“The great thing about social media was how it gave a voice to voiceless people.” Jon Ronson
Recently, The Gospel Coalition posted one more article on the potential evils of social media: How Social Media Use Can Rival God. Ironically, this was posted by Jen Wilkin, a long-time member of The Village Church. For those of you who are new, it was, and is, social media that has been documenting the serious problems surrounding Matt Chandler and The Village Church. It was TWW, along with Watchkeep, which exposed Matt Chandler and his band of merry pastors and elders who disciplined a woman for divorcing her baby and child porn-living husband. This story got global play as it was picked up by social media. Since that time, I have kept our readers informed on Chandler, such as his cattle ranch, his appearance with Mark Driscoll, and his vow to keep narcissists out of the pulpit in Acts 29. Whoops, I almost forgot about the narcissistic zero comment as well as the pesky lawsuit which I hear is set to go to trial soon.
Before you go to a church for the first time, don’t you think it would be helpful to know about such things before committing your hard-earned time to a church?
Wilkin asked:
Consider how unlike us God is when it comes to mutability. God is unchanging. He is un-influenceable. He never reads a social media post and alters what he thinks or how he acts. He has never once redecorated or changed his fashion sense. The Rock of Ages is eternally the same. He transcends our changing times, governing them with the steady hand of his immutable rule.
We, on the other hand, are open to influence, able to be swayed. Think about your daily life for a minute. How has social media affected it? What did you see there that shaped what’s in your pantry, your medicine cabinet, your workout routine, your wardrobe, or your home decor? Now think about your thought life. What current events or faith discussions have been shaped by what you’ve seen on social media? We cannot help but be shaped by what we look at.
Before the advent of what Wilkin would say is “behavior change due to social media,” there were magazines, books, movies, radio, and television. These helped sway us on what to eat, dress, and think about. This is not a problem brought on by the advent of social media. This is a problem brought on by simply living life since the advent of all media.
For time-bound humans, all time spent on social media is time that will not be spent elsewhere. We dare not tell ourselves that we can afford an unlimited or unbudgeted use of social media, even if we use it in profitable ways. And we dare not ignore its addictive nature. As with all things that promise us we can be like God, its pull will be strong. Those who think soberly about social media use will lash themselves to the masthead of godly wisdom so that their limited time is spent well.
It appears The Gospel Coalition has lost sight of its mission. I searched the TGC website for the words “social media.” It turned up over 2,100 posts! I went through a few of them. There seemed to be a concern about the ability of individuals to post about situations that should be kept on the down-low. One post was written about three years before The Village Church’s fiasco. Church Discipline and Social Media. Can you imagine? The author claims social media unfairly portrayed a church discipline problem. It showed the very 9Marks book and its thoughts which were used to discipline Todd Wilhelm retroactively. When I spoke with the author of this book, he told me that I didn’t know anything about what happened to Todd Wilhelm. That was until I mentioned that Todd Wilhelm was willing to sign a release so they could speak to me about his unjust discipline. Needless to say, transparency would never be allowed to happen with this group.
Within those 2,000 articles, I hope there is one that admits that TGC is one big, fat social media platform that asks for money, highlights conferences that cost lots of money, and presents celebrity pastors whose books are pushed. This group hopes to influence people to spend money to buy all the right books. Can you imagine reading everything they tout? One would have to spend most of one’s day hooked up to audio playing all of those fabulous books that proclaim correct theology…until they don’t. For example, this group loved Mark Driscoll and pushed his posts, books, etc. Suddenly, Driscoll disappeared from the listing with nary an editorial warning.
One post I found amusing was Join Us for a ‘Social Sanity’ Book Club. The author spent some time regaling us with her decision to cut all ties with social media. She had time to make lemonade and do some laundry. (I’m not kidding.) She spent the rest of the post discussing a book she wrote with other women. With a grin on my face, I read:
Second, we realized there was far more to say than could ever fit into a book. As we went along, we kept uncovering new ideas and analogies and insights.
So after we crammed as much as we could into the pages, I sat down with each author to talk more about the ideas in her chapter and how they played out in her real-life Instagram stories or Facebook posts.
I’m thrilled to invite you to join us for these conversations. Here are the details:
👩💻 As the videos release, you can find them here: socialsanitybook.com.
⏰ Each video is about 45 minutes long.
☝️We’ll release one each Thursday, beginning July 14.
📆 We’ll end after nine weeks. (One week for each chapter and the afterword.)
You’re welcome to listen on your own, or you could watch with a group of friends, neighborhood moms, or church ladies. You certainly don’t need to have the book to reap some benefits, but it might be helpful, because nearly everything here is new content, stepping off where the book ends.
Sarah is a nice woman who wants to do the right thing. However, she appears to have traded one social media engagement for another social media “thing.” Frankly, I got tired thinking about the book, the audios, getting women together, etc.
Why I love social media, and I will not quit
- Whenever I have a question on anything like how long to cook a 1-inch pork chop or what is a Hutterite to did Calvin invent the infamous TULIP, I can find quick answers on social media.
- I have made some dear friends on social media. One pastor has been a source of support, helping me when a person sent a letter to my church demanding my excommunication.
- I love the people who visit my blog. I wished some lived closer, but we can help one another as we deal with abuse in the church.
- I can help expose abuse in the church. I have been doing so since 2009. Some, like Christa, have done so for decades. Do you think the discussion in the SBC suddenly arose a couple of years ago? The discussions on social media, along with the exposés, gradually pushed this into the public’s view.
- I love my Air Pods Pro. It allows me to listen to podcasts while I walk my two miles every day. I’ve been doing this for over two months now. I used to hate walking because it got boring after a while. Not so any longer. I listen to shows on theology and history. I come back smarter every day due to social media.
- I follow the social media site of Mid Atlantic Pug Rescue. I am grateful for what they do for lost and poorly treated pugs dogs. My last two pugs, Buttercup and Holly (aka Slant), came from this group.
- I follow the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and am amazed at the smart homes they build for seriously wounded service people.
- I read church websites in depth. I have learned how to understand a church by what they write about themselves. I also love to read church covenants. Then, I write about them.
- I love the many people I have met through Twitter and TWW. My world has opened and expanded.
- I love to read reviews for things I buy for my home. The most laugh-out-loud reviews I have ever read are the ones under this banana slicer on Amazon. You must read this.
