Desensitized To Sin

Two of my favourite TV programs are Law and Order SVU and Law and Order Criminal Intent. If they're on, I'll watch them. Last night I was watching SVU and got into it about half way through. The program was about how a female astronaut was murdered. Anyway, near the end of the television program, there was a double homicide in the police department and Staveler's teenaged boy witnessed it. The kid wasn't the least bit freaked out. Now, I know that he's only an actor and he's doing what the screen writers are telling him to do, but my concern is that the boy was not freaked out about the double homicide since it must have been a very traumatic moment.

I was in eighth grade, at a hockey practice on a Thursday night in Onoway, AB. My coach was having trouble breathing on the ice that night, and after we got back into the dressing room, he had a heart attack and died right before our eyes. He was 38 years old; he just dropped and all I could hear was the gurgling of blood going into his lungs. He had a massive heart attack and the whole team just watched him die, his son included. I had a very hard time for the next few years trying to get that image out of my head.

Now television is showing that watching a double homicide happen right before our eyes should really be no big deal. As we watch these things on television, are we desensitizing ourselves to sin? Our we showing our children that it is OK to watch someone being killed, but not OK to kill someone? What kind of message is that sending to our children? Probably the same kind where we say it's OK to watch pornography online, as long as we don't act it out.

Honestly, what's the difference? God is very clear that He abhors those who delight in violence, and yet we let our kids play some very violent games. Why don't we just go ahead and let them watch porn while they're at it?

It is obvious that we have different levels of sin, and that watching and doing somehow are different. We are approving violence as we watch our television shows that promote violence, just like people promote illicit sex as they watch pornography. So, I was convicted last night about my sin desensitization, where are you? As much as I love Jack Bauer, I think it's time that he gets turned off in my house, and yes, I will also have to say good-bye to my beloved SVU and Criminal Intent. 1 Chronicles 16:29 tells us to worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. Another way we can translate that is to worship God in the beauty of holiness. Can I call myself holy if I am visually indulging in the same violence that caused God to destroy the earth? God is a God who demand holiness from his people, and can't stand those who come to Him in pretense. (Jeremiah 3). He actually says in that same chapter the unbelievers are more righteous than those who call themselves Believers and just offer lip service to God, rather than holy lives.

Are you desensitized to sin? Are you playing around with God's holiness? What does God have to say about that? What are you going to do with it?