Everything that can corrupt in example or depictions needs to be put away. It is well known how powerfully corrupt images act upon the soul no matter in what form they might touch it.
Statistics tell us that 80% of all toys are sold in the period leading up to Christmas. The amount of money involved is immense. Needless to say, profits, too, are enormous and where there is a potential for high profits there one will find the most sophisticated methods of marketing and advertising employed. And who are the targets of this marketing and advertising? Certainly not parents! At this very moment advertising campaigns are underway to make profits from the sale of toys during the Christmas season of 2011. Most parents will, to a greater or lesser degree, be affected by these campaigns. What should our response be? As Christians, how should we view the question of toys in general?
Anyone who thinks about the question of childrens' toys will sooner or later come up against broader questions involving the up-bringing of children in general, and in particular the role of the parents themselves in this process. What is clear is that the question of toys cannot be looked at in isolation. On the one hand, how a child plays is ultimately bound up with his Christian spiritual formation, and on the other hand, the forces behind the marketing of toys are exploiting the dark and hidden areas in the child's mind, which we as Christians understand to be the domain of our fallen nature.
The responsibility of parents begins at infancy. Parents must create a nurturing environment if they wish to guide their children toward living a Spirit-filled life. They need to be aware of the unscrupulous interests that are in conflict of this. These interests have well analyzed the vulnerability of children at this point in their lives and have been quick to exploit the failures of parents, confused by the disintegration of Christian ideals in our society and perplexed by the latest trend in "child psychology," and often themselves the products of an anarchic childhood. Add to this the advent of television and the phenomenon of families where both parents work all day pursuing full time careers, and for whom the presence in the home of other members of the extended family is regarded as an intolerable imposition, and we have the root cause of the current attack on the innocence of childhood. The almost universal result of this state of affairs is that the television has filled the gap left by the parents. It is into this gap, through the agency of television, that the influences so injurious to the Christian upbringing of children have infiltrated; through this agency that unscrupulous interests are moving the minds of children with the express purpose of using them in the commercial exploitation of their parents.
This situation is the front line in the warfare which the parents must wage with the sin that dwells within the child. Developing senses furnish material for the child's awakening imagination, yet the imagination, although a gift from God, can be influenced and perfected by outside forces. More and more the influence is coming from television. Pre-schoolers spend more time watching television than it takes to get a college degree. By the time of graduation from high school, the average child will have spent approximately 11,000 hours at school and 22,000 hours in front of the television! Sleeping is the only activity in which children now spend more time than watching television.
The nexus between toys and television is very strong. However, it is the content of cartoons depicted on TV which is even more alarming. They often contain subtle, sexual overtones, which many claim are harmless. Women, for instance, often wear a minimum amount of clothing suggestively arranged over exaggerated physical attributes. Men too are frequently exhibited in the same way—totally remote of even the most remote vestiges of modesty. The story lines of many cartoons have their origins in humanism (a religion which teaches that man is his own god and man is the measure of all things) and/or Eastern religions, most often Zen Buddhism and Hinduism. Occult and satanic symbolism is ubiquitous. The toys that these "commercials" are intended to sell often come with little comic books which are laden with the same thinly veiled sensuality, occult themes, and satanic symbolism.
In many cases there is no problem with the toy itself, the danger lies in the occult and the often violent images connected with it, which are conveyed to the child via television cartoons, and now also movies. The child "knows" how to play with the toy because he knows its abilities and characteristics, as seen on television. He no longer has to use his imagination to bring the toy to life. This has already been done by the cartoon. The child will visualize the same situation he has just watched. If it is loaded with violence or occult symbolism or practices, then the more he uses these things in his play, the more the occult and the violent will become part of his life. At a simply practical level, this spoon-feeding of images inhibits the development of a child's imagination, because under normal circumstances a child would project his own imagination into a toy. With cartoon-based toys, the child knows all the necessary information about the toy before he picks it up, the cartoon having pre-programmed him to play with the toy in a certain way.
Cartoons and the toys associated with them should not be taken lightly. Cartoons, filled with violence, the occult, and improper and sensual images, should be considered unsuitable for children of any age.
Children see dolls as images of humanity, so parents must not give in to children's sometimes relentless demands to buy dolls which are grotesque, represent the idea of precocious teen-age sexuality, or are connected with occult practices. Unfortunately, however, children can often be quite persistent, and most parents are generally inclined to give in. Parents, however, must on no account allow children access to those toys, books, or cartoons containing corrupt concepts. The child's imagination preserve the objects of the imagination in the memory. How unfortunate is the child who, closing his eyes, or being left alone, or going within himself is stifled and haunted by a multitude of improper images.
Why, we may ask, are so many toys and cartoons based on occult symbolism? To answer this question we must consider the people who are creating them today. They are a far different breed from the makers of the past. Many of the creators of toys and script writers of the cartoons which accompany them have come out of the 1960's generation, during which time many were involved in the drug culture and Eastern religions—some, indeed, still are. Few are practicing Christians and many were themselves raised by television. Therefore, since the ideas for toys come from man's imagination, then, if their thoughts have been corrupted by hedonistic and humanistic values, so the toys they design will bear the these influences.