- And sometimes, I love to laugh or watch a fantastic video on YouTube. Please watch these Lebanese women who are showing who are strong and beautiful women making a difference in their culture.
Where I don’t spend time on social media.
- I don’t do Facebook primarily because I don’t like to write about things like my vacations or my latest recipe.
- I’m not particularly eager to write about what is happening with my kids and their spouses. It feels too much like an invasion of privacy. We have our own family messaging and love using it to make each other laugh or to keep each other in our thoughts and prayers.
- I don’t spend time reading about other people and their vacations. I don’t have the time.
Hmmm, it looks like the pros outweigh the cons for me.
Do I ever waste time online? Yes, and on many other things as well, and I bet everyone in TGC does as well.
Things I have wasted time on:
- Binge watched the first season of Stranger Things.
- I stayed up until 2 AM reading an Agatha Christie novel.
- I lost several hours looking into abuse in the Hasidic community of NY.
- I have obsessed over reading reviews for the washer and dryer I need to get because my really old washer is making really bad clanking sounds and my dryer is beginning to leave curious black marks on things. I’m totally consumed and tormented. Do I really need wi-fi in my washer? May this preoccupation end soon…
We are cooking the books to make our rules the best rules for looking like a good Christian.
I learned this from a previous pastor. Many of us want to present ourselves as looking a little more spiritual than the next guy. I would say that it is impossible for most people to disengage from social media. I have no intention of ever disconnecting. I am glad that I live in an era that gives me access to a world of knowledge and people. Also, unlike others, I am able to engage in social media, make the bed, unload the dishwasher and make lemonade as well.
There are some issue that I haven’t touched upon. I didn’t write about kids spending too much time on their phones, etc. That is a problem that’s been around for a long time, and it is up to parents to help them negotiate those traps. I didn’t write about the dangers of pornography. It is something we have written about- especially child pornography and the reality of men and women trafficked in that industry.
The times have changed. Disconnecting is not going to be a reality for most people. Even the author of the Sanity Book Club is using social media to tell us that she is disconnecting and then reconnecting. We are a mixed-up mess, aren’t we?
Are any of you disconnecting? How is it going? If I don’t hear from you, you have probably truly disconnected. I wish you well and am sorry you never will read the banana slicer review.
What about those of you who haven’t disconnected…why not?
Sorry about my meandering thoughts. I just needed to get this off my chest. Feel free to post humorous or encouraging links to YouTube videos or websites. I’m in the mood for a good laugh!
1st.
I can vouch for the banana slicer reviews. It is some of the funniest humor out there. Do NOT be drinking anything while reading those! You have been warned!
I wonder what TGC would have had to say about newspapers in the 1800’s or books in the 1700’s. Oh wait, they would have been in the game then like they are now.
“The great thing about social media was how it gave a voice to voiceless people.” Jon Ronson
THIS, yes!
AND,
“Feel free to post humorous or encouraging links to YouTube videos or websites. I’m in the mood for a good laugh!”
well, okay:
“An elderly Florida lady did her shopping and upon returning to her car, found four males in the act of leaving with her vehicle. She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun, proceeding to scream at the top of her lungs,
“I have a gun, and I know how to use it! Get out of the car – NOW!”
The four men didn’t wait for a second threat. They got out and ran like mad. The lady, somewhat shaken, then proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car and got into the driver’s seat. She was so shaken that she could not get her key into the ignition. She tried and tried, and then she realized why. It was for the same reason she had wondered why there was a football, a Frisbee, and two 12-packs of beer in the front seat.
A few minutes later, she found her own car parked four or five spaces farther down. She loaded her bags into her own car and drove to the police station to report her mistake. The Sergeant to whom she told the story couldn’t stop laughing! He pointed to the other end of the counter, where four pale men were reporting a carjacking by a mad, elderly woman described as white, less than five feet tall, glasses, curly white hair, and carrying a large handgun.
No charges were filed.
Moral of the story? If you’re having a senior moment…make it memorable!
credit: Nadeem Alipur QUORA SITE “
As for disconnecting, for many reasons I don’t do pin-sta-twit-face. 😉
I am online a lot. However, except for posting here on occasion, I am very silent online. My chosen career in IT has me locked into not escaping the Internet.
Overall more good than bad has come of it. But then I look at the rise of misinformation, surveillance, and how polarized we have become and I begin to wonder sometimes.
I realize that the Internet is just a reflection of society in general, but it has also played a huge role in shaping society as well.
One downside is that back in the day you could avoid the seedy side of society just by not going to certain areas. You can avoid it via the same self-discipline of course, but the friction to access bad things is a lot less than it was years ago.
As for some humor, the concept behind this is pretty stupid on the face of it, but they do a great job with it:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=paBfi1DDTgA.
Yes, I did watch more than one of these, but then I drew a positive result in the COVID lottery earlier this week (my 2nd round) and I haven’t had energy for much other than YouTube (sigh).
LOL. Hilarious to use SM to tell readers to not use SM.
It’s all about control the narrative. They just identified themselves as an authoritarian cult. Oops.
Isolate and control. Listen to me/us only. Cult.
Regarding the folks sharing misinformation, such as “We good, everyone else bad,” maybe it’s wise to just not waste time on such nonsense. Instead of cutting everyone else out, cut the naysayers out.
The internet is a highway of information. Including the Bible, about the Bible, and about the church with church people. Thank God for the internet, including SM.
Back in the day, perhaps some people were against our public libraries. Too much knowledge, they felt. Ooohhh… dangerous. The internet, including SM, is the new library. Full of info and likewise requiring discernment. Apparently, some people feel that’s d-a-n-g-e-r-o-u-s.
Personal new fav website: eatingbirdfood.com with Brittany. Recipes. YUM.
From the article above:
“I love my Air Pods Pro. It allows me to listen to podcasts while I walk my two miles every day. I’ve been doing this for over two months now. I used to hate walking because it got boring after a while. Not so any longer. I listen to shows on theology and history. I come back smarter every day due to social media.”
Are you aware of how dangerous it is to have your hearing re-channeled (with ear-pods) so that you are less aware of your surroundings?
Criminals, predators, and sex fiends know full well that prey with compromised hearing are a much better bet.
