I recently picked up a ClearPlay DVD player for the youth room at our church.  What’s a ClearPlay you ask?  It’s a DVD player that filters out offensive content from movies.  The kids watch movies on the big screen all the time and this tool is just another way to filter out those one or two bad words that movie producers drop into a film to get a PG rating.  The ClearPlay does not make a filthy movie a good one, it just takes a movie that has that one bad word or that one bad scene and skips right over it.

What’s the big deal about foul language?  Let’s look at a quick example from pop culture.  Without a doubt one of the hottest songs over the past few months is “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.  The song has a catchy hook and a unique sound…it currently has over 175 million YouTube views and has been in the iTunes top 10 for months.  I’ve heard the kids in the youth group humming it.  I’ve heard people my age singing or quoting it.  The radio version is heavily edited but leaves little to the imagination.  I listened through the full version on YouTube and counted 29 curse words or objectionable words in a 3:53 song.  That’s something foul every 8 seconds.  Think the words that go with that catchy beat won’t wind up in your head too?

So what’s the big deal if some foul language winds up getting into your daily vocabulary?  Some churches have decided to use that kind of language in youth classes because that is what the kids today understand.  They say using foul language is the only way for teenagers to realize that the Bible is a serious matter.  That line of thinking leads down a sad road.  Tying to keep the church ‘relevant’ by becoming worldly just won’t work.  In just the past week I have read about a church in Abilene that is holding Sunday worship services in a bar with liquor available during part of the worship time.  The church is supposed to offer people something better than the empty promises that alcohol, foul language and other things of the world offer.

It’s my job as Dad to set the example in media choices and be the guardian of my children.

Simply put, Christians are called to be different.  If you listen to filthy music, watch movies filled with curse words and view TV with a constant stream of expletives, you will eventually wind up sounding just like everyone else.  Ephesians 5:4 makes it pretty clear, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”  Did you catch it?  Filthiness, foolish talk and crude joking are a big part of the mainstream but they are “out of place” in a Christian life.

When I traveled and did presentations on media, a key verse was Philippians 4:8 – “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”  I’ve always called that passage the ‘measuring stick’ for entertainment choices.  Can you say what you are watching is honorable?  Is the music you’re listening to lovely?  Is there any excellence in that movie?  If you answer no to all those things, it’s probably time to turn that thing off.

This post is a bit different than most I write.  I try to keep things pretty positive but I got called out by our 5 year-old a few days ago.  The TV was on “Storage Wars” while we were doing some things around the house.  Later in the evening my daughter asked what the ‘beeping’ was on the TV show.  I explained to her that the people were saying bad words and the people who ran the TV stations didn’t want us to hear them.  She didn’t say anything after I gave my answer but I could see in her little eyes that she was troubled to know that we had a TV show on where people were saying bad things.

I was convicted.  This thought today is more for me than for you.  If you can watch those shows with all the bleeped out words and your mind doesn’t subtly fill those foul words in for the bleep, you’re a better person than I am.  This is a reminder to myself to watch what I say, watch and listen to.  We sing a song with our children all the time, but do I forget the message?

Oh be careful little ears what you hear.
Oh be careful little ears what you hear.
For the Father up above is looking down in love,
so be careful little ears what you hear.

Oh be careful little eyes what you see.
Oh be careful little eyes what you see.
For the Father up above is looking down in love,
so be careful little eyes what you see.

Oh be careful little feet where you go.
Oh be careful little feet where you go.
for the Father up above is looking down in love,
so be careful little feet where you go. 

I hear people all the time decrying the decay of our society.  If the church is offering nothing different than what society is offering then we are a part of the problem.  It’s time we all seriously consider the shows we watch, the music we listen to and the games we play and their impact on our behavior and reputation.

Lot and his family could teach us a thing or two about a family living in a society that was far from God.  Last week in our family worship guide we studied the first part of Genesis 19 where God had judged Sodom and sent angels to rescue Lot and his family before the city was destroyed.  This week our study focuses on the destruction of Sodom and the events that follow with Lot and his daughters.  As many of you will remember, Lot’s wife was turned to a pillar of salt because she did what she was told not to do.  Lot and his daughters hid in a cave in the wilderness after the destruction of Sodom.  His daughters hatched the plan to get their father drunk and have sex with him so they would have children to continue their lineage.

Click image to download family Bible study.

Do you think Lot’s daughters would have come up with this plan if they hadn’t grown up in Sodom?  They grew up in a culture infested with immorality and this led to their very poor decision.  Lot and his wife could have chosen to move away from this evil land, much as we can turn off and throw away the evil that tries to enter our homes.  The children born from this illicit union, Moab and Ben-Ammi, went on to have their own children and form two tribes of people who were filled with evil and were always at odds with Israel.  Our poor choices can have a lasting impact on our children.  Spend some time with your family studying our family worship guide this week >>> Week 12 – Faith of Abraham – Part 9

If you’re interested in the ClearPlay DVD player you can click my Amazon link on the right side of the page where I have the ClearPlay machine listed.