Latest / Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland / A Gospel Standard for Our Tech

Transcript

A Gospel Standard for Our Tech · Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland

0:01
Speaker 1: Purposely Your Life, God's Purpose. More podcasts at purposely dot com.
0:14
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the Gospel Tech Podcast. My
0:16
Speaker 2: name is Nathan Sutherland and this podcast is dedicated to
0:19
Speaker 2: helping families love God and use tech. Today. We are
0:23
Speaker 2: continuing our three part series about how the Gospel applies
0:27
Speaker 2: to parents, to kids, and then today to technology. Rather
0:30
Speaker 2: than trying to info dump all of it at once,
0:32
Speaker 2: I want to be deliberate with this conversation about how
0:34
Speaker 2: does the Gospel apply to our tech. We're going to
0:36
Speaker 2: take it in two halves. The first half is going
0:38
Speaker 2: to be looking just at Philippians four eight. It is
0:41
Speaker 2: a wonderful verse for us to prayerfully reflect big picture
0:45
Speaker 2: on Okay, how can we even think about technology in
0:48
Speaker 2: an error worre? Tech is everything that we deal with.
0:51
Speaker 2: It's in our jobs, it's in our parenting, it's in
0:53
Speaker 2: our kids' childhoods, it's in our schools. Like, just how
0:57
Speaker 2: do we think about it rightly? And then the second
1:00
Speaker 2: it will be like the hyper practical safe for any good.
1:02
Speaker 2: The reason I want to just kind of settle in
1:04
Speaker 2: on Philippians for eight to begin this conversation is because
1:07
Speaker 2: it's such a challenging reflection on our technology. So just
1:12
Speaker 2: listen to this. Philippians four eight says this, finally, brothers,
1:15
Speaker 2: whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever
1:18
Speaker 2: is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there
1:22
Speaker 2: is any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think
1:26
Speaker 2: about these things. So we're gonna there's a lot more
1:31
Speaker 2: going on there. Paul is talking to the Philippian Church,
1:33
Speaker 2: and obviously it's not talking about technology, but it's talking
1:36
Speaker 2: about what do we give our hearts to. This is
1:38
Speaker 2: this Romans reminder of what are we setting our minds on.
1:43
Speaker 2: We have a choice of will to deliberately set our
1:46
Speaker 2: minds on the things of the spirit, of the things
1:48
Speaker 2: of the flesh. And when we set our minds on
1:50
Speaker 2: the things of the spirit, we glorify God. We glorify
1:55
Speaker 2: them because we're gonna have to repent, and we glorify
1:57
Speaker 2: them because we are deliberately with our will, turning our
2:01
Speaker 2: attention to God and away from our own desires, our
2:04
Speaker 2: own distractions, our own goals, and our own kingdom coming
2:07
Speaker 2: our own will being done. When we set our mind
2:09
Speaker 2: though on the things of the flesh, of our own appetites,
2:12
Speaker 2: and our own desires and our old ways of living
2:15
Speaker 2: that are now dead in Christ and we're raised as
2:17
Speaker 2: new creations. When we set our minds on those things,
2:20
Speaker 2: we cannot please God. We can't even do the will
2:23
Speaker 2: of God. Romans tells us so, and this is coming
2:26
Speaker 2: out of Romans eight. That's right around Romans eight four
2:29
Speaker 2: is the setting mind. So this is Philippians for it
2:32
Speaker 2: is a very practical way we can go through. But
2:34
Speaker 2: let's read that thisss again, because no one's going to
2:36
Speaker 2: disagree with that. But I have received a lot of
2:39
Speaker 2: pushback and then a lot of pushback from people generally
2:42
Speaker 2: when to go give a talk like yeah, but it's
2:43
Speaker 2: really impractical, like we can't do this, what does that
2:46
Speaker 2: even mean? So I want to break this down because
2:49
Speaker 2: I then went and reflected on my own like it
2:51
Speaker 2: is a little it's a little clunky in terms of
2:53
Speaker 2: daily application. Think about this, all right, So whatever's true, honorable,
3:00
Speaker 2: just pure. Let's just take those four true, honorable, just pure.
3:05
Speaker 2: We listen to a song on the radio and I go,
3:07
Speaker 2: is that true, honorable, just, and pure? Like I don't know, Like, okay,
3:13
Speaker 2: is it true? That's easy enough. We can break that
3:15
Speaker 2: down to be like, does this line up with reality?
3:18
Speaker 2: I do love that description that truth is what lines
3:22
Speaker 2: up with reality, and reality is what happens when we're wrong,
3:25
Speaker 2: And I think that's a fine simple spot to start
3:28
Speaker 2: whene go is this true? Obviously doesn't line up with
3:30
Speaker 2: biblical truth, because the reason it's written down in the
3:33
Speaker 2: Bible is because it's true in a greater reality. We
3:36
Speaker 2: now see in part and we will see in full.