Contrary to what Jen Wilkin says, God is NOT un-influenceable. There are several instances in Scripture where someone got God to change his mind: https://www.whyhavewefasted.org/winsome-rebellion/
And if you’re looking for funny, my sister recently introduced me to Evangelical Think Pieces. He makes me laugh every time: https://mpierce.substack.com/p/where-do-i-find-a-christian-wife
Nice post Dee. I saw your (social media) Tweet about TGC article this morning and had many of the same thoughts you have expressed.
Wasting my time on social media:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86YLFOog4GM
https://www.ted.com/talks/alison_killing_how_data_driven_journalism_illuminates_patterns_of_injustice
https://www.ted.com/talks/bektour_iskender_the_crime_fighting_power_of_cross_border_investigative_journalism
You get my point.
Sinclair Lewis stated, “Every compulsion is put upon writers to become safe, polite, obedient, and sterile.” It seems TGC would like its evangelical followers to become the same.
One thing I know – if you are attempting to make yourself known in TGC world write an article denigrating social media. It will be published on their (social media) website.
The problem is solved if one realizes TGC is an antisocial media site.
Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra starts off her article drawing attention to herself as the Proverbs 31 woman, having deleted her social media accounts.
She sort of shames all the lesser women who waste so much time on social media.
Then she tries to persuade them to spend even more time on the internet watching/listening to her videos/podcasts, while hawking her book.
so… is this the thing called virtue signalling?
Sarah looks like a very nice person.
the humble brag and hypocrisy is just too much.
The Gospel Coalition brand of lack of self-awareness.
perhaps the ‘Gospel Coalition’ seeks to ‘cut off’ people from ‘outside sources of information, ie. anything that disagrees with the GC or provides another thoughtful point of view?
‘fake news’ – how many ways will we come to see how this phrase is acted out as people withdraw their children from schools and teach them ‘only’ what they want them to know, rather than impart to their children the gift of being able to discern and weigh different points of view in dialogues and in open communication with entities that are from the wider culture. . . . . ‘fake news’ reminds me of the times when books were burned, and sometimes in a more distant past, even the ‘authors’ and ‘translators’ of certain books were burned. Now, I guess the current fashionable way of disposing of ‘the enemies’ of one’s cult is by ‘hanging’ rather than burning . . . same thing, less messy, gets rid of the culprit and shuts him/her up, and the horror of execution DOES tend to try at least to INTIMIDATE those who would oppose the cult’s ‘annointed one’
Wouldn’t it be better to teach our young to dialogue with others? To read widely and deeply and to be able to debate ideas and points of view??? OR (heaven forbid???) TO BE ABLE TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES, instead of lock-step ‘loyalty’ to cult leaders and political figures???
Shutting down ‘media sources’ rings a bell . . . from all the times people were ‘warned’ not to ‘listen’ to any sources but the APPROVED one:
case-in-point: a popular tv network that declares it is the ONLY one that is ‘fair and balanced’??? until it wasn’t and it became too obvious even to its most loyal following
shutting people off from ideas and thoughts is cultic, and the entities involved in it are always suspect and for good reason – listen closely to your local school boards these days, and you can see the effect of this kind of ‘mind control’ showing up in the comments of some of the parents and citizens present
fortunately, ‘the light shineth in the darkness’ and the darkness cannot extinguish it 🙂
If you read “the grift” instead of “God” the meaning becomes clear.
I keep thinking that we have only reached the point we have with church abuse because of the internet. Can you imagine how long it would take to collect the sort of information needed to identify a church’s global patterns of behaviour, cover up and moving people? This just couldn’t have happened in the eighties.
Perhaps it’s another point for discernment: while we all know that the internet can be a horrible place, I think it should be automatically suspicious if social media and online information gathering is discouraged.
Promise this is the last for now, but I just wanted to say how pleased i am to have discovered TWW. I was a RC Benedictine novice and have moved far away to being a pagan but this site is literally the only one which makes me think I could ever do Christianity of any sort again. It’s the intelligence, critical thinking and honesty which make me think that.
And most important…
Avoid household appliances with wifi because they have to update themselves when they want not when you want!
Dee,
The title of this post says it all! I am ROF…
Same here.
‘Suppose we could banish the USPS cuz of junk mail. Or, we could just sort through our mail.
Critical thinking. As soon as a self-proclaimed authority disses critical thinking, we all know where they’re coming from and where they’re going. Authoritarian cult. Control.
Thankfully self-control is a fruit of God’s Holy Spirit, which is directly opposite of authoritarian control (which led to the Holocaust). Let’s not go there.
Thanks for calling out these people and their End Game, Dee. Their followers lack self awareness (using SM to diss SM), but we should be aware.
Many of us here are deconverted apostate heretical Satin followers (although I don’t know how it is possible to follow a shiny fabric), according to those who are “true” believers, because we ask too many questions. On the bright side, it’s not an echo chamber. I’ve learned quite a lot here, which makes me unsuitable for all the local echo chambers in my locale.
It appears that the only falsehoods he is willing for people to believe are those that are promulgated from pulpits.
“How Social Media Use Can Rival God”
When it comes to rivaling God, TGC is one of the worst offenders with their aberrant teachers and teachings. Thus, they sorta have that right. The New Calvinist movement would not exist without social media. In the early days, the young reformers jumped out of bed each morning to tune into the latest Piper Point, Mohler Moment, Mahaney Malarkey, Driscoll Drivel, etc.
“The author spent some time regaling us with her decision to cut all ties with social media. She had time to make lemonade and do some laundry. (I’m not kidding.)”
But not enough time to listen carefully to New Calvinist posts in social media? To test and try the spirits to see if they be from God? Don’t drink the lemonade!
Wow, isn’t it scary that social media influenced what’s in your pantry and how you decorate … wait. Oh wait… that’s how human culture works. We’ve been influenced by one another since the dawn of time.
Also, I don’t understand why they were belaboring the point about God not changing, while humans do. Personally I think it’s a very good thing that I’m capable of taking on board new information and changing my thinking and my habits as a result. Are they trying to guilt people for growing?
“I love the people who visit my blog. I wished some lived closer, but we can help one another as we deal with abuse in the church.”
Kindred spirits who could not unite with their collective experiences and wisdom without social media … folks who would have no platform to inform and warn others … who see something and say something about problems with institutions like SGM, SBC, TGC and others. You won’t read the stuff posted on TWW in your Sunday church bulletin, but you can find it in social media … perhaps bad things about your own pastor, church, denomination, and the “Christian” organizations you follow and support. Bad-boy ministers and ministries have used social media well to launch their attack on the American church; social media has turned the tide and stopped many of them.
