From vulgarity to outright twisted sexual explicitness

so true... unfortunately so many times when I see something so loud, vulgar or lacking in any kind of manners or restraint in Korea - it primarily stems back to hollywood movies here... people love going to the movies here, or downloading movies... once I had a few middleschool students... and one said someting completely vulgar - I asked him \\"where did you learn that?\\" - not missing a beat, he said \\"hollywood movies\\" - saying it as if I shouldn\'t be surprised at all, because it\'s \\"my culture\\" honestly, I\'m often ashamed to be an american... and often try to bring the voice of bitter reality into the daydreams of folks here that think america is all sunshine and perfection I think there is a kind of symbiosis of the two sides.... one one hand it does reflect our culture... in some ways we really are THAT bad.... on the other hand, I think it brings to light some highly liberal minorities - mainstreaming them, and causing the culture itself to take that as a sign of the times, and people follow suit... it\'s depressing to see my homeland... it\'s even more depressing to see it corrupt foreign lands... so I try to enjoy what remains of the traditions here, while they last.

I remember when \'Midnight Cowboy\' opened in the late 60\'s and my 20-year old cousin (who was with my parents and her 21-year old boyfriend) was not allowed in the theater because it was a X-rated movie. lol Its safe to say that by today\'s standards the movie could be rated PG-13 ! I digress .... I\'m certainly inclined to believe that the \\"inner circle\\" of the motion picture industry (along with the music and fashion industry) consists of blatant (yet diabolically subtle and patient) anti-Christians and even satanists. In addition to \\"vulgarity, violence, and sexuality\\", I have also observed an ever increasing amount of the occult depicted in the motion picture industry. Needless to say, all of this really shouldn\'t surprise Christians in these \\"spirit of the times\\".

Recently, my family and I were subjected to a very vulgar ad while watching a documentary on how mustard is produced from the seeds. The ad, which was on one of the supposed \'decent\' educational channels, featured three women praising a disgusting (truly revolting) product manufactured by a prophylactic company. We couldn\'t change the channel fast enough. I highly recommend using a tv service that not only has parental controls but allows you to modify the channel line up so that only the channels you specify are available. A DVR, which allows you to fast forward through commercials or unwanted content in recorded programs, is also good idea.

I read somewhere that the interpretation of the sign of the antichrist as being a chip embedded either on the right hand or on the forehead may infact be incorrect! That with his right hand, traditionally the the symbol of dexterity, and with his mind (the forehead), man will only be able to buy and sell using evil cunning and deception, slowly cultivated by an industry which consistently promotes violence, carnality, disobedience and selfishness. Have we perhaps gotten it all wrong? That perhaps the proclivity for evil thought and likewise practice is the \\"666\\" mentioned by St. John? According to the fathers of the Church, no one can really know for certain what was meant by the passage in Revelations, however, funny how discernible cause and effect are in this case!

It\'s surprising to see how many people use and or write that profane number on a daily basis. They dismiss this, usually, as some sort of novelty or fad which is \'fun\'. Many times they even laugh at those \'silly\' Christians and enjoy being thorns in our sides. I do Web Programming and Development and I must say it is absolutely shocking to see how much that particular number is used in code. I also, recently, put 2 and 2 together in understanding the root of another computer term - daemon. A daemon is background process (hidden program) which runs silently and is not under the control of the user but rather controls key systems / processes for the user. I always disliked the word choice here but wholly dismissed it as some coincidence. I have now come to see the irony in it.

perhaps this is an off topic comment - but I was toying recently with this thought: if we can so easily slide downward by both overt and subliminal messages being constantly thrown at us - could it possibly be true that if we kept our actions, words and thoughts Christlike - that we could influence our neighbors, coworkers, and other casual acquaintances in an upward direction? I\'ve had some opportunity to experiment with this at work and with strangers I pass by. I don\'t know if it will do anything - but I\'ll let you know if I come up with any evidence that it actually works.

It is not an off topic, actually it is quite relative. I completely agree with you that if by the same token our actions words and thoughts are Christ-oriented, provided that they are done within the proper context, then there is the possibility of influencing those around us. However, will will not avoid being ridiculed by one or many----then so be it I say.

My intention for mentioning the number 666 in my initial post was simply to present a very practical explanation that is overlooked when concentrating on this eschatological issue, that the world around us is degenerating and that the cause in-part would seem to be the entertainment media which has absolutely no scruples, regularly churning out programs which appeal to our desires and weaknesses, something which infuences profoundly the way people think and the way people act. The media acts as a most unholy teacher. We are called upon to combat our weaknesses not cultivate them.

I would say I would agree with what you are saying about the media, but it is not a modern problem only. I guess I am just trying to emphasis that all these sins, violence , disordered sexuality , etc, have been with us since the fall of humanity. That of course doesn\'t mean we shouldn\'t do what we can to counteract it