TV harms the spiritual life? Why TV has such great power? Is it true that television introduces man into sin? Can not a man to watch TV selectively, that is, only that to his advantage? Do you think that television is able to create a new religion?
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Question: How TV harms the spiritual life?
Answer: The Fathers spoke , that death comes through the door, referring to spiritual death, which is the result of sin, penetrating into the soul through the five senses: sight, hearing, , smell, touch and taste. As a result, all the Orthodox ascetic teaching is based on the subordination of the mind and senses to the word as a goal in its broad sense. For example: we eat to live, not live to eat. In the first case, the food is the satisfaction of biological needs, in the second – the satisfaction of desire, the supreme goal of becoming a source of pleasure. St. John the Evangelist, in his first Epistle speaks of three simple but very capacious interpretation of “peace”, meaning that based on what worldly concerns, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.
Today television with a zeal trying to give people the spectacle of satisfying worldly interests, as most people prefer the worldly life, far away from God and keeping His commandments, which leads us to holiness and deification. People choose the fabric instead of the spirit, is the enjoyment of the senses instead of eternity and God communion, which can be achieved in this life.
Thus, the TV can offer everything that can satisfy human curiosity (lust of the eyes), which leads to a further relaxation of the solid (the lust of the flesh), pleasure, lust and bodily pleasures. And they lead to the pride of life, self-righteousness, arrogance, theft, abuse and ultimately kill the neighbor, which is at the stage of human selfishness and the desire of superiority and power.
ThereforeTV for the most part shows the programs with scenes of violence, corruption and crime.
Therefore the human mind every day is filled with things unworthy and shameful, because modern man spends much time in front of TV, computer and the Internet. Constantly watching various immoral things a person defiles the mind. And when the defiled mind, a person suffers because defiled mind leads him away from God.
Question: Why TV has such great power?
Answer: It has the power, as a modern man is peculiar psychological need for entertainment. And the most affordable entertainment – is television. For little money you can buy a television and make a home movie theater. And since many people today lack of spirituality, watching moving pictures is enough for them entertainment. These paintings cause a person harm. Very serious damage. First ochuzhdaetsya and destroyed the human mind, and then, due to constant watching immoral, pornographic films, is defiled and destroyed the man himself.
Question: What role television plays in shaping the collective consciousness?
Answer: Now TV is at the mercy of the powerful and dark forces are in favor of globalization and seek to ensure that people think alike. They actually brainwash people, causing them to be white as black and black is white, depending on the wishes of supranational power centers that have economic control over the channels.
Also, the TV imposes as the abolition of moral values, disorients people turning away from their spiritual culture and national ideals. They want the people of the flesh was only that they did not think of anything spiritual. As you can see, now the majority of films and television programs have moral overtones, allowing the development of virtue and ethics. The actors are mostly native imaginary morality. Films from around the world are similar in content. This is done for the depersonalization of man. A person should lose face – that’s what acting throughout the slogan of the dark forces.
Question: true that TV introduces man into sin?
Answer: Absolutely. Offend mind watching immoral movies. Today, the man is not of sit in my room and watch it on TV any obscenity, which craves his mind. Inflame the mind and inevitably comes to sin.
Question: Television fuels the passion?
Answer: Of course, especially with respect to carnal passions. And man, after all, inferior to these passions. As you know, morality is a necessary prerequisite for the spiritual life. If a person does not have the moral purity, it can not receive God’s grace. It is impossible, no matter what he was doing. It can be a church-going, to pray, but it would not make sense if he’s not trying to be morally cleaner. That’s like writing a pitchfork on the water.
Question: Is TV does not show the living reality and human interaction?
Answer: It shows the living reality, but the reality is sinful. If the television showed us the spiritual reality, it would be an excellent means of moral education. Unfortunately, it is rare to find a TV with a spiritual theme. In Thessaloniki, there is only one channel – it’s called E4 – which shows the usefulness of spiritual transmission. However, he is one to hundreds, even thousands.
Q : Can not a man to watch TV selectively, that is, only that to his advantage?
Answer: Unfortunately, the person is difficult to approach this selectively. Despite the fact that there is a console, people, including television, is under the power of demons. And instead of seeing, say, the only news people watching and other programs. Blessed Elder Paisios forbade even watch the news. His contemporary, Saint Silouan, deceased in 1938, when television was not there, and there was only the press, saying that anyone who wants to learn how to pray – a holy talking about pure prayer of the heart – do not have to read newspapers and magazines, as they are make a prayer distraction. And what would he say now, if I lived in this era of domination of television and the omnipotence of sin where there is no place to learn how to clean attempts to prayer? “Praying man – said Saint Silvanus – feels the state of the world through information sent by him to the Lord.” So it starts with pain in his heart to pray for the whole world, without feeling the need to listen and watch the news.