Pointing a finger, with three pointing back at them.
Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a New Calvinist leader than for female believers to rise up en masse, to become informed about the ails of New Calvinism, to oppose the “beauty of complementarity”, to declare “Enough is enough!”, and start dragging their sorry husbands/boyfriends out of the mess. Yep, they want them to sit down, shut up, do the laundry and make lemonade … they get scared when they start to think and speak.
elastigirl,
Virtue signalling and a poor attempt at cooking the books.
CMT,
Great comment.
Ha! My first though was, “I wonder if her lemonade comes out of a Kool-Aid packet???
She condemns social media, while at the same time, she uses social media to try and get people to drink her kool -aid.
elastigirl,
The rules are only for little people.
Big whigs, luminaries, and stars of any human social group get passes.
This has always been true for any human tribe, religious or non.
Oh my, the banana slicer! Priceless!
Seriously, I will never stop going online for all the reasons mentioned here plus one – a super easy way to find lyrics to any song – sacred or secular – AND listen to it in the correct key.
I am so happy I found TWW and a community where thinking people can share their views.
Never stop
Translating the Bible into our common speaking languages were early examples of social media.
More Proevrbs 31 Than Thou?
Christianese One-Upmanship strikes again.
Never underestimate the Arrogance of God’s Special Pets.
Must be a Gift of the Spirit or something.
“They’ll know we are Christians
‘Cause we’re Smug, ’cause we’re Smug,
Yes they’ll know we are Christians ’cause we’re Smug…”
“BUT THAT’S DIFFERENT!”
(When WE do it, just like embezzlement and rape – Bow Before Your GAWD-Anointed Betters!)
Because anything out of a New Calvinist’s mouth or Twitter finger IS From God. Word for Word, Predestined before the Foundation of the World.
Max, have you ever heard of the term “Socratic Atheism”? It means putting God under the control of something else, like Predestination. If God can only will what He hath been Predestined to will, God ceases to be God; Predestination becomes the REAL God. “Eh, Kismet…”
Virtue Signalling used to be called Holier Than Thou, actively rubbing My Righteousness in Your Unrighteous Faces.
“SEE HOW RIGHTEOUS AND PIOUS AND GODLY *I* AM? SEE? SEE? SEE?”
(And it doesn’t have to be a god per se; any belief system or Righteous Cause will do.)
It’s an audio form of Screen Addiction.
ZERO SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, like someone walking off a cliff staring at their Smartphone.
Any Predator will go for compromised Prey.
Remember how the Moskva was sunk? The Ukranians sent some drones to bee seen, occupying the ship’s full attention (apparently not hard to do) while their Neptune missiles bored in at sea-skimming levels from the opposite direction.
So not sharing information, including lived experience, is a threat to these anti-SM people. That negates the 4 Gospel narratives: “what we have seen and heard” John says in 1 John 1. Testimony.
A blog + comments is testimony via computer, electronics (another gift from God to us).
Back in the day, at Youth Group, we had Testimony Time.
Guessing that the anti-SM folks disparage the fact that on the internet, each participant has to moderate, filter, and assess on their own to some degree. No Big Bro Pastor Dude standing there on stage, in control.
Without the Big Bro Pastor Dudes totally in control, however, we recently heard that the Big Bro Pastor Dude sprawled out a 16-yr-old on his church office floor and attacked her. Shout out from the audience: “She was 16.” Etc. The details and corroboration online.
Testimony time. TWW is such. Dee moderates to assure politesse. And truth matters.
Regarding fashion, I’m not going to let churches themselves off the hook. They range from places with a strict dress code to places where the folks in the pew magically find themselves shopping where the “thought leaders” shop.
Let’s also consider the whole “modest fashion” trend, which bursts with activity, harsh warnings, and shaming online. (Hypothetical but not far off: “I saw girls in bathing suits that did not cover their arms and legs, and felt sooooo sorry for them. Buy my bathing suits here! Big 5% discount if you enter the code word MODESTY.”)
Among people with whom I have worshiped, Quakers come closest to not following hidebound rules or new fashion trends. A Quaker friend (<— redundancy alert) told me that many Quakers do not wear things that have been in fashion in the past five years. I did wear newer clothes to Friends meetings on First Day (Sunday). No Quaker ever criticized me, and I never felt like I needed to change my wardrobe to suit them.
Jesus was never boxed in by the various religious [cult] leaders that followed him around, endlessly badgering him about various platforms that they cemented as god.
LOL. Jesus is God. The religious leaders just couldn’t wrap their heads around that. So they finally did him (JC) in. He died, He rose, He wins.
Social media is OK for me, but not for you! If you read social media, you might read something about me!
“I have to say this, um, I’m really concerned about how much time people spend on the Internet. I’m extremely concerned about it. Extremely concerned about it; here’s one thing, just even the blogs that mention Christian leaders, and I’m one of ‘em. Praise the Lord, I’ve made the Satan, Satan’s hit list now you know …” (Robert Morris)
And some of them still can’t! If Jesus is God, then He should have ultimate authority and influence over ‘His’ church … that wouldn’t leave much room for the teachings and traditions of men and bully-pulpits to strut ‘their’ stuff. If Jesus is God, what about Calvin? … the Pope? … celebrity preachers? … TGC?!
John,
Some people didn’t like the printing press when it first came out, either, because of the “ease” with which information could now be disseminated by “just about anyone.”
Whining didn’t make the printing press go away. Probably not going to work with the internet, either.
christiane,
Steven Hassan’s BITE Model of Authoritarian Control, Information Control, 2:
Minimize or discourage access to non-cult sources of information, including:
a. Internet, TV, radio, books, articles, newspapers, magazines, media
b. Critical information
Folks who don’t like things exposed have never liked media which expose things about them. The New Calvinist movement and the TGC have taken a beating in the Christian blogosphere and rightfully so.
dee,
Thanks, tbh I think my perspective on social media/internet life is mostly a generational thing. (AIM was cool when I was in middle school or so, if that gives any idea).
Of course there are valid and important critiques of internet culture/social media. I don’t use fb either, and as a parent I’m appalled how threatening the internet can be to kids’ safety and mental health. But the banal examples in the tgc piece seem intended to shame people for perfectly benign, even healthy, ways of interacting online. While, as you rightly point out, obscuring the fact that tgc itself is using the same tools as every other social media entity to *gasp* influence people via the internet!! (Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!)