3:39
Speaker 2: But in between now and then, we have the scriptures,
3:42
Speaker 2: guided by the Holy Spirit, to understand what is the
3:45
Speaker 2: most true about our existence, about God, and about our purpose.
3:49
Speaker 2: So if you have a song, for example, that deliberately
3:52
Speaker 2: lies about who God is, or who our child is,
3:55
Speaker 2: or what our purpose is, we go, okay, this isn't true. Now,
3:59
Speaker 2: maybe there's a time as an adult or as a
4:02
Speaker 2: well advanced young person seventeen year old about to be
4:05
Speaker 2: an adult by us standards, and they're listening to some music.
4:08
Speaker 2: We're like, all right, I get it. You're mature enough though,
4:10
Speaker 2: and you can handle like the nuance here, So okay,
4:14
Speaker 2: maybe I'm not gonna say adults should never consume difficult
4:18
Speaker 2: content that deals with complex mediums for communication. That maybe
4:23
Speaker 2: there is a lie in here. But the point isn't
4:25
Speaker 2: the lie, and we're not celebrating it for the lie.
4:27
Speaker 2: We're ingesting it for the conversation and this for the struggle.
4:30
Speaker 2: We recognize what the author is doing here. Okay, all right,
4:34
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm gonna let you make these decisions. But
4:36
Speaker 2: I am saying, like, is it true? Awesome spot to start,
4:40
Speaker 2: and it's true, It's not practical. Sorry, it is true.
4:44
Speaker 2: Twice it is. I understand that it's not practical. When
4:47
Speaker 2: my twelve, ten and seven year olds are in the
4:50
Speaker 2: car and a song comes on, I may not pause
4:52
Speaker 2: that song right there and ago that wasn't true. But
4:54
Speaker 2: I need to be thinking about that so that I
4:56
Speaker 2: can have a future conversation. Yeah, maybe the safe for
4:58
Speaker 2: any good is how we have the conversation, but that
5:02
Speaker 2: does need to go into how I think about the
5:03
Speaker 2: technology I'm consuming and the technology I'm providing my children.
5:07
Speaker 2: Is this true? Because think about this. Then if we
5:10
Speaker 2: go down so we did music, let's say we go
5:12
Speaker 2: down to games. There are games that include deliberate lies,
5:16
Speaker 2: either in the plot itself, so the character will say
5:18
Speaker 2: something or do something that is deliberately not true, like
5:22
Speaker 2: they are actively lying, and the plot is made in
5:25
Speaker 2: such a way to belittle beliefs that are core to
5:28
Speaker 2: what the Bible tells us. Or they may not even
5:30
Speaker 2: have to say it, it may just be assumed. And
5:34
Speaker 2: this is where it gets settle. But true, honorable, just,
5:37
Speaker 2: and pure, there are some games that they're just silly
5:41
Speaker 2: and you're you know, Smash Brothers. You're trying to knock
5:43
Speaker 2: each other off a platform, or you're Mario Kart and
5:45
Speaker 2: you're trying to hit each other with shells. These are
5:48
Speaker 2: silly games. There's no embedded deeper moral message. But there
5:52
Speaker 2: are some games, and depending how your child receives these games,
5:56
Speaker 2: something like a Fortnite where it's we have to kill
5:58
Speaker 2: everyone like some people that's and some people it's something
6:01
Speaker 2: else like it. Actually, their experience is a little more
6:04
Speaker 2: hunger games and there you'll know this by the rage
6:06
Speaker 2: they experience if they don't win, or maybe it's not
6:09
Speaker 2: even the game itself, it's the feedback they get from
6:12
Speaker 2: the game, and they're now using this to be okay,
6:15
Speaker 2: and if they don't get their game time, they don't
6:17
Speaker 2: know how to process it. Then when we look at true, honorable, just,
6:20
Speaker 2: and pure, we go, hey, something else is present in
6:23
Speaker 2: this game. Maybe it's the game by design, maybe it's not.
6:25
Speaker 2: But like we have concerns about this true, honorable, just
6:29
Speaker 2: and pure even with our games. Yes, with the content,
6:31
Speaker 2: but also with how it affects us and the outcomes
6:34
Speaker 2: we get from this game. There are also going to
6:37
Speaker 2: be some games that are just not okay on their face.
6:39
Speaker 2: My boys went over to a friend's house. They have
6:41
Speaker 2: like a stand up arcade. They were playing Mortal Kombat,
6:44
Speaker 2: and we just had to have a conversation afterwards, a
6:47
Speaker 2: very loving one and say, hey, listen, I get why
6:49
Speaker 2: that's interesting. I understand that was fun with your friends,
6:52
Speaker 2: and I'm not concerned about your hearts. They didn't come
6:54
Speaker 2: back being like whoo murder, death Kill, And when that
6:58
Speaker 2: game comes up next time, just just a different game.
