The Foundations Podcast

Ep. 14- Why and How to Filter the Media You Consume

At the time of this recording , we are still fairly locked down due to the global pandemic of COVID-19. And, while we are at home more, we are watching a lot of movies and shows. We are reading, we are listening to music, we are consuming a lot of media.

How are you filtering the media that you are consuming? 

Every piece of entertainment or news, every piece of media ever created was created and emanates from someone’s worldview.

If you just absorb the media content without filtering it, you are absorbing someone else world view.

How do you filter the content you consume?

This is the last episode of Season 2. Season 3 will will begin after the pandemic is over.

If you're looking for media to practice filtering, try watching my feature documentary about competitive speech and debate:

We interrupt the scheduled episode about media to bring this special episode during the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic.

Just a quick episode about context and trusting God in uncertain times.

This is the 3rd (and final!) of a series of episodes about Christian and politics. This episode we are looking at biblical examples of choosing the lesser of 2 evils and pragmatism in the Bible.

Far too often it seems our elections are a terrible decision between the two major parties. Approached pragmatically, of course we must do our utmost to achieved the best result. Besides, as we are often told, unless Jesus himself is on the ballot, every election is a choice between the lesser of two evils. What does the Bible teach about this?

This is the 2nd of a series of episodes about Christian and politics. Today, I’m going to walk through what I believe is the minimum, biblical standard for elected officials.

As always, Instead of just accepting or rejecting my opinions, I encourage you to do your own study on the biblical passages I discuss.

This election, like many others, Christians will likely find ourselves once again faced with voting for the lesser of two evils. The 2 major parties will put up 2 nominees. Neither will be perfect.

Must I vote for one of them to stop the greater evil? Is there a line that can be crossed where neither candidate should get my vote?

What if neither candidate meets even the minimal biblical standard for a civil authority? It’s not a high bar. Let's see what the minimum biblical standard for choosing a civil authority is.

This is the first in a series of episodes about Christians in politics.

With the 2020 election looming, I wanted to share some thoughts on how believers should approach politics. Before we look at what the Bible says about how we should choose elected officials, I wanted to talk about how focused why should be on politics. This is my opinion. Later episodes will look at what the Bible says. This is a sensitive topic for a lot of people. If you totally disagree with me, that’s OK. This is opinion. Just hang on and we will get to the Bible next time.

Today, I wanted to bring you some excerpts from a blog post I wrote back in 2015. 

I think what I wrote 5 years ago is still true today. It’s easy to get focused on the temporal things happening around, when God has called us to be concerned with eternal things. And as we get geared up to have a lot of discussion about politics and elections and candidates this year, I wanted to remind us all...

The Culture War is over, and we lost...

It's the first episode of Season 2! Last season in a few episodes I described the Bible as a plumbline, which is always correct because of the force of gravity. This season, I want to start off with a similar analogy- an anchor.

On June 26, 2015 the US Supreme court ruled 5 to 4 in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges. The court held that same sex couples could exercise the fundamental right to marry in all 50 states. This decision, celebrated by supporters of same sex marriage,  raised questions for religious conservatives about the future of the church in a society that increasingly moves away from previously established moral norms.

Back then, I was surprised to see the number of rainbow avatars in my social media feeds. Many sported by people that attended the same churches I have, heard the same messages I have. For better or worse, the church is changing.

Today we look at 3 questions Christians may be asked about this issue.

Links:

The Bible outlines detailed rules about buying and selling slaves. Solomon, known as the wisest man in the world, had 700 wives. But slavery and polygamy are wrong.

There are some hard to understand things in the Bible, and we are going to take a look at a couple of these issues. And look at how things change when we view the world through an eternal lens vs looking through the lens of western civilization.

Today, we’re talking about slavery, polygamy and other bad things in the Bible.

Links:

We've been talking about  the process of approaching issues and seeing what the Bible says about them.

Of course, in order to know what the Bible says, you have to know how to study it.

Many passages in the Bible are straightforward, and easy to understand. Others are not as easy. When we run into those other passages, how can we know what they mean?

In this short episode I will give you some tips on how to find the meaning of scripture, and figure out how it applies to our lives today.

Links:

Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoy this bonus episode, The Promise of Christmas. In it I look at 3 lesser known prophecies about the birth of Jesus: The Seed of Abraham, the Seed of Isaac and the Shoot from the Stump of Jesse. Let's see what these prophecies are and why they are important to our understanding of the purpose of Christmas.

The basics of developing a biblical worldview-

1 - Read it

2 - Trust it

3 - Use it

How do you take these simple concepts and apply them to issues in order to develop a worldview  consistent with what the Bible teaches? Let's find out and then look at a few specific issues and walk through the process.

Links:

Let's look at an example of someone in the Bible who did not develop and live by a worldview in keeping with who God is. Let's talk a lot about Lot, the nephew of Abraham. 

2 Peter describes Lot as righteous. What does that mean? And what can we learn about developing a biblical worldview from him?

Links mentioned in the Podcast:

Why trust the Bible as the foundation for your worldview?

What is a worldview, and why is it important to have a biblical worldview?

I believe the Bible is a plumb line for truth in a fallen world. In this episode I explain why, and why you can trust the Bible as the foundation of your own worldview.

Links mentioned in the Podcast:

The Foundations Podcast: Developing a biblical worldview in a post-Christian world.

Hello, and welcome to the very first Foundations podcast. I'm your host, Scott Link.

This podcast is about our foundations, and how we view the world. The way we look at things shapes our opinions and beliefs, and our actions.

I want to say right off the bat, this is a Christian podcast. I am a Christian. I try to look at things from that perspective, unapologetically, we will be talking about ideas and issues from a Christian perspective.

This podcast is about our view of the world, and how we create that worldview. I believe we have generations of believers in the church that do not have a biblical worldview. In fact, they don’t even know they don’t have one. 

I hope that you take away an understanding of how vital a biblical world view is, and some tools to help you understand issues through the lens of our faith and the Bible.

Links mentioned in the podcast: