One of the fundamental purposes of life is to learn to distinguish good from evil; right from wrong. And you know, that is just sometimes not that easy, especially when evil is so cleverly disguised these days.

We were getting ready for bed one night when my son Adam came to me and said, “Dad, can I talk to you?” Now, this is not a normal bedtime request from him, so I said, “Sure, I’ll come down to your room in a minute.”

Well, he crawled into bed; pulled the covers up under his chin while I sat on the edge of the bed. Without any preamble, he told me that he had been in a recent Church meeting where they had explained to him certain principles of the rights and wrongs of morality, and how the media tends to mix it all up.

Well, they must have done a pretty good job because he instantly thought of a certain television series that his older siblings had introduced him to that he really liked! They’d all raved about how good this show was, and he wanted to watch it too. And he got hooked on it, so much so that he began ordering it from Netflix. I - I knew full well what show he was talking about, and I knew I didn’t like that show, but I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t like it when the rest of my family did.

Well, I still wasn’t quite catching on to where Adam was going. “Dad,” he said with great earnestness, “I’m so confused!” And his lip quivered as he said it. “How can this show be so wrong when it’s so funny?”

Well, I was caught about as flat-footed as a parent can be. I said a prayer in my heart, and we began to talk about the message of the show and what it was really saying. We talked about the tactics of the evil one, and how he so skillfully makes right look all wrong, and wrong look so appealing. Adam caught on quickly - bless his heart - and pretty soon he was explaining to me the principles that were involved. I didn’t - I didn’t help much.

Later, we talked about it again, and he told me of the inner conflict that had been created. He knew in his heart that the subtle message of the show was terribly wrong, but again, “It’s so funny,” he said. “I really want to watch it!” - the battle between mind and heart.

The whole experience caused me to think. You know, maybe most adults don’t establish their morals by the media, but too often the children do. There’s no such thing as a moral vacuum. If children do not get correct principles from their parents, they will certainly get false principles elsewhere, and the media is most generous supplier in that regard.

The whole matter, when it was all said and done, left me with a question ringing accusingly in my head, which I pose to all of this generation: How many children are we willing to sacrifice for the sake of our entertainment?