Family Worhip; Use of TV

Recap of Parental Discipline and the Rod of Correction

0:00 He says, well, I'm just a layman rearing my family, or I'm just a housewife. And you have all the roles of all the specialists in the world rolled into one, as you seek to mold and shape these lives to the glory of God. And then we look in particular at one aspect of the parent-child relationship, which is a very pivotal one, and one which is so misunderstood and in many times completely ignored in our day, namely, the relationship of the parents to the children in biblical discipline and child training. We took our basic framework from Ephesians 6, 4, where God says through Paul to the church, Fathers, rear your children in the nurture, or the chastening, and the admonition of the Lord, so that the disciplining of these children is to be by verbal instruction and by the rod of correction. And then we spent a whole week on the biblical teaching concerning the rod of correction. And if you've forgotten some of the details, I hope you remember the great principle that underlies our use of the rod, namely this, it is to be a reflection of God's use of the rod with us. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, and he does it, according to Hebrews 12, that we might be partakers of his holiness,

1:27 so we as parents, in the administration of the rod of correction, are to constantly seek to reflect in our use of the rod all the principles embodied in God's use of the rod. He always administers the rod in love, always with an end in view, namely that we be partakers of his holiness. So we as parents must administer the rod in love, always with a clearly defined goal in view, namely the bringing of their will. So we as parents must administer the rod in love, always with a clearly defined goal in view, namely the bringing of their will.

2:03 This is not a matter of us bullying our children, but we're to make clear to them that we discipline them because God commands us to do so. And as we do it in his name, then, along with everything else, we're to do it with all our might. Whatsoever ye do, whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might, as unto the Lord, and not as unto men. And so we looked at a number of these principles, just exegeting.

2:27 Most of those verses in Proverbs dealing with the place of the rod. And so we left our last session with the children being delivered from hell by the use of the rod, as the scripture says so clearly, that it's by the application of the rod that the child's soul shall be delivered from hell. Chasing him while there is time, the scripture tells us. A son left to himself causes his mother shame.

2:55 And I trust that we've been steeped. We've been keeping our minds in some of these concepts. For any of you who did not receive one of these little booklets that sets these out so clearly, we have them here available for you. Please take one when we're done.

Introduction to Practical Problems: Family Worship and TV

3:09 Now, we said that for the next two sessions, we would try to deal with some of the practical problems or problem areas of the Christian home. And I want to deal tonight, if time permits, with two of those areas, namely family worship and the use and abuse, of the TV. These are two very practical areas, one in which Christian parents need some clear guidelines based upon the scripture. The Lord willing, next week we'll take up the problem of the parents as the instructors in sex education to their children, some guidelines in terms of our responsibility in this area, and then perhaps, if we have time, one or two other areas we'll touch on. All right, so tonight, we're going to start with the matter of family worship.

4:02 And as we think through the subject, here's the outline I'm following. First of all, there's an undergirding assumption to all that we consider on family worship. Then I'll give some basic preliminary remarks, and then thirdly, I will try to give you some practical suggestions. All right, under the main heading of family worship, the undergirding assumption that I am making is this.

4:26 I'm assuming that you, you are convinced of the necessity of family worship. If the home is the most powerful formative influence upon children, then it follows that prayer and the reading and explanation of the scriptures should have a vital role in that home. What would the physical development of your children be without planned meals, without planned periods of rest, without any plan to clothe the children, and provide warmer clothing in the winter and cooler clothing in the summer? Well, any home, if you can imagine it, that has no planned meals, no planned periods of rest, no planned pattern of dressing the children, would be a terrible shamble. Any family. And in the same way, it's not enough that there just be a sprinkling of the Bible here and there, but according to Deuteronomy chapter 6 and Deuteronomy chapter 11 and other portions, other portions of scripture, instructing the children in the truth of scripture is to be an integral and vital part of family life. And I'm not going to go over that ground and try to prove it.

5:40 I am assuming that you are convinced of that. Now, if you're not convinced of that, well, I'd be glad to have a private session with you afterwards, but I think most of you are convinced of the absolute necessity of planned family worship. As much as planned meals and planned rest, and planned clothing are a part of family life, so planned exposure to the Word of God and to prayer as a family should be a part of the family life. All right, so much for the undergirding assumption.

Preliminary Remarks on Family Worship: Example, Integration, and Limitations

6:13 Now, several preliminary remarks. Number one, there must be some measure of consistent Christian example by the parents if family worship is to be effective. Our Lord said some very striking words. I'm speaking words to the Pharisees of his day in Matthew chapter 23, and I'm reading now verses 1 through 3.

6:37 Then spake Jesus to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. Now, what he meant by that is that they didn't have a chair that they exported out of the wilderness, and they sat down on it. What he means is they stand in the place, or they sit in the place, of expounding the law of Moses. They are taking the infallible Word of God through Moses, and they are telling men what it says.

7:08 So he says, verse 3, All things, therefore, whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe. They're teaching the Word of God correctly. But, he says, do not after their works, for they say and they do not. He says, follow their teaching, but don't follow their example.

