Jeremiah Burroughs, in one of the sermons in Gospel Fear (which I will be reviewing today), says this: “Take heed of heart-hardening company, of slight company, of frothy company, of going into the company of those who have slight and vain spirits, and especially those who have been and are professors of religion, and yet have slight and vain spirits”.
As I read this I could not help but wonder if, in our day, Burroughs would have at this point went on a tangent about the vices of excessive television watching. I seldom find myself in the company of “frothy” (that is empty) people. Most of my friends are passionate about Jesus. (I’ll take my rebuke from my missional friends here). But I do often find myself in the company of frothy, slight, and vain television personalities. Granted, they are not professors of religion. Yet, there is very little serious thought. Does this harden my heart and keep it from being tender towards the gospel?
Secondly, I think Burroughs has a significant warning for those of us that are “professors of religion”. “Professor” is another way of saying “Those that profess Christianity”. It is not saying professors/teachers. These are ordinary believers. If we, as ordinary believers, are proclaiming to be Christ-followers, and yet live our lives in triviality what are we communicating about God and His gospel? Should we really be frothy? Burroughs is not against joy. Burroughs is against empty joy. May the Lord grant us a blood-earnestness for the sake of the gospel!
Can a man hold fire to his chest and not get burnt?
I can not help to believe that when we watch TV the philosophical assumptions that lie behind the programming/movie/show has to affect the watcher.The danger is that we can not engage the TV, We are passive and it therefore demands a reaction. We can approvingly laugh, applaud, say amen, or reject it. But if we are honest, we do not reject too much of it or we wouldn’t watch it fr what joy would it bring?
Now that we touched on joy, is this {TV} where we want to derive our joy from, especially since his is usually the very thing that Christ came to die for?
I would answer the topic question as, yes probably. Beware thinking that we are above the influences. This is what I believe Paul meant when he said we wrestles with powers, principalities etc.
PS: Thanks for the chapter synopsis on the Puritan books.