Six Dangers of Podcasts
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | Well, occasionally on this podcast,
00:00:06.080 | we talk about podcasting.
00:00:07.920 | And particularly, we have talked about how dangerous
00:00:11.160 | this podcast can be to you if you use it unwisely.
00:00:15.760 | A pair of episodes comes to mind on this point,
00:00:17.880 | Seven Ways This Podcast Will Kill Your Joy.
00:00:21.780 | That's ABJ 1277.
00:00:24.240 | And we followed that with an episode titled,
00:00:26.640 | When to Stop Listening to This Podcast.
00:00:29.400 | That was ABJ 1382.
00:00:31.800 | But today we talk about podcasting more generally
00:00:34.880 | in a question that comes to us from a listener named Joel.
00:00:38.320 | Pastor John, thank you for this podcast.
00:00:40.240 | It seems that podcasting is more and more prevalent
00:00:43.240 | these days, specifically as a Christian.
00:00:45.840 | I see podcasts hosted by other professing Christians.
00:00:49.240 | The same information is often rehashed
00:00:51.280 | and recycled over and over again.
00:00:52.820 | And much of the information focuses on the demise
00:00:55.620 | of another Christian personality or denomination
00:00:59.260 | or school.
00:01:00.880 | This grieves me and I am concerned.
00:01:03.000 | What dangers do you see in Christians pursuing
00:01:05.980 | Christian podcasts for information, learning,
00:01:08.480 | quote unquote discernment, or simply for entertainment?
00:01:12.440 | I see dangers everywhere.
00:01:15.040 | But that's not unique to podcasting.
00:01:17.040 | I see dangers everywhere, everywhere,
00:01:19.200 | because sin is everywhere.
00:01:20.880 | The devil is everywhere.
00:01:23.200 | The spirit of this world is everywhere.
00:01:26.200 | So when I point out the dangers of podcasting,
00:01:30.500 | it's not because I'm blind to dangers elsewhere
00:01:34.380 | or to the potential good in podcasting.
00:01:38.360 | After all, as Pastor John is a podcast,
00:01:41.660 | so, well, to me, if I presume to be hypocritical
00:01:45.060 | in throwing stones, I think the list of dangers
00:01:49.380 | could go on for pages, because really,
00:01:53.500 | all you have to do is read the New Testament
00:01:55.480 | and realize that wherever human beings are speaking,
00:01:59.380 | there is a great potential for good and for evil.
00:02:03.540 | And we do well from time to time to ponder
00:02:08.080 | what some of those potential evils are.
00:02:10.660 | So of my many pages that we could list of dangers,
00:02:17.300 | let me just mention six in response to Joel's question.
00:02:22.260 | Number one, the danger of factionalism.
00:02:25.860 | 1 Corinthians 1.12, "I follow Paul.
00:02:28.860 | I follow Apollos.
00:02:30.260 | I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ," to which Paul says,
00:02:35.740 | "Is Christ divided?
00:02:37.260 | Was Paul crucified for you?"
00:02:40.580 | What an amazing question.
00:02:42.660 | Was Paul crucified for you?
00:02:45.380 | Where'd that come from?
00:02:47.220 | In other words, it is possible to think and speak
00:02:52.060 | of human teachers, podcasters, in such a way
00:02:56.460 | that you actually give the impression
00:03:00.220 | they hold a place for you, a place in your heart or mind
00:03:06.220 | or mouth comparable to the one who was crucified for you.
00:03:11.580 | Crucified.
00:03:13.100 | Podcasts offer a voice, a teacher, a commentator,
00:03:17.340 | a critic, an analyst, a scholar, a satirist, a comic,
00:03:22.500 | a curmudgeon.
00:03:24.540 | And so the danger exists that we will be so fascinated by what
00:03:28.820 | they say or how they say it that their voice is elevated
00:03:33.700 | in our consciousness, our affections, our focus,
00:03:38.260 | our conversation to the level where Jesus Christ himself
00:03:44.780 | is subtly backgrounded.
00:03:47.820 | And we wake up realizing Jesus has been displaced
00:03:53.340 | as the supreme teacher, the pace setter, the opinion shaper,
00:03:58.500 | and the thought controller, and value creator,
00:04:01.100 | and joy giver in my life.
00:04:05.300 | And when Jesus slips into the background of our conversation
00:04:08.980 | and our thinking and our feeling,
00:04:11.380 | and podcasters form the foreground,
00:04:14.980 | we will almost certainly give way to factionalism
00:04:18.660 | by staking out our favorite over against your favorite
00:04:22.780 | while Jesus is marginalized.
00:04:27.620 | Number two, the danger of deprioritizing the Bible.
00:04:33.260 | I don't just have in mind podcasts
00:04:35.540 | which make no claim to speak under the authority
00:04:40.100 | of scripture.
00:04:41.060 | I also have in mind Christian podcasts
00:04:45.260 | that amazingly pay scant attention
00:04:49.340 | to specific biblical texts.
00:04:52.260 | I have heard entire half hour podcasts on biblical doctrine
00:04:59.140 | that never quote a single verse from the Bible, which
00:05:03.060 | means that you can saturate your mind
00:05:06.220 | with ethical, theological, cultural, political discussions
00:05:11.460 | which never refer to the Bible while claiming to be biblical,
00:05:16.020 | and thus form the habit of deprioritizing
00:05:19.500 | the Bible in your life.
00:05:21.380 | This is one of my biggest concerns
00:05:22.920 | with contemporary Christianity, both in the pulpit
00:05:26.040 | and in podcasting, giving lip service to biblical authority
00:05:31.380 | while rarely citing actual specific texts
00:05:35.540 | and showing that what you believe is really
00:05:38.180 | rooted in those specific texts.
00:05:41.540 | The longer this goes on, the less practical authority
00:05:46.220 | the Bible will have, and the easier
00:05:48.320 | it will be for the next generation.
00:05:49.980 | Just wave it off.
00:05:52.140 | So ask yourself how your podcasting habits
00:05:56.300 | are affecting the seriousness and care with which you
00:06:00.900 | deal with biblical passages.
00:06:04.540 | Three, the danger of succumbing to the tyranny of the urgent.
00:06:09.780 | One survey that I read said that 3/4
00:06:13.820 | of those who regularly listen to podcasts
00:06:17.860 | do so in order to quote, "learn new things."
00:06:22.140 | Now, that might not be a bad thing
00:06:25.300 | if it means gaining new insight into ancient truth.
00:06:32.020 | But if it means a sense of restless desire
00:06:38.180 | not to miss out on the latest news or the latest fashion
00:06:42.220 | or the latest gossip, then it signifies
00:06:45.540 | that we are succumbing to the tyranny of the urgent.
00:06:50.860 | Of course, there are podcasts devoted
00:06:54.540 | to careful, thoughtful, patient treatment
00:06:57.860 | of historically rooted, time-proven, perennially
00:07:01.860 | relevant truth.
00:07:03.660 | But they are few and far between.
00:07:06.620 | The danger I have in mind is a kind of mental disquiet
00:07:12.700 | that craves something new, some new stimulation,
00:07:16.420 | some new awareness of what's happening now,
00:07:18.940 | some new juicy tidbit of gossip or opinion or controversy
00:07:25.340 | or some new wave of discussion that's passing through
00:07:29.540 | that you don't want to miss out on.
00:07:32.020 | All this restless mental need for something new
00:07:36.700 | is a sign that the soul is losing its center
00:07:41.580 | and becoming fragmented and thus ever more vulnerable
00:07:45.820 | to being tyrannized by the new and the urgent.
00:07:49.740 | Number four, the danger of being infected
00:07:53.020 | with a lopsided tone of life.
00:07:55.900 | By tone of life, I mean that your mind and attitude
00:08:00.060 | and mouth can take on a certain spirit or mood or style
00:08:05.980 | or emotional quality that may have a foothold in the Bible
00:08:11.980 | but is out of proportion when compared
00:08:15.260 | with other attitudes and moods and tones in the Bible.
00:08:19.420 | This happens most often when we have a favorite voice
00:08:23.580 | or authority or entertainer who is lopsided
00:08:28.940 | in his or her demeanor and thus represents, for example,
00:08:34.100 | a pervasively cynical or crass or satirical or sarcastic
00:08:40.660 | or cocky or flippant tone.