7:28 Now, if you want a sure road to producing little hypocrites and little cynics and people who have no respect for God and for his Word, then just find a home where there is some semblance of family worship without an equally valid semblance of consistent Christian example by the parents. If you want to see a little hypocrite-producing factory, you find a home where there's family worship, you find a home where there's family worship, you find a home where there's family worship, family prayer and family reading of the word, but no living example of that word in the lives of those who lead the family worship. Now, I did not say there must be perfection, that there must be absolutely blameless conduct, but I said some measure of consistent example of reality. For you see, family worship may be the act and discipline of 10, 20, 30 minutes a day, whereas the consistent Christian conduct is the habit of a life. I can conceive of a godly mother and father who in the total life experience of the home show forth some genuine Christian character, but who through lack of teaching or through an area of sinful weakness or rebellion or disobedience do not gather the family together for family prayers.

8:57 I can conceive of a situation where there's a godly example in the total life experience of the home, but no family worship, where the children still would turn out pretty good. But I cannot conceive of a situation where there is a great deal of inconsistency in the parental example of the children, and somehow this is all going to be canceled out because of 20 minutes spent reading the word and praying as a family. Do you follow me? Though it may be true that God's will bless the labors of consistent parents who don't gather their families together, there will be some problems if they don't, and there will be areas of lack, but there still could be a great deal of blessing. I cannot conceive of blessing coming where there is 20 minutes, a half an hour, even an hour a day of gathering the family together for family worship unless there is some living example of what it means to obey that word in the lives of those who are not. And so, in terms of some preliminary remarks, let me say whatever we do in considering this matter of family worship, we must continually put it in the context of there being some consistent godly example by those who lead the family worship. Secondly, family worship

10:22 is not a substitute for or a negation of on the subject of family worship. It is not a substitute for very great things, but some very completeこと and superfluous relations that are in order for the family to be a if any relationship between them, and many good circumstances linked to close relationships as being the best and mostọcan. Whatever is in multi-planet loadings are met with opportunities to teach the truth of the word of God. The word of God is the misuse of society. The word of God means his patience is self- 2015 in fact, and is used by most of us especially among the traditional levels of the немножectology that we easily forget the oczywiście, even the lack of reason to praise? For many, we Why they do what they do. Because of their own corrupt natures. To give them some training on why you must discipline them. To pray with them. Have them confess their sin to the Lord and to you. Many opportunities for on-the-spot training.

11:15 And so, I don't want us to think, as I've seen some parents who feel that here, in the total experience of the home, if they have one little block during the day, when for X number of minutes they gather the family together, that sort of takes care of having the Bible and the Word of God and prayer in the home. And now the rest of the life can be lived indifferent to that. I don't mean to infer this at all. Whatever I say about family worship is in the context of these many other opportunities.

11:46 And we read in Deuteronomy 6, when thou walkest by the way, when thou risest up, when thou liest down, we are to continually look at the totality of life through the eyes of Holy Scripture. And so, we want to keep that in mind. And then the third thing I want to say, by way of a preliminary remark, is family worship is not a magic cure-all of all the other parental duties, if all the other parental duties are neglected. Right?

12:15 I've heard people say, well, I dedicated my children to the Lord when they were small, and now they've turned out bad, and I can't understand it. It's as though bringing them up to the front of a church and praying a little prayer over them was going to turn them into mature saints. Well, in the same way, it's possible for people to say, I can't understand why my kids turned out the way they did. We had family worship every day.

12:38 Ah, yes. But did you use the other means of grace? No amount of family prayers and family study of the Word. are going to substitute for the sanctified use of the rod.

12:51 God has constituted prayer and Bible study as two means to mold the children, but he's also constituted the rod. He's constituted other influences to be brought to bear upon that child. So, don't absorb the philosophy that the family that prays together stays together. Not necessarily.

13:14 Not necessarily. This is no. This is a magic cure-all if there is gross ignorance or negligence, I should say, is the word I want, gross negligence of other parental responsibilities. All right, so much then for those preliminary remarks.

Practical Suggestions for Family Worship: Who, When, What

13:32 Now let's move to the area that I hope will be helpful, what I'm calling practical suggestions for the conducting of family worship. And to think our way through this, we'll just look at three words. The question mark. Who, when, and what.

13:52 Who should conduct family worship? When should family worship be conducted? What should be done when we come together for family worship? All right.

14:03 Who should conduct family worship? Well, I trust a very surface insight into what we've studied on the role of the man, the husband, and the home has already answered this question. But if it hasn't, Ephesians...

14:19 Ephesians 6.4 states it for us very clearly. Fathers, rear your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It's the primary responsibility of the husband as the head of the home to take the lead in the establishment of and in the direction of family worship.

14:42 Now, this does not mean that the wife is a wallflower in this, for a verse like Proverbs 6.20, forever puts that idea to route where the writer to the Proverbs says, forsake not the law...

14:56 Yeah, it's one of the Proverbs we're memorizing and I can't remember how it starts. My son, keep the commandment of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother. Here indicating that whatever the father says, the mother is actively involved in enforcing the direction given. My son, keep the commandment...

15:19 My son, keep the commandment of thy father, forsake not the law of thy mother. Now, what do you do if the father is not a Christian or if he's a professing Christian and is not disposed to take the lead? Well, Scripture seems to give us at least some hints as to the answer to that question. We read in 2 Timothy 1.5...

15:49 ...a godly grandmother, his mother Lois and his mother Eunice, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice.

