We do have to be careful what we take in visually and also what we hear! Do you know what an ear worm is? It is an insidious, repetitious series of phrases either put to music or repeated over and over in some context. This phrase or ditty then plays endlessly in your mind. You try to get it out of your head, but just when you think it's gone, there it is again. Often these "ear worms" are commercial jingles or sayings. They were purposefully repeated to do precisely what they are doing - ending up being replayed in the listeners mind. While they are usually just irritating, they are hard to shut off. Little children often repeat lines from movies or commercials, showing how this bombardment with auditory input is easily soaked up by impressionable little minds.
The effects of visual images on the human mind are often less obvious than the influence of auditory input. However, sometimes images just won't leave the mind and may even show up in the unconscious while one is sleeping. Frequent exposure to violent depictions of horrific proportions, such as we can see every night on television, can have several effects, from numbness and apathy to total revulsion. Children may act out what they have seen. Many children have nightmares just because of the indiscriminate viewing habits of their parents.
Sensual images have effects that are difficult to erase as well, as people who are addicted to pornography can tell you. When Job made a covenant with his eyes, he was one smart man. We would do well to do the same and be much more discriminating about what we choose to see and hear. I believe we will be accountable to God for all we take into our minds because it can influence our thought life. As scripture tells us, "As a man thinks, so is he." Doma
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