“The N” is Nickelodeons channel aimed at teens. MTV has crafted and designed a cultural attack on children from birth through adulthood now as you move from Noggin as a child to Nickelodeon in grade school to The N as a pre-teen and teen then on to MTV, etc… They have crafted and marketed an onslaught of culture and they have done it well. As a Christian I have to ask the question – Should we let our children watch programming that is directed at pulling them in and keeping them over the years? Think I am overreacting? Watch a Noggin (designed for preschoolers) show and they advertise for the next level up. Watch Nick and they advertise for The N and MTV. They are not stupid and they know how to market.
So how bad are these shows? Lets take two of the mainstays on “The N” – Degrassi and South of Nowhere. These are Friday night staples shown back to back and they are dramas for teens and lets face it, pre-teens as well. Both of these shows feature homosexual relationships with visible romantic relationships. A commercial for Degrassi for an upcoming show has a teacher finding a vibrator in a students purse. The shows are highly sexual in nature and students who watch these shows are inundated with explicit content that most parents are blissfully unaware of. There is an agenda here – make all of these things, homosexuality, sex toys, sex, language, etc. acceptable. Dull the senses and make all of the aforementioned things seem like everyday life in the world of teens; however this is not the norm for the average teen in America.
So Christian mom and dad it is time to stop worrying about “making your child mad” and start getting involved in their lives. Pop culture is teaching students duality and when you do not talk with your child(ren) about these things because you don’t want to scare them off you are enabling this dual nature to continue. I have heard it said that to make something acceptable (to make it a norm) you get people to laugh at it, you show it in normal situations, you make it seem harmless, and then get them to accept it. I am not calling for a boycott, basically because it doesn’t work. I am calling for parents to know what their kids watch and talk to them about what they see and even turn off the idiot box when there are unacceptable things being shown.
Romans 12:1-2 is a cry to Christians to be renewed and transformed and not to be conformed to the world. MTV and their affiliates have an agenda – transform you children into the world, and they are doing it at an alarming rate. Ephesians 5:1-2 calls us to imitate God and to follow Christ. The shows above would have you follow their flawed worldview and be like them. So what will it be parent – let your children walk a straight line to hell because you are afraid to offend them or stand up and be a Christian parent. Talk with your children (don’t just turn it off without speaking the truth in love), worship with your children, and show your children love.
Two proverbs for parents - Proverbs 22:6 – “Train a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” and Proverbs 24:11 “Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to slaughter.” Your kids have enough “friends”, be a parent. Protect their eyes and ears. If you allow them to live a dual nature and conform to the world you are not being a Christian parent. I know that children will still stray even if you do everything, but at least at that point you trained them up with Christian morals and values and you tried to hold them back. If you choose not teach Christian morals and values to your children and let them rule the roost, you are indeed part of the problem. Either you will teach your children a Biblical worldview or MTV will be happy to teach them a secular, and materialistic worldview on several different channels througout the day.
Teach Christ – Talk about why things are wrong – Point your children to Scripture – and you must walk daily with the Lord.