15:56 I forgot which one is which, but it's 2 Timothy 1.5. And when you tie that in with 2 Timothy 3 and verse 14 and 15, there seems to be a strong indication from a babe thou hast known the holy scriptures that are able to make thee wise unto salvation, that Timothy was taught the word of God in fantasy. So, if it's a family worship, not by his father, but by his mother and his godly grandmother.

16:26 So, if it's a family situation where the husband is not present, away on business, or he is not qualified because he's not a Christian, then the wife should take the lead, but that's the exception. The rule should be the father taking the lead in the family worship. All right, second question. When should family worship be?

When and What to Do in Family Worship

16:50 Conducted. And let me say at the outset, if you expect a block of time to be floating around somewhere in the ether, just waiting for somebody to reach up and say, oh, I'd like to have you for family worship, it just won't be. There is absolutely no time just waiting to be claimed for anything that's worthwhile. The only kind of time that's waiting to be claimed is the time you spend on sinful activities.

17:21 It's amazing how easy it is to find time, to waste time, to indulge the flesh. And so difficult to find time to do anything that is profitable to us mentally, physically, or spiritually. So, like all the other disciplines of the Christian life, it's going to be a lifetime battle to make the time for family worship. And the complexity of the kind of life we live here in this area makes it all the more difficult.

17:53 And I'm fully aware of those tensions and cross-currents, and I envy some of our forefathers whose families lived on a homestead somewhere with no television, no telephone, no radio, none of these things to interrupt, no cars, and where the family life had some semblance of cohesion from morning till night. And when it was relatively easy, for the head of the household to gather the family together. But, if we believe what we say we do, that God's will is not affected by our circumstances, and that His grace is sufficient, then we know there is time. Now, if at all possible, I would like to suggest, and I can't give you chapter and verse for this, but I think it's an application of the principles of the Word of God, that it all, if at all possible, we ought to have family worship both morning and evening. that it all, if at all possible, we ought to have family worship both morning and evening. that it all, if at all possible, we ought to have family worship both morning and evening. that it all, if at all possible, we ought to have family worship both morning and evening.

18:52 As David said in Psalm 5, In the morning, O Lord, thou shalt hear my voice, in the morning will I order my prayer unto thee, and look up, it's so helpful, not only as individuals, to get the upward look into the face of God before we go out into the day, but also as a family. Now, of necessity, where you've got children catching buses at different times, and the husband going off to work at an odd time, This time in the morning may of necessity have to be very brief, but even if it's brief, if there can be a time in the morning when together as a family you can acknowledge that God is the king of this house and that you know that you need his blessing to go through the day as you ought, if at all possible there ought to be opportunity to gather the family together in the morning and then again in the evening. And generally in the evening the supper hour proves to be the most advantageous time for most people because if people aren't together for breakfast and most families in our society are not together for lunch, they are together for supper.

20:02 And while they are gathered at the supper table or shortly thereafter is an excellent time to gather them together for family worship. So much for the when, now we come to the what. And this is where we'll spend most of our time. What should be done?

20:19 All right, as the head of the house we've said, immediately following breakfast in the morning or before breakfast, if it's a situation where a husband has to leave early, we are gathering together in the living room for five minutes for prayer and for going over some verses. What do you do when you get them there? At night when you say we are going to as a family have time with God after the evening meal. What are you going to do?

20:47 Now again, I can't give you a little packet full of rules because there are so many variables to take into consideration. The ages of the children, the amount of time available, the amount of interest, so many different things that vary not only from family to family, but at different stages within the one family. People have asked me, what do you do for family devotions? I say, well, what do you mean?

21:14 What we do? What we were doing right now or what we were doing a year ago or what we were doing three years ago? Because we have varied with the development of the children in age and in mental and spiritual maturity. So in answer to the question of what should be done, there are no hard, fast rules, but I would like to pass out a few suggestions, and some of these are things that we have proven helpful in our experience.

21:40 They may or may not be helpful in yours, but they may at least. Give some hints as to how to go about this. My suggestion would be for that brief time in the morning with the family, if that's your briefer time, this is a wonderful opportunity to memorize scripture with the family and then to pray specifically for the activities of each member of the family as you face that day. We've been memorizing verses in Proverbs.

22:08 The book of Proverbs is the most concise digest of practical wisdom found. Anywhere in all the literature of mankind. And if you want to know how to live in a practical way, the book of Proverbs gives the answer. So this is the time we use in the morning as a family to memorize these Proverbs.

22:29 And it's interesting how they begin to come out in our family devotions tonight. We were dealing, we're reading now through Genesis, and we came to the Tower of Babel and the pride where they wanted to build a tower up to heaven and how God hates pride. And Heidi says, Daddy, like our memory. Every verse in Proverbs says, these six things did the Lord hate, yea, seven, an abomination, and a proud look.

22:51 Well, she was able to make, you see, the reference from what she'd been memorizing in the morning to what we were studying in the word of God at night. And this, again, does not need to take a lot of time. It's amazing over a period of months how much scripture you can commit to memory by taking three or four minutes every morning, reviewing the ones you've already memorized, working on the new ones, and then committing that day to the Lord consciously. We constantly pray, Lord, help the children today to respect their teachers, to remember that you've put them over them, to guide them, to be with Daddy in the study and Mommy at home.

