Social Issues – Earbuds

Welcome to the Big Picture podcast. I’m Joel Fieri, and this podcast seeks to begin and hopefully sustain a conversation about current trends, ideas, and issues in the church and greater society. On today’s podcast, I want to continue my focus on social issues. Now these are issues that challenge our faith and our God in some very different ways. Today’s podcast is part two of my three podcasts on social issues, in which I have divided the issues into two separate categories. On my previous podcast, I focused on what I call megaphone social issues, specifically the homosexual LGBT lifestyle and culture, and also gay marriage and abortion. Those are issues that face us full volume in our society. If you missed that podcast, please check out my website at gobigpicture.net or the E2 podcast network at e2network.net.

Now the subject of today’s podcast is what I’ll call earbud issues, those issues we face on a much more subtle level, challenging us more as individuals, families, and local churches. So here we go with social issues podcast number two, earbuds. Now we all know and have used earbuds. An earbud is a cool little device. It fits snugly in our ears and fills them with words and music that only we can hear. Earbuds are designed to block out the larger world around us so we can listen in peace and in secret. And that’s the way it is with many of the social issues we face as individual Christians today. I want to focus on three such issues, issues that snuggle into our ears and lives, appealing to us, at least for a while, in secret, but they also challenge our faith and our proper view of God and His will for our lives. Each of these issues has two facets that I’m going to try and expand on and explain the challenges they present. Now, the first of these issues are pornography and promiscuity.

These two issues together, challenge both the humanity and the love of those involved. Pornography is a shallow, one-dimensional representation of an individual, usually a female, that we see on a screen or on paper. We don’t see these women as humans. They are simply bodies presented for our pleasure in a very dehumanizing format. Promiscuity, and I’ll add prostitution, is the other side of the coin to pornography. It challenges the love and union that God designed the sexual act to represent. When two bodies come together outside of that design, as an exchange of benefits or even money, or to simply satisfy an appetite, when that happens, God’s design and will are corrupted. Next on our list of earbud issues are drugs and alcohol. These two substances challenge the Holy Spirit’s control over our minds and bodies. God’s desire is for us to present our bodies to Him as living sacrifices and to hold our minds captive to Him and His word and spirit.

If our bodies and minds are controlled by substances, legal or not, then we’ve taken out the Holy Spirit’s control. And the final set of earbud issues I see today are secularism and materialism. Now the previous issues were activities, while these two issues represent more our frame of mind and our values. Together, they challenge the notions of God’s glory, eternity, and God’s plan of salvation. In the secularist view, obviously, there is no God, therefore, there is no need to glorify Him as God. Self is glorified and becomes the center of existence. Secularism also leads directly to materialism, where all we have is what we can see, feel, and touch. There is no eternal context for our lives, therefore, there is no need for eternal salvation and reward, and certainly no concern over eternal punishment. Now I mentioned in part one of this podcast series that we need to somehow cut through the noise of megaphone social issues, to see the deeper challenges they pose to us as a Christian community.

Now with these more subtle earbud issues, we need to avoid the temptation of keeping their volume low and secret. We need to find ways of turning up the volume so that we, as individuals, and as a community, can resist their appeal and ultimately the damage they do in our lives, families, relationships, and ultimately, our churches and the larger body of Christ, which He has set apart from the world for His glory. Now, on the next podcast, I’ll be wrapping up the trilogy with what I feel is the ultimate social issue we all face as a society, and it’s in a category of its own. It’s an issue we face not only as a society, but also as a church and as individuals, and its consequences have only just begun to rock our culture, our faith, and our personal lives and relationships. So please, stay tuned.

In closing, its time again for the great cloud of witnesses, and this is the segment of our podcast where we meet and hear the stories of those who have given, and some who are still giving their lives by faith in the promises of God and of whom the world was and is not worthy. And once again, if you don’t know that reference, please check out Hebrews 11 in your Bible. Today’s witness comes from Africa, and it’s actually one of several witnesses who are unnamed. And I’ll just go ahead with the story. Seated on logs under the shade of a tree, the 230 Christian students were just beginning their English lesson, when they heard the terrifying sounds overhead. A plane roared across the sky above the schoolyard. Within minutes, the Islamic army had dropped five bombs from a large Russian-made bomber. Terrified and screaming, the children immediately started running. Two of the bombs landed in dry trenches around the village, and another failed to detonate.

Unfortunately, the other two nail-studded bombs landed squarely among the frightened students. The explosion was tremendous. The damage, unthinkable. By 9:15 AM, the bomber was gone, and the horrible reality began to set in. Students wandered dazed around the schoolyard, crying and bleeding. Twelve of their classmates, ranging in age from 9 to 16, had not survived the blast. Their beloved young teacher, Rhoda Ismael, also laid dead among the rubble. Another seven students lost their battle for survival in the days following the attack, and three had to have limbs amputated.

The very next day, children showed up for school as usual. The exhausted and despondent school master told them to go home. “I cannot tell you when, or if, we will resume classes,” he said. A 10-year-old boy approached him and said, “Please let us continue. We want to learn. And if it’s God’s will, then today, we won’t die.” This story, again, has no names, but somehow, some way, I’d like to nominate these children, and this 10-year-old boy of extreme faith, for the great cloud of witnesses of whom the world is not worthy. Thanks for listening to the Big Picture podcast. I’m Joel Fieri. Feel free to leave a comment. If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please check out my website at gobigpicture.net or go to the E2 podcast network, at e2network.net. Until next time, be blessed.