7:01
Speaker 2: Like when your friends want to play that again, go
7:03
Speaker 2: be busy, like I'm not going to ask you to
7:05
Speaker 2: get on a soapbox and explain to them how this
7:07
Speaker 2: doesn't line up with Philippians four eight. But this doesn't
7:09
Speaker 2: line up with Philippins for eight. This is not the
7:12
Speaker 2: game is built around celebrating the fatalities. That was kind
7:16
Speaker 2: of Mortal Kombat's twist on that side platform combat game
7:20
Speaker 2: where you're punching, kicking, and then instead of them just
7:22
Speaker 2: falling down when their little energy bar reaches zero, they
7:24
Speaker 2: get stunned and a narrator goes finish him. And if
7:28
Speaker 2: you've never looked up Mortal Kombat fatalities, please google that
7:33
Speaker 2: at some point, not on your work computer, and make
7:36
Speaker 2: sure you know you do it right before bed so
7:38
Speaker 2: you can really feel the weight of it. But those games, yes,
7:42
Speaker 2: they're creative. There's a certain kind of dark humor to it,
7:46
Speaker 2: not something we should be celebrating when it comes to true, honorable,
7:50
Speaker 2: just and pure. The heart behind that is grotesque. It
7:53
Speaker 2: is macabre at best, it is something else at worst,
7:57
Speaker 2: and there is a level of celebration of death in
8:00
Speaker 2: there that is not for the Christian. So from my children,
8:04
Speaker 2: I said, hey, that's what we're gonna do again. Maybe
8:07
Speaker 2: this is one of the things we're like, Nope, it's
8:08
Speaker 2: like that album of music that we listen to that
8:10
Speaker 2: we know is dark, but we can process. Okay, I
8:13
Speaker 2: am saying, that's a conversation I had. I had to
8:15
Speaker 2: be very deliberate with this because, as you will find
8:17
Speaker 2: out when you come in with a know, you want
8:21
Speaker 2: to have a yes quickly in hand. Maybe it's not
8:24
Speaker 2: a yes for more video games. That's a route I took. Again.
8:26
Speaker 2: I don't play video games. My children do in certain circumstances.
8:30
Speaker 2: They play with friends, not for friends, meaning they play
8:32
Speaker 2: with people they already know and like in real life
8:34
Speaker 2: and it's part of their experience. And then they go
8:36
Speaker 2: on with their experience in real life with those same
8:38
Speaker 2: people doing other things too. They play sports, they go
8:41
Speaker 2: for swim, they play pinball, and yes, stand up arcade,
8:44
Speaker 2: video games or whatever might be part of that. In
8:46
Speaker 2: this case, I gave my children a a yes of
8:50
Speaker 2: these games instead of this game. So go play NBA cham,
8:52
Speaker 2: go play Blitz, go play whatever Major League Baseball game
8:55
Speaker 2: is on the standard, Like they love that and they
8:57
Speaker 2: think it's so funny that they can't figure out how
8:59
Speaker 2: to throw to first base and they laugh while you
9:01
Speaker 2: know they're doing silly antics in the game, like that's wonderful.
9:04
Speaker 2: I'm fine with that, not this game, though. I don't
9:06
Speaker 2: want your heart getting used to celebrating this particular game.
9:09
Speaker 2: That's a fine standard first to have just be ready
9:12
Speaker 2: for that yes when you lay down a no, and
9:13
Speaker 2: the reason for that is, children do not always understand
9:16
Speaker 2: our heart as parents. Sometimes it's from our past mistakes. Again,
9:19
Speaker 2: I don't play video games because I misuse them, so
9:21
Speaker 2: I'm super sensitive when my children start playing video games,
9:24
Speaker 2: like I wish you were enjoying something else. And I
9:28
Speaker 2: need to recognize that God is your God just like
9:30
Speaker 2: he's my God. And that God came to me and
9:33
Speaker 2: was very clear with Nathan video games that are not
9:35
Speaker 2: good for you. They are taking too much of your
9:36
Speaker 2: heart and attention. Give them to me. And I had
9:39
Speaker 2: to believe that Jesus is better even than my video games.
9:42
Speaker 2: I have to believe that Jesus is also a better
9:44
Speaker 2: parent than me. So while I will parent and set
9:47
Speaker 2: structural boundaries, my goal is not to make my children good.
9:50
Speaker 2: So if I'm parenting out of that fear and all
9:53
Speaker 2: I say is no and then go and do something
9:54
Speaker 2: thousand no, then my children are just like I don't know.
9:57
Speaker 2: My dad's scared of Everything's like I don't know where
9:59
Speaker 2: the limits are because he says no to basically anything cool.
