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January 21, 2005
St. John Vianney Quote
Taken from the Daily Mass Readings page out at EWTN.
"The home must be in accord with the Church, that all harmful influences be withheld from the souls of children. Where there is true piety in the home, purity of morals reigns supreme."
As fathers, we must be on guard for what comes into our homes in any way, shape or form. I believe the media, in all of it's forms, is one of the main ways, if not THE main way that the devil tries, and often succeeds, to get into our homes and influence our families, not just the kids, but the parents as well.
We must be careful with what is on our TV's. We have stopped surfing the TV channels. I believe it is much better, to just simply find out ahead of time, what you want to watch, and then go right to that channel. When we channel surf, we briefly see images that are not pure, not holy. Our brains are amazing instruments that the Lord has created. They are like little computers that don't forget anything. Even brief glimpses of impure, unholy images get into our minds, and they are stuck there for many years to come. They do have an impact on us whether we admit it or not.
Of course, there are some who say throw the TV out the window. I am fine with that thinking. Yet, I believe there is a good reason to keep the TV around. EWTN is a good reason. If that's the only channel you have on, and then you stick to programming that you have more control of like DVD's, that sounds like a good plan too.
I have focused just on the TV with this post because it is the main culprit, but you have to be careful with books, magazines, music, etc. For crying out loud, you can't even drive down the highway anymore without being bombarded with impure images. We really need to pray for the conversion of our country, of our world.
Of course, I have only scratched the surface on ways our home gets exposed to impurity, to impiety. I'm hoping to see some expansion on this in the comment box.
God bless you!!!
Posted by Tom at January 21, 2005 9:54 AM
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Comments
Well, since nobody else has ventured to comment, I will share. The ONLY reason, these days, that we continue to pay for our satellite TV (Dish), is to get Major League Baseball (DH sprung for that package last year) and EWTN. What I recently did was program the TV menu for "Good TV" selection, so if the kids decide to channel surf, they are only doing it through my pre-selected/approved channels. I have tried to program mostly channels which don't have advertising geared specifically at children (Noggin, Disney East and West, PBS), plus information channels like History, Weather, NASA, Discovery, ESPN (for DH), Fox News, and, of course, EWTN. Once Lent rolls around, I am determined to enforce certain "rules" so we will get into better viewing "habits." Already I've noticed the kids choosing non-TV things in the afternoons. baby steps...
Posted by: Valerie at January 28, 2005 8:46 AM
Thanks for the input, Valerie. I like the idea of preprogramming the channels. I have heard that it is a good idea to plan ahead on what you want to watch so that you only watch those programs. Surfing will increase the amount of time we watch TV since we don't even have a purpose for watching other than just relaxing. Unless you actually have time limits on TV watching which is another good idea.
Posted by: goodform at January 28, 2005 11:00 AM