Thinking 'Christianly' About the News

"I hate the news."  That's what I thought recently. I have heard of sleepless nights to full on depression from Christians who drench themselves with news. They admittedly call themselves "news junkies". My contempt for the news is due to what I see it doing to news junkies. Christians can gather together in twos or larger groups and the news becomes the foremost topic of conversation. That can't be right. "I hate the news!" 

I am a product of my father who believed the adage that a Christian man should have a Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. That statement is attributed to the theologian Karl Barth. Unfortunately, like so many quotations, it is incomplete.  The actual quote reads: "Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.”  I also read recently the following excerpt from Begg and Ferguson from their book: Name Above All Names.

"There is, then, this great cosmic dimension to the kingship of Jesus. He is the source, the sustainer, and the goal of all created reality. “The universe was made by Him, is providentially sustained by Him and is utterly dependent on Him.” As Christians we must learn to think properly, biblically. Then we may watch CNN or BBC News, or read the New York Times, or make our way through the Wall Street Journal without joining the ranks of the gloomy or singing in the choir of the fearful. To be in Christ is mind stretching and life transforming. It is a mind-altering experience to bow before the authority of what is said concerning this cosmic Christ, who reigns over all. It changes our perspective on everything.

So we may learn to begin the day affirming that “Christ is King. Jesus is Lord!” It is important to develop the practice of affirming central gospel truths as we waken to the new day, saying to ourselves, “The Lord God omnipotent reigns. This is the twenty-fifth of January (or whatever); today the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Yes, I saw the New York Times before I went to sleep last night. I have it on my iTouch. I did look at the BBC report before I went to bed last night. I saw all about Gaza. I saw all about Zimbabwe. I saw so much to disturb and distress. But Christ reigns from the beginning of the day to its end—every single day of my life.”" [1]

Recently I thought of Susanna Wesley. On May 12, 2019, I brought my congregation a Mother's Day message on the life of Susanna Wesley. In it I said, "Early in her life, she vowed that she would never spend more time in leisure entertainment than she did in prayer and Bible study." Her discipline gave thought to the idea: I wonder if the Christian "news junkie" should give equal time to prayer and the study of God's Word in relation to time spent watching or reading news on all forms of media?   Perhaps the reader would take it as a challenge. 

Here's part of a prayer I read recently from the Valley of Vision:

Rectify [Put right, correct] all my principles 

by clear, consistent and influential views of Divine Truth. [2]

 

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1. Name above All Names Copyright © 2013 by Alistair Begg and Sinclair B. Ferguson Published by Crossway

2. The Valley of Vision, , The Banner of Truth Trust, p255.

 

Don't You Dare Say That Word!

If you wonder about the statement: "That's the pot calling the kettle black" then your question will be answered when you read about me discussing the matter of controlling your tongue.  It's a good thing I'm typing this, because otherwise the ink in my pen would bleed "hypocrite".  Having said that, it still doesn't dismiss the truth that our tongue is an amazing weapon of mass destruction.   Listen to James 3:5–6 (ESV)  

⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 

Remember the delightful radio show:  Kid's Say the Darndest Things?  Well I thought of that title as I read James 3:5-6.   I would say it this way, "We as people say the "damnest" things."  Now I'm not supposed to say, "Damn!"  My parents taught me that much.  But what if we don't say damn, but damn people in what we say?  Is that anymore right?  "Evil speech (including blasphemy, gossip, slander, lying, false vows, and the like) has the power to spoil, stain, and corrupt the entire moral character of a person." [1].

Now James has already said that if we can tame the tongue we have achieved perfection.  There's a target I probably won't get to until the ashes are sprinkled on my coffin.  But it is a goal -- a tough one. I am challenged by the quote from  Cesare Payese (an Italian poet and novelist): "Give me the ready hand rather than the ready tongue."




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1.  Whitlock, L. G., Sproul, R. C., Waltke, B. K., & Silva, M. (1995). Reformation study Bible, the : Bringing the light of the Reformation to Scripture : New King James Version (Jas 3:6). Nashville: T. Nelson.