No, Well take the other Guy

It was about 10 PM last night that the idea for this came back to mind. I had thought of writing this before but it never got past the beginnings of an idea. This isn’t an easy piece to write, it shines a spotlight at a human flaw. A flaw I must admit I share. Last night, as the TV show House was going off, the idea came racing back. It banged around in my head most of the night and bothered me today until I sat down to begin.

We watch reruns of House. (I also watch reruns of Law and Order, but who doesn’t? I mean isn’t there a clause in my cable contract that requires this?) Honestly I can’t tell you what station or time the new episodes air on. For that matter I can’t tell you the exact time the reruns show, or what station. It just seems to be airing on some station during the hour before we get ready for bed, regardless of what time we are going to bed.

If you haven’t seen House I should give you a thumbnail of the show's plot. House is the name of a brilliant, unkempt and normally unshaved, Doctor who practices/teaches diagnostic medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital here in NJ. He has three assistants who are younger but supposedly also brilliant doctors.

(I am now resisting my overwhelming desire to point out the vast gulf that exists between the brilliance, skills and devotion of these TV doctors, along with their rendition of a hospital, vs. virtually every real life doctor and health care facility I have ever encountered. OOPS, it seems I may have already voiced and opinion here.)

Back to House. Dr House, is also addicted to Vicodin otherwise known as narcotic pain killers. House pops Vicodin like tic taks. In any given show he must pop a half dozen of the little wonder pills, a great roll model. Along with his drug habit House is also incredibly insulting to patients and co-workers, arrogant and totally uncaring. His most tiring and troubling trait is his relentless refusal to accept even the possibility of the existence of God. Completely narcissistic, the world revolves around him and his needs. He has actually gone so far on occasion to vocally proclaim himself as God. If you get the feeling I don’t like Dr. House, your entirely correct. It is likely because I in some, hopefully small ways , I am like him.

Why then, you might ask, do I watch it? Well, for reasons I don’t exactly understand I like it. I like Law and Order as well. I also like a good shoot um-up so long as the “good guys” come out on top. Picking just who the good guys are is another matter.

After House went off last night I began thinking about all the ….. junk we spend so much time watching. I took up my scepter of digital cable, the remote, and began to surf. For the next hour I slowly clicked my way through the lower 400 cable stations I receive. I did this not once but two times. Why? No, It wasn’t that I couldn’t find “something to watch. I was making a mental list of the kinds of programming there was to choose from. Of those 400 channels, not counting the stations or shows that repeated there were less then 10% that were actually uplifting. Roughly 90% of them were based on violence of some sort, (war, martial arts, shoot um-ups, ect.) Sex or alternate lifestyles (most of these would have been or are rated R) Witchcraft- sorcery- vampires-or the undead, Failed relationships, Cops and robbers or a mix of a bit of each of the above. There is even a new show about Vampires that covers all of the bases.

If this is what we call entertainment what does it say about what brings us pleasure, our appetites? We can’t blame it on the people who make the shows, they only produce what the public wants to watch, or keeps watching. Why, Why, WHY are we so drawn to “The Dark Side” Now please do understand, I’m not suggesting we all burn our flat screen plasma HD TVs, (although that may not be such a bad idea) and I am not pointing my finger in judgment at anyone about watching some TV. You and you alone will need to determine “if you can eat meat”. I’m just using TV programming to make my point.

If God created mankind to know him, and he implanted in mankind the longing that I know I and you have felt to find him, and he made a way for us to know him. ( Through Jesus , the Messiah). Why then do we run as fast as we can to know everything BUT Him?

One of the few times that all four Gospels mentions the same conversation is in regard to this most human of afflictions.

Mat 27:21 "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor. "Barabbas," they answered.
Mark 15:11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
Luke 23:18 With one voice they cried out, "Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!"
John 18:40 They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion. (NIV)

Why would or could people, having seen the blind and lame healed , eaten the loaves and fishes and known of Jesus restoring life to some dead, do this? How could those educated in the Law, know of His works, and then ignore the prophecies they had devoted their lives to studying? Simple, they listened to their natural nature, their flesh, rather then to the Spirit of God.

It’s been 2000 years since mankind has been set free by Christ and yet the crowd still calls out , …, NO, not him! Give us Barabbas!"

Although Fox and Friends touts on morning TV that 80% of Americans claim to be Christians the actions and appetites of our population say something different. I sense a stirring, call it revival, that is building momentum. Along with it I recognize a polarization in moral…. beliefs? No more then beliefs, many in the crowd saw His miracles and “believed” I see a polarization of convictions.

Paul never having seen TV gives us the answer to why?

Romans 7: 21-25 21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. (New Living Translation)

Bill