10:03
Speaker 2: So my job as a parent then is to loving
10:05
Speaker 2: you say no to dangerous things and say yes to
10:09
Speaker 2: something else. No, not that, but what about this. In
10:11
Speaker 2: my case, I used another game, but it would also
10:14
Speaker 2: be maybe a board game, very hard to get over stimulated,
10:16
Speaker 2: and the content is generally much lower in terms of
10:20
Speaker 2: grotesque violence. I say generally, I know you can come
10:23
Speaker 2: out of the woodwork with all the examples that don't
10:25
Speaker 2: fit that, but compared to video games, it's a much
10:28
Speaker 2: smaller percentage, and you got to really find them, and
10:31
Speaker 2: again you got to find people to play with them,
10:32
Speaker 2: and it takes longer to get into it, like it's
10:34
Speaker 2: a lot harder to sneak an unsafe board game. Let's
10:36
Speaker 2: say that true, honorable, just pure parents. As we strive
10:42
Speaker 2: to raise kids who love God and use tech, it's
10:44
Speaker 2: intimidating to look at this next stage of life and
10:46
Speaker 2: think about what academics may look like for them. When
10:49
Speaker 2: you're thinking about college, considered George Fox University for your
10:53
Speaker 2: children because of three things. First, it's going to give
10:56
Speaker 2: you a more intimate, known environment where they have a
10:59
Speaker 2: focus on being own personally, academically, and spiritually. Your child
11:03
Speaker 2: will grow in their faith. Ninety three percent of undergrad
11:06
Speaker 2: students at George Fox last year through the twenty twenty
11:09
Speaker 2: five academic year said that being at George Fox has
11:12
Speaker 2: helped them grow in their relationship with Jesus. We also
11:14
Speaker 2: want them to grow academically, which means being a part
11:18
Speaker 2: of the university with rigorous academic standards and opportunities to
11:22
Speaker 2: be engaged. They have a nationally recognized engineering, nursing, and
11:26
Speaker 2: education programs, as well as chances to study abroad here
11:29
Speaker 2: within the US and then internationally and finally personally, to
11:32
Speaker 2: be part of a vibrant campus atmosphere where you can
11:35
Speaker 2: play intramural sports or part of their NCAA Division three
11:39
Speaker 2: athletic programs with twenty three sports available. The goal here
11:44
Speaker 2: is to go to a place that's going to support
11:47
Speaker 2: your goals, not try to make you support theirs. To
11:51
Speaker 2: have that goal be to raise you up to be
11:53
Speaker 2: all God's called you to be, and to truly equip
11:56
Speaker 2: your young person with my in Nike is my sons
11:59
Speaker 2: or my daughter to love God and then from their
12:01
Speaker 2: love of God to go wherever God has called them,
12:03
Speaker 2: and that concludes being equipped with a degree that will
12:05
Speaker 2: help them do that, to be missionally equipped to love
12:08
Speaker 2: and serve others, to lead where God has planned the man,
12:11
Speaker 2: to know the Gospel for themselves and be able to
12:13
Speaker 2: share it with others. So George Fox University is an
12:15
Speaker 2: amazing resource for our kids, for our community here in
12:18
Speaker 2: the Northwest, and for anyone who's looking to raise up
12:21
Speaker 2: a young person who can love God and from that
12:24
Speaker 2: love others. So that's with music, that's with video games.
12:26
Speaker 2: It works with shows. Again, easy to spot with shows. Man,
12:30
Speaker 2: is this true? Is this honorable?
12:32
Speaker 1: Like?
12:33
Speaker 2: Would I celebrate this? Is this just when we say
12:37
Speaker 2: just I'm taking just the biblical example. Yes, justice is
12:42
Speaker 2: a huge concept, but it always has to do with
12:44
Speaker 2: protecting the weak and the vulnerable. The widow and the
12:47
Speaker 2: orphan show up repeatedly throughout scripture. So those who cannot
12:52
Speaker 2: defend themselves? Is that what this video game is about?
12:54
Speaker 2: Sometimes again it's a non issue. We're playing Mario and
12:57
Speaker 2: you're like, I don't know. The goomba seemed to be
12:59
Speaker 2: able to themselves. They seem to eat me effectively, so
13:03
Speaker 2: I guess they aren't bad to fight. But there are
13:05
Speaker 2: some games, including major plot lines of major games, where
13:10
Speaker 2: the vulnerable and innocent are targets and you are celebrated
13:14
Speaker 2: with rewards and points. I would avoid those. I would
13:17
Speaker 2: encourage our children to avoid this. If we are the
13:20
Speaker 2: people taking advantage of those who are incapable of protecting
13:23
Speaker 2: themselves rather than protecting them. I would say that is
13:26
Speaker 2: not just, and that game is not worth our hearts
13:30
Speaker 2: and our attention, our finances and our time goes with shows,
13:35
Speaker 2: goes with games, goes with music. And then let's talk
13:38
Speaker 2: apps real quick. So when we think through apps, most
13:40
Speaker 2: kids want social media. That is what they're aiming for. Man,
13:45
Speaker 2: there are some great content on social media, be it
13:48
Speaker 2: YouTube or snapchat or TikTok or instagram. Are there are
13:51
Speaker 2: people sharing the gospel. God is moving in those spaces.