Hello Paul K
Steven Hassan is an ‘experienced’ writer for the topic of ‘media control’ in a cultic setting, as his own history of getting caught up in the ‘Moonies’ cult as a young man and his being helped out of the cult by his family and ‘de-programmers’ who confronted him with ‘the facts’ and helped him connect the dots about the ‘Unification’ Church cult.
His own experiences inform him of HOW good honest and yes, intelligent people CAN get ‘caught up’ in cultic movements especially when they are being told what they want to hear.
Paul, thanks for sharing about Hassan’s ‘BITE’ Model of Authoritarian Control . . . . Hassan certainly has the gravitas to write about how people can get hood-winked by cultic movements which can also involve politics AND religion at times. Hassan experienced manipulation and mind-control but was fortunate enough to be enabled by family and friends to ‘connect the dots’ and to get out of the grasp of the ‘Moonies’ cult.
Wise choice of example, thank you for sharing. 🙂
CMT,
“But the banal examples in the tgc piece seem intended to shame people for perfectly benign, even healthy, ways of interacting online. While…obscuring the fact that tgc itself is using the same tools as every other social media entity to *gasp* influence people via the internet!! (Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!)”
+++++++++++++++++++++++
good grief, Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra’s book is promoted on Twitter multiple times by her employer and publisher.
she apparently went along with it.
i’ll add Sarah, her book, and the double standard promotion of her book as supporting evidence to my thesis that evangelicalism’s statement of faith is
“The Ends Justifies The Means”
Good point.
I can’t believe how full of themselves these guys are.
… as Social Media, SM, is little pup Toto, that reveals the little man behind the curtain that is pictured big on the big screen.
Apparently to some, that big screen image is everything. They love the con. Pathetic.
I was young and now am old. I don’t have Facebook and Twitter accounts, I email only to family, and am a reluctant commenter in the blogosphere. I entered the latter as a way to address what I see regarding the apostate condition of much of the American church with its aberrant teachings and ungodly leaders. I offer years of perspective, with occasional wit and wisdom. I wonder sometimes if anyone is listening to an old man.
Indeed … and is perhaps the primary reason for writing it. The New Calvinist pulpit is arrogant and mean-spirited … it enslaves female believers with the “beauty of complementarity”, subordinates Jesus (hardly talks about Him), and exerts authoritarian my-way-or-the-highway rule over God’s people. Shame is the game … they have moved from sit down and shut up in church to don’t read the internet at home. Manipulation, intimidation and domination are modus operandi.
TGC posted another SM warning article today:
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/social-media-warning-label/
I think TGC needs a warning label…
Max,
Max
I was young and now am old as well. And for too many decades sat in the pew. But now that I have left, people don’t know what to do with me. Instead of treating me with the respect my many years of learning in this world, I am being treated as a wayward child who needs to be fixed and brought back under that authoritarian rule.
I am listening to you, don’t stop commenting. It gives me hope
From the article “It’s being controlled by someone, and that person—or corporation, or algorithm — is seeking to control you.”
Good Lord! TGC has effectively used social media to control young minds! The New Calvinist movement would not exist with no social media. Without it, NeoCal movers and shakers would have no platform. A young, restless and reformed army has taken over some denominations, captured non-Calvinist churches by stealth and deception, split congregations, set up an ungodly overlord structure to control others. Control at its best (or worst) … and the TGC has fueled their rebellion by social media.
They post at least half a dozen articles on their FB page every day. Yes, they are contributing more to the problem than they are solving it.
Muff Potter,
Wear it in one ear only.
I was in a Bible study group this spring where the leader commented on social media use and how she could be reading the Bible instead. I considered what I had been doing on social media that day — encouraging a person going thru a tough situation, who then in turn encouraged me; providing helpful info to someone trying to solve a problem; looking up information I needed. I didn’t think God wanted me anywhere else…it’s not the medium, it’s what you are doing with it.
Exactly. Christians are to be equipped to do the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4). There is a lot of ministry going on over social media. The flip side of bad is good.
On point.
Speaking of … they would know.
Hmmmm. I do that. I really do. (Well, not really to control, but to shape and expand young minds.) During the COVID crisis, I used social media to tutor math students, grades 7 through 10, who weren’t doing so well with on-line classes. I have a compromised immune system, so I did not want to tutor in-person.
TGC would really hate me – what will they do when young people can look at them and add 2 and 2?
The problem with Social Media for traditional church folks is that SM is not bringing everyone into a room for listening at attention to one guy at the podium.
Ava Aaronson,
yeah, freedom is such a problem.
.
now tangentialing to say I just finished the last episode 9 of Stranger Things, Season 4.
WOW!
amazing young actors.
Indeed. New Calvinism is a good example of social medial mind control. The young, restless and reformed movement is directed by NeoCal puppeteers feeding young minds with aberrant theology. TGC and T4G elite have been steering YRR indoctrination over the years; they have used social media very effectively and encourage their followers to tune into their half-truth and mistruth about another gospel on social media. They would never diss ‘their’ social media, only the platforms which see something and say something about the aberrations of their belief and practice.
Yeah, but math is truth. New Calvinism is half-truth and mistruth.
Social media spawned the New Calvinist movement. It will eventually end it.
“Truth is unkillable” (Balthasar Hubmaier)
Hah. I remember my late mom telling us about the immense, life-changing influence of Dior’s New Look. All of a sudden, women coast to coast were disposing of their cute knee-length ’40s skirts and switching to long, flowy dresses with pinched-in waists. And this was long before the advent of social media.
Go figure.
Listening to only one guy at the podium is a dangerous thing to do! It’s the stuff that cults are made of! Sure, the “traditional” guy might have it right, but it’s also a good idea to listen to others, to compare the words of men with the Word, to critically think. Hanging out with only one guy was never intended for the Body of Christ … there are folks gifted differently … we need to listen to them, those given to the Church by God without distinction in race, class or gender.
Nancy2(aka Kevlar),
Max,
Mathematics is the queen of the sciences.
She’s beholden to none, and toes no line but her own…
As you are likely aware, there are numerous Bibles online. I like this one because I can easily change to a different version. I try to steer clear of Wayne Grudem’s ESV, but that’s just me!
https://www.blueletterbible.org/
Sure seems to be the case. And it’s happening all over christendom as we comment here.