23:24 We ask the children to lead in prayer so that they might be able to pray for the day as it spreads before them, and it sets the tone of that day in a Godward direction. Then, in the evening time, where we have more time and where most families will have more time, where the...

23:44 Children of a sufficient age that they can read, involve them in the family worship in some way. If you're reading through the scriptures, let them read the scriptures. If it's a matter of asking questions, let them answer. Ask questions of them.

24:04 Encourage them to glean certain applications. When you've read the portion, ask them, well, what does this say to us? What can we learn from this? And I would like to...

Recommended Resources for Family Worship

24:14 I suggest for those of you whose children are not of sufficient age to be able to take just the reading of the scripture by itself, and you need some helps, I've got a whole stack of books down there on that chair that we have used in our own time with our children.

24:37 Because this is going on tape, I'll read off the names so that it helps. These books by Miriam Skuland are excellent, leading little ones to God, a child's book of Bible teaching. And this starts...

24:51 Well, it's really laid out like a theology book, although, of course, the big term theology is not used. But listen now as I read the main headings. Looking for God. And in this first section of six chapters, each one having a memory verse each day, just a brief phrase, and then those verses are reviewed at the end.

25:13 You have such subjects as our hearts ask for God. We can't see God. We can see God. We can see God.

25:19 We can see God. We can see God. We can see God. We can see God.

25:19 We can see God. We can see God. We can see God. We can see God.

25:20 We can see God. God talks to us in his word. And then part two deals with the attributes of God. God is one God.

25:27 God is everywhere. God is three persons. God is holy. God is almighty.

25:32 And then a review of all the memory verses and helpful questions and a suggested scripture reading at the end of each chapter. Each chapter is quite brief. You can see this God is holy is just one page. And then something to talk about.

25:47 How can sinful people go to a holy God? Why do we pray in Jesus name than the brief memory verse, the suggested reading, and then a hymn to sing together as a family? This has been most helpful. And then this little visits with God put out by a Lutheran press.

26:05 Concordia is excellent. Little book again, illustrating one specific text of scripture. And when the children are younger and would be many times confused by taking a large block of scripture, this type of a book is. Most helpful in taking one principle of scripture and enforcing it very clearly.

26:25 Then you have books like Miriam Skoolen's Bible story book. It's good for children to have a broad overview of the content of scripture. And we've gone through Eggemeyer's Bible story book with the children and then this one by Miriam Skoolen. Now, after the kids have had a few years of Sunday school and are reared in a Christian home, this type of thing gets to be old hat to them.

26:48 Because they have. A knowledge of the basic content of the main Bible stories, and this will bring boredom to them. But at that lower level where the children are just beginning to accumulate a factual knowledge, this type of a book can be very helpful. Then there are several books by Kenneth Taylor that are relatively helpful stories for the children's hour devotions for the children's hour, which is a more of a doctrine book.

27:14 And then the Pete and Penny series. Now, whenever Pete and Penny, if you're not familiar with these. This. Is an imaginary boy and girl and their Christian parents, and they have some very helpful insights in applying scripture in practical situations.

27:28 You have to be careful of any circumstance where Pete and Penny are leading someone to the Lord, because it's pretty much easy believism. And we just change it as we go along and where they simply say someone just prayed a little prayer and believed, and they told him they were saved. We say that their friend began to seek the Lord, and we just put the right theology in it, but with a little. Discernment of the Pete and Penny series.

27:52 Very interesting. The kids like it because they see themselves reflected in Pete and Penny so often, and the kind of lessons are dealt with are the matter of family jealousy and bickering and selfishness and all the real nitty gritty of family life. This can be a good supplement to something that has a little more substantial content in terms of biblical teaching. Then there is the Little Pilgrim's Progress, taking the children through Pilgrim's Progress.

28:19 In devotions, and then looking up the scriptures. You ought to get an edition that has the scriptural references at the bottom. This can be a helpful thing in teaching the great truths of scripture. And then, if at all possible, if any one of you in the family can carry a tune, you ought to learn hymns in your family devotions.

28:39 That family singing ought to be a part of the children's experience. And this Hymns for Children by Isaac Watts, which we have on our book table, is one of the most wonderful hymns for children. It's one of the most wonderful hymns for children. It's one of the most wonderful hymns for children.

28:49 It's one of the most wonderful hymns for children. It's one of the little collections of hymns you'll find anywhere. When Watts was sick on one occasion, during his period of confinement, he wrote these hymns specifically for children. And listen to some of the subject matters of the hymn.

29:01 The first one is an excerpt, the first few hymns are hymns of praise and worship. Praise for mercies temporal and spiritual. A general song of praise to God, which we have learned as a family. How shall a child like I presume to sing his dreadful majesty?

29:19 How great his power is, none can tell, nor think how large his grace. Not men below, nor saints that dwell on high before his face. Then a hymn of praise for birth and education in a Christian land. Solemn thoughts on life and death.

29:36 A hymn against idleness and mischief. Against pride and clothes. Listen to this one. Imagine a girl reared in our sex-soaked, body-conscious age having a hymn like this.

29:49 She's burnt into her spiritual hide as a little one. Listen. Why should our garments, made to hide our parents' shame, provoke our pride? The art of dress did ne'er begin till Eve, our mother, learned to sin.

