fbpx
/ Growing

Reason #409 Why I Don’t Watch TV… especially Good Christian B+@#$%

I remember watching “Little House on the Prairie” growing up. We didn’t have cable for a while, so when the show came on, it was one of our favorites. The show stood out amongst the hog reports, weather, and daytime dramas we sometimes were able to receive. I remember learning good values, crying with Mary and Laura over losses, and cheering with them for their victories. The Ingalls family represented Christian values and good relationships with others, how to handle conflict, and how to treat other people. Marriage issues were things that got worked through. The actors and actresses on the show were of healthy adult and human proportions. Stealing and gossiping were clearly wrong, as were attacks on women, children, and those less fortunate.

My, how things change.

ABC’s show, Good Christian B*&#$ , also known as “GCB,” provides yet but another opportunity for the world to communicate to our daughters that they are unworthy, fat, and unpopular unless they… (insert random negative female behaviors like gossiping, slander, promiscuity, etc., here).

As a Christian woman, something inside of me was repulsed by the portrayal of these women as supposedly representing my faith. Google for the trailer, if you haven’t seen it. Beware, however, as it’s sexually charged and inappropriate.

And just for the record, they don’t represent me, nor any of the Christian women I know.

Perhaps I’m sheltered, but of the thousands of people I’ve dealt with over the last 20 years, I’ve met a handful of females like this, and they were all 12-15 years old. Not one of the women who is capable of quoting Scripture like the women on GBC do behave this way.

And before you judge me as some archaic-minded fundamentalist ultra-conservative fuddy duddy, I’ll let you know that we spent some of the Daughters of Sarah class time yesterday talking about pursuing intimacy with our husbands. 

And yes, I do believe that’s where sex belongs – in a marriage.  But if you don’t believe with me about that, you won’t like anything else I have to say today either, so you might as well stop reading. 

Whether ABC meant it as sarcastic humor or not, I don’t appreciate the use of Scripture and the depiction of women of faith as catty, self-absorbed, model-thin, and crass. Today, I saw one blogger who had a problem with the show, but also stated that it portrays truth, and that Christian women are accurately represented because we are a bunch of mean girls.

I will concede that like everyone else, I am a sinner. I am the poster child for grace. I’m far from perfect. Consider me on the record with that one.

The ladies I know who attend church and know the Bible like these girls do simply don’t behave this way. Not that Christians are any better than others – for the record, churches are hospitals for sinners, not display cases for saints. We are ALL hypocrites – imperfect and flawed, yes, but I’ve seriously never seen cattiness like this before outside of junior high and early high school.

The Christian women I know are helpful, will work hard to help those in need, and not selfish. They bring dinner when someone is hurting, take the kids so you can catch a nap when you have a new baby, and trim your hedges when you are disabled and your husband is traveling. They use their gifts to bring food to the hungry, gifts to the needy, and clothes to the cold. They show up when you are hurting just to silently hold your hand while you cry over the loss of your baby or the death of a loved one. They help move boxes, assemble manuals, collate papers, and pray with you when things are hard. A number of them are nurses for Hospice.

The Christian women I know (and I know a TON of Christian women, and yes, some of them are even from Texas!) are hard-working, beautiful women who love others well, even though they are flawed themselves.

How dare you, ABC, for portraying Christian women as anything other than that? How dare you insult my sisters this way. How very sad, indeed.

And I don’t care about the point of the show, either. You brought me into it when you chose the title.

What is missing from our media is shows that give an accurate perception of what real faith does in a person’s life. Something encouraging that could build up a family. A role model worth emulating. Not more garbage.

Like the Ingalls family, who struggled with various issues, faith doesn’t prevent your life from having flaws and keep suffering at bay. It does, however, provide you with a sense of security, safety, insight, and deeply rewarding and rich relationships with others in the faith – people who show up with Cookie Monster shirts, grocery and gas gift cards, and their very best stuffed animals and toys to comfort a class member whose home and all her belongings were destroyed by a tornado Friday night, just like my ten year old daughter’s writing class is doing.

So I’m not going to watch GCB. And I’m not watching it out of respect for myself, Christian women everywhere, and my Father in Heaven. Dare you to do the same. And I probably won’t shop their advertisers. I’m sure someone will email me with a list of them.