A word needs to be said about films, which also compose the atmosphere surrounding children's play. The top money-making films today focus on the preternatural manifestations of the kingdom of darkness. Designed for adults were such films as
Rosemary's Baby,
The Exorcist,
Omen, and
Poltergeist: for children, the
Star Wars Trilogy,
E.T.,
Ghostbusters, and
Gremlins. The
Star Wars Trilogy, since it first appeared in
1977, has generated sales from
Star Wars licensed products (i.e. primarily toys) of $3 billion! George Lucas, the producer of
Star Wars, admits being strongly influenced by Carlos Castaneda's
Tales of Power—a cult book of the 1960's and 70's which chronicles the (what many thought to be true) story of Don Juan, a Mexican Indian sorcerer. Furthermore,
Star Wars introduced many viewers to Zen Buddhism through the characters of Yoda, known as "Zen Master." Yoda taught Luke Skywalker, a type of Buddhist monk, about the "everpresent Force"—a term used in witchcraft down through the ages to describe the power witches receive from Satan! Lucas himself has said, "People in the film industry don't want to accept their responsibility that they had a hand in a way the world is loused up. But for better or for worse, the influence of the Church, which used to be all-powerful, has been usurped by film. Films and TV tell us the way we conduct our lives, what is right and wrong."
In pursuit of ever-larger audiences, film makers have escalated the amount of violence, brutality, arid sensuality, and aimed it at ever younger and younger audiences. Disregarding the often anti-Christian content of these films, it remains that through them children are being taught that the demons they regularly depict are real—and not only real, but often friendly and helpful if approached in the right way—and this idea is being reinforced by the toys which are based on the films.
How is this to be done? It is something that must be pursued from the very moment the child's awakening powers begin to focus, and according to all indications this is very early. It is also evident that a great influence for good is exercised on children by frequently taking them—from the earliest age—to church and bringing them up the way God intended, protects them from attacks by invisible, dark powers ever ready to infect the developing soul.
Likewise, the spirit of faith and piety in the parents should be regarded as the most powerful means for the preservation, upbringing, and strengthening of the life of grace in children. But every effort will come to nothing and be made fruitless by unbelief, carelessness, and impiety on the part of the parents. The inward influence of the parents on the child is especially important. Where parents are "too busy" to spend time with their children, the children will learn through other sources. If parents cannot strictly control their children's viewing of the television, let it be banished from every Christian household, let no book or magazine depicting improper or violent scenes be permitted to cross the threshold. Let the child's first memories be of love and the sound of sacred music. Let everything that can corrupt in example and depictions be put away. And so let the child grow in an atmosphere sanctified by piety.
However, training in piety, though foremost in child development, alone is not sufficient to help children battle the onslaught of the world. There should be an alternative to the dark culture that is inflicted on even the youngest and most delicate souls. If the child is exposed from the earliest age to the finest examples of Christian culture, then by the time he is old enough to discern and choose between good and evil his soul will already have formed itself sufficiently and will feel revulsion for contemporary culture. Cultivating the child's taste for Christian music, art and literature will give him not only an alternative to modern culture, but, what is more important, This will act as a stepping stone in elevating the soul towards the higher, spiritual culture of the church.
But of course children must play. How should we arrange this in the Christian home? Up until this century, children did not need complex toys. Fascinating adult activities took place all around them in plain view. The child could wander down the street practically empty of traffic to watch the blacksmith at work shoeing homes, women washing clothes along the river bank, and fishermen repairing their nets or putting out in their boats. Today, children have no such freedom to wander about and even if they did, gone are those things which from the beginning of history fascinated the childish eye. Still, left to themselves with simple materials, children will explore and expand a plaything's imaginative potential beyond anything an adult could possibly conceive. Modern experts say that the best possible toy for a child between the ages of two and ten is a very large, heavy cardboard box, perhaps painted in various colors, which according to mood can be a house, a car, a boat, an airplane, a fort, a train, etc., etc., etc.. It can be pushed, pulled, carried or driven. A box can be anything! It is utterly unlike the typical over-complex, mass-produced toys which can do only one thing. It must be borne in mind that the more a toy is pre-structured, the more it inhibits imagination and creativity.
Researchers divide play and toys into four main categories: 1) toys that stimulate imaginative play; 2) toys that stimulate intellectual development; 3) toys that stimulate physical development, and 4) toys that are used to explore, examine, and experiment! It is important when buying toys to be sure that there is a good variety in the selection. Something for a quiet time to which a child might apply a good deal of mental energy or interact with others to play; books and puzzles for intellectual development, and perhaps building blocks and art materials to develop skills. It is important to aim for balance and diversity when buying toys.
In conclusion, one should be aware of the forces of evil which are now concentrating their energies on the exploitation and corruption of children and banish these influences from the home. It is also important to remember that parental behavior and love is a primary influence on children, however unfashionable it may be to say it at the moment. It must, nevertheless, also be said in the strongest and most unequivocal terms possible—a woman's place is in the home with her children! Even if this means being financially less well off—this is a fleeting consideration. We must remember that small, eternal souls depend on the direction their parents give them now in childhood, for it is in accordance with the taste of one's own heart that the future eternal mansion will be given and that the taste in one's heart there will be the very one that is formed here!