00:08:44.300 | Or it may be lopsided in the other direction of tenderness
00:08:48.300 | and delicateness and cautiousness and ambiguity
00:08:52.060 | and noncommittal nuance and squishy middle-of-the-road
00:08:55.780 | open-endedness.
00:08:58.100 | The point is that we can lock in on a certain kind
00:09:03.340 | of disproportionate tone or mood or dealing with the world
00:09:09.300 | and fail to realize that the vast array of emotional depth
00:09:16.580 | and diversity represented in biblical maturity
00:09:20.580 | and biblical wisdom has been lost.
00:09:22.940 | It's gone.
00:09:23.820 | So test your podcast voices.
00:09:26.060 | Are your favorites glaringly narrow?
00:09:30.500 | Are they missing the kinds of biblical moods and tones
00:09:35.380 | and feelings and emotions that make
00:09:38.500 | for a mature and healthy soul?
00:09:42.020 | Number five, the danger of elevating public issues
00:09:45.940 | above personal holiness.
00:09:48.940 | There is, of course, no doubt that the implications
00:09:52.340 | of biblical teaching have a bearing on public life
00:09:56.180 | and political issues.
00:09:58.140 | But when you read the New Testament, what you find
00:10:02.500 | is an overwhelming emphasis on personal holiness.
00:10:08.940 | Be holy, for I am holy.
00:10:11.940 | Says the Lord.
00:10:13.460 | That is, how we use our tongues toward each other,
00:10:17.220 | how we handle personal relations in love, how we endure sorrows,
00:10:22.420 | how we make war on sexual temptation,
00:10:26.660 | how we remain faithful and loving in our marriages
00:10:29.740 | and other commitments, how we deal in integrity
00:10:33.180 | and keep our word and do everything
00:10:35.960 | in the name of Jesus and for the glory of Jesus
00:10:39.020 | at the most practical levels of life.
00:10:41.740 | That's the overwhelming focus of the New Testament.
00:10:45.620 | I've seen over my 50 years of adult life
00:10:49.900 | how presumed public virtue and public position stating
00:10:55.820 | can conceal much private corruption and unholiness.
00:11:01.260 | People like to think that they have seized the moral high
00:11:06.100 | ground in public.
00:11:08.260 | But in fact, the foundations are crumbling.
00:11:11.980 | So beware that in your use of podcasts,
00:11:16.860 | you don't find yourself endlessly pondering
00:11:19.460 | public issues while losing battle
00:11:22.260 | after battle at the level of personal holiness
00:11:25.660 | and integrity.
00:11:27.280 | And finally, number six, I'll just
00:11:29.100 | mention briefly in closing the danger of replacing
00:11:33.220 | face-to-face discussions with digital input.
00:11:38.380 | It is easy to slip into a world of digital information
00:11:43.460 | and fascination that is so compelling.
00:11:46.980 | We wake up and realize we're not making any effort
00:11:51.380 | to get together with any real people
00:11:54.460 | for face-to-face discussions and real intellectual and emotional
00:11:59.300 | give and take.
00:12:00.620 | It's gone.
00:12:01.580 | And that's a great loss.
00:12:03.820 | So thank you, Joel, for the question.
00:12:05.860 | Those are six of my front burner concerns.
00:12:09.700 | There are many more.
00:12:11.060 | May the Lord give you discernment.
00:12:14.660 | It may be that even this podcast, Ask Pastor John,
00:12:18.100 | should be replaced in your life with some face-to-face meeting
00:12:22.460 | of the minds with flesh and blood people around the Bible.
00:12:27.300 | Yeah, all very helpful.
00:12:28.380 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:12:29.300 | And thank you for joining us today.
00:12:30.820 | You can ask a question of your own,
00:12:32.900 | search our growing archive, or subscribe to the podcast.
00:12:35.780 | Do all that at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:12:41.100 | Well, next up, we have a wonderful Bible question.
00:12:43.100 | That's on Monday.
00:12:44.380 | I hope you'll join us for it.
00:12:45.780 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:12:46.980 | And Pastor John and I will see you back here
00:12:49.220 | on the other side of the weekend.
00:12:50.900 | See you then.
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