Back to Free Literature
It Violates 10 of the 10 Commandments
Many Christians have rallied around the right to display the Ten Commandments in public places, etc., but very few obey and practice them. Here are the commandments and you will see how watching television causes you to disobey them all.
Here are the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20:
Commandment One
Verse three “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
“How can you live without a television?” is what most Christians ask us. We cannot live without our relationship with our Savior, and since we desire to obey Him, we do not allow anything to cause us to be so “addicted” that we would exclaim this. Paul said in I Corinthians 6:12, “…I will not be brought under the power of any.” Can you say this about your television? Doesn’t it come before the Lord??
Commandment Two
Verse four “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
Is not the television a “graven image” and “likeness” as people call their movie stars “idols,” and as these movie stars receive trophies and images and their images are on the “silver screen?”
Verse five “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.”
Has not the television caused many a Christian to worship it by causing them to miss their family altar time, their prayer time, their Bible reading time, their church attendance, their soul-winning time, their spousal time, their paying-attention-to-the-children time, and their work-for-the-Lord time. By the way, all of these times are commanded by the Lord in order to have a strong family!!!
Commandment Three
Verse seven “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”
Has not the television portrayed people using the Lord’s name in vain, calling Him the “man upstairs,” the “big guy,” and “you know who?” “Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?” (James 2:7). They blaspheme the Lord, while you sit there and watch them. They blaspheme God as they give the glory to man, evolution, and technology, when God says, “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”
Commandment Four
Verse eight “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
How many Christians have forsaken the Lord ’s Day and the fellowship with other believers in order to see “the game,” or a movie? How many “preachers,” if you desire to call them that, have compromised and brought the television to their church, even having them in their offices??!!!
Verse nine “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work.”
How much labor and work has the television hindered man from? How many children do not know how to work or be responsible as they are entertained in front of the television???
Commandment Five
Verse twelve “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”
Does not the television mock parental “control” as old fashioned and over bearing, portraying the mother or father as “stupid,” “out of touch,” and “old fashioned.” As children on the television talk back, disobey, and argue with their parents (with usually the parent apologizing), the children are “brain washed” that this is acceptable. Proverbs 30:17 seems to tell us a different story, “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.”
Commandment Six
Verse thirteen “Thou shalt not kill.”
If we are not supposed to kill, why do Christians watch murders on the television? They love to watch the mystery movies, the gangster movies (sometimes rooting for the bad guy), and the horror movies all portraying murders and violence that hardens the heart to these sins.
Commandment Seven
Verse fourteen “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
Does not the television portray adultery daily?? Doesn’t it cause men and women to think improperly about the opposite sex??
Commandment Eight
Verse fifteen “Thou shalt not steal.”
Ever watch someone stealing and your heart race with excitement, as they try to get away?? Why do you enjoy watching someone break the commands of God??
Commandment Nine
Verse sixteen “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”
Have you watched the news?? Are they telling the truth?? Do not they slant their lies to make good look bad and bad look acceptable??
Commandment Ten
Verse seventeen “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.”
Does not television cause Christians to not be content and desire more? Doesn’t it cause you to dream of the lifestyles of the worldly and the damned???
Psalms 4:2 tells us, “O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity (worthless wasting of time), and seek after leasing (lies, deceit, and falsehood)?”