TELEVISION – OCCASION OF SIN!
There is a Roman Catholic patron saint of television. The lady who has this
honour is St Catherine of Siena. She was chosen for she was reportedly able to
see things happening in faraway places through the gift of second sight.
Considering the amount of sin and apostasy that the television has thrust on us
one would think that if she really had any strange powers she would have come up
with a strategy for the Church to halt technological advancement in this field.
The Church forbids violent and sensual thoughts following Jesus who said that a
man who wanted a married woman in the sack was an adulterer just for wilfully
fantasising about it and wanting it. The man is committing the sin in his
imagination which makes him think that it is real for a few moments and that is
why it is adultery.
The Church says that sin always accompanies the sin of scandal - scandal gives
bad example to others. When people see others doing wrong they are more likely
to do the same. Television would not be turned on if it failed to deliver up so
much scandal and bad example.
To act convincingly actors have to commit this sin of bad thoughts when they are
doing love-scenes or having a dust-up. For people to tune into a programme in
which you are performing as an actor is to make them like what you are doing or
want you to do it which makes them as bad as you. Religion does not say a word
which proves that religion is insincere and fake. It even recommends films such
as Jesus of Nazareth and King of Kings which contain violence. It does not make
it a sin to be an actor for it is dishonest to the backbone.
If religion were sincere it would protest against acting. The actor or actress
has to lie to himself or herself to play the part well. And religion pretends
that it is opposed to all liars. How can it really love liars when it denounces
them for what it does itself and doesn’t condemn the lies of the actor?
To watch television you have to kid yourself. You have to make yourself think
that what is on the screen is real and true at least as long as you are watching
it. Apart from making you commit the sin of deception against yourself, it makes
you commit the sin of rash judgment. You have to approve or disapprove of what
you see without being able to think properly about whether you should or should
not. It makes you judgmental and rash. Seeing a TV villain get what he deserves
makes you gloat and condone the revenge you feel and see. We all feel that
heroes and heroines of television or cinema who represent the powers of good
that triumph over evil are terrific people even though they have to lie to beat
their antagonists. The goggle-box is condoned in the hypocrisy of the Church.
The Church will not speak out against evil when it fears that it will look so
ridiculous that everybody would say what they think with their feet. If atheists
were normal and enjoyed a good film and the followers of religion seemed like
fundamentalist bigots and stick in the muds who were anti-everything it would
never be able to stand that.