13:56
Speaker 2: If you asked me if it's honorable, just, pure and true, no,
14:03
Speaker 2: every major social media platform is worth skipping based on
14:06
Speaker 2: that standard. Now I hear the pushback of yeah, but
14:10
Speaker 2: their friends are on there. Okay, but just know the
14:13
Speaker 2: platform you're putting them on is not by design true, honorable,
14:18
Speaker 2: just and pure. It's simply not. Yes, you can train
14:21
Speaker 2: an algorithm or an AI to feed you certain time
14:24
Speaker 2: by not liking certain things and by liking other things,
14:27
Speaker 2: By commenting on certain things and skipping past other things.
14:31
Speaker 2: By disliking certain things, you can train an AI to
14:36
Speaker 2: give you in your feed content more.
14:38
Speaker 1: Like what you want.
14:40
Speaker 2: And there is no way that any one of these
14:43
Speaker 2: publicly available social media platforms are true, honorable, just and
14:49
Speaker 2: pure by design. Maybe they can be curated to be
14:53
Speaker 2: more of that, But the function of these social media
14:56
Speaker 2: platforms is to keep your time, your focus, and your money,
15:00
Speaker 2: and they do that not by conveying the Gospel clearly
15:05
Speaker 2: to you on a regular basis and edifying you when
15:08
Speaker 2: you are feeling weak. So I would skip those for
15:12
Speaker 2: your children until they're at least sixteen, and until they
15:17
Speaker 2: have shown in their sixteenness that they are healthy in
15:20
Speaker 2: their reset, their relationships, emotions, sleep, enjoyment, and time are
15:24
Speaker 2: well managed and producing good fruit. And in that say,
15:28
Speaker 2: in that case, then you can say yes to that.
15:30
Speaker 2: Otherwise it's a no. But yes to this, Yes to
15:33
Speaker 2: real world hangouts, Yes to inviting friends over, Yes to
15:36
Speaker 2: being in real person analog groups, so that we can
15:39
Speaker 2: build our standard for friendship on one hand, and that
15:44
Speaker 2: we can be a part of the kingdom work God's
15:47
Speaker 2: called us to do, which is to love others and
15:49
Speaker 2: to love God. So no social media fails on its face.
15:54
Speaker 2: If we apply this to other things, you will see
15:56
Speaker 2: that this still works, Like so if we take this
15:58
Speaker 2: out of technology, it's still works with the sports we play,
16:01
Speaker 2: and specifically with the heart with which we use in sports,
16:04
Speaker 2: because there's very few sports that on their face are
16:07
Speaker 2: not true or honorable adjusted pure like that. Very few
16:11
Speaker 2: make the rules of their game taking advantage of those
16:15
Speaker 2: who are weak like that's not that's not generally the case.
16:18
Speaker 2: There's usually structure and rules, and if someone's really getting
16:21
Speaker 2: taken advantage of, there's referees for this stuff right or
16:24
Speaker 2: umps or whatever the thing might be. So in the sports,
16:28
Speaker 2: and that's often our heart that we bring into it,
16:30
Speaker 2: Like am I come into this with with truth in mind,
16:33
Speaker 2: with the clear view of reality in sports. We misuse
16:36
Speaker 2: sports most often when we especially here in the Northwest.
16:39
Speaker 2: I don't know about where you live, but our sports
16:41
Speaker 2: can become our identity. And this is in Christian circles
16:43
Speaker 2: as well as non Christian circles. We go to sports
16:46
Speaker 2: and we go, well, I'm good at that sport, so
16:47
Speaker 2: i'm good, or I'm bad at that sport, so i'm bad.
16:51
Speaker 2: That person's better than me at this sport, so they're
16:54
Speaker 2: better than me in terms of value. They have more value.
16:57
Speaker 2: I would be valuable if I was as good as them.
17:01
Speaker 2: This is wild because it's not true, and that's a
17:05
Speaker 2: heart issue. That's not necessarily the sport and the same
17:08
Speaker 2: thing is now The reason to use that as an
17:09
Speaker 2: example is that's true in our technology as well, our
17:12
Speaker 2: Philippians four eight test, yes, test the content of the
17:15
Speaker 2: thing itself, the design of the thing itself, So the
17:17
Speaker 2: video game, the show, the social media platform, or the device.
