Daily Post: Trance
“Huh? Did you say something?” This may be the most uttered phrase among those who sit in a self-induced, hypnotic, stupor-like trance while they binge watch their favorite recorded shows. I’ve done it, so I’m an expert. For me it’s golf, but there you go. Of course, the show that is being watched is only half the equation. Whether it’s Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, or PGA Tour Golf you’re watching, because you missed them the first time around, the state of your mind is the real issue here. An article I read dated January 13, 2016 stated that Netflix now plays to practically every country on Earth except China. Quote: “It’s the first truly global content network, which has serious implications for the shows and movies it makes, and for how you watch them – especially if, as an American, you’re used to thinking of yourself as the center of the tech world.”
According to Netflix product chief Neil Hunt, who gets hourly updates of new customer data, these updates include: who’s signing up, where they live, what they’re watching, and how much time they spend deciding what to watch. This is the data stream that fuel’s Netflix’s operations. As a 63 year old, some of you may be shocked that I even know about these shows. Others of you are shocked because I’m a retired pastor, and I know about these shows. My golfing buddies wouldn’t be shocked because they have no clue what I’m talking about, having never heard of these shows. But there’s the thing…
Whether it’s Netflix originals, or classic movies on AMC; whether it’s golf, baseball, or football; or whether it’s SpongeBob, The Wiggles, Power Rangers or PAW Patrol; spending un-checked time in front of what my uncle Wiley affectionately called “the boob tube” will rot your brain, not increase its function. I grew up on Andy Griffith and other mild-mannered TV shows which are a far cry from what is seen on the tube today. In fact we shouldn’t call it a “tube” any more, since there aren’t any tubes involved. We are watching images fed into LED screens of various sizes, shapes, and models, all designed for one purpose. The screen is there to capture our minds, to induce the trance-like state that seems impossible to shake when we are immersed in our favorite shows.
Usually about now, this is where I insert the spiritual application of my previous observations about our world. And yes, the Bible actually does have a lot to say about this issue, because it is an issue of the mind. However, I will be brief, rather than bore you into a thousand yard stare by overstating what should be obvious by now.
Christian programming (conservative, evangelical, biblical truth) is a very small portion of what comes across the television screen today. On typical Golf Tournament broadcasts (my favorite), the commercials (designed to capture your mind), range typically from drugs designed to increase your sex-life, to cars, watches, or golf products designed to make you a happier, more successful-feeling human. So Paul might have been prophetic in ways we can’t even imagine when he wrote Romans chapter 8.
Romans 8:6-8
For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Don’t yield to the trance-like state that turns your mind away from the Spirit which is life and peace.
Don’t suppose for a minute that I’m suggesting I don’t watch the screen… oh, I do.
But I can choose not to let it dominate or hypnotize me into yielding my MINDSET over to the world.
I can choose to turn it off.
I can choose to walk away.
And you can too.
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As I was saying... 