30:05 When first she put the covering on, her robe of innocence was gone. And yet her children vainly boast in the sad marks of glory lost. How proud we are. How fond to show our clothes.

30:18 And call them rich and new. When the poor sheep and silkworm wore that very clothing long before. Isn't that great? We think we got on a new silk dress.

30:30 He says the silkworm wore it long before. The tulip and the butterfly appear in gayer clothes than I. Let me be dressed fine as I will. Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me still.

30:44 Then will I set my heart to find inward adornings of the mind. Knowledge and virtue, truth and grace, these are the robes of richest dress. No more shall worms with me compare. This is the raiment angels wear.

31:00 The Son of God, when here below, put on this blest apparel too. It never fades. It ne'er grows old. Nor fears the rain, nor moth, nor mold.

31:10 It takes no spot, but still refines. The more it is worn, the more it shines. In this, on earth, would I appear. Then go to heaven and wear it there.

31:22 God will approve it in his sight. Tis his own work and his delight. Then a hymn on obedience to parents. Another interesting hymn on why children should not fight.

31:35 And I think you'll be tickled with this. Against lying, against quarreling and fighting. Let dogs delight to bark and bite, for God hath made them so. Let bears and lions growl and fight.

31:48 For tis their delight. Their nature too. But children, you should never let such angry passions rise. Your little hands were never made to tear each other's eyes.

31:59 Let love through all your actions run and all your words be mild. Live like the blessed virgin's son, that sweet and lovely child. Love between brothers and sisters. Whatever brawls disturb the street, there should be peace at home.

32:16 Where sisters dwell and brothers meet. Quarrel should never come. Birds in their little nests agree and tis a shameful sight when children of one family fall out and chide and fight. Hard names at first, and threatening words that are but noisy breath may grow to clubs and naked swords to murder and to death.

32:39 And then he goes on to develop this. If you're not familiar, excellent little thing. And the kids enjoy this. The kids enjoy learning hymns.

32:46 And then when they can sing it without looking down. looking at the book and we've made it a practice always on our way to church Sunday morning to sing the hymns that we've been learning. And so now, in fact, it used to be funny before Beth was a little bit older. Anytime we'd come up Mountain Avenue, any time of the week, that's where we used to come to church, she'd say, Daddy, let's sing a hymn. She got so conditioned by coming over Lindsay Road onto that bottom part of Mountain Avenue and starting in the hymn that anytime we'd come there, she'd say, Daddy, let's sing a hymn. So these are some suggestions that I pass out for you, and you just have to adopt and adapt the ones that are most helpful in your own situation. And then let me suggest, if it isn't convenient at the family worship, if the children are younger and the mother has them during the day, the whole matter of catechizing, instructing the children in some form of catechetical instruction. And this is simply attempting to bring into sharp, short statements the great and basic

33:50 teachings of the Word of God. And this little catechism for young children is an excellent one to use, and you'll find as a parent that over the months, as the children learn the catechism, it becomes a springboard for many opportunities to clarify the truth of God. How can you improve on a statement like this? What is meant by the atonement? And the answer, is, it is Christ satisfying divine justice by his sufferings and death in the place of sinners. Beautiful statement. The child then grows up knowing whatever Christ did on the cross, he wasn't just giving an example, he wasn't just dying somehow, somewhere, for something. He was satisfying divine justice in the place of sinners. So in answer to the question,

Cultivating the Skill of Family Worship

34:39 what should be done? I've tried to be practical and give you a broad spectrum of suggestions and like anything else, you only learn by doing. I don't care how brilliant someone is, I don't care how grounded they may be in Scripture, the only way you learn is by doing. And if we never did anything until we could do it very well, most of us would be doing nothing and would have learned little. When the child starts to walk, he's very awkward at it, skins his knees, bumps his nose and his ear, but he becomes proficient in walking by walking. I remember when I first was going to roller skate, I saw others do it, that looked very simple, you just push one foot out and then the other foot. So my folks got me some roller skates and they said, now son, let us help you. I said, no, I can do it, I've watched everybody do it. So I promptly went out there and just

35:32 about took the skin off my britches and my bottom that day because it just didn't go as easy as it looked. I saw the other kids skating, one foot then the other, it looked very simple. But, I'm not going to go into too much detail. I'm going to go into a little bit more detail.

35:43 But, I'm not going to go into too much detail. I'm going to go into a little bit more detail. After a while I got so I could handle myself. Well, it's this way with anything. Any skill, any art must be cultivated, no matter how much native ability there may be. And so in the area of family worship, the only way we're going to learn to conduct family worship in a meaningful, enriching way is to set out and begin to do it. And then as we find the weak spots and the strong spots, we can adjust accordingly. Well, I think I've given you about all I want to on that subject.

36:15 by way of general guidelines, I think maybe it'd be good to pause here and entertain questions and answers and suggestions you may have. And then if we have time, we can move then into the subject of the use and abuse of the TV. We ought to have time for that, but I think rather than give both areas, we ought to stop at this point and then entertain questions. Okay? Other questions you have?

Basic Assumptions and Guidelines for TV Use

36:43 All right, any further questions? Well, we've got time to just move in and give some basic guidelines on the TV. It's five till nine. We've got 35 minutes anyway.