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Many people tell me today that spend hours sitting in front of a TV – as husband and wife, it is not talking to each other. One sits for five hours, the other eight! Children, especially on vacation, watching television with 10 – 12 hours a day. This is a demonic state. And if they looked right and inspirational program! But children are only hurting yourself. Even the notorious Mickey Mouse and the like, which we watched when we were little, now do not carry anything positive. They have ceased to be a model of altruism and love, as they were before. Now they teach Satan’s morality show children hate, rancor, murder. Succeeds the one who is easy to kill – that is the type of person that we see in today’s cartoons.
Question: Do you think that television is able to create a new religion?
Answer: It does not create a new religion, but a new reality of sin. Man chained to her, and nothing he can do about it. In such a situation, which contributes to the creation of television, people are not able to memory of God and communion with God.
Question: Maybe our relationship to the TV turned into a cult?
Answer: in fact it is. Some people refer to a TV fanatic as well as others refer to God. Instead of loving God with all your being, they love the TV. Therefore, now so common, portable TVs that you can take with the car, on the plane. Man suffers from the need to always something to watch. And it’s heavy dependency. Tirelessly watching a variety of programs, people will no longer see God.
Question: How can this be avoided?
Answer: One does not need all of the above, if he lives by the grace of the Holy Spirit. But it is very difficult. Now rarely come across such a person.
Question: TV in a window can be called pseudo reality. Where can we find a window into the reality of the spiritual?
Answer: First of all, we need to help people get closer to God and begin to live a spiritual life. And then they will have the awareness of what is good and what is bad. In addition, we need to try to change the situation, speaking for the creation of TV channels that have a spiritual basis. The Church must be persuaded to create a channel which broadcasts inspirational programs that are the antithesis of death and violence that we see every day on TV. So you have to try to make an impact on people and the Church.
Fortunately, here in Thessaloniki, as I have said, and we support such a channel, E4. There are various activities provide reasonable economic assistance. We all forces to support this channel, instruct the people on the right path.
It is clear that we can not deny the modern man to watch TV. The church must realize that this is a big problem. Unfortunately, sociological data show that one can not exist without the TV. I, of course, of the opinion that it in the house should not be. But in many families require children TV. And to avoid quarrels, parents are inferior. It has come to the point that now becomes impossible to find a house without a TV. Sometimes they are in every room. It’s depressing and most of all – a house with five bedrooms and five TVs.
Question: What of the fact that a person gives television, it can provide the Church?
Answer: The Church must convince their children to forsake sin. And when people leave sin, the TV in their living room will be left.
I forgot to mention that another way to protect yourself from the bad programs – it is good to take videos for the whole family and children.
Church must make people understand that he did not need all those satellite dishes with lots of channels showing immoral programs. This will temper the damage caused to a person. The church must take action to convince the public that television corrupts. It is good that you have organized the campaign against the harm of television. After all, in essence, you are acting not against television as such, but against the wicked programs that it broadcasts.
Question: Could you say a few words about the love and joy that come from the Church? However, we are attracted TV …
Answer: Unfortunately, modern man unaccustomed to deal with sin and forget the gifts of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness and forbearance. He, like the prodigal son, is sent “in a distant country” and eats the fruit of sin. And so our only Mother, the Nurse, and the Ark is the Church. Arriving at the church, we will be able to enjoy the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In fact, everyone needs it, but often stepping on the wrong path. Every New Year we send each other cards with wishes of longevity, happiness, and joy. All we are looking for this joy, but few manage to find it, since only a few step on the way of the Church and Christ. This way were all saints, who showed us an example of the life that is called on to each of us.
Now people are placing their hopes only on material goods and even drowning in them, does not find happiness and joy, as it is located far away from God. If in our hearts and in our house there is no God, we are in total darkness, in a state of unhappiness and dissatisfaction with their lives in a constant state of desire to sin. This is one of the causes of terrorism and the desire to kill. If a person lives in the heart of God, does he want to kill the neighbor? Certainly, no.
Man pulls away from God. And so our task and at the same time a great responsibility as representatives of the Orthodox Church – his personal example to convince people to come to God, which you can find only in the Orthodox Church. True one can not be 50% here, 50% there, 30% elsewhere. Truth is one. Truth – is the Holy Revelation. Everything else – the dust in his eyes, tall tales. For us to come to Mount Athos, many representatives of the Western churches and become acquainted with the Orthodox tradition, say the truth that Christ brought into the world, is we, the Orthodox. And we as Orthodox monks, the monks of the Holy Mountain preach that Christ dwells in the Orthodox Church. And happy is the man who wishes to live with the truth as a true representative of the Orthodox Church.
Source: Virgil Vlaesku, Dialogues on television and spiritual life with sviatohorsk fathers conversation with Archimandrite Ephrem, abbot of the Vatopedi monastery, Thessaloniki, 2011
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http://www.agionoros.ru/docs/601.html
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