(Granted a homily by a priest may not be a fascist experience. Nor Dee’s Lutheran pastor, among others. But how many assemblies before one man elevated at a podium on a stage today, Sunday, are rooted in mind control?)
Exactly.
Maybe the Quakers had it right?
They’re still around, just not in great numbers. 🙂
Great observation, bringing you back under their authoritarian rule is precisely what they want to do.
Read the biography of A.W. Pink. He lived in seclusion the last 10? years of his life. The 9Marxists don’t know what to do with him. Martin Lloyd Jones was deeply influenced by Pink’s monthly expositional newsletter that he sent out until the end of his days. Pink’s book “The Sermon on the Mount” is probably my favorite book he authored.
Control the mind and you can control the wallet.
The ESV Study Bible is full of Calvinist commentary … published by Crossway, which is all things Calvinism. If you see ESVs stuffed beside the hymnal in church pew racks, you can be assured of the theological leaning of the man in the pulpit.
Max,
That was back in our day.
Nowadays, they’ve moved on to take wives and daughters (and sons). Creepy. Blatant. Evil.
Who was that prophet who had sons who raped and pillaged while the negligent prophet dad fell back in his chair?
Nothing new.
Enter the doors of a church and determine if it’s a cult or the level of cultism. What’s the end game?!
Todd Wilhelm,
Checking him out. As well as the Blue Letter. Thx.
Yep.. maybe even king.
Without mathematics, there is no chemistry, physics, architecture, aerodynamics ………. There’s even a little math in the Bible.
Cooking? Yep. Recipes? Yep. Hey, I’m getting ready for tomorrow – spent half of today making double batches of everything ——while messing up as few measuring tools as possible!
“He wrote the first edition of The Sovereignty of God (1918), which argued that God did not love sinners who had not been predestined unto salvation, and that He had deliberately created ‘unto damnation’ those who would not accept Christ.”
So there’s that. Hmmm….
So he really got into Calvin & the whole predestination thing to the point where salvation is predetermined for some but not for others.
I don’t know what it is about these earnest Bible teacher God seeker types and how they get pulled off into something that seems a bit off. Like derailed in their good intentions and sincerity.
Martin Luther, God rest his soul, went off on the Jews, hear-tell, when they weren’t interested in his thoughts and prayers, and then we ended up with a Holocaust in what was lovely Germany. Sure, there were other factors.
In any case, do these thought leaders become over-impressed with themselves? What gives?
Be convinced of your own greatness and then the fall? Pride? Impressed with self, with having a following, with a public image?
You do not need wifi in your washer. Stay away from “smart appliances.”
Nancy2(aka Kevlar),
“Hey, I’m getting ready for tomorrow – spent half of today making double batches of everything”
++++++++++++
!! What’s cookin’??
Because it will literally reveal your dirty laundry. But I am wondering if smart appliances could provide more interesting interaction on my SM sites than I can. I cannot known yet since I don’t have any.
You talk like math is the only subject that counts 🙂
Nancy, if you teach math, you have problems! I found math to be fun until we started dividing by zero … I found that very strange. But, I don’t think my views of math are in the minority … I truly believe that 4 out of 3 people struggle with math.
Fried okra on the menu?
There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary and those who don’t.
My undergrad degree was in pure math. The elegence of math is stunning. One of the most amazing mathematical identities is Euler’s Identity because it combines the most important numbers, pi, e, i, 0, and 1, in a simple equation.
Friend,
FRIEND,
they are around in ‘spirit’ although ‘they’ may not be called ‘Quakers’ – these folks seek the ‘still silent Voice’ and the wisdom that comes from humility
hubris, pride, and self-righteousness have destroyed the extremes found in some evangelical fundamentalist circles, all that finger-pointing and ‘thank God I am not like that other sinner’ – it was too much, all that ill-will, and then the folks who carried this weight turned against their own kind to abuse, seeking ‘control’ and succumbing to greed and to power
but for the Quakers, a different spirit – as for those un-named ‘Quakers’ who live now within the Body of Christ, this thought:
as only God knows the heart of human-kind, so will the wounded soul seek and find the healing Presence that knows its need.
elastigirl,
Max,
I didn’t cook a lot of variety – no okra…… but enough for 30 people: Stir-fry green beans (with Szechuan pepper blend and some more stuff)….. lots of homemade potato salad (my great-aunt Mary’s recipe, takes forever; boil the potatoes, then peel, etc ……. Angel food cake with blackberry sauce or peach sauce – take your pick.
More to do tomorrow. I need a nap.
Aunt Mary knew how to do it. The best food is old-school … of course, everything about me at this point is “old”-school, I guess. If you get up early, you will still have time before those 30 eaters show up to harvest a few bushytails and make some squirrel dumplins.
Yeah, zero trips a lot of students up.
Five divide by zero……. If there are 12 candy bars, and zero people are going to share them equally, how many candy bars does each person get???
Doesn’t make any sense at all, does it? Doesn’t matter if there are a million candy bars, zero people can’t share anything. It’s impossible, it can’t be done, so we call it undefined. The fraction 5/0 is undefined.
On the other hand, if there are zero candy bars and three people want to share them equally, each person gets zero candy bars.
The fraction 0/3 simplifies to zero. 0/3 = 0
I’ve explained dividing by zero a few hundred times to 7th and 8th graders….. plus 9-12 grader, plus a 2 or 3 college students…….. starting with “what’s your favorite food (most of the time, “pizza!”)
For the record, I wasn’t addicted to math until I took trigonometry….. then I was spellbound. So, you really think I have problems??? (Giggle)
Disgustingly simple, then and now! To take something so complex, and reduce it to a simple equation………
We used i a lot in Calc. 2020 and 3030!
I never was very good in trigonometry … I always went off on a tangent.
If that were true then all prayer is pointless, and if that is true than why did Jesus do this himself and tell his disciples to do it to?
Remember when walkman was so popular that tons of write up about people would be ISOLATED and DISENGAGED, opposite of the effect of social media. Today who cares if someone has an airpod or headphone on their ears.