36:55 All right, let me move into this, and this may open up a Pandora's box that we'll have to go on and conclude another time. All right, first of all, I want to start the same way I did with the matter of family worship, a basic assumption or two, and then some general guidelines for the use of a TV. Basic assumption. Number one, that there's...

37:22 There's nothing sinful in the television itself. It's a physical object made up of wires and tubes, et cetera, like a car, an airplane, or anything else. But, and I want you to listen carefully, since unlike a car or unlike an airplane or unlike any other machine, it is a vehicle of communication of the most powerful kind, the television has perhaps the greatest potential for...

37:52 For good or evil, any physical, mechanical instrument ever known to man. Since it is a vehicle of communication of the most powerful kind, why is it of the most powerful kind? Because it comes right into that place that has the most influence over the child's...

38:17 The home. The moving picture out there in the theater, a powerful means of communication, but it's out there. You have to go to it. And if you're going to be defiled or instructed or helped or damned by it, you have to go to it.

38:35 This comes right to you. It's the home.

38:41 I think you've heard it said, what you hear by the ear gate, you retain what? 10, 15% of it? What is seen by the eye gate, something like 70 to 80% is retained.

38:55 Now, if that's true, that you have this tremendously powerful means of communication which comes right into your home, and if it is true that 99 and 44, 100% of the content of television is controlled by what kind of people? Christians or non-Christians? Non-Christians. Then the television has become the most powerful purveyor of non-Christian forms of thought in our present society.

39:31 Now, you follow my line of logic? If it's the most powerful means of communication, and if it is, for all intents and purposes, totally controlled by non-Christians, then the non-Christian influence is coming into the home with that most powerful and tremendous instrument of influence and communication. So, if we're to be Psalm 1 people, blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, stands not in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but is delighted in the law of the Lord and in the laws that he meditates day and night, then it's obvious there will be no valid or substantial advance in godliness in any Christian home if it has a TV, if that TV is not under close control. Even non-Christian educators are concerned about this because this present student generation that's giving us so much fits is the first generation, reared on a total diet of TV. The average young person in our own generation is exposed some 35 hours a week to the television.

40:56 As most of you know, the television became popular at the close of Second World War, and by the early 1950s, it was pretty much a household fixture in probably nine or eight out of ten homes, and now the color television is the big rage, and that will be the possession in seven or ten out of, seven out of ten homes, probably before long. And this present generation, 1950 to 1970, those that are in their late teens, early twenties, are the generation that have felt, for the first time, this tremendous pressure over those formative years. So with this basic assumption that the TV in itself is not virtuous or sinful, that it's simply a mechanical instrument, but in the light of the fact that it is controlled as far as what is transmitted into it by and large by non-Christians, we realize that we are dealing with something that must be carefully guarded and tremendously policed if it is to be in any way a helpful factor in a home rather than a damning and a detracting factor. All right, what are the general guidelines then if you do have a TV in the home? What are the general guidelines? What are the general guidelines that should govern the use of the TV so it does not become abused?

Parental Discipline and Control of Television

42:24 Well, principle number one is this. There must be personal parental discipline of the TV. By that I mean the parents themselves must, must know that they have disciplined their own use of the TV. Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, Titus 2 and verse 7 says, say that things just don't fit. Neither does it fit that a parent who is careless and undisciplined or addicted in his use of the TV, it's unthinkable that he in any way can be an instrument to guide his child into the proper use of the TV. And you and I as parents have to weigh this issue that we are rearing our children in a TV-oriented society. It may be that we feel that we should rear them with a conscience the same way we would rear them with a conscience

43:44 toward dope and forms of hallucinatory drugs and the rest, namely, have nothing to do with it, hands off. Now, some feel that it's part of their parental responsibility to educate their children so that they look upon the TV as something that should not be in their lives at all. Others, and at present, I'm not going to say that I'm not going to say that I'm not going to say that I'm not going to say that I'm not going to say that I'm not going to say that I am in this category, feel that since they are rearing the children in a TV-oriented society, it is part of their responsibility to educate the mind and the conscience of the child in the proper use of the TV. Now, I'm not saying that either one of these courses is right or wrong. I think it's a matter of Christian liberty. It's a matter that every man must be fully persuaded in his own mind. But now my remarks, of course, are directed primarily to the kids.

44:40 to those who are of this persuasion is evidenced by the fact that they have a TV in their own home. If you do, you must know and with good conscience be able to look the Lord in the face and say, by your grace, Lord, my TV is my servant and not my master. And let me say in unadorned, blunt Anglo-Saxon, if you find yourself unable to discipline your TV, if it's a constant source of pricking of the conscience that time has been wasted, that you've looked at things that you know you should not, then there's only one thing to do with it. That's get rid of it.

45:20 That's doing what our Lord said, if thy hand causes thee to stumble, cut it off. If thy eye causes thee to stumble, pluck it out. And, listen carefully, if through your failure to discipline your use of the TV, you are teaching your children an undisciplined use of the TV, you're causing them to stumble, and Matthew 18 fits here. Matthew 18 and verse 7, where the Lord says, it'd be better that a millstone were hanged about your neck and you were drowned in the sea than you cause one to stumble.

45:52 So there's the first guideline in the proper use of the TV. There must be personal parental discipline. Secondly, there must be firm parental control of the TV. Just as you as a parent are responsible for the TV, responsible for the physical influences which shape your child, so you are responsible for the mental, emotional, and spiritual influences.

