Christian TV Shows That DeFacto Promote Married Couples with Children as Being Good Christian People
Sometimes Christian programs such as “The 700 Club” will have a celebrity on. Usually, these celebrity people are married with children.
These people are presented as being good role models for other Christians or we’re given the impression they are living exemplary Christian lifestyles when not on camera.
I remember once a few years ago, The 700 Club TV show had Billy Ray Cyrus on their show, father of Miley, who later went on to behave like a big ol’ slut ((Link): On Miley Cyrus Being Sexual at 2013 VMAs – Hypocrisy of Secular Feminists).
About four or five years ago, the female co-host of The 700 Club interviewed Kate Gosselin.
I think it was not too long after Goesslin appeared on The 700 Club show – maybe about a few months or a year later – the she and her spouse Jon divorced.
Kate Gosselin is mother to about eight or ten children. That was the basis for her reality show, ‘Kate Plus Eight,’ or whatever it was called.
I have never understood why culture, or some women, think popping out a kid is some super spectacular accomplishment, whether it’s one kid or ten.
Anyway, Gosselin was on The 700 Club program to talk about being a mom and to hype a book she wrote.
It turns out she may not be a stellar, Christian mother after all (see links below).
I have noticed that Christian shows don’t have unmarried Christians on that often – if they do, it’s usually a young, male sports hero who has not married yet.
And, those young, male sports stars are rarely there on the program to discuss life as a celibate, single adult… their guest appearance is almost always to talk about football, or to discuss Jesus in generic terms.
When parents or married people are on Christian shows, however, marriage and parenting tips are given. Marriage is discussed.
Even when the “Duck Dynasty” couple was invited on the 700 Club show, they were asked questions specifically about marriage and how their marriage has survived.
You rarely see shows such as The 700 Club invite single Christians on to discuss singleness.
Yes, I recall The 700 Club show did invite one single, celibate woman on to discuss singleness and celibacy in particular about six months ago, but that is ONE time out of watching the show for about ten years now.
There was a week long series by former The 700 Club host Kristi Watts on adult singlehood about two, three years ago.
But again, in my ten plus years of watching this 700 Club show every single day, they usually discuss MARRIAGE or parenting.
TBN’s “Praise the Lord,” and other generic Christian talk shows, are just as guilty.
Whenever they do have a single, celibate adult on to discuss singleness, it’s rare.
Anyway, Christian shows should probably stop holding up self professing Christian married with kids people as role models, since some of them later go on to get divorced, or they turn out to have huge porn problems, etc.
(Link): Kate Gosselin’s twins go silent on ‘Today’
(Link): Gosselin girls go silent on whether they’re doing OK, let mom Kate do the talking
(Link): Twins Humiliate Her On Live TV
(Link): Going wrong Gosselin Awkward silences engulf ‘Today’ show segment with teen twins
(Link): Kate Gosselin Snaps at Twins Mady and Cara on Live TV (VIDEO) — Jon [Kate’s ex husband] Reacts!
- UPDATE: The twin’s father is speaking out about the now-infamous interview, and — no surprise — he’s not happy at how Kate Gosselin is treating her kids! Us Weekly reports that Jon is very “upset” after watching the segment, and feels “horrible” for his daughters.
“I felt really bad. I mean, I didn’t care too much for Kate or whatever, but I felt really bad for Mady and Cara because I love them and they’re just put in this situation. It was like deer in the headlights,” he said. He puts the blame fully on his ex-wife’s shoulders.
“It just kind of proves my point of Kate bringing the kids out instead of her just sort of doing it herself,” Jon says. “It all blew up in everyone’s face and I feel horrible for my children because now they’re going to have to deal with the public.”
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Related:
Christian Pundit 
Hi from Sharon to christianpundit:
Thanks for the nice comments about my artwork. I hope that all is well with you. I hope that you can seek some professional help if you are suffering with depression. A pastor is probably not the best person to seek help from as far as clinical depression is concerned. I enjoy listening to Charles Stanley online, as his Intouch program helps me a lot in my faith.
