hen planning marriage, my future spouse and I decided that, for many reasons, we would live in her place, not mine. Before moving in, however, I said that the large square box filled with inane noise and light in the middle of the living room would have to go. I was referring, of course, to the television. She agreed.

That was about 16 years ago, and we’ve never been sorry. We lived without a TV before we had kids; we live without one now; and, if time should last, we’ll be without one long after the kids are gone. Though I’ve made plenty of dumb choices in my life (how many people, for example, can turn a $2,700 stock investment into $45 in just six fun-filled weeks?), this decision to not own a television was one of the better ones, for sure.

Even before becoming an Adventist I rarely watched TV; mostly because I didn’t have the time, and also because what I saw so strained credulity that I could barely believe that grown-ups had consciously collaborated to put this nonsense together. Even then, long before having any biblical impetus to guard the avenues of the soul, I decided that I didn’t need the intellectual lobotomy that the boob tube offered.

Though time remains a factor, because it’s hard enough for me, in even the best of environments, to keep my mind focused on heavenly things, a few hours a week of TV would be, I know, spiritually disastrous. My sanctification seems marginal enough at best now, even without a TV; I shudder to think what would happen if I had one.

I’m not judging people who do own and watch TVs. Many are a lot better followers of Christ than I am. I’m just not someone who can saturate their mind with hours of filth, violence, and profanity day after day and keep a semblance of a meaningful relationship with the Lord. I know, because the few times a year that I do watch television (usually when holed up in a hotel on a trip), I sense what it does to me spiritually, and it’s about the last thing I need.

There are, for sure, some good things on TV (and Hitler built the autobahn, too); I just don’t need the added temptation of trying to find them amid the mindless, immoral inanity in which they are immersed.

A few years ago my dad—who, I guess, couldn’t stand the thoughts of his grandchildren not having a TV—sent me one, with a built-in video player. I immediately removed the rabbit ears, virtually denuding it of TV qualities. We now have only a video player for the kids, and it’s strictly policed.

Some well-meaning soul is probably asking, What in the world does this poor family do night after night without a TV? It’s easy: we read books.

Sure, I admit that there are times I come home from work so tired I’d love to do nothing but sit in a chair and watch the mindless dribble that emanates from the television, but because I don’t have that option, I usually just go to bed instead.

In Goethe’s Faust a director, a poet, and a comic argue over the best way to produce a play. The director contends that they need to make the play popular, to get the largest number of people to watch, and the way to do that is, he says, to overwhelm them by “sheer quantity of trifle.” In other words, give them as much stupidity as possible. Sounds like Hollywood’s agenda, prime-time, and I refuse to be sucked into it.

As someone certainly not in a position to judge anyone about anything, I nevertheless throw out a challenge to my brothers and sisters: turn the TV off, even for a three-month trial (the advice I really want to give is more draconian, requiring a shotgun). See what happens. See how much more time you have for other, more fulfilling things (if nothing else, you will be able to read more). See how much more time you’ll have for family or friends. See how much more the quality of your life improves. And see what happens to your relationship with God; it can only get better.

Trust me, at least on this one (for investment advice, however, definitely go elsewhere).

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Clifford Goldstein is editor of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide.