No News is Good News

When I was a child growing up in the 90s and continuing to grow up through adolescence in the 2000s, I wanted fun and adventure in my life without bounds or limits. The antonym to fun and adventure, the very representation and embodiment of boredom, that great dragon, was the news.

Most nights the 6 PM newscast would be on and my father would ritually be watching it. I, on the other hand, would most definitely not be watching. This was much to my father’s abasement. He would beckon me to come hither and learn of what was going on in the world, lauding the importance of achieving such a learned state. But as he would beckon me to contemporary enlightenment I would beckon his mercy in the matter. I wanted nothing to do with the news, just let me play Grand Theft Auto III on my PS2 dad!

Many years later I had managed to insulate my life from the news. When I left home I thought I was leaving the news behind. And I did! I went through my Bachelor of Nursing without the news. I survived my nursing job without the news. And I managed to get through half of my Bachelor of Divinity without the news.

But there was a turning point in my life. Adulthood was pressing in on me it seems.

Around about the time that Brexit was occurring, it hadn’t occurred to me that Brexit was indeed occurring! A comment was made during Bible study one evening to which I was oblivious and unable to contribute to. This became glaringly obvious to all involved and they sought to (playfully – I assume…) ridicule my lack of understanding in all things current and newsworthy. To me, it was a point of pride! My stature straightened, my shoulders pulled back, my chest started to bulge as I staunchly stood confident saying… nothing, because I was completely ignorant. What a proud moment it was for me. I had worked diligently at removing news from my life, never to be a cog in the machine. Huzzah. Take that dad.

But shortly afterwards when I was talking with my minister he said that ministers ought to know what is happening in the world in order to talk to their congregations about those matters. By this stage in my life I’d come to realise I need to respect, honour and follow people like my father and my minister more than I did in the past. I’m sure you can imagine that life stage were we reject just about every authority figure there is, except for yourself of course. I like to think that I was growing in Christian maturity enough to see the folly of these childish ways. And so it was that I took on board my minister’s guidance.

The pendulum was beginning to swing and it swung very hard. I went from a man who cared nought of the news, to a man reading the news every day from multiple sources.

I soon realised that this was absolutely unsustainable in a variety of ways. It took way too much time to thoroughly dissect the news, it took way too much emotional stamina to survive the onslaught of the news, and it’s an impossible task to be up-to-date on all news as there is an infinity of stories to read.

So the pendulum slowly petered to a compromise. Now I simply listen to my news through podcasts. I do so only when I have time, mainly as I do house chores. And I have a very select subscription serving from the news outlet buffet.

It turns out my father was right and my minister was right. Although it is not strictly necessary that we understand what is happening in the world, it is an excellent wisdom to practice in moderation.

I have learnt so much about the world. But importantly I’ve learnt many things I had not expected to learn. In contemplating the world and world events as mediated through the news, I’ve actually learnt a lot more about people and how the word of God can impact our lives in this world. I have come to have a fresh appreciation of God’s word as it speaks into our lives in this world. A world that is full of fear, uncertainty, evil, disaster, covetousness, deceptions and a whole other host of ills.

The word of God can speak so sharply into all these issues. So I have come to appreciate the word of God all the more for it.

Oppositely, learning more and more of human ingenuity and progress excites me. Humanity can’t help but seek after the fulfilment of the creation mandate bestowed upon us by our Creator, to take dominion of creation under his rule. So although progress in the dominion of creation is often occurring in rejection of God’s rule, it is nevertheless a wonder to see it used for good by the grace of God. 

Do you read the news? Does it fill you with fear? Does it sway your heart in unhelpful and ungodly ways? Or does it make you appreciate all the more the word of God and the great hope that we as Christians have in Christ?