For the lady named Sandy R:
I am not hung up on getting married, because I am at peace with my single status. I am not interested in having a big wedding or having kids. I am sort of a loner and introvert. I like being by myself most of the time. In fact, I get very stressed out when I am in a large group of people. As far as American men are concerned. let them go overseas and marry other women. It is no loss for me. I don’t particularly enjoy picking up and cleaning up after a grown man. I like my freedom to come and go as I please. I also have my own home and small business where I can take care of myself. I was just trying to offer some encouragement to christianpundit, to let her know that she is not alone.
Also the church in general needs to treat singles a lot better. Most churches do treat marriage and family as an idol. There needs to be balance in the church. Singles need to be treated with respect and not with scorn. Also, this earth is not my home, my real home is in heaven and I could care less about trying to meet a man on a cruise,etc. I am NOT gay, but I am not focused on getting married either.
I also want to say that a lot of those christian TV shows are very hypocritical, especially when it comes to single people. They act like if marriage is a cure-all for lonliness and that all married people are God’s gift to the world. You may want to watch some other shows besides Christian TV. I am not suggesting lewd or vulgar shows. Is there a TV station in your town that shows the old sitcoms from the 50s through the 1980’s? I live in central Ohio and they have a TV station that shows all of the old sitcoms from the 1950’s through the 1980’s, like I love Lucy, Brady Bunch, Mary tyler Moore, Gilligans Island, MASH, etc. I watch this station sometimes. I also watch a lot of programs on my computer. Day of Discovery has some very nice biblical based videos that are not all “marriage and family”. Many of their videos are made in Israel and are based on ancient Bible and early church history.
I think only a small number of shows on Christian networks like TBN are even remotely biblical and sound.
I do not agree with the Prosperity Gospel (Wealth and Health) message, so I usually turn the channel when one of those guys (such as Benny Hinn) comes on.
If and when I do watch Christian TV, I watch mostly out of curiosity. I also watch to keep track of overall Christian attitudes and trends I see about marriage, dating, sex, and singles.
I think TBN and Christian networks like that are at their best when they air the sorts of shows you say you prefer – the educational type stuff about the history of the Bible, history of Israel. I like those sorts of shows.
I also like it when TBN shows movies about Jesus (such as “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” or the 1970s mini-series about Jesus. But they only usually air these shows at Easter and Christmas).
I don’t always watch Christian programs to learn theology from the shows or preachers. IMO, most theology and doctrine on Christian TV is flawed, heretical, and/or inaccurate.
I think we do get ‘TV Land’ or whatever the channel is called where I live. They sometimes show re-runs of shows from the 1950s and the 1960s. I still sometimes enjoy those shows, the “Gilligan’s Island” or “I Dream of Jeannie” sit coms.
I do watch a lot of History Channel and Food Network. I also enjoy watching movies on AMC and F/X.
On History Channel, I watch “American Pickers,” “American Restoration” and “Counting Cars.”
Hi from Sharon:
I have been reading your blog over the weekend. I am very, very sorry that the so-called church has hurt you so much as a Christian single woman. I am also a Christian single woman over 45, never married and no kids. I very well understand what you are going through as an over 40 single woman. I used to have a strong desire to be married, but it never has happened. I am now 51 years old. I used to be bitter about my singleness, but I turned all of this over to the Lord. I am no longer bitter about not being married. I learned to be at peace with my singleness. It has not been an easy journey for me. It has taken many years for me to arrive at this sense of peace. I also used to go to church, but I no longer go to a physical church, but worship the Lord at home using the internet. I recently joined an internet church called “churchforall.org”. The main reason that I don;t go to a physical church is because of my work schedule. I work almost every Sunday doing data entry work. I wish that there was some comforting words that I can give to you, but I can very well understand your bitterness and anger. From reading your blog, it seems that you were attending a very conservative, fundamental church. You may want to try a more liberal church (not too liberal though) or a church that is non denominational and that caters to marginalized people. Some of the large suburban churches are very snotty and shallow. I would feel very uncomfortable in a typical suburban church. I am an African americn woman and where I live at, most of the Black men are in jail, or already married. I have decided that maybe it isn’t Gods will for me to be married, but I did not abandon the Christian faith altogether. I do not watch any “christian tv” because most of it is very very shallow. I do enjoy listening to Charles Stanley through his website , Intouch. I have grown a lot in my faith through the Intouch online programs and sermons. Over the years that I have been single, I also developed my artistic talents and started an online silk scarf business. I taught myself silk painting back in 1998. You can see some of my work at colorsofsilk.ecrater.com . If you need someone to chat with, you can email me at sharonkaysilks@gmail.com. I hope that things will get better for you and I will keep you in prayer.