17:22
Speaker 2: I think through is this true, honorable, just pure, lovely, commendable,
17:27
Speaker 2: big picture? Just is this making more of the world
17:30
Speaker 2: that I want to see from my child? If it's not,
17:33
Speaker 2: I say no to this, and I find something else
17:35
Speaker 2: I can say yes to. I rearrange our lives to
17:37
Speaker 2: reflect that, and I check their heart. So it might
17:41
Speaker 2: be fine, But what's going on with my child? Just
17:44
Speaker 2: like a sport, perfectly fine to play baseball, but not
17:46
Speaker 2: okay to play baseball and find your identity in it.
17:50
Speaker 2: Not okay to compete in football and believe that being
17:53
Speaker 2: good at that sport makes you a good person, and
17:56
Speaker 2: to fight against that. The easiest way to fight against
17:59
Speaker 2: this to do other activities. So we can, yes, be
18:03
Speaker 2: great at this, and we're gonna go do these other things.
18:05
Speaker 2: And generally those other things are things you're not the
18:07
Speaker 2: best one at. So we had the opportunities last year
18:10
Speaker 2: for our two older children to be a part of
18:13
Speaker 2: sports where the teams were good but not everything went
18:18
Speaker 2: their way, and that was great, and there was a
18:22
Speaker 2: moment there where we got invited to be a part
18:25
Speaker 2: of a beautiful team and it would have been wonderful
18:28
Speaker 2: outcomes if we had joined that team. So it would
18:30
Speaker 2: have been a cool opportunity. We recognize it as what
18:32
Speaker 2: it was, a really neat team who's good at the sport,
18:35
Speaker 2: and it would have been really good on the athletic side.
18:37
Speaker 2: We chose to not do that route and the positives
18:40
Speaker 2: we saw this year. I'm not saying this is forever.
18:43
Speaker 2: I'm not saying you have to do this, please hear me.
18:45
Speaker 2: But we put our son on a not so great
18:48
Speaker 2: team and a not so competitive league, and there was
18:51
Speaker 2: some high levels of frustration, including one game where he
18:55
Speaker 2: had to get six outs one inning as a pitcher
18:58
Speaker 2: because they were just multi errors made like infield pop
19:02
Speaker 2: ups that were missed and light grounders to infield basemen
19:07
Speaker 2: who missed them, like we're in the right spot, just
19:10
Speaker 2: didn't get the ball and it rolled to the outfield
19:13
Speaker 2: and multiple runs were scored, and like, that's really good.
19:16
Speaker 2: So this remember this is when I said, like, what
19:18
Speaker 2: do you do with someone who finds their identity in
19:20
Speaker 2: their in their sport or in their game or in
19:22
Speaker 2: their app in the sport context, you find them another
19:26
Speaker 2: opportunity to be competitive, to play with friends. And that
19:29
Speaker 2: context should be one in which feeling awesome is probably
19:33
Speaker 2: going to be low on their radar because like teammates
19:38
Speaker 2: will be bad, or the league itself will be frustrating,
19:40
Speaker 2: or maybe your kid just saysn't God's gift to this
19:42
Speaker 2: particular sport. And I will say the outcome of that
19:45
Speaker 2: was so so good. It was hard and it was
19:47
Speaker 2: difficult to parent in because it is frustrating when you
19:49
Speaker 2: watch other individuals, like right, not do the sport well.
19:54
Speaker 2: Like that is hard and there's a competitive part as
19:56
Speaker 2: a parent that you want just excellence around your child
19:59
Speaker 2: all the time so they can be excellent. And while
20:01
Speaker 2: that is great and again that might be part of
20:05
Speaker 2: this child's future at some point in some sport. I'm
20:08
Speaker 2: really thankful for that little season because we got to
20:11
Speaker 2: talk through I mean, just as athletes like you don't
20:15
Speaker 2: control everything. You control what you can control. You don't
20:18
Speaker 2: control that basement. You control your next pitch. You do
20:22
Speaker 2: not control where people are placed on your team. You
20:25
Speaker 2: control your attitude and your focus, and like you control
20:30
Speaker 2: you as an athlete. And even then, like you're not
20:33
Speaker 2: fully in control. You can only do your best. Some
20:35
Speaker 2: days you just don't have it. And we love, love,
20:37
Speaker 2: love watching pro baseball right now again, Northwest Go Mariners,
20:41
Speaker 2: you're terrible this year. And we watched a game where
20:43
Speaker 2: they literally looked like the Angels in the outfield, Like
20:47
Speaker 2: there was a bloop hit to center field. Both centerfielder
20:51
Speaker 2: and right fielder missed it. It bounced off the wall.
