Sitcom Morality & TV's salvation

The Value system inside The American Sitcoms
“the seat of the mockers”; “What can the just do?”

Television is often a loner’s staple diet and everyone else's junk food. The sweet covered poison capsules, that come to us through TV sitcoms can be awful tempting to emulate and become the playbook of life for a lot of singles. This is especially true where there is an an alarming absence of alternative programs that have a true godly, biblical vision that are able to compete in this genre(Except perhaps for Mr. Tyler Perry, Thank you!). Sure, some of these programs are hilarious and make us laugh and they may even have some useful, helpful qualities but they chip away at divine, eternal foundational principles that have to do with how we ought to live and which ought to be revered by everyone. Instead, mockery is made out of love, marriage, Christianity, The Commandments and even God himself; so woe is us.

In spite of the fact that sitcoms based on a married couple like 'Raymond' have proven that 'the funnies' don't have to come at the expense of morality and that audiences love them, the current slew of sitcoms and dramas, like for example, “Two and a half men” starring Charlie Sheen, stick to a recipe that flaunts a hedonistic portrayal of relationships in order to get laughter. Instead of boycotting the show for its 'in your face' hedonism we somehow forgive Charlie and laugh away at the jokes. Why? Well there is(was) a little cute boy in the show(who has since grown up) and Charlie's philandering are a result of him being raised by a doosie of a narcissistic mother. Also, the comedy and sarcasm is so funny we will hardly notice the serious moral glitches paraded in the show. It's true, Charlie has some identifaible likeability; he has bouts with his conscience and he is certainly way cooler than his eccentric brother played by Jon Cryer. Just don't bring your fiancee within 50 yards of him or your wife for that matter. Yes, Charlie also commits adultery and once had a black eye to prove it. He also usually drowns out his downturn in mood by drinking profusely and needs to see his therapist once in a while.

"That Charlie, 'har har', I tell you, is a smooth criminal." The mockery continues with Charlie laughing it up all the way to a ratings heaven and to a syndication blitz of an immoral/amoral show. To be fair, Charlie Sheen is just an actor in the show who is only lending his 'academy award' caliber acting ability to such an inspiring(not) production, so assigning blame may not be easy in these situations. Is it the writers or the producers or the audience who is at fault? It suffices to say something is wrong and we are still waiting for the moral of this show. Is it that a life of Philandering makes you hate yourself or that you should never grow up to stop chasing the ladies? Maybe someone will write in an ending where Charlie has a conversion experience, even if only in an alternate universe, but we are only dreaming (they would do anything but that as it would effectively kill Charlie the 'horn-dog' as he is often called). And anyways, such a show like that called Fringe is already running on another network; we will probably tune in there next week.

Someone will say, "There are fine, subtle points to these shows we need to appreciate, along with the biting sarcasm and a well written and acted comedy." To which we will reply, "Subtle points, really?! which ones?" Sure, it's superbly written and acted with a type of comedy that makes a farce of those things we all should hold sacred. Whatever other subtleties there might be are drowned out completly or forgotten while we unwillingly laugh at the sheer suggestivness of the lines spoken in the show. Someone else might even suggest that these shows are the last bastions of a straight entertainment, as if God were to carry a bigger stick for one sin over against another. Yet someone else will say, if you don't like it don't watch it. To which we reply, "If It's not good for a 12 year old you shouldn't sell it either, because that's who will/might end up watching it"

Once we have lit the barn on fire, there is no point in trying to save the hay. That's what sin does to our communities; it spreads like fire and ultimately it destroys lives; so we don't compromise with it, we put it out, by repenting(meta-noeo: greek for turning or changing of our mind) and turning our backs on it once and for all and embracing Christ's wonderful offer of his own pure and righteous life instead. Unlike when our buddies tell us to quit something, the power of the word "repentance" has great authority because it's heaven's council to someone living a wayward lifestyle.

If you were to ask what hat the devil was wearing these days, comedy has to be one of his favorite five. What we as a people find funny can serve as gauge as to where we are in the history of western culture, where once upon a time Christianity held sway. Today, both seemingly and apparently, people want their fill of selfish indulgence as a right of passage before having to commit to any relationships. They form convenient short term agreements for mutual gratification that are supposed to be ‘freeing’ such as the one made between Elaine and Seinfeld. In a particular episode Elaine and Seinfeld make a pact to sleep together without having to do the 'cumbersome' things that come with a real relationship. To be fair to the said characters, they only articulated the selfishness and sin smoldering beneath the veneer of a 'respectable' modern society. Of course, as even the characters eventually found out, it turns out that it’s not really freeing at all but rather a deceptive lie that traps people in a cycle of sinful liaisons, one regrettable affair after another. Sure, Joey and the other characters from the show 'Friends' might be nice but do they have to go to bed with a different person on every other episode? If we all lived selfish lives like that where would be fidelity, honor and a family with loving parents or children? Yet,the mockery continues and it keeps getting worse. What can then the righteous do?

It would seem that such selfish lifestyles are being embraced except for among a few pockets of resistance such as among Mennonites or the Hamish or those evangelical churches that have retained a traditional culture rooted in the faith and religion. If the old prophet Isaiah were alive he would have cried on the streets of New York, London or many of the world's cities that are heavens for a lifestyle of fornication "If God had not left us a remnant we would be like Sodom and even as Gomorrah" (Isaiah 1:9).

Live by TV Die on TV

Without any risk of sounding like an alarmist, we plainly observe the following. We see the fire burning all around us, families are going under, marriages are failing and children are without their mothers and fathers*. Due to the moral relativism that we live in today, we are left to fight our moral failures by confronting our insurrections on public television shows like Maury, Cheaters or The Steven Wilcox shows, way after they have become full blown and when only little or nothing can be done to save them. These venues have little power to effect change or bring about a solution as no one is able to invoke the divine moral code, The Ten Commandments or it's giver. How can someone be told that they have sinned when there are no clear defined laws that tell them what sin is? If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? A nation that could have been a light to the world, its shining example of justice, truth and morality has now parts that have become the moral scourge of the world, it's Babylon. It would wonderful if we had shows in TV land that are on par with regard to artistic creative aspects without compromise on good morals and righteous principles. It may be too late for that. Maybe it's time to jump ship before it sinks.