Helsinki Vineyard

We as a family decided to give up TV because way too much time was given to this idol. The excuse to do this was brought on by the technology change from analogue transmissions to digital ones and we decided not to invest into digital tuner(s) which was a requirement posed by the digitalization introduced by YLE. Whether moving to digital transmissions was the right or wrong path to take is debatable and at this point thankfully it is of no consequence.

The build-up to being without constant TV feeds at your disposal and use was a process that took about a couple of years. It first started with the realisation of the stark contrast between what was fed into our life through TV and the values given to us in the Bible by God. Then came understanding of how much time it robbed first and foremost from God and secondly from our family. Other thing that also spoke to me was that one of my unbelieving colleagues that watched TV in moderation told me that they had turned theirs off to give his family more time. What!?!, me a confessing Christian debating this and here is someone who is doing it “just” for the sake of their family. After the decision was made to forgo TV we had questions like “Is this really a necessary thing to do?”, “Couldn’t we control the amount we watched it?”, “Couldn’t we preselect the programs we are going to watch?”, “God wouldn’t ask of us something like this, now would He?”, “What will we do then?”, ... and so the list went on and on.

Then the cable company started to drop channels as we approached the final digitalisation deadline set by YLE. And each set of channels that was dropped seemed more painful than the last. I remember for me personally BBC and Eurosport felt like pulling teeth. Until finally they only broadcasted a red TV screen on every channel. Yes, I did check a couple of times by flicking through all of the 17 or so channels.

Now with a couple months hindsight it is fairly easy to say that letting go TV is like any fast in your life. The initial thought and build-up are worse than the actual thing. I have quitted and fasted from certain things in my life and the common denominator for starting them all was the irrational fear and uncertainty that comes in the form of the question “What will you do then???” with the implied answer “Nothing, you will have no substance in your life!”. What a lie fed to us, and so often we swallow it hook, line and sinker, limiting our self’s from the riches that God has to offer substituting them for instant gratification and the old and familiar.

I fully admit that I was the one who could be categorised as a couch potato if I didn’t have some pressing assignment and were the primary reason for us letting go of TV. For me the benefits were obvious but when I heard Terhi describe to her friend how much better her life had gotten after the fact and that she would not have it back I knew that this was a good call that will bear good fruit abundantly in our life.

I have in my mind set an upper limit of one A4 for each blog post and haven’t even started to cover the subject of translations. Why the title then you might ask? Well as it seems I need to continue the story in my next ranting which will require you to login in order to read it.

Cheers, Chris

This post has a translation in Finnish called "Lupa kääntää, osa yksi".