@ Sharon
Thank you so much for your posts. Thank you for the prayers. 🙂
Just so you will know, my recent post blasting rude people for leaving me rude comments and such was not about you.
I’ve had a few people show up and want to be argumentative or rude in their comments – I was talking about them. (I usually delete such comments and don’t permit them to appear on the blog to other readers.)
As I was just saying in that recent post, I’m not bitter about being single.
I’m usually fine with being single. At times I am not fine with it, I feel sad and disappointed about it, not bitter.
Any anger you see on this blog by me mainly comes from how badly most churches and Christians treat the un-married and childless.
I am tired of most Christians hyping marriage and parenting and either ignoring singles or insulting us, or blaming us for being single, when they do notice us.
(Sometimes other singles play this game too, where they beat up on fellow singles, not just the married Christians, which hacks me off a bit more.)
I’m also angry about the hypocrisy: most churches built marriage up as an idol, as something to want and pursue, and when you, a single person, try to get married, or just admit to a married Christian you would like marriage, or that you are trying dating sites, they scold you and shame you and tell you to “be content in your singleness” or that you are making marriage into an idol.
There are also lots of weird, stupid, insulting stereotypes about single adults by Christians that tick me off, which I sometimes blog about.
I have several reasons why I am teetering on the edge of leaving the Christian faith, not only being single and the church treating singles like trash.
(There are a few other reasons, which I don’t usually discuss on this blog.)
You said,
I am glad you enjoy his show and get something from it.
For years, I used to enjoy watching Charles Stanley’s “In Touch” program, but in the last few years, many of his programs have rubbed me the wrong way, so I’m not as fond of his preaching as I was before.
I did a post on this blog about one sermon he gave that bothered me:
(Link): Charles Stanley Kind of Blows it on Suicide Sermon
I used to have clinical depression, suicidal thoughts, and I still battle with an anxiety disorder.
Stanley went through a phase years ago where he was un-sympathetic towards Christians with MHPs (mental health problems).
Then Stanley changed his views about these things a little around the late 1990s, to support Christians who have MHPs, and he was no longer, at that time, opposed to Christians seeing therapists or using medications for psychological problems.
Then, about one or two years ago, I was watching a sermon he gave on fear/anxiety, and he chided and shamed for Christians using medications for anxiety or depression.
If I recall correctly, Stanley encouraged them to use only spiritual means for depression and anxiety (ie, Bible reading, prayer).
Stanley appears to have flip-flopped and is now back again to thinking prayer with Bible reading alone is enough to fight anxiety/ depression, but it’s not.
He now seems to think again that it is wrong for Christians to use anti depressant medications and so forth.
I wrote another post about this subject here, when another preacher did a sermon with similar views (and this is one of the most-read posts at this blog, according to my blog stats page):
(Link): Bayless Conley and Depression – Sorry, dude, but depression can’t be cured by will power & sometimes not even by faith
You said,
I’m a white lady over 40, and there aren’t enough white, Christian single guys for white single Christian ladies. They’re just more ladies than there are guys.
About any church I have walked into there are little to absolutely no single males around my age.
I was looking up articles about something about a month ago and came across an online radio show and relationship advice site by a lady named Deborrah / Miss Heart beat.
I wrote about it here:
(Link): Awesome Relationship Advice for Single Women by Ms Heart Beat
Her podcast home page:
(Link): Ms Heart Beat podcast home page (shows about being an adult single)
She is a black lady. She is not a Christian. (I think she is an atheist?)
