Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone. Thanks for listening to wake up, look up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch. In today's episode, we're asking the question, does God see my Netflix list? This is prompted by an article I read on Collider's website about a new show on Netflix called Temptation Island.

I hope you're not super familiar with this show, but you might be. So but if you're not, let me tell you what it is. Temptation Island is yet another reality show about couples. That part is pretty ubiquitous, but here's where it gets, interesting or uncomfortable. Couples are invited on the island and then separated.

The men are moved to one, building. The women are moved to the other. And inhabiting their space are members of the opposite sex who are there purely to tempt them. That that's right. So a boyfriend is surrounded by women whose job is to get him to cheat on his girlfriend.

Girl the girlfriend surrounded by men whose job is to get her to cheat on her boyfriend with the idea being that the way a couple comes through the other side is that they remain, faithful to each other, able to forego the temptation of temptation island. Now four couples are on the initial season. Three, probably not surprising to you, don't survive, the season. They cheat on each other. The fourth does survive and even ends up engaged when the season is over.

But there's a voyeuristic aspect to this. We're watching these couples to see who is a liar, who will be unfaithful, and who, if anyone, will make it. I gotta tell you that when I read about this show, I wasn't really heartbroken for the people on the show. I I think the Internet has taught us, that people will do just about anything for attention. And if you throw in a little money, they'll debase themselves even more.

There will always be people out there willing to make fools of themselves for clicks, for more Instagram followers, and for money. I don't think Temptation Island is saying something about the people on the show as much as it is saying something about the people who watch the show. That's right. It's actually worse for people like you and I. That's because, this show appeals to the basest instincts in us.

And I I know you might not think about what you watch on Netflix as a spiritual issue, but it is. In Philippians four, Paul tells us that whatever is good, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, these are the things we ought to think about. That's because what we think about or in this case, what we veg out to actually does shape us. It's hooking in to something in us, and it's those things that I want to challenge you on. Let me give you some reasons we probably like temptation island and then show you how each one of those reasons is pretty spiritually toxic.

Like, for example, I think one of the reasons we like shows like this is because watching people be idiots on television makes us feel morally superior. It's a way of reinforcing our pride. Hey. We might not have had the best day, but at least we're better than these losers, which I think is part of the appeal of reality television. We enjoy watching the train wreck that is other people's lives because it makes us feel better about ourselves.

But, of course, the Bible has a lot to say about pride. It has a lot to say about comparison. Even Jesus talks about two men who go in to pray with one man saying, have mercy on me, God. I'm a sinner. And another man looking at the other man and saying, I think you, God, at least I'm not like that guy.

There are very few things as spiritually toxic for us as pride, and shows that are designed to make us feel proud are not good for us. I think a second reason we like shows like this is it's a way of watching other people pursue sin without feeling like we are doing anything wrong ourselves. There's an element of shows like this that hook into our own sexual sin. Hey. Maybe we're not the ones cheating on our spouses, but we live vicariously through those who are.

Maybe we're not the ones pushing the sexual envelope, but we get to watch as other people do it. It's a pre pornography, a pre porn state of being where no one could really accuse us of crossing the line, but we're getting up as close to the line as we can thinking somehow we aren't violating God's moral standards. But remember Jesus said, if you even think about lust, you've committed it already in your heart. And living vicariously through the sexual sins of others makes us just as guilty as pursuing it ourselves. The truth is that we like shows like this because we think somehow we can float above the sin that is in them without engaging it.

But, actually, what the Bible tells us is that if we don't guard our hearts, this being Proverbs four, the wellspring of our own life, the waters of our own life end up getting poisoned. Shows like this desensitize and numb us to unfaithfulness in our relationships, to pride, to superiority, to sexual sin, and the inevitable consequence of becoming more and more numb is we fall into our own kind of sin. Shows like this are not good for us. They are not what God wants for us. And Temptation Island isn't just about the temptation that happens on the island, but that that happens in your living room.

So for that reason, turn it off. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of wake up look up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!