Joe Rogan and Spotify, Our Loss of Trust, and God Is No Luddite
BreakPoint This Week: How Joe Rogan and Spotify's navigating through Covid reveals a snippet of our loss of trust in institutions and how Christians can rebuild what trust is and how to foster it. Also, how God is no Luddite and what that reality offers Christians today.
02/4/22
John Stonestreet Maria Baer
John and Maria discuss a recent situation where Neil Young pressured Spotify to remove Joe Rogan from their lineup due to what is being discussed on his show about the coronavirus. John explains how this situation is a sample of our society’s loss of trust in many institutions. He shares why institutions are important for a flourishing culture and offers a short course from the Colson Center. The course explains how institutions are important and how we can rebuild trust that is informed and has significance for culture shaping.
Maria then asks John to explain a recent commentary on technology that paints a picture to how and why Christians should be involved with technology as it guides and impacts society. Maria also asks John to further explain a commentary on how the word “parent” is being redefined and what that does to those closest to the redefinition, children.
Topics
Resources:
— In Show Mentions —
The Loss of Trust and Our Crisis of Authority: A Christian Response>>
— Stories —
Psaki cheers Spotify warning on COVID podcasts, says ‘more’ should be done
White House press secretary Jen Psaki applauded Spotify Tuesday for adding disclaimers to podcast episodes that discuss COVID-19 — before adding “there’s more that can be done.”
The new moral majority comes for Joe Rogan.
Last week, Canadian-American rock god Neil Young made a clarion call against free speech. Displeased by The Joe Rogan Experience’s Covidian contents, Young demanded that Spotify remove Rogan’s podcast—or remove him. Days later, Young’s music was off the platform, though you can still stream his songs on Apple (ignore their forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang) and on Amazon (but don’t read about the company’s infamous working conditions in James Bloodworth’s book “Hired.”)
God is no Luddite, and We Need Not Be Either
In the broadest sense, God created humanity with the capacity to structure and organize life, and steward the world He created. The tools we create to do this are good, as they serve these ends. A strong clue lies in the book of Revelation, where history, which began in a Garden, is culminated in one of humanity’s own sociological innovations: the city.
Redefining ‘Parent’ is Bad for Kids
As Christians, we accept that the One in charge of the definition of “parent” is the One who created the process by which we become one. However, whether or not we are Christians, biology requires a man and a woman to create a child, even if some find these mechanics of reality discriminatory or unjust.
Despite our best attempts to separate sex from procreation, which Obergefell codified into law, it simply cannot be done. Same-sex relationships cannot produce children. Children need both a mother and a father. These things remain true even if the God who created the world this way is rejected.
At the same time, the Bible acknowledges that the desire for children is both natural and good. God repeatedly honors that desire throughout Scripture, sometimes despite biological challenges like age or infertility. And, at other times, God does not give the gift of children, even to those who desperately desire them.
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