Life without TV

No, this is not a sermon on the dangers and pitfalls of owning a TV. I am sure you could do a quick Google search and find several of those if that is what you are looking for. I am simply commenting upon the recent expiration of our TV and the change it is having for me.

Our TV was one of those nifty models that had a built-in VCR. This was actually very useful. For the past 8+ years (it was a wedding present), we have not had to set a VCR timer, nor make sure the VCR and TV were on synchronized settings in order to watch a video. We could simply pop in a tape and we were immediately off to a night on the couch with a good movie.

My son had previously stuck things into the VCR slot which, I believe, caused the VCR function to stop working several months ago. Because most of the movies we now own are on DVD, this did not create much of a problem for us. The TV still worked fine.

Earlier this week, my son was again caught sticking small objects into the slot on our TV designed for VCR tapes. Very soon after, our TV began working improperly. Being the analytical type, I made the connection that if these objects were removed from inside the TV we would have a working set again. I removed these objects and our TV did begin to work properly.

Thursday, the TV again did not work properly. When you would go to turn it on it would switch back off in about 3 seconds. This happened no matter if you were trying to turn it on with the remote or directly on the TV itself. A few good bangs to the set seemed to rectify the problem. Thursday evening we were able to watch some TV with no further incident.

Last night, the TV again was having trouble staying on. Banging alone was not effective. I had to hold in the power button for an extended period of time before it would stay on. This time, though, instead of a clear picture on the screen we had a very narrow vertical line in the very center of the screen. The entire picture had been squished from the sides to the center and was displayed as a glowing ribbon about 1/8th of an inch wide. No amount of continued banging, adjusting, button pushing, or otherwise exasperated effort improved the situation. The verdict was in... Time of death: 4:47PM, October 10, 2008.

Celane was off to work. Sofia was off to the farm with her grandparents. Christopher and I were now at home with the sun quickly setting. We had passed some of the evening playing outside, but now were needing to head in. What were we going to do? We could not sit in front of the TV. Actually, we could sit in front of the TV, but that would have been strange. There was not much else to do but get in the car and go to a high school football game. The game was already in the 2nd quarter when we arrived, and we left near the end of the 3rd, but we had a good time. We watched some football, watched the marching band at halftime, and shared a hot dog.

Today, Celane had to go into work again. Christopher and I might have watched some cartoons on a typical Saturday morning. Instead we headed off in the car again. We walked around the mall to get some exercise and then Christopher played in the mall's play area for about 30 minutes. We came home to eat lunch and then I actually found time to read and now publish this second post of the day!

How long will we go without a TV? I don't know. We haven't really got a "new TV" section in our current budget. It might be a few weeks or even months. Will I miss watching some shows? Sure. The new TV season just started and there appeared to be some interesting shows I would have enjoyed. How will I fill my time? Well, I used to think I didn't have much time. Now, I will see how much time I might have been wasting. I have obviously already found new time to get some exercise, read, and update my blog. All this and it's not yet 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon. Wow, I probably have about 4 more hours or so of daylight with no TV interruptions! If I'm not careful I might just discover that life without TV is more like without TV, life.

How Very Creative

In a recent Wednesday night Bible study at my church, the study centered on the Creation. The interesting part about this was that we did not spend too much time going over the work of God in creating the physical universe. Instead, we talked about three creative ordinances that God established during His creative work. These three ordinances being labor, rest, and marriage.

Pastor posited that just as God designed natural laws that govern the physical world, He also designed at least these three ordinances that govern our human existence. These ordinances apply to all generations and all peoples just as physical and natural laws apply to the entire universe.

Of course, most of us have heard sermons on the importance of marriage and that marriage was instituted by God from the beginning. We surely can look at our society and see the negative consequences that have come from our general failure to follow the creative ordinance of marriage and what it should look like and accomplish. I will not take much time here to go into all of this since I am assuming we all are very familiar with what the Bible says about marriage.

I had not put forth much thought, though, on the implications of God's decrees for labor and rest. The ideas of labor and rest are not new to me. I am sure I could have answered, if questioned, that God ordained a place for labor and a place for rest within his creation, and that these were ordained for a purpose. What I had never taken time to ponder was the depth to which these two ordinances of God shape my life and society as a whole-- whether for ill or for good.

Just contemplate the recent economic crisis that has come upon our country. What are the causes of this crisis? Most experts, and common-sense folk, agree that major causes were greed on the part of lending institutions, greed on the part of governmental officials charged with overseeing certain sectors of the market, and greed on the part of individuals who spent more than they had and took out loans they could not really repay. What does the principle of labor as established by God in creation have to do with any of this? Once you stop to think for a moment it becomes quite clear that attempting to gain material possessions (houses, cars, dividends, stock options, payouts, inflated quarterly numbers, etc.) through quick and easy means is to circumvent the principle of labor that God Himself has established. Is it necessarily wrong to be materially wealthy? No. It is necessarily wrong to gain material wealth through deception and fraud? Absolutely yes!

The principle of rest has also been lost on our society as a whole, and, sadly, on much of the modern Christian community. Why did our society, in the not-too-distant past, have laws regulating activity on Sunday? Was it simply because a large portion of our society had been brought up with the notion that Sundays are "the Lord's Day"? That notion was certainly a part of it. Yet, I think there was more to it than that. I think that the original regulations on business activity and the like were formulated because at one time our society generally understood the principle of rest. God ordained one day in seven to be set aside to rest. This does not mean to simply not go to work. The idea of rest is clearly tied to putting off our usual daily cares and routines to focus on and worship God. What implications does our society now face because of the constant disregard for God by not giving Him His proper due?

As Bible-believing Christians strive to be salt and light in this world, we must remember the importance and necessity of clinging to the teaching of the Creation. I firmly believe it is important for us to defend the teaching of Creation from the atheistic\humanistic teaching of evolution. I have come to believe that it is just as important for Christians to defend the decrees of God set forth in His creative work on a daily basis. If we, as Christians, fail to uphold these three principles in our own lives, how will the world around us see what is lacking in theirs? The church of our generation cannot expect to be blessed by the Creator when we fail to abide by the Creator's decrees.