I am Pro-Life, she is Pro-Choice. But I listened to several of her pod casts and totally related to her views on many things.
She is feminist and does not agree with biblical gender complementarianism. I don’t agree with gender comp either but don’t consider myself a feminist.
Her husband died several years ago, so she is single again.
Deborrah (also known as Ms Heartbeat) sometimes blogs or pod casts about being single as a black woman, and particular problems faced by black women, but as a white lady, just about everything she talked about resonated with me.
You might enjoy her pod casts / blog – she does sometime use cuss words, though, and she can be very frank and direct about sex in some of the shows.
She sometimes takes calls from audience members, which can be interesting. You learn from those phone calls that there are other single women going through the same (or similar) things you are.
Some of Deborrah’s / Ms. Heartbeat’s callers to her show are Christians, and she treats them with respect (she doesn’t act rudely towards them for having faith – at least not in the ten or so shows I listened to).
She wrote a blog post (and later a book) that was quite controversial, which is:
(Link): The Black Church: How Black Churches Keep African American Ladies Single and Lonely
-and I think the same things she says in that post are true of predominantly white churches / white single ladies, too.
White Christian ladies also get told to just pray, wait, go to church, and God will send you a spouse, just as black preachers tell black single ladies. (And none of that advice hasn’t worked for white, single women, either.)
I checked out some of your silk work on the site you gave me the URL to. It’s very pretty; thank you for sharing. I especially like the floral piece, listed under “Coral Pink Magnolia hand painted silk scarf”
I’m guessing you ladies live in the U.S right? If you do you will always have trouble finding a man.You are living in one of the most anti-social and withdrawn countries on the planet. If the average citizen goes around without speaking to another person for months imagine how that affects the dating world. Men are getting tired of american women and talking bad about them in forums like “happier abroad” where they shred their image to pieces and marry women of other nationalities. It is a generalizing behavior to put all american women in one place so i disagree but agree at the same time…you should write an article about dating abroad..
When I lived on the Caribbean there were no shortages of boyfriends for my sister (I was only 15 then and not dating) and she was 24, now she’s lucky if a man says hi to her and the same happens to all female immigrants from my country. They remain single and can’t meet men.
. There was a naturalness of behavior and speech that is rare in the U.S. More and more men are going abroad to meet women specially from Asia and the filipinas, why not women do the same and move around a little bit, it doesn’t have to be out of the country . I found this interesting piece about women trying different waters and activities:
In the search of men, many women have come up with a geographical solution. They have gone to the states with a high percentage of available males. There are 24 states where the men still outnumber the women: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. …
Many women join political clubs. (The head of one of New York’s local Democratic clubs says, “They go from club to club to meet men; we call them Carpetbagging Liberals.”) Others go to evening classes at universities, taking courses in such subjects as “How to Sail a Boat,” with the hope that it will attract men. Some of them join a number of churches in succession, interested less in finding God than in finding a husband. Spasmodically, they go in for sports, becoming members of ski clubs, riding clubs, golf clubs. They save their money for cruises—often discovering, once the ship is at sea, that they are trapped with dozens of other unattached women like themselves. One 45-year-old widow mourns, “This winter I went on a 14-day cruise to the West Indies. Whom did I meet? Eighty single women, and only ten men—one of them 17, another 70.” …
Some single women—and of course many married women—recognize their problems and realize that they need professional help to solve them. An estimated 50,000 to 75,000 women currently get private psychiatric help in the United States. In general, the married women are dissatisfied with their marriages. “The problems of the single, divorced and widowed women are more difficult,” an experienced psychiatrist says. “But probably a common denominator in this group is that they feel they are not getting much out of life—not accomplishing as much as they are capable of. This holds for their jobs, studies, social activities, any area of their lives—a general dissatisfaction applies to all of them.” He adds, “In the younger age group, the dominating symptom among the unmarried is likely to be anxiety; in later years, it’s depression.”
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6271/