Invisible Messages

We have been talking a lot around here about movies, books and other forms of media. There is so much media out there it is difficult to sort through it all. As my kids get older I realize that I do not have control over everything that comes before their eyes. Kevin and I have spent the last 18 years but especially the last few years helping our kids understand the concept of "world view." Everything comes from a world view. The person who writes a book, magazine article or movie script comes to the table with a set of values and beliefs. Sometimes people are very open and overt about their views but other times they are more surreptitious. Our family has lots of fun discussing what authors are trying to get us to think after reading or watching their "media." The overt messages are easy to pick out but sometimes there are "invisible" messages. Those are very dangerous because we can absorb those ideas without even knowing we are doing it.

We have at least two generations who have been absorbing all kinds of hidden messages and they do not even know what they believe because they have this "hodge podge" of world views floating around in their heads.

I will give you an example I have come across lately. We recently watched Cars 2 (my son loved the first Cars movie). There is a very strong message being sent to our children in that movie. I am not going to tell you what it is. Watch it and see if you can figure it out. Adults will probably catch it but our children will just absorb it IF we don't talk about it. We can't talk about it if we just put our kids in front of the screen and walk away...because we will not know!

There are many TV shows where living outside of God's plan for the family is completely acceptable and casual (I do not watch these shows but in my younger years I did watch some shows that promoted immorality by showing it unapologetically). In these shows no one ever says "Do this" but we can absorb the belief that this particular lifestyle is okay because we watch this show. It is "invisible" the way it just seeps into our value system.

Some people say "I can separate what I believe from what is happening on this show or in this movie/book." Usually after I have spent time with these types of people their "values" begin to seep through and it is obvious they cannot separate it. It is impossible, even for the most savvy thinker to not absorb a steady diet of certain belief sets.

I am still coughing up values I digested 20+ years ago reading and watching things that no Christian needs to watch or read. God's word has a way of bringing these beliefs out and shedding light on their foolish and sinful roots.

Sometimes we have these values and we do not even know where we got them but they are very contrary to the Bible. Sometimes they came from a movie or a teacher we had or a song we heard on the radio or a commercial we saw on TV.

Okay, so all this is kind of depressing! I guess the first thing we must do is understand what we are up against. Ephesians 6:12 says "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Satan loves to use invisible messages because they are so easy to miss and slide into our brain.

God and his word are much greater than anything Satan can do. His power is there for us IF we seek it out in His word.

The next thing we can do is ALWAYS have conversations with our kids and others and say.."Who wrote this?" "What do they believe?" "What do they want me to believe?" We have lots of discussions in our house about these invisible messages. There are messages in everything. We must make our children aware of these tactics and teach them to recognize them and discern what is contrary to God's word.

This idea may seem simple but I have seen lives destroyed by these invisible messages that can overtake the mind. There are many good "church going" people who are completely guided by these undercurrents because they live on a steady diet of "media" and are anemic when it comes to the wisdom of God's word.

Keep the conversations open in your home and if there are movies on your shelf that glorify evil, darkness, immorality, reward sinful behavior, or laugh at it. Toss them!

I have found that the more we know God's word the easier these messages are to notice and the easier they are to destroy and cast out of our minds. So...let's get busy studying God's word and arming ourselves against these invisible messages.