Is watching t.v. a sin?

[jpk1313]

Is watching t.v. a sin/ I would say yes. Much of what is on t.v. is moraly repugnant and what is not moraly repugnant is often stupid which having been conditioned to that which is stupid we do not recognize it as stupid. It would seem that watching t.v. is counter-productive to achiving christian perfection. We confess our sins then turn on the t.v. and fill our selves up with the things we just confessed to. It is taking one step forward and one step back so that we go no where.

 

[Poetess_Kera]

It all depends on what you watch. I love to watch EWTN pretty much every day on TV.

 

[juliamajor]

No- it’s not a sin anymore then any cultural media.What you do with it and how you handle it is what’s important

 

[Monica4316]

I dont think that watching tv is a sin if you’re not watching anything bad.

If you are, then the question is…why are you watching it

in itself, tv is not sinful. However, it doesn’t mean it’s good for you spiritually. For example, you’re not out of grace for watching half an hour of commercials… but it doesn’t mean that’s the best thing to do with your time.

I sometimes watch EWTN and movies with my family but that’s about it.

 

[prodigalson12]

It’s setting yourself up to sin, placing yourself into the line of fire that you honestly and absolutely to not need to put yourself into at all. I turned my tv off 5 years ago, never, never looked back. When I visit friends homes, they have theirs blaring, and the longer I’ve been away from it, the more repugnant it has become. Those that watch it every day are desensitized to it all so just cannot relate.

Toss those TV’s, you can watch most movies and tv shows on the web these days which gives you more direct control over the content you are viewing “especially commercials, which are the worse offenders, if you have nothing else to do with your time and refuse to read the bible…”, and you are not losing out on one iota of it’s entertainment, just regaining control over what you will accept into your mind and heart.

 

[MariaTS]

I haven’t watched television for over a year because I do firmly believe it to be sin. I agree with all who believe that watching television is a sin. It has no educational value. Even the History channel and the Discovery channel are becoming bad television stations.

 

[Janet1983]

Is watching t.v. a sin/ I would say yes. Much of what is on t.v. is moraly repugnant and what is not moraly repugnant is often stupid which having been conditioned to that which is stupid we do not recognize it as stupid. It would seem that watching t.v. is counter-productive to achiving christian perfection. We confess our sins then turn on the t.v. and fill our selves up with the things we just confessed to. It is taking one step forward and one step back so that we go no where.

As has been pointed out already… it depends on what you are actually watching…

Psalm 101:3
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

If you’d turn off your TV for 10 minutes every time you saw something immoral you’d probably not watch a lot of TV at all… but there might be some things out there that are actually profitable.

 

[PrayHarder]

This reminds me of a homily I heard at Mass a few months ago. The priest said that there are things that are intrinsically good, intrinsically evil, and intrinsically neutral. Money, for example, is intrinsically neutral. It’s fine to obtain some money as long as you don’t make it your only focus and goal in life (aka, don’t become greedy and a slave to it). It is a means, not an end.

From what I see in these posts, I would have to say that TV is certainly intrinsically neutral. If you watch good, wholesome programs in moderation than you aren’t committing a sin. After all, there isn’t anything wrong with a little rest and relaxation every once in a while. If you become addicted to TV or watch bad shows then you are committing a sin.

I don’t think you can make a blanket statement that all TV and viewing habits are sinful. That’s like saying that eating is sinful because some people abuse themselves through their eating habits.

 

[juliamajor]

It’s setting yourself up to sin, placing yourself into the line of fire that you honestly and absolutely to not need to put yourself into at all. I turned my tv off 5 years ago, never, never looked back. When I visit friends homes, they have theirs blaring, and the longer I’ve been away from it, the more repugnant it has become. Those that watch it every day are desensitized to it all so just cannot relate.

Toss those TV’s, you can watch most movies and tv shows on the web these days which gives you more direct control over the content you are viewing “especially commercials, which are the worse offenders, if you have nothing else to do with your time and refuse to read the bible…”, and you are not losing out on one iota of it’s entertainment, just regaining control over what you will accept into your mind and heart.

Yeah, the web- which has more porn, and deviant material that ever was.If you want to be free of all the potential evil that can be brought in by media then you better toss the PC, the Laptop,the radio and newspaper.Oh , and living in a hut on a mountain might help a lot.

 

[prodigalson12]

Yeah, the web- which has more porn, and deviant material that ever was.If you want to be free of all the potential evil that can be brought in by media then you better toss the PC, the Laptop,the radio and newspaper.Oh , and living in a hut on a mountain might help a lot.

You can pick up any smut you want with either venues, but you can control what you observe much, much more easily off of having the control the web gives us, but just saying, it’s a much better way to go for our entertainment, you also might actually do something along the way, talk to another human being rather then just being fed ****…just as you and I are doing here…

 

[DanteAlighieri]

I haven’t watched television for over a year because I do firmly believe it to be sin. I agree with all who believe that watching television is a sin. It has no educational value. Even the History channel and the Discovery channel are becoming bad television stations.

