Media and Worldviews

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Media and Worldviews

• Kerby Anderson
• Probe Ministries

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Media Influence

• The sources of significant influence in American
  society are

Movies Television The Internet Books
Music Public policy and law Family
The church is not even in the top twelve
sources of influence!
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The Media Storm

• Television (22,000 hours)
• Music (11,000 hours)
• Internet (13,000 hours)
• Movies, videos, DVDs
• Books, magazines, newspapers

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Media Input Television
By HS graduation a typical student will have seen

• 22,000 hours of television
• 16,000 TV homicides
• 200,000 acts of violence
• 640,000 TV commercials

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Biblical Standard

• Flee from youthful lusts. 2 Timothy 222
• Pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace.
  2 Timothy 222

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Biblical Standard

• But now you must rid yourselves of all such
  things as these anger, rage, malice, slander,
  and filthy language from your lips.
  
  Colossians 38

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Biblical Standard

• Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is
  noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
  whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if
  anything is excellent or praiseworthy think
  about such things. Philippians 48

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Biblical Standard

• Let us behave decently as in the daytime, not in
  orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality
  and debauchery, not in dissension and
  jealousy. Romans 1313

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An important word
Discernment
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Three simple steps

• Stop! Stop what youre doing long enough to
  concentrate.
• Listen! Give attention to what is entering your
  mind.
• Look! Look at the consequences of entertainment
  in your life.

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Impact of Media

• The media present an unreal view of our world.
• The media present an oversimplified view of life.
• The media desensitizes its viewers.

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Impact of Television

• George Gerbner Larry Gross Annenberg School
  of Communication
• The Scary World of the Heavy TV Viewer

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Heavy TV Viewers Tended to Overestimate

• Their likelihood of being involved in a violent
  crime.
• Percentage of people in white collar occupations.
• Percentage of Americans compared to rest of
  world.

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Television and Behavior

• Study of adolescents showed that watching sex on
  TV influences teens to have sex (Pediatrics,
  2004).
• Over 1000 studies point to a causal connection
  between media and aggressive behavior in some
  children (Pediatrics, 2000).

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What does the content say?

• All entertainment is making a statement.
• Entertainment can affect us if we are not alert.
• We are in a battle for our minds.

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Worldview of News Media

• Liberal - 80 always voted for Democratic
  candidate.
• Secular - 86 seldom or never attended religious
  services, 50 had no religious
  affiliation.
• Humanistic - 90 support a womans right to
  choose.

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Worldview of News Media

• All the news outlets (except for Fox News
  Special Report and the Washington Times) were
  more liberal than the average American.
• Journalists as a group are more liberal than any
  congressional district in the country (Ninth
  California district, Eighth Massachusetts
  district).

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Worldview of Television

• Most had religious upbringing.
• Liberal - 80 always voted for Democratic
  candidate.
• Secular - 93 seldom or never attended religious
  services, 45 had no religious
  affiliation.

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Naturalism
The cosmos is all there is, ever was, and ever
will be.
Carl Sagan
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Hedonism
Pleasure is the ultimate good.
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Syncretism
All religions are basically the same.
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Pragmatism
Whatever works is good.
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Existentialism
Existence precedes essence/there is no meaning.
Jean Paul Sartre
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Postmodernism
There is no truth.
Friedrich Nietzsche
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Common Objections

• Thats reality!
• Im just killing time!
• It wont affect me!
• No one will know!
• Its just entertainment!

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Probe Resources
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Mind Games

• To encourage the development of a Christian
  worldview.
• More than 15,000 participants since its inception
  in 1992

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Radio

• Probe radio is heard on approximately 500 radio
  stations daily. www.probe.org
• Host of Point of View on the USA Radio
  Network www.pointofview.net

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www.probe.org

• Over 2000 articles, commentaries, and e-mail
  answers.
• Over 30 PowerPoint presentations.
• Over 200,000 visitors from
  114 countries each month.
• Probe Alert