Are We Losing Our Spiritual Faculties? (#677)
The podcast begins with an extensive report on Kenya, with all that's going on over there right now. Listeners to this podcast have given over two million dollars to help in a corner of the world where no one else is present to help people who are dying of starvation and disease. It's an incredible story! Then Brad and Wayne switch gears and talk about a recent New York Times article about how the destruction that comes from our social media platforms, is because their algorithms were designed simply for the bottom-line benefit of the company unchecked by any moral considerations. By pursuing the next dopamine hit, we are drawn deeper into captivity and away from the contemplative spaces that allow us to engage him.
Podcast Notes:
Big Tech's Original Sin in the NY Times
If You Can Help Us in Kenya
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After listening to your concern for “how much do we do” to help… Jesus words keep coming to my thoughts… “The poor you will always have with you.” If that is a reality for this world until he “sets things right”… maybe we need to stress less about what we can’t do and trust that what we can do is a good thing and realize that death by any means… (tragedy, starvation, war… ) is not the worst thing that can happen. Life without Hope… that is worse. Yes… people will die… but to believe that death is not the end of our story … that has to make a difference for us.
Nice Ruby. That helped my perspective because when I see homeless people and I get stressed about their situation I feel guilty sometimes for not rescuing them from their crisis.
Things are changing in our world, a lot of this change is for the good. More and more people, especially younger people, are realizing that God will empower them to, and walk with them, as they grow into compassionate individuals, and they then begin to respond to these types of needs. More and more people are finding deep spiritual fulfillment in abandoning some of the empty comforts of our western lifestyle, embracing minimalism, even to the point of sacrifice, to keep some of the starving people, our brothers and sisters, alive. I have to wonder, will God ever stand in the way of compassionate sacrifice.
A few years back Father’s Spirit led me to some verses in Acts where I believe Paul was giving a simple teaching to his beloved elders that he had been raising up in Christ, kind of like we raise up our kids;
“I’ve never, as you so well know, had any taste for wealth or fashion. With these bare hands I took care of my own basic needs and those who worked with me. In everything I’ve done, I have demonstrated to you how necessary it is to work on behalf of the weak and not exploit them. You’ll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that our Master said, ‘You’re far happier giving than getting.’” – Acts 20:33-35, msg.
There are millions out there, and the numbers are growing. People that believe the verse above and whose lives are a testimony of that belief.
I was struck by Brad’s comment regarding how we don’t know well how to walk with God corporately. I was just talking with a friend about that today. I’m very comfortable with my personal life with God now as a more genuine version of what I call myself, but because of that familiarity and comfort, I don’t even look to do anything corporately which could be considered intentionally “faith natured”, ie Wednesday bible study, Sunday evening service, even beer and wings with a few buddies over a set topic or agenda. I’ve become corporately challenged I think! It’s a bit strange now but I really prefer the random church as my church of choice these days. Got a call from a guy yesterday that I hired to move us this past year. He had a “shituation” going on in his house and I happen to have a vac truck so he called me up. We realized the day he moved us that we had much in common in regards to our journeying with God and working out of faith and when I went over there this morning we continued right where we left off and left off today as better friends as we worked things out some more while we worked at repairing the house problem. We preached a sermon together, spoke words of adoration about our Father that could be interpreted as worship if you were that father, and were generous with each other in word and deed. It feels so …. “normal”, and not pressured, it appears this lifestyle itself is my church yet I do sometimes wonder if maybe it would be good or better to be more intentional. I can’t see myself pulling a Brad and attending an organized service (very cavalier of you Brad!), but even just inviting a few couples over for a bbq and some deliberate testifyin’ type conversation…but we just don’t feel like it anymore. We (wife and I) don’t miss meeting… and I don’t know if that’s a sad thing, a bad thing, or no-thing to even think about.