There must be awards for the television program that shows the most repulsive images. I’ve seen (short) clips of people swallowing indescribable objects and organisms just so their face can appear on the TV screen.
I’m confident there are better ways to find one’s fifteen minutes of fame. I refuse to watch such programming.
On Wednesday, November 11, the Associated Press told of a man in Peru who swallowed hardware. Doctors in Cajamarca, Peru reported finding a pound and a half of metal objects in the stomach of Requelme Abanto. The objects included nails, coins, rusted wire and scrap metal.
In the story, Abanto bragged of swallowing seventeen five-inch nails in one day. He speculated that he might begin giving public performances of his unusual appetite. Not surprisingly, some suggest that Abanto may have mental health issues.
Most would never think of swallowing live worms or rusted nails. But do we regularly swallow other things that have even more serious effects?
Jesus warned us about gazing upon things that are sinful:
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye isbad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that
darkness!” (Matthew 6:22,23, NKJV).
Ours is a visually-oriented society. Thanks to television and the Internet, we see activities that our ancestors never knew about.
Satan knows how much we like to look. Eve’s decision to disregard God’s law came when she “saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise…” (Genesis 3:6).
Once the image was allowed to remain in her mind, it was a short distance to committing the first sin.
Christians today often place too much confidence in their ability to resist temptation. “I can handle this,” they answer while watching a show filled with sinful content. “It won’t affect me.”
We need to be reminded of Paul’s words: “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits'” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
Are those words less true because the “company” is present by means of a cable?
I consider it a healthy thing to be grossed out by the thought of swallowing repulsive objects. Why are we not upset at the idea of swallowing things that might fatally infect our souls?
by Tim Hall
Get a FREE on-line Bible commentary on the book of Romans through www.abiblecommentary.com. You may also get a FREE daily devotional by subscribing to my rss feed – http://abiblecommentary.com/blog/feed/ or follow me on twitter. I also operate a Christian blog on blogspot.