20:55
Speaker 2: The guy tries to bare hand it, he misses it,
20:58
Speaker 2: and it's now like running around trying to get it.
21:00
Speaker 2: In a different game, a guy goes to throw out
21:02
Speaker 2: at first and just the ball pops out behind him.
21:06
Speaker 2: Like we're talking little league, like young little league stuff
21:10
Speaker 2: like pee wee baseball, And it's great because like these
21:14
Speaker 2: people are some of the best on the planet, Bud,
21:16
Speaker 2: and like just watch this because it's terrible. Now, I
21:18
Speaker 2: told you this whole diatribe because this applies Philippins for
21:22
Speaker 2: eight applies to everything we do, our intentions that go
21:25
Speaker 2: into even our non technological spaces, things like sports, And
21:29
Speaker 2: then I got distracted because I love talking about sports.
21:32
Speaker 2: The goal isn't be excellent sports. The goal is take
21:34
Speaker 2: a heart of Christ into whatever sport you do. There's
21:37
Speaker 2: an organization here in the Northwest called Reality Sports, and
21:41
Speaker 2: their whole thing is focused on how do we compete
21:44
Speaker 2: upside down? And Reality Sports brings in a heart that says, Okay,
21:48
Speaker 2: if I'm going to be an excellent athlete, how do
21:50
Speaker 2: I do that? And keep Philippians for eight True, they
21:53
Speaker 2: do an awesome job, and I know there are these
21:54
Speaker 2: organizations all around the nation. I've seen ones for wrestling,
21:57
Speaker 2: and some for soccer and some for baseball. But Reality
22:01
Speaker 2: Sports is a local example of doing this well. And
22:03
Speaker 2: I want to take that attitude and then apply that
22:05
Speaker 2: to our technology. Do not use video games or music,
22:09
Speaker 2: or watch shows, or use any sort of social media
22:12
Speaker 2: apps where it doesn't align with Philpping's for eight. I
22:16
Speaker 2: need to make sure that the technology I use and
22:18
Speaker 2: the heart I bring to it reflects what is true
22:21
Speaker 2: and honorable and just and pure and lovely and commendable
22:25
Speaker 2: and excellent and praiseworthy. It's a real standard. I'll end
22:30
Speaker 2: on this. There's a book called The Techwise Family, and
22:34
Speaker 2: the author of that Andy Crouch. Yes, okay, almost miss Rungna,
22:38
Speaker 2: but is Andy Crutch talks about putting tech in his
22:41
Speaker 2: proper place and then having that technology reflect what's actually
22:44
Speaker 2: important to us, reflect our priorities. And the simple example
22:47
Speaker 2: he gives is where's your TV in your house? And
22:50
Speaker 2: he said, he and his wife are talking and they realize, Wow,
22:52
Speaker 2: our TV is in our living room, and that's like
22:55
Speaker 2: the second most important room in our house. So we
22:57
Speaker 2: have a kitchen where all the food happens and all
22:59
Speaker 2: the commons with that, and then we have a living room,
23:02
Speaker 2: which is like a space to meet with people. And
23:04
Speaker 2: they're like, all of our furniture focuses on this television,
23:08
Speaker 2: this giant black box on a wall, and that doesn't
23:12
Speaker 2: reflect what was actually important to us. And so they
23:14
Speaker 2: pulled it off that wall and put it somewhere else
23:15
Speaker 2: in their house. And that was a very convicting conversation
23:18
Speaker 2: for Annon I. As we reflect and I'm like, you
23:20
Speaker 2: know what, like just the location, So yes, put it
23:23
Speaker 2: in a proper place metaphorically in terms of with our
23:26
Speaker 2: hearts priorities and with the time that we give it,
23:29
Speaker 2: but also physically does our technology reflect our priorities, like
23:34
Speaker 2: is it in its proper place? We need to put
23:37
Speaker 2: tech somewhere where we can use it and then it
23:39
Speaker 2: waits for us and it doesn't constantly call out to
23:41
Speaker 2: us and it doesn't constantly distract us. So in our
23:43
Speaker 2: home right now, this isn't it for everything, But in
23:46
Speaker 2: our home right now, we have laptops. They live in
23:48
Speaker 2: drawers so we don't have to look at them all
23:50
Speaker 2: the time. And when we do a family movie night,
23:54
Speaker 2: we pull it out and so like last night, I
23:56
Speaker 2: think we watched twenty minutes of American Ninja Warrior or something. Oh,
24:01
Speaker 2: and we watched the Jeopardy. So we did watch Jeopardy
24:03
Speaker 2: outside as a family last night. And that's that's worked great.