Trigonometry requires calculated sin…
Ken F (aka Tweed),
Oh brother…
Good puns should hurt
Baptist Press featured a pastor’s wife all concerned about Google-searching, GPS technology, etc.:
http://dev.bpnews.net/53075/firstperson-praying-to-alexa
[Sarah Dixon Young is “a homeschooling mother in Fort Totten, N.D., where her husband Paul is pastor of Dakota Baptist Church”]
“I got lost the other weekend. Suddenly, I realized I didn’t know where I was going. Did I ask the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills for help? No. Instead, I called out loud, ‘OK Google, find my destination!'”
“Idols….their names in Bible times were Molech, Chemosh, Ashtoreth, Zeus, Hermes and Baal. Their function was to answer the baffling questions of their day. Today, our society calls them Siri, OK Google, Alexa and Cortana. Canaanites sacrificed their children to Molech. We allow our children to be consumed by Siri….Ashtoreth was the goddess of love and fertility. How many use OK Google to find pornography or infertility remedies? The Greeks worshipped Zeus as the god of sky and thunder. We ask our contemporary idols to tell us about our weather forecasts.”
If that’s indeed the case, then differentiation is pure wickedness.
Jerome,
She’s not entirely wrong. I would just extend the idolatry further to more things. Years ago I was with someone and we drove by the then-new Desert Ridge Marketplace the north 101 in the Scottsdale area. Each major merchant had a pillar along the freeway frontage for the shopping center, and I commented that it looked like the idols for Ross, Target, AMC, Old Navy, Dave & Busters, etc. “Someone is going to come along centuries from now and wonder what gods we worshiped.”
It’s not that bad, but alcohol and calculus should not mix: never drink and derive…
I received a hand-me-down jogging radio with more buttons than most, including six for preset radio stations.
The other night, all six presets were taken over by the Emergency Alert System, which warned of flash flooding and recited locales where people should seek shelter. What a great radio! This thing was designed to keep me alive outdoors. Any God worth worshiping would surely approve of such a device, and of the people who invented it.
To all of the guys commenting about mathematics:
Remember: Never sine on the dotted line with any church or religious organization. We know the only people who will cosine as witnesses are the wolves that want to control us!
Okay. I’ll stop. I think I have went too far. I have stuff to do anyway.
Happy 4th, y’all.
Nancy2(aka Kevlar),
Your comment is the ne plus ultra.
Joking aside, math is astonishingly elegent and coherent. My master’s degree is in electrical engineering, where I got to use the math in practical ways. It turns out that all those complex numbers that made no sense when I first learned about them are critical for describing and designing oscillatory systems such as electrical power transmission, radio tuners, vehicle suspension systems, and many other systems. And that is only one very small example. The elegence never ceases to amaze me. I understand why many claim mathematics is the language of God.
Muff Potter,
🙂
Ken F (aka Tweed),
My colleague and I did some experiments last Feb using high energy X-rays. On the computer screen we could see the x-ray scatter in oscillation called Bessel scatter…. Physical examples of Bessel Equations And particle/wave reality..
Nancy2(aka Kevlar),
Well put Nancy.
Here’s another way of looking at it:
If we have any three real numbers n, d, and q; then n/d can only equal one unique ‘q’ so that d times q will always equal n.
If we try to let d=0, we have no way of getting back to our original ‘n’, because zero times ‘q’ will always be zero.
In the case where n=0, any old ‘q’ will work and get us back to ‘n’, which destroys q’s uniqueness.
From 1940 until his death in 1952, he lived in seclusion on Stornoway with his wife, who managed to get him to take up stamp collecting as a hobby because she found his work schedule unhealthy. They didn’t go to any of the local churches because services were held in Scots Gaelic and the churches were not accepting of outsiders. This makes FAR more sense than what I heard years ago, which was that Pink had painted himself into a theological corner of his own making, that salvation was “us four and no more” and that’s why he didn’t go to church.
That said, Pink’s last words were “The Scriptures explain themselves,” which, just by itself, explains why Calvinistic Evangelicals love them some Pink. I’m going to be blunt and say “Scripture explaining Scripture” is abusive of the texts because it ignores the history and context in which scriptural texts were written. I get REAL tired of people just yanking various verses out of context to prove how, for example, women shouldn’t preach or teach in church. You have no idea how many times I had 1 Timothy 2:12 quoted at me when I protested in front of John MacArthur’s church on June 19. That or being hissed at or people shaking their heads at me.
Thers is a fun proof starting with a=b that eventually ends with 1=2. It works by sneaking 0/0 into both sides of the equation through an otherwise legitimate operation. 0x=0 for all x, so 0/0=x for all x, which why 0/0 is called indeterminate.
I found that article a bit bizarre. Perhaps I can chalk it up to the long, cold winters in ND!
I suspect you found the images elegant and beautiful. This defies explanation unless God put that into us.
Ken F (aka Tweed),
Good point… yes, the elegance is quite profound..
Surounded by all of this high tech equipment, and the electrons “behaving” just as theorey/differential calculus says it will..
This is also why I get really upset on young earth creationist “dismissing” physical science since it does not “fit” into their view of reality…
That’s part of the Propaganda blitz.
The SBC sounds really really threatened by bloggers and social media (at least those other than their Party Line); otherwise there wouldn’t be such a Propaganda blitz against them.
Assuming said Pastor’s Winsome Wifey actually exists in the first place.
Ever heard of “Comrade Ogilvy”?
And I’m not sure a Beauty of Complementarianism woman could use such bib Theological words. “Her” Christianese is so thick even Max would have a hard time understanding it.
Muslin, fka Dee Holmes,
“You have no idea how many times I had 1 Timothy 2:12 quoted at me when I protested in front of John MacArthur’s church on June 19. That or being hissed at or people shaking their heads at me.”
++++++++++++++++++
you could write a book, or make a documentary called “She Doth Protest”, or “Protest Medicine, No Sugar”, about your protest experiences. (I think you have gopro footage from your own camera?)
Like, I’ve wondered what it would be like if I set up cameras in the house and filmed my interactions on a given day, what I said, how I said it… it would be a helpful but shocking look in the mirror.
elastigirl,
what i mean is protestants have a superiority complex and are jerks when being challenged. An inconvenient look in the mirror would be a good thing.
Never underestimate the Arrogance (or Viciousness) of God’s Speshul Pets.
She asked Google where she was, and that was evil. Google is an idol. She should have trusted God. hmmmmm.
So, is her cell phone the comforter that Jesus promised?
Does she use a clock, or does she trust God to tell her what time it is?
Does she use recipes when she cooks?