You know me pretty well by now…you know I don’t blog about politics or much that goes on in the world. I tend to not want to glorify those who add to the demise of our culture and society. I take this one a little personally, however, as it further damages women and is disrespectful to my Christian sisters everywhere.

I also can’t help but wonder if ABC would have made a show like this about Muslim women? Or Jewish women? Or Buddists?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t care if something is supposed to be “funny.” And yes, I have a sense of humor and can laugh at myself. I think God can be funny, too…flamingos, for example, are funny (backwards knee caps and all)…so are giraffes and platypuses.

But this show? Enough is enough.

I stand up today and say, “Shame on you, ABC.” Morally grounded movies are showing up again and are doing well in theaters. Why not jump on that bandwagon? You could have a positive impact on the world around you, instead of adding to the misery already present in our culture.

And just to be clear, I’m not an “angry Christian.” I’m disappointed with the promulgation of lies about Christian women and women in general. We do not need more examples of bad women to show our daughters – but rather, strong women of strength and dignity need to be on TV.

So today, I’m daring you to not watch the show, and double-dog-daring you to let your local station know this, and triple-dog-daring you to let ABC know you aren’t watching the show or buying from its advertisers.

Oh, and while you are at it, don’t add to other problems of misunderstanding – be respectful, gentle, and kind, yes, even NICE, when you let them know. It makes all the difference in the world when you want to be taken seriously.

Saying nothing communicates we actually endorse behavior.

If you’ll excuse me, I need to contact ABC.

Thankful to be on the journey with you.

~Nina

UPDATE:  A reader sent me this.  Thought I’d pass it along:  http://www.onemillionmoms.com/IssueDetail.asp?id=440

26 Commments

  2. Pingback: Saturday Sampling March 10, 2012 | Emily Elizabeth Stone

  3. Wow, I was wondering what GCB stood for. If you saw the commercial, it’s blatantly obvious that the show does not promote Christian values nor represent Christian women (or Christians in general) at all.

  4. Thanks for the article. i haven’t had cable in over 5 years, and I am not surprised to hear about this. I think that Christians need to be selective in what productions they support.. They are few, because we don’t hear about them. It was frustrating to me that even Christian media, would not review the show colonybay.net is producing. It is hard for small production companies to make it! Let’s stop giving them publicity and support good entertainment! If you are curious you can watch trailer, here
    http://youtu.be/eDS-l3J5hlw

  5. My girls watched Little House reruns last week. 🙂 I so agree with you on this. Thank you for taking a stand. What we watch feeds our minds and souls. We are foolish to believe that what we watch does not impact us…or others.

  6. A very big AMEN!!!! Our family also doesn’t watch mainstream television and I didn’t know about this show. It makes me very sad for my children growing up in this day and age – I can only hope that it is the end-times and Jesus will come soon.

  7. Its really sad to see what a horrible influence media can be. Hopefully more people out there will be wise and make good use of their remote. By the way, what are the good options out there? I also dont watch TV for about 2 years now. I used to like So you think you can dance and Supper Nanny, as it had a few good tips on how to discipline children, but never saw any good Christian related show. Is there anything now days compared to the good old “Little House on the Prairie” that Nina mentioned?

    1. Tatiana – We have a replay TV (like TeVo) device where we record things – The kids like Little House, and my guys like some of the historical documentaries on the wars. We also have a Roku device and subscribe to netflicks…. and we check everything on http://www.pluggedin.com before watching it. Sadly, there’s not much. So we play a lot of games, do a ton of music, and read a bunch of books (also checking those before reading…).

      Be diligent – it’s important your kids know Truth. 🙂 Your job is important! 🙂

      Love to you,
      Nina

      1. Forgot to mention Adventures in Odyssey is online, too. It’s awesome! 🙂 From Focus on the Family: http://www.whitsend.org/ and for older kids, there’s Father Gilbert Mysteries, available from Focus and the library. 🙂

  8. Not that I am promoting this show in any way, but I saw an interview with the one women in the show and she said GCB stood for Good Christian Belles..? Not sure, but I figured she would know if she’s in the show. But I won’t be watching it, so who knows. 🙂

    2. Kari, this GCB was supposed to air last season as “Good Christain B****es” but beacuse they received such an uproar from Christians as a result of an email put out by One Million Moms, they changed the name to Good Christian Belles. I pray that there will be another uproar and they will just cancel the entire show!