24:07
Speaker 2: We have found that having that physical barrier to see
24:10
Speaker 2: in it, that we're not just constantly looking at it
24:12
Speaker 2: is great. Our main sitting room is now a sitting room,
24:16
Speaker 2: and it does a wonderful job setting up spaces so
24:18
Speaker 2: that they are welcoming and that there are people focused
24:20
Speaker 2: and they are open but still intimate, so they don't
24:24
Speaker 2: they don't feel cluttered, but you also don't feel exposed, right,
24:28
Speaker 2: you know, you do feel like you're just rattling around
24:30
Speaker 2: in a giant dome. So I share this because when
24:35
Speaker 2: we are delibered about our tech, when we think about
24:36
Speaker 2: Philippins four eight, we want to think about yes, the content,
24:39
Speaker 2: is it true, honorable, just impure? We also want to
24:41
Speaker 2: think about our hearts that we bring to it, and
24:44
Speaker 2: we want to think about the spaces we use our technology.
24:47
Speaker 2: And I could go on in this. I just don't
24:49
Speaker 2: want to extend today's conversation anymore, but do be delivered
24:51
Speaker 2: on is the location of our tech an accurate reflection
24:55
Speaker 2: of its value for us, be it on a wall
24:57
Speaker 2: in a primary room, or the way that we give
25:00
Speaker 2: our attention to it. We carried it in our pockets
25:03
Speaker 2: and when we're checking on that, if there's other people
25:05
Speaker 2: in the room, if I'm checking my phone, it means
25:07
Speaker 2: that this phone gets my attention, not you, And that's
25:10
Speaker 2: a priority thing. I'm saying this is more important. Yesterday
25:13
Speaker 2: I was sending a text and I had to say,
25:14
Speaker 2: all odd yes, I'm writing your cousin. Right now, I'm
25:17
Speaker 2: going to finish this message because I'm going to see
25:19
Speaker 2: him today, and I want to make sure that I'm
25:22
Speaker 2: deliberate and respectful to that person. We have plans. I
25:25
Speaker 2: want to make sure I can respond. I started when
25:27
Speaker 2: you weren't in the room. You walked in and said
25:29
Speaker 2: something to me, and I had to say, Hey, just
25:31
Speaker 2: a moment, I'm writing your cousin. I'm going to finish this,
25:34
Speaker 2: and I want to hear what you have to say,
25:35
Speaker 2: Like those are the words I have to train myself
25:36
Speaker 2: to say. It's not clear from my body language, it's
25:39
Speaker 2: not clear from my past history. Just because I've used
25:43
Speaker 2: it with good intentions doesn't show up on my face
25:46
Speaker 2: when I'm not paying attention to my child. So, yes,
25:49
Speaker 2: let's look at the content itself of how this thing
25:51
Speaker 2: is actually designed. Yes, let's look at our hearts. What
25:54
Speaker 2: are we bringing to this activity or to this technology.
25:58
Speaker 2: And finally, let's look at the physical location or interaction
26:02
Speaker 2: with it. Is that appropriate? Is that true? Does it
26:05
Speaker 2: line up with a greater reality? And a simple way
26:08
Speaker 2: to do that is to model when people are in
26:10
Speaker 2: the room that they're the highest priority to us, and
26:12
Speaker 2: if we're going to check a phone or play a
26:15
Speaker 2: game or watch something while they're here with us. There
26:18
Speaker 2: needs to be a deliberate choice in that of like, yeah,
26:21
Speaker 2: this is the best use of my focus in time
26:23
Speaker 2: we're watching it together. Jeopardy is a family. So to
26:26
Speaker 2: finish this thought today, Philippin's four eight, when it says
26:28
Speaker 2: whatever's true, honorable, just pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy.
26:34
Speaker 2: We think about that in the tech we use, the
26:36
Speaker 2: heart we bring to it, and the way we engage
26:39
Speaker 2: tech on a daily basis, including where our tech physically
26:42
Speaker 2: is in our spaces. And I hope that that helps
26:45
Speaker 2: you think about the way the gospel applies to our tech,
26:48
Speaker 2: because the gospel is the good news that God saves sinners,
26:50
Speaker 2: and then our tech you should reflect from that we
26:53
Speaker 2: love God and use tech, not the other way around.
26:55
Speaker 2: We're not going to use God and love tech and
26:57
Speaker 2: make our own kingdom come and our own will be done. Instead,
27:00
Speaker 2: we pray, Lord, would your kingdom come and you will
27:03
Speaker 2: be done on earth as it is in heaven. Yes,
27:05
Speaker 2: and Amen, Come Lord Jesus. I hope this encourages you
27:09
Speaker 2: and equips you to parent it well, to help your
27:11
Speaker 2: children think through it rightly. And the next week we'll
27:13
Speaker 2: talk about the practical steps of safe, ready, and good
27:16
Speaker 2: when it comes actually using tech on our daily basis.
27:19
Speaker 2: Until then, have a great week and I look forward
27:21
Speaker 2: to talking to you so