I house sit often for a family that has a home security system, yet even there I am scared come night time that some unwanted intruder will....well....intrude. When I was a kid I used to booby-trap my room (as much as a small child could) in hopes that the racket or the 'trap' would scare off or hurt anybody trying to get in! I guess I have always had it built up in my mind, that if someone wanted in bad enough, they would find a way in--a loose window, an unstable dead bolt, etc. These days when I think about the Enemy of my soul, I often think of these moments as a scared child. See, I imagined bad guys circling our home at all hours of the way just trying to get in. Isn't that what satan does? He circles our lives looking for a loose window, an unstable deadbolt, etc!
The topic of this blog isn't home break-ins or the need for security systems (although both topics are completely valid). The purpose of this blog is censorship. And not just for us, but most importantly, for our kids. Let's just go there----DISNEY. I nanny many a child and are around all aged kids, A LOT, and most are obsessed with whatever comes on the Disney channel. Now, a good portion (cartoons and animated shows in the morning) are completely wholesome and not only that, but educational! However, the things that come on after school are atrocious. If your 8 year old child is watching a 21 year old adult play a 16 year old child, that in itself is a problem. But diving deeper you will see why. Disney sitcoms are not opposed at all to using language that I would never want entering the heart of my child, as well as the behavior of their "teens" on their shows. The kids are disrespectful to their parents, always breaking rules or being subjected to highschool stereotypes at their worst. They use words like "shut up" and "Oh my God" and "you are so stupid"--so tell me this....if you get on to your kid for saying these same things, but allow them to watch shows that have repeated language and behavior like this then it is really their fault for acting and mimicking the things they see?
I am not dissing Disney as a corporation--those of you who know me know I am as big of as Disney fan as it gets, especially the animated Princess side. But this era of the sassy mouthed teeny bopper- who's cussing, disrespecting others as well as their own body, and are doing things that young adults are meant to do yet being viewed by 8 year olds, is not going to fly on the day when I am finally raising. It is much too easy for young children to only understand or grasp the language and behavior of these shows, over the moral lesson they sometimes try and present at the end of each episode. If you listen to kids talk these days, they are repeating verbatim lines right out of Disney sitcoms---with giggles to how funny it was when remembering the entirety of the episode yet understanding little or no regard to the actual behavior that is being copy/pasted into their lives.
If you look past Disney too, and travel to the radio, you will find the same problem. I taught an audition class last week where kiddos got to pick their own songs to sing for our mock audition at the end of the week. I had an 11 year old girl choose a Selena Gomez song and the chorus said this:
I'm missing you so much
Can't help it, I'm in love
A day without you is like a year without rain
I need you by my side
Don't know how I'll survive
A day without you is like a year without rain
REALLY!?? Sure, you don't see any cuss words in there or anything vulgar in regards to body or sex---but read it again. "Don't know how I'll survive" is this desperation on a relationship the sort of programming we are pumping into the minds of children who are MUCH too young to even begin to think about relationships that serious? Same goes for Taylor Swift song, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus (a lot of these girls being Disney artists and I am sure convincing parents to believe their music is wholesome because of that small detail). A desperation and dependency on love that is not that of the Father is NOT the sort of relationship or love that I will be promoting when I have children. So filling their minds and souls with this music or these t.v. shows is almost like me opening the window for them or unlocking the door so that the darkness that hovers around their poor little souls have a MUCH easier time of getting in!
Censorship goes for adults though too. If we are to come to Jesus with faith and a heart like that of a child, then what makes us so quick to shield our children's minds of something impure, only to hit the 'play' button once they've left the room? We are not immune to the attacks of the enemy simply because we are older. We are just as susceptible if not more, because we no longer have anyone in our lives shielding our eyes, hearts, and minds, from the nasty in this world. And I tell you friend, it is HARD to get the impurities out of your minds once you have seen them, or heard them, or repeated them, or created it somehow. HARD. And it's only cracking that window open larger and completely unlocking the door, creating NICE strongholds into our lives for the enemy to camp out there! He doesn't have to force his way into our lives when we are not only allowing him easy access, but practically inviting him to come in with all that we say and do and watch and listen to!
Censorship is like that home security system. Ensuring your family as well as the safety of your family and those around you. Sure, the enemy will still hover but he's not getting in! USE THAT ALARM! Not just for you, but for your children as well.
Soapbox. Off. Thank you.
In Him,
Meg