Forgive me, but I find this position to be somewhat disturbing. You are, of course, entitled to your opinion, but to paint the entire entertainment industry – as well as the actual ACT of watching television – as inherently sinful is just inaccurate.

For one thing, whether you believe it or not, there actually is art being made. Some television shows are skillfully written, performed, shot, directed, and edited; some even have positive messages.

Additionally, there ARE in fact educational programs that have a great deal of value – in addition to networks like EWTN.

Obviously, there’s no way to account for taste here, but I think it is very unfair to judge the act of watching television as a sin without any regard for what is being watched. It’s unfair to the creators of TV shows, and it’s unfair to those who enjoy watching them.

I, for one, do enjoy a bit of TV now and then. I know what I ought not to watch, and I don’t really have much desire to see that stuff anyway.

Peace,
Dante

 

[sidbrown]

Is watching t.v. a sin/ I would say yes. Much of what is on t.v. is moraly repugnant and what is not moraly repugnant is often stupid which having been conditioned to that which is stupid we do not recognize it as stupid. It would seem that watching t.v. is counter-productive to achiving christian perfection. We confess our sins then turn on the t.v. and fill our selves up with the things we just confessed to. It is taking one step forward and one step back so that we go no where.

Yes, you are right that it could be a sin, especially if you are watching more than two hours of degrading programs per day. However, if you are restricting what you watch to some decent and uplifting programs such as Nova, then it is OK.

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

Forgive me, but I find this position to be somewhat disturbing. You are, of course, entitled to your opinion, but to paint the entire entertainment industry – as well as the actual ACT of watching television – as inherently sinful is just inaccurate.

For one thing, whether you believe it or not, there actually is art being made. Some television shows are skillfully written, performed, shot, directed, and edited; some even have positive messages.

Additionally, there ARE in fact educational programs that have a great deal of value – in addition to networks like EWTN.

Obviously, there’s no way to account for taste here, but I think it is very unfair to judge the act of watching television as a sin without any regard for what is being watched. It’s unfair to the creators of TV shows, and it’s unfair to those who enjoy watching them.

I, for one, do enjoy a bit of TV now and then. I know what I ought not to watch, and I don’t really have much desire to see that stuff anyway.

Peace,
Dante

I second this. Strongly.

Watch TV using your better judgement, and God-given discernment. Don’t paint everything with the same brush because of a few bad apples. Besides, we need to remember that people worldwide are watching TV and we need to stand up for our values on the air! Good people going and hiding under a rock and calling all TV sinful is only going to help broadcasters feed the general public filth. We need to be writing letters to networks when we see disgusting programming. When good people do nothing, shows like “Family Guy” get on FOX at 6 in the evening…

 

[Holly3278]

It’s only a sin if you’re watching outright immoral stuff like pornography.

 

[sidbrown]

It’s only a sin if you’re watching outright immoral stuff like pornography.

I don;t think so. If you are watching non-pornographic, but stupid programming, for more than two hours a day, I think that this is a sin of wasting your time. I thought that Catholics were required to put their time to good use.

 

[thistle]

Is watching t.v. a sin/ I would say yes. Much of what is on t.v. is moraly repugnant and what is not moraly repugnant is often stupid which having been conditioned to that which is stupid we do not recognize it as stupid. It would seem that watching t.v. is counter-productive to achiving christian perfection. We confess our sins then turn on the t.v. and fill our selves up with the things we just confessed to. It is taking one step forward and one step back so that we go no where.

Watching TV is NOT a sin.

 

[John21652]

Sin = Choice.
All TVs come with Choice Buttons pre-installed.
Modern TVs allow you to have the Choice Buttons beside you on the chair.
Sinning v Not Sinning has never been easier.

 

[LilyM]

Watching TV is NOT a sin.

In fact there’s a patron saint of television (St Clare) - note she isn’t ‘patron saint ***against ***television’!

And I imagine if Mother Angelica or Archbishop Fulton Sheen were ever to be canonised (many people are pressing for Sheen to be) they’d be patron saints of it too - both of them have used TV as an incredibly powerful weapon with which to wage war against evil.

 

[LilyM]

Sin = Choice.
All TVs come with Choice Buttons pre-installed.
Modern TVs allow you to have the Choice Buttons beside you on the chair.
Sinning v Not Sinning has never been easier.

We’ve always had lots of choice, including sinful choices. We don’t need tv to be inspired to sins of violence, sex and whatnot - and in fact violent crime has been going down in recent decades despite the explosion of violence on TV. Go figure.

I don’t think we really have more choice for sin now than previously, we can just choose different kinds of sin.

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

I don;t think so. If you are watching non-pornographic, but stupid programming, for more than two hours a day, I think that this is a sin of wasting your time. I thought that Catholics were required to put their time to good use.

Well, to play devil’s advocate here…

Catholics are called to make good use of their time. All of us are. But what about someone who enjoys and gets things out of programming that is deemed by others as “stupid” and watches it for 2 hours to realx after a 40+ hour week at work and all their other responsibilities are cared for.