Before I begin, I would like to share with you a poem, which is actually a parody of the 23rd Psalm. There are a few variations, but nearly all of them are called "The 23rd Channel". Here's one variation whose author is unknown posted on the Berean Bible Society:
The TV is my shepherd, I shall not want for entertainment.
It maketh me to lie down on the sofa.
It leadeth me away from the Scriptures.
It destroyeth my soul.
It leadeth me in the path of sex and violence for the sponsor’s sake.
Yea, though I walk in the shadow of my Christian responsibilities,
There will be no interruption,
For the TV is with me, its cable and remote, they control me.
It prepareth a commercial before me in the presence of worldliness;
It anointeth my head with humanism,
My coveting runneth over.
Surely laziness and ignorance shall follow me all the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the house watching TV forever.
So my rant is about a recent TV watching experience that crosses international borders. Every weeknight for a while, I have been watching Jeopardy after work. Mom tapes it for me, and I watch; it's a nice 30-minute break until I start afternoon chores. I don't fawn for the program, it's just there, and I wouldn't miss it if it suddenly got cancelled. Anyway, one of the "answers" was about the title of an Australian guy named Sir Isaac Isaacs that starts with a "G".
Hmm...I've seen this before.
Years ago, I came across a YouTube clip of the Australian version of Jeopardy in 1993. In their final episode of that version of the program hosted by Tony Barber, the Final Jeopardy answer asked about the first Australian-born governor-general. Anyway, watching today's Jeopardy USA episode, I responded with gleeful smile "Who is governor-general?", then explained to Mom the reason for the glee. I admit that I've gotten really good at references and connections, probably too well.
As I'm writing this, I also remember the time a Jeopardy answer came up, asking about a king of Iraq. My first thought was "Feisel!" (It was actually spelled 'Faisal', and I was actually wrong). I remember the name of an Iraqi king (now, that's KING, not PRESIDENT) when in the 1994 movie Quiz Show, the character Charles Van Doren played by Ralph Fiennes was asked to name the kings of a list of countries. One of them was Iraq, and Van Doren responded with Faisal. A commenter of a Jeopardy message board praised my recall.
My recall of Governor-General Isaacs and Iraqi King Faisal bothers me, because it is rooted in a childhood love of game shows, and I admit that! But as the Scripture saith:
1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Any love of the world leads to Hell. Before coming across the Truth, I loved the world in many forms, game shows especially. (Yes, there was a time when I was too scared to watch Jeopardy, but that was an isolated example; I later grew to love the show).
For the past few years, in the name of repentance, I have been trying to lose my excitement and love towards watching game shows, or any sort of fandom I used to claim, such as Star Trek (their newer shows, and some of their performers, have gotten more visually pleasing, so I must especially be careful)
Even when actively trying not to love the world, I still have an encyclopedic knowledge of game shows, and can likely tell you the names of at least fifty, that's FIVE-O "pricing games" of The Price Is Right, how to play them, what kinds of prizes can be won for each game, and winning strategies.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Now, I am not saying that it's a sin to watch game shows, or even television for that matter. However, heed the following:
1Co 7:31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
This spirit I am, with God's help, trying to espouse.
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