Has she ever used a map?
Does she have smoke detectors in her home?
Does she depend on local services to provide electricity and water in her home?
Does she pay attention to tornado warnings?
If her child becomes gravely ill or is injured, does she call 911….. take the child to the hospital?
……. Or, does she trust God?
I could continue …….. But if Google is so evil, how many other idols does she unwittingly worship?
“Young” and “old” are completely loaded terms.
Without some kind of agreed upon measuring system, they’re meaningless.
Think about it.
IMHO social media are a two-edged sword. Immensely helpful in countless ways but also horrifically toxic. (Think of the kids who has been cyberbullied into suicide.)
It is what you make of it, I guess.
But Twitter is the straight-up spawn of Satan.
Catholic Gate-Crasher,
*Have been, not has. Autocorrect is also the spawn of Satan!
Muff Potter,
Millimeters or parsecs, milliseconds or millennia, they’re based strictly upon what can be measured with our current array of measuring tools.
Muff Potter,
True, and in the case of one of the young earth “arguments”, they claim that the “mesaurement standard” is not a “constant”…. at which point I had to pick move jaw up off the floor!!
We use Google to find recipes. Paper vs screen, I guess.
The big difference for us with Social Media and Christendom is Social Media tends to be a conversation with discourse and discussion. And for the most part, it’s free. No passing the plate to collect. No pressure. Many voices. Many stories.
Traditionally, we go to church, sit in the pew, listen, then shake hands with the preacher guy on the way out the door, with best wishes for the week, until next time. Same routine the following Sunday.
Occasionally, we have purchased a book at Lifeway ($$$), or attended a conference ($$$). Same routine – lots of listening or reading.
Our response on Sundays at church? Drop $$$ in the offering plate, volunteer time at the church. For the preacher’s latest project.
We’ve been aware of pedo pervert predators wandering churches as their hunting ground, for a long time. https://wildmustangmall.com/about Scroll down to “How I Wrote This”.
However, we’ve always wondered when the preachers would get around to talking about the problem of pedo pervert predators hanging out in churches for prey. We set an appointment to meet with our pastor once and discuss this problem, but as we began to share our concerns, he said our time was up and we were out the door.
Finally, at TWW, the pedo pervert predators wandering churches is publicized, among Christians who are concerned. Finally. Thanks, Dee, Todd, TWW. Social Media. Not on paper nor from a pulpit but good enough for us. Ever grateful.
Not as bad as stealing sermons 🙂
“Therefore,” says the LORD, “I am against these prophets who steal messages from each other and claim they are from Me.” (Jeremiah 23:30)
Ava Aaronson,
I’ve posted this explanation by Paul Young before, but it’s worth re-posting every now and then:
https://youtu.be/iqZQLAvgIWc
Ken F (aka Tweed),
Ok, truth be told, we’re not fans of The Shack here.
But this video is excellent. Now we are curious about other Paul Young videos. Who pops up? Our dear Wayne Burleson on stage introducing Paul Young.
Can’t win ’em all, it seems. (Meaning we don’t always agree with either of these guys, but sometimes we do. Agree.)
Anyway, thanks for sharing again this Paul Young video.
More stuff to explore online. Social Media. Sharing stuff. All good.
Not aware of anything bad about googling for recipes, among other things.
Nah, I Google them all the time. However, I’ve run across a few that were so bad they were sinful.
Ken F (aka Tweed),
Young’s views are fascinating, and the biggest take-away for me is what I’ve suspected all along, the Bible is not as cut-and-dried as what was beaten into my head when I was captive to Calvary Chapel’s brand of fundagelicalism.
It’s free information, or misinformation. So, filtering, discernment, and critical thinking serve well.
Nevertheless, the internet is a useful tool.
Taking these 3 to church serves well, too. The Bereans did.
“According to the Book of Acts, Chapter 17 verse 11, Paul of Tarsus and Silas preached at Berea, and the inhabitants ‘… received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.’, and many of them believed.” – wikipedia
Putting all the imagery aside, the theology expressed in The Shack is actualy quite old and orthodox. That surprised me. Another book of his you could find interesting is “Eve.” It’s Katharine Bushnells book “God’s Word to Women” turned into a trippy novel. It is very good
Indeed! Watchblogs, like TWW, use it everyday to inform and warn the Body of Christ. I use it everyday to keep current on world affairs. My grandsons used it for education during the height of the pandemic. A useful tool employed everyday to conduct business throughout the world. The internet r us.
AMEN! The thing I always liked about that story in Acts is that the Berean Christians searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul was saying was true … Paul!! But, yet, the modern church rolls over and accepts as truth what Piper etc. etc. are saying without searching the Scriptures themselves. Folks, you just can’t afford to do that!
I wonder how many people assume they were searching what we often call the New Testament.
I suspect most folks read that and assume NT (which, of course, had not been compiled at that point). The Bereans were searching the Old Testament prophecies that pointed to Jesus, His mission and His sacrifice … which provided truth about Paul’s message of Christ, the Gospel of salvation for ALL people.
Max,
Thank you, Max. I always appreciate you. 🙂
Friend,
kindred spirits … brothers and sisters … iron sharpening iron
Is this when they try to square the matter by circling the wagons?
“The Gospel Coalition continues to diss social media”
They are just upset because social media continues to diss The Gospel Coalition! And for good reason!!
Or like Scientology vs the Psychlo Establishment, they’re upset because THEIR Social Media isn’t the only game in town. A One True Way always has to be a Monopoly.
And DARVO lashback counterattacks.
“If John the Baptist used the Kynge Jaymes Version
THEN IT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!”
— “Gimme that Ol’ Kynge Jaymes Version”
The Internet made instantaneous communication, do-it-yourself publishing (uploading), and information retrieval/research both universal and easy.
For Better AND for Worse. I most often use the Web as a browsing library and mail service. A Loud Crazy can scream at the sky to everyone on the Net and find enough like-minded followers to become a Mass Movement. And then there’s Advertising Spam…
Back when the first home computers (8-bit micros) first appeared, the Killer App everyone talked about was how Housewives could store their recipes on the 4K cassette drive and read them back off the six-inch screen.
Needless to say, this App never took off.
Yep, that would be New Calvinism! Listen only to us, buy only our books, attend only our conferences, etc. Indoctrination at its best (or worst).
And it gave us Poe’s Law. Some sites prove it better than others.