  9. Thanks for sharing your comments. You said everything I would have liked to have said. I will post your link on the Facebook page I created against the show. Join the group on Facebook: People calling for ABC to cancel “GBC”

  10. I don’t understand why so many Christians watch today’s tv shows. People are just filling their head with ill choices…choices that as Christians we are to leave that life behind. Put on a new life. I’m so behind on what’s on tv or new pop music. I’ve really tried to make that transition into weeding all that out and leaving that behind. It doesn’t surprise me that it is what society wants to emulate or coerce society into believing that these new standards are to be, how we should live our lives. I think as we become Christians we are to leave that old life behind…the tv shows (and the one you mentioned isn’t the only one…I’d go as far as to say all of them.), the standard music stations, dressing and not pondering just HOW much cleavage we are showing or how tight our bottom attire is or how SHORT it is (we emulate what we fill our heads with.). I think gossiping can be a hard habit to break but we need to remind each other without being that b!#¢% former self. Like wearing a rubber band and every time you want to stick some junk food in your mouth, snap yourself…well every time we open our mouths and something that resembles gossip falls out, we need to start snapping ourselves. So the best place that starts is removing those things that fill our heads with that…quit watching junk food tv. Make the choice of just going and doing something else…perhaps socializing with people who also are trying to leave the old life behind. Read a book. Join a Bible study. Flirt with your spouse. Read to your kids. Clean your house. Play a board game. Go out for coffee….. Do something with someone else. 🙂 I rarely have quiet in my house. The kids are usually too noisy with laughing or playing board games or just living life. I can go without tv and live to tell about it. 🙂

    1. You are so wise, Heidi!! I concur 100%. And nope, I don’t watch TV. 🙂
      Nina

  11. I didn’t realize that’s what GCB meant… I’d only heard it mentioned a couple of times.

    I want to get angry but my pastor had a great sermon yesterday about how nothing external, no external enemy can stop Jesus. Only when Christians are changed inside does the message stop. Mark 8:15, the yeast of the Pharisees and of Harod can destroy from the inside out.

    Jesus didn’t condone the behaviour of others but he didn’t always speak out against them, even during his crucifiction he didn’t condemn, only give grace.

    It’s ok if someone thinks I’m a GCB, I can only prove them wrong with my actions, not by acting in anger.

    1. Heather, you are absolutely right! 🙂 And yes, resist the opportunity to be angry. 🙂 We always lose ground when we don’t behave gently, kindly, respectfully. 🙂

  13. I’m right there with you too! I just saw the trailer last night sitting in the living room with my kids. I was appalled and I didn’t even know what GCB meant! I looked at my kiddos and said, “We won’t be watching that!” I too am frustrated with the shows on today. I loved “Little House” and we watch it everyday on another channel. I have even banned some of the Disney shows my kids want to watch. The shows promote the idea that parents are stupid and the children should be in charge. Our society needs more wholesome, encouraging, nurturing programs.

  14. As I rarely watch tv anymore, I knew nothing about this show until last night. Our Pastor and his wife run our Jr. High youth group and they mentioned it to the kids as a lesson on what they are up against in this world. I felt my mouth drop at the title! I hope and pray that many christians are willing to stand up for their faith in this situation, and let ABC know just how horrible this is. This world is changing so fast and it is so hard for us to keep up with it and protect our families in the process. I have gradually dwindled the tv watching in our home over the last few years. Now my children and I barely watch any at all. But it will be even less if shows like this are going to be allowed to be broadcast!

  15. Thanks for the heads up. The trailer was just enough to verify what u said and show me…I have better ways to redeem the time God has given me. Thanks for speaking out!

  16. Thank you Nina and I wholeheartedly agree with your post. If the show was about any other religion, it would have been treated with respect. But with the familiarity (or so-called) of Christianity, it also breeds contempt. This show brings out the worst kind. Our family does not watch television simply because there isn’t enough good role models out there, period. Other than the preschool set, there is little out there that I would want my 3 girls to imitate. I don’t want my girls to be wizards or rock stars or fashionistas. Last time I checked, none of those are viable career options for the masses or the few.

  17. I am right there with you, sister!
    Our family still watches Little House and the Waltons and if one of those 2 aren’t on (and there is no worthwhile cooking or home improvement show that captures my interest) I turn to music or golden silence.
    I will be one joining in you in contacting my cable provider as well as ABC.
    Thank you for taking a stand and holding strong to your beliefs.

Comments are closed.