Worldview – Gregory Scott Blog

On the Evils of the Echo Chamber

When I was a teenager, we were at the end of the period of domination of television in the US by the three major news networks. While they all leaned left of center, they ostensibly strove for the standard of accuracy, independence, and impartiality. That standard was exemplified by the likes of Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, and David Brinkley.

Those days are gone now, buried under the buffet of cable and streaming news channels, many of which are committed to delivering an unapologetic ideologically or politically driven view of the world. Do you want a liberal view of the day’s events? MSNBC is at your service. Do you want a conservative view? Try Fox News. Do you have a taste for hard right conspiracy theories? Try Infowars or Breitbart News.

As a result, now you can choose to hear only what you already believe. You do not have to suffer the angst of having your beliefs questioned or hearing those who disagree with you.

This ability to listen only to those with whom we agree, provided to a people who have seemingly choose not to exercise that choice irresponsibly, has resulted in the unprecedented political polarization we are now experiencing. The plurality of opinion in the marketplace of ideas has become merely hypothetical if we choose to hear only the opinions with which we agree.

The Bible warns of the danger of hearing only one side of any argument:

If Christians Did These 4 Things They Would Rule the World

If you haven’t picked up on it from this blog yet, I have an optimistic view of the future because I am a Kingdom man. I believe Isaiah when he said the knowledge of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, and that the people will stream to the mountain of God. See Isaiah 2:2, 11:9.

I believe Daniel when he said the kingdom of God will crush and put an end to all these other kingdoms but that the kingdom of God will endure forever. Daniel 2:44.

I believe Jesus when He said the kingdom of God will leaven the entire world and become like a tree so that the even non-Christians will seek to nest under the shade of its branches. Matthew 13:31-33.

I read with interest the efforts to theologify (I made that word up) these beliefs into a system of strategies and tactics whether it be Christian Reconstruction, the Seven Mountain Mandate, or any of the efforts to express the idea that the world should run best when it is run by those who are obedient to King Jesus.

But while tactics and strategies are important, they are really useless if the people who are given the responsibility of carrying them out have not been trained to do the fundamentals first. Christians don’t need to understand the Seven Mountains or Christian Reconstruction to advance the kingdom of God.

If Christians only consistently did the following four things they would see the greatest advance of the kingdom of God since the first century:

A Kingdom View of Memorial Day

As I’ve gotten older and deeper into the kingdom of God, I’ve become more conflicted about Memorial Day.

It is not the acceptance or sometimes glorification of war we see on Memorial Day; In a fallen world war is sometimes necessary, and once one accepts that boundaries will be crossed. That is to be expected.

What has bothered me more is the hyper nationalism Memorial Day seems to inspire, particularly in Evangelical Christians. I wonder what my foreign brothers and sisters living here think when they witness it? I wonder what the Lord thinks.

Anytime we are tempted to elevate cause or country over the Kingdom we should be concerned. The savior of the world is not the United States of America but King Jesus, and the answer to the world’s problems is not democracy or a republican form of government but the Gospel.

Instead we should consider the Lord’s instructions to those living in exile in Jerusalem:

Between Rhetoric and Reality

I drafted this post years ago and never published it. It was drafted during the one of the presidential primary seasons, but I never pulled the trigger on it. After reviewing it though, I’ve decided its applicability is not dependent on the election cycle.

Candidates say many things when they want to get elected, some of them true some of them not so true. I heard a presidential candidate say something that was so far from the truth but sounded so good that I thought it worthy of comment here.

Let me first say, the point of this blog is not a political one, and I’ve intentionally avoided writing in favor of or against any candidate. What I do attempt to do is offer a Kingdom perspective on current events and worldview. It is for that reason I comment on this candidate’s statement.

The candidate, a Libertarian, said that people were getting his message and realizing that “freedom is the answer” to our country’s problems. I was struck with how good it sounded but how wrong it was. The answer to our country’s problems is not more freedom; it’s more self-government.

I love freedom and would welcome more of it, but it won’t solve any problems because the problem is not that people aren’t free to do what they want; it’s that in exercising their freedom to do what they want they do what is wrong.

The One Thing

I recently rewatched the 1991 movie, City Slickers. Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal) is a 39 year-old in a mid-life crises. He and his two friends from the city have come out to a ranch for a two week vacation and a cattle drive from New Mexico to Colorado.

At the ranch, Mitch meets Curly (Jack Palance), an old cowboy with some wisdom about life. In one scene, Mitch and curly are out riding, and the conversation turns philosophical. Curly, sensing Mitch is after something deeper asks a question of his own.

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is? [pointing index finger skyward] This.

Mitch: Your finger?

Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean s**t.

Mitch: But what is the “one thing?”

Curly: [smiles, pointing his finger at Mitch] That’s what you have to find out.

Mitch goes on to help Curly deliver a calf, which Mitch names, Norman. Mitch later risks his own life to save Norman from a raging river during the cattle drive. These experiences cause Mitch to realize what the “one thing” is, and he goes back to New York with a new focus and sense of purpose.

The scene depicted by the narrative above is one of the most famous in movie history. It remains because it resonates. There is one thing that is most important, and once we realize that it puts everything else in a perspective.

38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42

Martha was focused on many things, probably preparing a meal, being a good host, and maintaining her reputation amongst her guests. This caused her anxiety, as a multitude of cascading concerns can.

But Jesus cut through it all, “…only one thing is necessary. For Mary has chosen the good part…” Luke 10:42. Mary had correctly chosen the one thing, and that one thing was her relationship with Jesus.

The Apostle Paul would later make a similar choice. Once he did, like Curly in City Slickers, he considered everything else “dung.” Philippians 3:8 (KJV)

We live in a far more complex world than that of the first century, but it gives rise to the same anxieties and confusion. Recognizing one’s relationship with Jesus is the one thing more important than anything reorders everything. GS