46:18 What would you think of a person in the Trinity Baptist Church who professed to love his children, but it became known to all of us that, number one,

46:29 these parents allowed rats to roam throughout the house at will. Number two, it became known that they allowed rabid dogs, dogs with, rabies, to hole up in the backyard. Furthermore, it became known, number three, that they permitted snakes to nest in the child's bedroom.

46:57 Number four, it became known that they adorned the table with rancid butter, with spoiled vegetables, and with rotten meat.

47:10 Now, what would you think of a professing Christian parent who said he loved his children, and yet he allowed these kinds of influences to run rife in the physical well-being of his children? What would you think? Huh? What was the answer?

47:28 He's nuts? I think we can say something even stronger than that. He's what? Does he have any true love for his children?

47:37 And yet there's not a one of these influences, but what can't be cured by the proper application of medicine in the matter of a few hours or days.

47:47 But the influences of the TV upon the mind and the spirit are such, listen carefully, that some of them, if they're the wrong influences, even the grace of God cannot erase this side of heaven.

48:03 The grace of God can forgive sin, but the grace of God does not blot out some of the awful pictures inscribed upon the memory of a man, a boy, a child. The grace of God may forgive, but some of the twisted emotional states at best are only patched up until we get to heaven and we're perfect. And we're made like him. So, just as we are warranted in saying that if we saw a parent who let loose all of these negative influences upon the physical well-being of the child, we question his love.

48:39 So, any parent who professes to love the Lord and his children and yet allows the TV to be an undisciplined, ungovernment-governed influence upon his children, I seriously question that parent's love for the child. And I seriously question any presence of Christian convictions in any degree whatsoever. Abney, a southern Presbyterian theologian, writing on the baneful influence of novels says some things that apply so powerfully to the influence of the television. Listen to what he says, and I'll just put the word TV where he uses the word novel. But these television programs, whether intended to teach heresy and falsehood, false philosophy or not, are generally guilty of representing to the reader supposed scenes of crime and vice, thus subjecting his heart to a danger similar to that of associating with bad company. They are, in a word, obnoxious to all the objections of evil company in their strongest form. Does the youth hear oaths and blasphemies in the tavern bar room?

49:56 He hears them in the scenes on the TV, and it's true. The words hell and damn now are used freely on the radio and in television, something that was utterly unknown even two or three years ago. Does he become benefited by witnessing brawls and duels? He witnesses them in the TV.

50:19 Is his lust excited by beholding the arts and the gratifications of licentiousness in the house of ill fame? He beholds them in the TV. I came in the other night wanting to switch on something to get some news and what should come before my eyes, but a woman totally naked in bed with a man next to her on the TV. Couldn't believe my eyes.

50:43 Twitched the thing right off, but I couldn't believe it. I was shaken for days.

50:49 What a person could only see in a house of ill fame can now be seen in his television. He beholds them also in the novel, now in the TV. Now some have argued that it's desirable to make the young familiar by their own observation of all the forms of vice because in afterlife they must, must not be exposed to these temptations. But such a policy shows a great ignorance of man's nature.

51:10 Not so judged the psalmist when he prayed, turn away my eyes from beholding vanity. Perhaps that's a text that every one of us who has a TV ought to inscribe in big red letters and put it right over the top of the tube. Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity.

51:27 Make sure that what we behold in any program is not vanity but that which is honoring to the Lord. Not so judged by the wisest of men when he urged, avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. Paul did not judge this way nor even the prudent heathen whom he quoted when he said evil communications corrupt good manners. All human beings, however amiable, have in their hearts until sanctified the dormant seeds of all the vices.

51:54 Who does not know that the contemplation of such vices tends to awaken those seeds into light? It's just this that evil companions and evil companions who tend to corrupt those who were previously innocent. It's dangerous to become familiar with wickedness even by contemplating it in others. And then he quotes a poem.

52:17 Vice is a monster of so frightful name as to be hated, need but to be seen, yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, we first endure, then pity, then embrace. The usual tendency of these TV programs is to familiarize the reader to viewing without revulsion and hatred, nay, with actual admiration the characters of dualists, drunkards, seducers, and other villains. And this is true. And when a child sits and identifies himself with the hero who has the gun, with the man who can puff his cigarette and take down his liquor, we're doing something that in other circles would be thought of we would just think absolutely unthinkable. Who would ever look upon a person as a consistent Christian who would take his son by the hand and go down to Caldwell to one of the local pubs and find some guy who was a brawler and a drinker and say, all right, now spend an hour with him every day. And yet those same parents will allow their children to sit down and watch the Westerns whose heroes are the drinkers and the brawlers and the puffers.

53:32 Exactly the same influence. That child identifies himself with that individual. And so if the TV is not to be an instrument to pour into our children non-Christian thought, there must be close, firm parental control. Now along that line, let me give some specific suggestions.

Specific Suggestions for TV Use: Discernment and Avoidance

53:54 Number one, allow nothing to be watched on the TV unless you are thoroughly familiar with that particular program.

54:05 Philippians 4.8 says, whatsoever, things are pure, whatsoever, things are lovely, whatsoever, things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Well, how do you know if that program fits that biblical standard unless you've previously watched it or unless you're sitting there actually watching it with the children. And it's amazing how subtle this is.

