"He is Just and Fair"

[DaneClark]

I am planning to do the Novena to the Lady of Good Success starting on January 24th requesting to help me find a spouse. I try my hardest to be a good christian. I try not to miss church, ,I pray every night and often do so during the day, I have given up masturbation and deleted all the porn off my computer, and I try to keep the Devil out of my heart.

Right now, the only concern that I have is that I watch shows like “Family Guy” and “South Park”. I know that these shows often have jokes about Christianity in them that are often in bad taste. The thing is, I usually don’t find the religion jokes in those shows to be funny, it’s the social satire and pop-culture references that I enjoy.

I have heard people say that God is just, fair, and merciful, and that he looks to our hearts and to our faith. Does this mean that watching these shows won’t hurt my Novena? I have grown spiritually a lot in the past couple of months, despite still watching that stuff. Obviously God knows how important my desire to have a relationship is, so he’s not going to not bless me because of something trivial like that, is he?

 

[DaneClark]

Sorry to bump this, but I would really appreciate it if someone gave their opinion on this matter

 

[MercyMia]

God tends to meet us where we are. If we all put off praying until we were perfect, what would be the point of praying? It is not a sin to watch shows that have jokes about Christianity. Sometimes these shows do go too far, and it might be prudent to avoid them so as not to sponsor something that is anti-Christian. On the other hand, sometimes when we see something that challenges our faith it makes it grow stronger because we can so clearly see the flaws in their approach.
You may find that the closer you draw to God the less interested you become in some forms of popular media. So keep up with the novena. Personally, I do not like Family Guy. South Park can be so smart and on point sometimes, it really doesn’t even need the vulgarity to be relevant! The Al Gore episode was hilarious and I made a point to watch it online after reading about it on Michelle Malkin’s blog.

 

[Ralph4454]

I think it takes a lot to do what you just did. I find it comforting that there are many out there trying to find the right path. I will keep you in my prayers, I do believe that slowly removing yourself from shows, bad influences, and such, you will become a better christian.

 

[Voice_of_Reason_1]

Those were my two favorite shows to watch as well. I can’t say for certain how much of a pull, if any, they had in my renunciation of Christianity/Religion, but I would guess that I was influenced by them at least marginally. I used to like watching those shows because I found their attacks on Christianity to be fairly weak, but constant exposure to them made me consider the possiblity, at very least, that my Religion was in vain. Indeed, I’ve come to view that it is.

If you want to keep your level of spirituality and religious belief artificially high, then certainly those shows are absolutely no good. If you feel adequately prepared to defend against the growing attention towards atheism in popular media, or choose rather just to ignor it, you’ll be fine.

As for the Novena: I remain sceptical that it will lead you to a spouce anymore than a Novena would lead to feeding a hungry family in a poverty-stricken part of the world. I’d suggest, as a psychological angle, that if you think watching cartoons will affect the result of your Novena, it will, and if you think it won’t, it might not.

Good fortune in finding what you want in life,
Kind Regards,
Voice of Reason.

 

[Claire_from_DE]

I don’t believe that The Blessed Mother or God will ignore your sincere prayers because you watch the shows you mentioned. You have shown your serious intention to put those things out of your life that would distance you from God or prevent you from being a faithful husband. Above all, God is merciful.

I have a suggestion you may wish to consider. Could you give up those shows during the nine days of the novena? Not that I think God would require you to do so, but it is sometimes good to fast when you are praying for a special intention. You would be fasting from watching these programs which may be more meaningful for you than fasting from food.

But be at peace about this. If you feel your vocation is to be married, God is surely pleased that you are asking Him to bring the person into your life who would be a good wife and mother and would lead you closer to Him.

But here’s a hard question… why do you think God would care if you watch the programs? Do you have a reason for thinking that they actually offend God? Maybe they’re just critical of Christianity because some of us Christians are hypocrites? Sometimes we are. But if you really think they offend God, you might have to re-consider what is most important in your life.