What the H#*! is Wrong With Us?!
“S#*! My Dad Says” is one of TV’s latest attacks on American morality, insulting our intelligence, taxing our tolerance, and testing to see just how far the boundaries, and our silence, can be stretched; all in the name of comedy and free speech. And passively, we sit saying nothing. We even refuse to address the fact that ‘Stuff’ is not a four letter word.
Yes, the show’s creators have changed the audio translation for listening ears, but not the show’s name as it appears with suggestive expletives during its airing and in any and all advertisement.
So why hasn’t CBS launched a full-on assault by using the profanity in the cover-title of Justin Halpern’s book, the source from which the show is derived?
Could it be that deep down they know Americans wouldn’t remain silent if they took that last step? Or is it part of the continuing practice of desensitization TV audiences have been subjected to for the past two generations?
I could hope it was the former if not for all the historical evidence to the contrary, that, and the knowledge that evil is patient.
Evil, in this case progressive immorality, has all the time in the world and sees nothing wrong with waiting while each successive generation moves farther and farther from the self-censorship of the fifties and sixties, when morality and conscience refused to allow Hollywood the freedom to do as they please and to hell with what everyone thinks, or what residual effect it has on our children and society as a whole.
Sitcoms have become the ‘Out-of-the-closet’ platform of the Twenty-first century, testing the socially acceptable waters in the deepest parts of the ocean. And why not, no one has offered meaningful resistance. Up until now there has been nothing but token attempts at mounting opposition to the direction Hollywood
Moral and societal decline happens when good men and women sit idly by hoping someone else will do or say something. When no opposition arises this evil becomes narcissistic, breeding in the vacuum of ambiguity, cloning and crossbreeding deadlier strains of immorality.
With each successive generation the lines are smudged a little more until there are no lines, and we are left with only a murky lens with which to view our sin-filled world.
We are in need of corrective lenses, lenses that humanity cannot produce the prescription for. And here in lies the problem. By refusing to admit to our blurred vision and hardened hearts it’s easier to claim ignorance. You can’t be held accountable for something you know nothing about, right?
We are comfortable letting godless men and women perpetrate their views and values on the world as long as they don’t bring us into the picture. And by this inaction we propagate the evil, quietly turning the channel if we encounter something that stretches the boundaries of impropriety and immorality.
It’s still somebody else’s fight.
The truth is, in many cases, we are too busy to enter the battle. We have sold our soul to the demands of time. In a society that invented fast food for the sake of maximizing our time in order to cram even more events into our day, we can no longer answer the question of why we refuse to sit still. Not only can we not sit still, we must be entertained. If you are like most Christians you can’t remember the last time you contended for the presence of God. Mostly because we’ve not listened to wise instruction, or been taught the importance of contending as it relates to our relationship with God, and to the Church as a whole.
In his book ‘Escape to God’ Jim Hohnberger writes, ‘Organized religion may prove to be the greatest substitute for a saving knowledge of God that the world has ever known. A great danger lies in complacency.’ He goes on later in the book to say, ‘Within us lies the ability to choose whatever level of existence we want. The freedom to choose, the ability to exercise our will, is the greatest gift with which God has endowed the human race. Properly used, the human power of choice, in response to God’s grace, connects us to the God of the universe, and through His power and direction, we will become a blessing to the world. Improperly used, the same power of choice will guide the human into actions that make the whole world shudder.’
So, if we would believe what Jim says, we can become an instrument of blessing and change. Or, we can, by our inaction, allow the encroachment of evil in a world our children and grandchildren will inherit.
As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, we should be engaged in the Word of God, and in the battle. But the choice remains ours: change the channel, or ask God how we can effect change.
Know this ahead of time…there are no easy fixes. Stepping up to the responsibility of godly action requires spending time with God and in His word. That, or pull the veil back over our heart and mind and go back to ‘business as usual.’
2 Timothy 3:16 says, ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’
God is seeking volunteers to equip.
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