As American culture continues its slide into immorality, three new TV shows point the way. 666 Park Avenue is “New York’s most seductive address.” Why? Because it’s the site of “ABC’s wickedly sensual, sexy and spine-tingling new drama about fulfilling our deepest desires.” The building is home to “supernatural forces which endanger the lives of its residents”; it “maintains a dark hold over all of its tenants in this new, chilling drama, tempting them through their ambitions and desires.”
NBC is responding with The New Normal : “With successful careers and a committed, loving partnership, Bryan and David are missing only one thing: a baby. Could Goldie be just the surrogate mother they’re searching for?” CBS’s fall entry in the decadence sweepstakes is called Partners. One of the stars is gay, the other straight. They have created an architectural firm, “but their relationship is tested as they make commitments to their love interests.” For Charlie, it’s a girlfriend; for Louis, it’s a boyfriend. The show is being called a “bromance.”
Yesterday we focused on the immorality becoming more prominent on movie screens; today we’ll discuss the television side of our culture. If a non-Christian asks what you think about these shows and others like them, what should you say? I’m thinking about some of the nonbelievers I know and imagining a conversation like this:
My friend: “I think shows about supernatural forces are kind of exciting. And what’s wrong with gay people on TV? After all, one in ten Americans is gay. It’s about time television reflected the way things really are. It’s wrong to discriminate against anyone, gays included.”
My response: “What does it say about our culture that ABC thinks a show glorifying Satan and evil would make money? Would you want your children to watch a show like that? And actually, only 3.5 percent of Americans say they are gay. The ten-percent number you hear so often is based on flawed studies done in the 1940s and 1950s. The Bible says at least seven times that homosexuality is wrong; Jesus taught that marriage is between a man and a woman (Matthew 19:4-6). These shows are clearly unbiblical.”
“But why is God against gay people?” “He’s not. He loves each of us, whatever our problems. But he knows that the gay lifestyle is damaging to many in it. It’s a tragic fact that gay, lesbian and bisexual teens are five times more likely to commit suicide than heterosexuals. In the Netherlands, where gay marriage has been accepted by society for years, gay men are eight times more likely to commit suicide than heterosexual men. God grieves for every person who is hurt by this unbiblical way of living.”
Here’s the bottom line: Who is more pleased by American television and the culture it reflects—God or Satan? May the Lord break our hearts for what breaks his.
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