GOD'S MORAL MESSAGE

(MUSIC, MODEMS, MEDIA?)

by Fr. Jim Whalen, Catholic Life and Family, 2004, Issue 1

God’s standard for the use of music, modems, and the media is very clear and direct. Whenever we watch a movie or television show; whenever we read a magazine or listen to a CD; whenever we sign on to the Internet; we should ask: Would Jesus agree that this is good, true, right and beneficial for His brothers and sisters? Is this helpful? Is this Pro-Life? What should occupy our minds so that they can be uncluttered, clear and clean is described in Scripture: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable…If anything is excellent or praise-worthy…think about such things.” (Phil. 4:8) The Holy Spirit inspires us by teaching, guiding, and reminding us of God’s perspective in every situation that we encounter. He runs a multi-task operation inspiring us to live lives of love, joy, peace, mercy, and patience (cf. Gal 5:22). A messed-up mind, filled with trivia and trash, useless junk, so prevalent in today’s entertainment world, damages our lives and hinders our growth.

The Holy Spirit wants to fill our minds with “kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5: 22-23). Satan, on the other hand, wants to fill our minds with worthless facts and fantasies, useless information, half-truths and anti-life lies, so we do not have the time to think of God nor do we have room for His Spirit to work in us. The struggle takes place in our minds. Satan’s plan is to get us to ignore God, His standards, and His moral teachings. Satan uses media, modems, music, and other devices of this world, to lure our thoughts away from God. He tries to stir up our minds with constant, selfish cravings through the media, making it hard for us to be content. We find ourselves seeking bigger, louder, sexier, smarter ‘whatever’s’ to own or to do. Discontent creeps like cancer into our lives, chips away at our relationships, and leads to dissatisfaction, chronic disappointment, and restlessness. Satan’s strategy is to saturate our minds with misinformation, myths, falsehoods, and immorality, thus trapping us into self-promoting philosophies of materialism, consumerism, and relativism, building a Culture of Death.

When an individual watches questionable scenes on TV or exposes the mind to risqué descriptions in magazines or books; when we revel in endless and ruthless violence of video games of gawk at lewd pictures on the Internet; when we listen to vulgar lyrics on a CD, we violate God’s moral message - His requirements to keep our minds clear, clean and uncluttered. We are failing as Christian custodians and Pro-life disciples. It brings guilt, shame and sin into our lives.

The more we are exposed to something, the more we are likely to engage in it. The daily diet of multi-media images, lyrics, and statements, blur the distinction between right and wrong, without consideration of anti-life or ungodly choices. Most television shows accept sexual immorality and violence as social norms because they sell. What is being sold is untruthful, unrealistic immorality, tempting the individual with false beauty, empty promises, temporary instant pleasures and counterfeit wisdom. All this deception results in deadly decisions and chaotic living. Our consciences have been dulled by endless extreme overexposure, attacking our moral fiber and our violence levels of defence, conditioning many to live lives of promiscuity, opting for a contraceptive mentality, sabotaging the Holy Spirit’s workspace in many instances.

The American and Canadian people seem to have bought into the conditioning and conforming plans for youth by the Culture of Death promotion in the media, modems, music, and in some instances, education. Basically, it involves providing value-free guidance on sexuality to teenagers; dispensing unlimited quantities of contraceptives to adolescents through clinics and on campuses; making sure by all means possible that parents are pushed out of the picture; making available unlimited access to free abortions for young women who are pregnant, without parental involvement or permission. The Culture of Life plan counters these means by advocating: that parents are involved in the system by strengthening and supporting their positions of authority and as primary educators of their children; by teaching sexual abstinence and chastity to teenagers, informing them of the dangers and the myth of safe sex; by removing the incentives for teenagers to become pregnant such as government aid for those not living at home; by leading young children and teenagers into a personal and meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. The basics of the Judeo-Christian value system must be once again a priority in our lives.

God’s moral message and standards are clear. We are to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). Every thought we allow should be able to pass the examination proposed in Scripture. Is this thought, true, noble… right… pure… lovely… admirable… excellent… worthy? (cf Phil 4:8) +