Lead Us Not Into “Temptation Island”

Jay Horsley

Remember these words from the Lord's prayer? “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matt. 6:13) Evidently the producers of last week's second highest rated television show did not.

There is something tacky and voyeuristic about most reality TV shows. But this show is the among the very lowest to come to American audiences yet (stress on the “yet”). The entirety of this show is sinful. Sinful in premise, expectation, application and promotion.

Sensationalism This show is advertised with, and features, young, scantily clad people trying to bed each other's boy friends and girl friends. People are encouraged to watch to see what will happen. This a direct appeal to the lust of the eye and the lust of the flesh.

Stumbling Block “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!” (Matt. 18:7) In this case, the stumbling blocks are intentional. They were planned, pitched, approved, implemented, taped, produced, edited and aired.

Sin We are instructed that love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6) This show not only rejoices in sin, it profits from it. Fornication is a “sin against the body,” (1 Cor. 6:18) not fodder for casual viewing.

Sorrow This show is set up to tempt fornicators (unmarried couples in sexual relationships) with fornication. These people willingly placed themselves in temptation's way. Maybe they went for a thrill, for the chance to be on a tropical island, to be on TV, or who knows what else. But we know that they have not sought to escape temptation, but to court it. Rest assured, if something unpleasant happens, someone will exclaim, “Oh God, Why?” God has told you why - you ignored God's word and knowingly played with fire.

Support Just by watching this show, it's viewers are supporting the evil of it. There are only 3 ways that television is supported in this country. Educational TV is paid for by donors. Premium channels are paid for by subscriptions sold. But commercial TV is paid for by advertisers who will pay just because someone is watching it. If you watch the show (with it's embedded commercials) you support the show. The effect is that the most critically acclaimed, well written, uplifting and instructional show will go away if no one watches. But the most horrible, corrosive, corrupting or insane show will remain for as long as people watch it.

The whole of Christian instruction is geared to avoidance of sin and its evil consequences. “My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin...” (1 Jn. 2:1) This is not the ethic and intent of television entertainment.

Jesus said, “And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the fiery hell.” (Matt. 18:9) What do you think He would have said about our televisions and remote controls?

Addendum: After the writing of this article the following information became available via a conservative news service.

Producers find tame couples too chaste for Fox TV's taste

By Paul Sperry

© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com

Despite unleashing hard-body singles on a Caribbean island to seduce couples into cheating, Fox producers couldn't get any of them to succumb, say sources who worked on the show.

"Unfortunately, no one had sex -- unfortunately, because believe me, the producers wanted them to," said a Fox worker involved in the video-taping and editing of the controversial series, which debuts tonight.

"They wanted dirt and they encouraged people to hook up" by pushing them into steamy situations with the singles, the source told WorldNetDaily on the condition of anonymity.

"It's so much tamer than the producers wanted," the production assistant said. "They had to spice it up in the editing and promos to attract audience and get the ratings they hoped for." Producers even had all the participants -- four couples and 26 single men and women, including a Playboy model and a masseur -- tested for sexually transmitted diseases.

While Fox executives have downplayed the sexual angle in press conferences, the network's promos are provocative. And Fox's press materials are suggestive: "Cameras will capture every tantalizing moment."

Executives in Fox TV's Los Angeles office have done their own teasing, refusing to say whether any of the couples succumbed to temptation. Ironically, the show has benefited in the hype department from conservative critics who are protesting the show for promoting promiscuity.

The couples' chastity, however, may have had more to do with the omnipresent cameras than loyalty. "They were on camera the entire time, so they just didn't feel comfortable enough to do anything like that," said the production assistant, who reviewed all the footage. "I mean, they had cameras going 24 hours a day."

As many as three cameramen shadowed each contestant as they moved around the island. And cameras and microphones installed in their cabana ceilings spied on them all night. The men bunked two to a cabana. Same for the women. "People always went home at the end of the night and slept alone," the assistant said.

And camera crews witnessed no off-camera hanky-panky, although a contestant and one of the singles were able to ditch a crew during a mountain hike for some six hours, insiders say.

"The show itself is a big tease," the production assistant said. "Producers wanted the couples to screw around and get emotional and talk about it, but they didn't. So they're left with just hyping the possibility of couples breaking up over an affair."