54:32 Let me give you an illustration from this week's TV guide. I hope you're watching.

54:42 There was a special on tonight, one of these nature specials showing off the coast of Australia one of the natural coral reefs that acts like a, breaks up the heavy seas and protects this particular coast of Australia. And this thing was to be in full color. We don't have a color TV. It probably was beautiful.

55:07 And it was the kind of thing you'd love to have your family sit down and watch to see the beauties of what God has made. But right at the bottom, it said, musical jazz score by so-and-so. So the whole background music of that program was going to be jazz. Well, even if I were home with my family, I wouldn't watch it.

55:27 Why? Because that's a musical pattern that is anti-Christian, sub-Christian, and I don't want exposure to it. Now you see, if you simply looked at the thing and said, oh, there's a good nature part that the kids watch it and leave it, all kinds of innuendos can come in the most unexpected places. And if you as a parent are convinced that you have a responsibility concerning that which goes into the mind by the eye gate and the ear gate of your children, you'll set it down as a principle that you will not allow them to watch a program with which you are not yourself thoroughly familiar and if unfamiliar, you will sit there policing the program.

56:08 And it's interesting that this is not just a conviction of someone with Christian perspectives.

56:15 I have these several articles I've clicked out of secular magazines by educators and doctors concerned about TV abuse and listen to what one of them said. At the receiving end, parents can eliminate by turning off or correctively interpret by co-viewing program that does not support the family's sense of relationships and values. Similarly, parents can advocate by selective program choice or reinforce by co-viewing that is, viewing with them programming which reflects their aspirations. My wife has found it effective to make a program guide especially for our young children using pictures of the clock, channel selector and television characters for the benefit of the non-readers. It eliminates the need for arbitrary on-the-spot decisions at hours when neither she nor the children is likely to be very discriminating. Somewhere along the line, mothers and fathers simply have to plunk themselves down with their children in front of the TV and spend some time to find out what's going on both on the screen and in the children. And of course, the main thrust of this article was, is TV brutalizing your child?

57:29 And it gave some astounding statistics. And I won't weary you with them but let me just give you a couple of them. The TV stations of one city carried in one week 7,887 acts of violence. One week.

57:44 One episode of a western series garnished Christmas night with 13 homicides. Between the ages of 5 and 14, the average child may, if they are average viewers, witness the annihilation of 12,000 human beings. Consequences are observable from weekly callousness about Vietnam casualty to riots by against police to subtly increased agitation among youngsters viewing a violent TV film. And they go on to say that parents are unconcerned and it's a shame and this is true amongst professing Christians.

Further Specific Suggestions for TV Use: No Cop-Outs, No Sabbath Breaking, No Aimless Watching

58:21 So, guideline number one in the specific suggestion allow nothing but what you are thoroughly familiar with. Two, never use the TV as a convenient cop-out for your own responsibilities as a parent.

58:37 In other words, don't use it as a babysitter. Well, I'd like to get such and such done, turn the TV and let the kids watch. It's just the innocence cartoons. No such thing as innocent cartoons.

58:50 I sat down one Saturday after we got our television to see what the Saturday morning cartoons were and just viewing several of them for a matter of a few minutes established the rule in our house. There's no watching of any innocent kids cartoons whatsoever in our house. Because what's the theme of those so-called innocent cartoons? This very article brings it out and some of the pictures taken right from them.

59:14 There's some of the innocent cartoons on the front. Bloodshed, bombing, shooting somebody up, destruction. The whole philosophy of anti-God, non-Christian perspective permeates even the so-called innocent cartoons. So never use the TV as a convenient cop-out for your own responsibilities.

59:35 Third rule, suggestion,

59:39 don't prostitute the Lord's Day by turning on your TV. If the Lord's Day is to be different and we're to teach our children to hallow the Sabbath, then even the best things, even the best nature programs, and some of the best ones are on Sundays, some of the Walt Disney ones, at least from the TV guide, they seem to be. All I know is what I read there. But it's a wonderful opportunity to teach the children that the Lord's Day is a different day in every way.

60:06 And then fourth suggestion, don't ever just flop down, I'm talking to you as adults, for an hour of TV with no purpose for watching. This is the most subtle trap in the abuse of TV. When someone says, well, I've worked hard, I just want to relax for a few minutes, I'll just stick on the TV. You haven't looked to see what's on, you haven't evaluated that program in the light of Philippians 4-8, and you're just, quote, going to watch TV for a few minutes.

60:39 How many times a whole evening has been wasted by a child of God who just was, going to flop down and watch his TV for a few minutes. Don't ever do it. Don't allow the children to do it.

60:53 And so I just pass these out as some suggestions which I trust will be helpful in the proper use of the TV, in the governing of the TV, so that it will be an instrument not to your harm and to the harm of your children, but that the little good that does come over, and there is some legitimate good, there are some programs that I believe have enriched my family, culturally and intellectually, and have also enriched me and my wife and I believe occasionally the diversion that I enjoy by watching a wide world of sports is legitimate diversion after a full week. I trust I have a good conscience toward God in that area. But there's precious living and so as a general rule the television tubes ought to last a good many years in the Christian home where they're really being governed as they ought to. Are there any questions now on this? I got through that in about 20-25 minutes. Yes, Bob?