the nature of the television programs we
watch. I know that sexual sin can be traced all the way back to the earliest
pages of the Scriptural record long before the airwaves were polluted by smut.
I know that promiscuity and adultery are not new to the body of Christ. I know
that I cannot expect biblical morals from non-believers, so their behavior
shouldn’t surprise me.
The thing that seems different to me is the expectation and
expression of sexuality prevalent among those whom I would consider
conservative. I don’t watch much TV drama because it disgusts me. What little I
have seen makes me wonder if real people are as promiscuous as those portrayed
on the typical television program. Do real people crash into their apartment or
a hospital linen closet ripping their clothes off and doing what they do
standing against a wall? Perhaps my limited experience with today’s TV drama is
missing the married version of conjugal bliss that speaks of love and
tenderness. But when I think about it, I can’t recall a single episode
depicting a married couple in the bedroom. Hmm.
I am pretty sure that the human brain is wired in such a way
that if it records something happening in a morally neutral setting with no
negative consequences time after time, it will eventually accept that action or
condition as normal. I shudder to think that the sexual mores of people
portrayed on television are normal. I recently read an article by A. W. Tozer
in which he suggested that Christian behavior must not be judged by the
standard “not as bad as,” but instead we should be measuring our behavior
against a biblical standard. Using that standard, I wonder if we should be
watching any TV drama at all. Certainly, no Christian mother should allow her
daughter to appear in public dressed like a prostitute. Ever.
But they are. As I said in my previous articles, hours and
hours of bathing in the sewer that is commercial television have numbed us to
the searing debauchery which invades our homes electronically every night. I
recommended ten years ago that if we didn’t just unplug the box, we should at
least be very careful about what and how we watch it. I am even more convinced
now that that is true.
There is only one reason a television drama is able to be
produced: advertising revenue. What I am about to suggest is going to sound
naïve or ridiculous to many. I will say it anyway. If enough offended religious
viewers let the sponsors of raunchy programs know that they were offended by
the depiction of immorality, the sponsors would reconsider their involvement. Because
of the apathy of most American Christians, I am just cynical enough to expect
that that will happen right after pigs fly over Hollywood and Vine.
I close with the words of Paul: “Have nothing to do with the
fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even
to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the
light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This
is why it is said:
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as
wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore,
do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
Consider the Lord’s will regarding your TV viewing and how
it affects your behavior. As
I said several years ago, you don’t have to go as far as the Amish to make
a biblical statement to a sinful world. At the very least we should prevent our
daughters from looking like they are soliciting. My experience the other night
makes me think we have graduated to something akin to Sodom and Gomorrah. And
we know what happened to them.
Related Posts: Woke TV; How to Watch Television (1); How to Watch Television (2); How to Watch Television (3); Debating Christian Cleavage; Women’s Attire Again
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