It is rather interesting that new research has shown how important it is that you should control what information you take in and how you take it in. Excessive television (radio, reading, etc) will overwhelm you with information of other people’s values, where they try to convince you that their values are correct. Most people sympathies with the poor lady in a story for cheating on her husband just because she wanted to have an affair, seemed to be the right thing or felt so good. Advertisers fill our heads with "It is your right...", "you will be happy when you own...", "Success...", "you will look beautiful..." I do believe that James 4: 1-4 ask the right questions in this regard.
4:1 Whence `come' wars and whence `come' fightings among you? `come they' not hence, `even' of your pleasures that war in your members? 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not. 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend `it' in your pleasures. 4:4 Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God.
What should you do? 1. Paul told us to take every though captive. 2 Corinthians 10:5.
10:5 casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;
We must actively filter and over think the information that is presented to us. Talk and ague about it, research and investigate it using the Bible. 2. Spending more time in the Word of God than the other sources of information. You must determine the dominant source of values in your life. 3. Interact with the information given to you. This does not mean shout to the tele / book or other media, write hate mail or any of the kind, but the following: 1. Research the information; do not take everything as fact. 2. Take into consideration that mostly everything on the tele, newspaper, magazines is paid to be there and may not necessarily to be correct. 3. Use the information to make conversation when you share the gospel using statements like - Did you know? - Where did you hear that? - How did you come to that conclusion? |