Great post, great reminder!! Our pastor gave an awesome sermon this week about proverbs, how it doesn’t say “don’t do this singular act of evil”, it says, “ Do not enter the *path* of the wicked, And do not *walk in the way of evil.* Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on.” And he talked about David, how it all started with a few small decisions, like staying home from battle, checking out the girl, asking her over, etc etc before culminating in a twisted murderous plot. Anyway, all of which is to say, don’t just keep scrolling! Get off that path, it leads nowhere good. I for one needed to hear that, thank you!
This is good teaching to all ages! None of us are immune. The power of darkness is trying to take us down. There is a Christian song on radio now that goes something like…Come, Jesus, come. We have waited for so long. Heal all the hurts and right all the wrongs. I am getting older and seeing this more clearly every day. So I need to stop scrolling!
I have said more than once that our TikTok generation will allow a certain country to take the US right out from under us without a single shot fired. I for one don’t want to have to learn another language at this stage of (older) life. I love reminder articles like this to remind me to be loud and proud with my beliefs.
Very true. YouTube is shameless on this front. I exclusively subscribe to either intellectual or niche interest channels. I had a bad habit of scrolling 'Shorts' for a while and once every 20 clips or so, it throws in a clip that's subtly (or not) sexually provocative to see if you'll bite.
That's the endpoint of universally deferring content allocation to 'the algorithm': everything becomes porn.
Yes indeed. I was very sad that YouTube even created Shorts. Another verse I often consider with this conversation is, “do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” there is almost a drunkenness that can come from distraction and content. But, it is almost worse than drunkenness, because there is no social pressure preventing it.
Those shorts on YouTube are really worthless. And if you kick one off out of curiosity, now you've taken the bait. They keep flooding your screen. It's like a flea infestation. Really muck.
Whenever one comes across the words of The Apostle John, if one is a discerning Christian anyway, the mind experiences an immediate shock of recognition. These are not second hand accounts of The Word of God, but the actual Word itself. I attribute this to the fact that no one who ever lived had a more perfect understanding of Jesus Christ than his Mother Mary, and Jesus Christ Himself consigned Mary to St. John's care at the foot of The Cross. That intimacy shines forth in every word he wrote.
I get what you are saying about recognition. That is something that is amazing about the Christian life: many times people come to faith in Christ before having read much of the Bible, and then find their own experience described in the Scriptures once they read them. They read the New Testament and can say, "Hey, that happened to me!"
I feel that way about his words in chapter 2 of first John: "I am writing to you that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father: Jesus Christ the Righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins..."
There is such a grand-fatherly tone that obviously deeply knew the grace of God.
Great post, great reminder!! Our pastor gave an awesome sermon this week about proverbs, how it doesn’t say “don’t do this singular act of evil”, it says, “ Do not enter the *path* of the wicked, And do not *walk in the way of evil.* Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on.” And he talked about David, how it all started with a few small decisions, like staying home from battle, checking out the girl, asking her over, etc etc before culminating in a twisted murderous plot. Anyway, all of which is to say, don’t just keep scrolling! Get off that path, it leads nowhere good. I for one needed to hear that, thank you!
Sounds like a great sermon. Reminds me of Psalm 1. Thank you!
This is good teaching to all ages! None of us are immune. The power of darkness is trying to take us down. There is a Christian song on radio now that goes something like…Come, Jesus, come. We have waited for so long. Heal all the hurts and right all the wrongs. I am getting older and seeing this more clearly every day. So I need to stop scrolling!
I have said more than once that our TikTok generation will allow a certain country to take the US right out from under us without a single shot fired. I for one don’t want to have to learn another language at this stage of (older) life. I love reminder articles like this to remind me to be loud and proud with my beliefs.
Very true. YouTube is shameless on this front. I exclusively subscribe to either intellectual or niche interest channels. I had a bad habit of scrolling 'Shorts' for a while and once every 20 clips or so, it throws in a clip that's subtly (or not) sexually provocative to see if you'll bite.
That's the endpoint of universally deferring content allocation to 'the algorithm': everything becomes porn.
Yes indeed. I was very sad that YouTube even created Shorts. Another verse I often consider with this conversation is, “do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” there is almost a drunkenness that can come from distraction and content. But, it is almost worse than drunkenness, because there is no social pressure preventing it.
Those shorts on YouTube are really worthless. And if you kick one off out of curiosity, now you've taken the bait. They keep flooding your screen. It's like a flea infestation. Really muck.
"Flooding" is the right word.
Pray for strength to meet the challenges our Lord places before us.
Whenever one comes across the words of The Apostle John, if one is a discerning Christian anyway, the mind experiences an immediate shock of recognition. These are not second hand accounts of The Word of God, but the actual Word itself. I attribute this to the fact that no one who ever lived had a more perfect understanding of Jesus Christ than his Mother Mary, and Jesus Christ Himself consigned Mary to St. John's care at the foot of The Cross. That intimacy shines forth in every word he wrote.
I get what you are saying about recognition. That is something that is amazing about the Christian life: many times people come to faith in Christ before having read much of the Bible, and then find their own experience described in the Scriptures once they read them. They read the New Testament and can say, "Hey, that happened to me!"
I feel that way about his words in chapter 2 of first John: "I am writing to you that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father: Jesus Christ the Righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins..."
There is such a grand-fatherly tone that obviously deeply knew the grace of God.