You can’t spell “redemptive” without TV
February 8, 2006
Jay Jameson
Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that television is a systematic, self-serving corporate monster that regards me and everyone I care about as nothing more than a fickle and frustrating commodity; while allowing the most irreverent sounds and images society has to offer to be sluiced through a black lens across my living room floor and into my warm, supple brain. Still, I seem to recall someone at some point saying, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor.” If you ever feel that the only solution to the societal malady television has inflicted on western culture is to avoid the medium altogether, dwell on these two truths. First, television, in some form, will long outlast you and everyone you’ve ever known, and secondly, as Christians we are called to maintain proper stewardship over all of God’s creation, not excluding the frenzied, incandescent empire of television. All too often, I observe intelligent Christians scrambling to denounce television like passengers of a doomed ocean liner, boarding its life rafts in an attempt to get as far away from the disaster as possible. Though both television and shipwrecks arguably suffer from progressive decline, the difference between them is that television will not one day submerge beneath a watery abyss. For better or worse, it is going to be around for a very, very long time. There is no sense in resisting television’s ubiquity; it will win by attrition. Though refusing access of the mediated droning of television’s all-seeing eye into your home is a noble endeavor, you will become the extreme minority and will have that
much less in common with the culture around you. Furthermore, you shouldn’t expect anyone to imitate your example of television abstinence. No matter how strong your convictions, when you drive home tonight, the windows of your neighborhood will be blue with the glow of the next American Idol or housewives getting more and more desperate. The condition of being in the world, but not of it is no doubt tricky. Nevertheless, asserting that television is a worldly vice beyond redemption tempts the gnostic separation of Christ and culture. Being the bright-eyed, idealistic Communications major that I am, I can’t help but think that there may be some better solution to this issue than the unforgiving rejection of the controversial medium. On the other hand, the majority of Christian programming, being the opposite extreme,
is also an inadequate response. The unfortunate tendency for believers to misconstrue the Great Commission makes Christian television mercilessly evangelistic at the expense of its own quality. In the world of media, I believe that the most blatant witness is often the least effective. Whether you choose to be part of the television industry or just an occasional viewer, your involvement is invaluable. The world so desperately needs Christians who know what good television looks like – morally, aesthetically, artistically, and so forth. Television programming is thirsty for believers with a critical eye for its redemptive qualities and the boldness to bring glory to God amidst the “coarse subject matter” of what is perhaps the most public of media. As you read this, there are countless stories being broadcasted above your head that display relevant godly themes, whether intentional or not. It takes an intelligent person of faith to discern those themes and perhaps, with a little ambition, replicate them in his or her own story to be set adrift in the incessant and inescapable electromagnetic current streaming noiselessly through the atmosphere.
Now you go...
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