Guest defygravity2006 Posted November 10, 2006 Share Posted November 10, 2006 I recently spent some time watching a video stream of the “Smile of a Child” network. For those of you who don’t know, “Smile of a Child” is a spin-off of TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network). It airs Christian children’s programming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It isn’t carried by very many cable/satellite companies yet (thankfully), but it streams it’s programming live on its website. I watched several programs, including a show entitled “Faithville” (in which throwback characters from the 1940’s shove Christian values down young throats with no attempts to hide the messages behind entertainment), a show called “Pahapahooey Island” (a show in which puppet characters search for “the book of the great creator” on a strange island before equating this creator to the biblical God) and a show called “Kids Like You” (it’s like both shows mixed together. The pure messaging of one combined with the puppets of the other). I found a recurring message in all three, and I’m very uncomfortable with that message being taught to children. That message was that “Religion should be believed in your heart, not in your head.” On “…Island”, the characters sing a song about where one can keep “Gods word” so that it cannot be stolen, with a refrain “hide it in your heart!” When a character suggests that you could “hide it in your head”, the others respond with a strong “No!” The puppet segments on “Kids Like You” featured two young female cousins who attended church together. One believed the preacher’s sermon without any question. Her cousin, on the other hand, didn’t understand how a nine-year-old girl could be born again and be a new creature. She didn’t understand how her cousin could just accept these things without understanding. The answer? Her cousin had “faith in her heart.” “You don’t have to think about it…how to get saved and figure it all out in your brain. You just have to have faith in your heart and you’ll be able to believe!” the young missionary tells her cousin at bedtime towards the end of the show. The skeptical cousin treats this as if it’s the perfect answer. “Oh…all I have to do is have faith in the Bible and believe it with my whole heart and I can be saved?” she exclaims excitedly before joining her cousin for a Bible study. At the next church service, the cousin goes up to get “saved” and the young evangelist whispers “Praise the Lord! My cousin’s getting saved!” “Faithville” was full of these messages as well, although it was the “only God can heal” message that got me steaming on that one. The one problem I have with this is that it’s completely inaccurate. The human heart isn’t responsible for what we believe and what we don’t. It’s responsible for circulating the blood through our bodies. The duties that many attribute to the heart (feelings, emotions, and our deepest beliefs) actually occur in our minds. It’s why people suffering from depression and other emotional disorders go to see a psychologist instead of a cardiologist. You can’t “believe something in your heart”. That’s not what the human heart does. So why don’t the Christians tell their children to believe with their minds? Because if they tried to “figure it all out in their brains” as the young girl in “Kids Like You “ was trying to do, Christianity makes absolutely no sense. Telling people to “believe with their whole heart” makes people forgo using their rationality and logic skills to make decisions. People give their heart the ability to feel, but not the ability to think. That’s why it scares me that people are raising children with this idea. These kids aren’t going to develop these skills at all. Rational thinking and logic take practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LosingMyReligion Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 I think the entire Trinity Broadcast Network is a dangerous propaganda machine. Whenever I hear certain preachers spew their rhetoric it's like listening to Hitler incite his followers to action against "them(insert anyone none Christian)." I remember when I was a little kid I grew up watching that stuff. They had bible story cartoons and etc. They package it up and make it kid friendly...And the real motivator is to transform you into a good Christian drone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverclear5 Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Telling people to “believe with their whole heart” makes people forgo using their rationality and logic skills to make decisions. People give their heart the ability to feel, but not the ability to think. That’s why it scares me that people are raising children with this idea. These kids aren’t going to develop these skills at all. Rational thinking and logic take practice. I couldn't have said it better, this is my exact problem with religions. When we are kids we don't reason because any kid who decided to test whether a crocodile would eat him got eaten. We automatically accept information from authority figures when we are young, it's evolution baby! Bites you in the ass sometimes! If we don't get taught to reason we stay in this childlike state forever. Indoctrinating children for any purpose sickens me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Paineful Truth Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 The one problem I have with this is that it’s completely inaccurate. The human heart isn’t responsible for what we believe and what we don’t. It’s responsible for circulating the blood through our bodies. What they're saying is that we shouldn't think about religion, we should feel about it. Even mainstream ministers preach the primacy of faith (emotion) over reason. Emotion is the foundation for indoctrination, not thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Because if they tried to “figure it all out in their brains” as the young girl in “Kids Like You “ was trying to do, Christianity makes absolutely no sense. Telling people to “believe with their whole heart” makes people forgo using their rationality and logic skills to make decisions. People give their heart the ability to feel, but not the ability to think. That’s why it scares me that people are raising children with this idea. These kids aren’t going to develop these skills at all. Rational thinking and logic take practice. It helped me to distinguish between the 'head' and the 'heart' and some issues need more of one than another. I think an understanding of both is important but not at the exclusion of either one. Faith with no thought/logic is scarey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mongo Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Emotion is the foundation for indoctrination, not thought. You've hit it exactly. Very well said PT! Mongo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Paineful Truth Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 I think an understanding of both is important but not at the exclusion of either one. Faith with no thought/logic is scarey Or as I have been known to paraphrase Einstein: Faith without reason is blind, reason without faith is dead (where faith is understood to be the emotions, especially motivation, drive and fulfillment). Imagine a car with no driver/controls, or no engine/fuel. You've hit it exactly. Very well said PT! Mongo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts