The Struggle with Television

This article is from the same issue (number 10 of 1973) of my previous post. I decided to write about it because it highlights two other items of interest in the community; our relationship to television and belief in the demonic. Bob Granigan, the author of the article was a young quadriplegic who was a vital member of the young people in the church. He suffered many well meaning attempts at healing from itinerant ministers of healing throughout his time in the church. The article is a little shocking to those who may not be acquainted with the church and/or Bob. Whatever your beliefs, this represents a real struggle that he was going through in relation to television.

Let me deal with the issue of television first. Early in the days of the community, each household got rid of their television sets. The primary reason was that people would spend time in front of the tube rather than spending time in conversation with one another. The purpose of community was to live a shared life with one another so that we could grow in our relationship with Christ. Television robbed us of time. Television also proclaimed a secular life that was mostly devoid of Christian values. We felt that our people didn't need to expose themselves to this. Attitudes toward TV began to change when our community became an item in the city (more about this in a later post). We began to bring back the televisions so that we could watch the news. The sets stayed and began to be watched. For a time frame, the problems with the city really started in late 1975.

Belief in the demonic is varied within Christianity. Most biblical scholars, however, do believe that the primary ministries of Jesus in the Gospels were proclamation of the Kingdom of God, healing and casting out of demons. Of course there is a wide variety of views of what Jesus was doing in the casting out of demons. Description of these many ideas is two big a subject for this little post. At FBC we believed literally in the presence of the demonic. We were also involved in the casting out or exorcisms of these demons. This wasn't an aberration of our church. It is a widely held belief within the Charismatic Movement down to the present day.