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Day 11
Does Love = Sex (Part One)
By Al Menconi
I
was driving around in the car with
my daughter one day listening to a radio
station that plays Big Band music (The
Christian music station wasn’t
in range). At one point, they played
a song with a lyric that talked about "making
love under the old oak tree." My
daughter was shocked: "Dad, I thought
you said '40s music didn't talk about
sex!"
At first I was a little puzzled. I
didn't hear anything about sex in that
song. It was simply about falling in
love: snuggling, whispering "sweet
nothings" in her ear, and maybe
stealing a kiss or two. But that was "yesterday." I
realized that for young people like my
daughter, "making love" has
nothing to do with love, anymore. It’s
simply a modern term for having sex.
How is it that even nice, young Christian
girls end up thinking like this? In the
first place, they are conditioned to
think this way because these ideas are
shoved at them hundreds of times every
day. Nearly every "love" song
on the music charts today is actually
about getting sex. You can turn the radio
on and hear songs like "Naughty
Girl," “Tonight’s The
Night," "Sex Me Up," "P.I.M.P.," "Dirty," etc.,
etc. If you read the lyrics, you might
think you were reading scripts from porno
movies! Honest! And that doesn't even
include the abusive misogyny in so many
of the rap records. In today's music
scene, “love” is sex - nothing
more.
Secondly, they think this way because
of the method in which the message is
delivered. It comes to them in the form
of entertainment. They know these messages
are part of the songs, but they don't
believe it affects them in any way. After
all, it's only entertainment. But is
that true? I'm afraid not.
You see, music is like audio/visual
instruction. Teachers use audio/visual
aids in the classroom to educate their
students. The music industry uses the
same methods to "entertain" us.
If it is education in the classroom,
it’s still education on the radio
or on the TV at home.
Basically, today's music is influencing
us in the same way commercials influence
consumers. Commercials are designed to
create a need and develop a desire for
the product. Today's music does the same
thing to get the same results; only the
primary products sold by today’s
popular music are sex, anger, and hopelessness.
Reflection: Is today's
generation 'buying" the product
being sold by the media? The overwhelming
amount of premarital sex, drugs, murder
and mayhem practiced by teens today seems
to indicate that kids are buying the “product”.
What products are being “sold” to
you?
Response: As you
and your family and friends watch TV,
make a list of the commercials that use
popular songs to sell their product.
I believe you will be surprised at how
many you find.
Verse of the Day: 2 Timothy 4:3-4
"For the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine,
but after their own lusts will they
heap upon themselves teachers, having
itching ears. And they will turn their
ears from the truth and follow fables." (KJV)
To get a handle on this verse, it helps
to understand how effective audio-visuals
are educating us. Audio-visuals are the
most effective teaching tool known to
mankind. We call it audio-visual instruction
in the classroom, but the same means
of instruction comes into the home as
MTV (rock videos), television programs,
videos and even video games. Just because
it is in the home instead of the classroom,
doesn’t mean it loses its effectiveness
to educate.
Also notice that it is the listener
who has itching ears; which means he
wants to hear what pleases his ears,
without caring about the message. If
we rephrase these two verses in today’s
vernacular (with the media in mind),
it might say: "There’s coming
a time when people won’t be able
to apply even the most basic Christian
doctrine. In order to satisfy their all-consuming
lustful desires, they will be infatuated
with audio-visual instruction like MTV
and television and videos because they
just want to be entertained (‘I
just listen to the beat!’) not
caring what the message is. And because
they do, they will turn from the truth
of God’s Word and follow after
lies." Think about it.
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