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Concluding from the News

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I’m becoming more aware each day that current news reporting is disseminated with a bias. My son dropped mainstream news when he was in his teens. In my teens I was told that newspapers were prejudiced towards a particular perspective.

Still, I stood with some naivete in the hope that credibility would win out. I still hold to that desire. I desired for news outlets to give both sides (or at least more than one side) to a news event.

Perhaps that is where credibility is being lost in my view. When we carry back (report) a situation to another person, we can merely emphasize our viewpoint. Or we can graciously accept that there are other viewpoints – and include them.

This is where storytelling and reporting differ. Both are essential. A well told story, building upon accepted principles and explained actions, leads to a conclusion. A well reported event, based on a broad understanding and generous sighting of events – helps us glean a conclusion.

Perhaps we have moved from reporting news to having news stories.

Fine . . . as long as we can distinguish between them, and gain our conclusions accordingly.

Mindfulness – Meditation, Concentration and Focus

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I mentioned mindfulness meditation to someone the other day. They have greatly benefited from the movement towards disrupting their lives from distractions.

Now, I go back a ways – to the days when Christians were disturbed by Transcendental Meditation. The idea that was most disruptive was that you could look within yourself – abandon yourself to yourself to know yourself. We really were worried about the devil in all this – he would fill our minds with unclean and senseless counsel.

I think we missed something. Abandoning ourselves to ourselves lets us run rampant – we don’t need another “being” to disturb out thoughts about our being. Yes, other beings do play a part, but our self-deception starts down the trail without needing a lot of push from someone else.

So, with the return of mindfulness meditation, and the many branches that come from this idea, I’m once again a bit skeptical and quite optimistic.

Intentionality is the keyword that is being used. To leave this to merely breathing exercises is intentional. I would go a step further. Be intentional about a bigger picture – or more rightly – about God. A flow from the mountain top is much more lively than gathering a bit of dew from the morning sunrise.

Some quotes that hit home

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I’m reading . . . short articles in the midst of home renovations.

Here are two quotes you may find interesting – along with the link to the article.

If humans are going to find God, it will not be where he has chosen to hide but where he has chosen to reveal himself. It is not in quantum uncertainty or statistical analysis that God is discovered. We will not find him in a gap but on a cross.

(Shayne Looper)  www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/october-web-only/atheism-where-is-god-physics-revealed-in-christ.html

More people are going to come to Christ today because they know they are broken in need of a healer, than because they know they are sinner in need of a Savior.

Page 45 (Rob Reimer) of Connections online magazine – issuu.com/cmacanada/docs/alliance-connection-fall-2018-pages