Filter

In Matthew 13, we can find Jesus relating the parable of the sower, as He shared a story about the types of ground and how His followers should seek to plant His Word in their hearts, making sure their hearts were right.  He declared at the conclusion, in verse 9:

9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Jesus went on to say:
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"
11 He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.'

I believe Jesus is saying to us: "Stay sharp!"  We can make sure that our hearts are open to His truth and that our minds are trained to accept ideas that line up with Scripture and reject those who do not. We can choose to have ears to hear and eyes to see. We can understand the ways of God and decide to follow in His principles.  We can put filters in place, inspired by His truth, that can help us to stay in a place of consistency with His Word.

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Tuesday of Holy Week is the day we commonly think of as when Jesus went into the Temple and confronted those who were trying to profit off the things of God. It can also be cautionary tale to each of us that we don't allow what is destructive to enter in to the Temple of the Holy Spirit, which is what Scripture uses to define us. In Philippians 4, we can read about the importance of thinking in accordance with Scriptural teaching:
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.
9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Through the Internet and other information sources, we can come face-to-face with material that can defile us, that can corrupt our minds and our emotions and even result in physical harm.  Take, for instance, the case of a 12-year-old who responded to a so-called "challenge" on TikTok.

His name is Nick Howell, and CBN.com reported:

According to People Magazine, 12-year-old Nick Howell is warning people about the risks involved with social media challenges.

"You shouldn't try everything you see on social media," he told People. "It won't go well. I want to tell people not to be a follower, but to be a leader."

The CBN article stated:

In Oct. 2020, Nick was sitting outside of his grandmother's house in Miami with his siblings and cousins. The kids were talking about the fire challenge which involves pouring an accelerant on oneself and then lighting the fire.

"I poured a little bit of rubbing alcohol on the (concrete) floor, lit it and put it out," Nick recalled. "But I guess the bottle had caught on fire, and it exploded. I started burning."

His family members hosed him down, but not after he suffered burns on 35% of his body and had to have 50 surgeries.  

CBN related:

Tiktok updated its Community Guidelines in February, stating, "We do not permit users to share content depicting, promoting, normalizing or glorifying dangerous acts that may lead to serious injury or death.

In December, CBN News reported on a viral TikTok trend known as the "devious licks" challenge.

Middle school, high school, and college students are encouraged to act inappropriately or damage school property between September and July, then post the incident on the app.

And, a recent story highlighted a TikTok preacher who has been offering spiritually destructive messages on the platform. Jeffrey Walton writes on the Juicy Ecumenism website about Brandon Robertson, saying:

Robertson’s tutelage as a self-styled “public theologian” seems light years from evangelical Christianity: Jesus isn’t the only way to salvation. Hell doesn’t exist. He doesn’t know “what happened after the crucifixion”. Robertson offers a reductionist message effectively whittled down to the golden rule: Christ’s command to “Love your neighbor as yourself” supersedes God’s call to personal holiness and Jesus’ repeated warnings about the reality of hell and the devil.

“I don’t believe in hell, yet I choose to follow Jesus because I know it blesses my life and the world around me,” Robertson shared March 15 in a TikTok video.

This "feel good" brand that bears little resemblance to Biblical Christianity has resonated, though; Walton relates:

Aided by animated head movement and a fast-paced tone captured by webcam, Robertson’s concise video messages clock in at under a minute. More than 187,000 accounts follow him on the TikTok platform; his individual videos total more than 4.4 million likes. Last June he was featured in Rolling Stone’s annual Hot List for his LGBT advocacy.

Walton is in leadership with the Institute on Religion and Democracy, and noted:

My IRD colleague Chelsen Vicari followed Robertson’s evolution beginning in 2014. In 2015, she watched Robertson tout the “Evangelical” title as he advocated for same-sex marriage. Later, he defined himself as “Christianish,” and by 2018 was calling himself a gay “Renegade Reverend” rethinking sin “as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Today Robertson claims the title “Christian agnostic,” and publicly affirms practices that significantly deviate from what the church has historically understood to be appropriate.

Unfiltered - that seems to be an apt description of at least some of the content on TikTok, as well as other social media platforms.  And, while we continue to express concern over censorship on some platforms, we also have to recognize that with freer speech can come a freer exchange of ideas, including ideas that do not reflect a Christian worldview.  In an unfiltered age, we have to depend on the filter of God's Word and the Holy Spirit to show us what to believe and what to reject.  

Throughout the Word of God, we can find filters that we can apply to our physical senses of sight and hearing.  We can rely on the Lord to give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Remember, our Savior addressed having ears to hear and chiding those who would "listen" but not "hear."  That speaks to the need for discernment. We can't always control what we will be exposed to, but we can decide what we allow to accept.  Our responses to the messages with which we interact can be determined by our devotion to Christ and knowledge of His Word. 

Philippians 4:8 is an example of how we can filter the influences that come our way. We can govern our thoughts by submitting them to Scripture. 2nd Corinthians 10 talks about taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and Romans 12 instructs us to be transformed by renewing our minds, so that we might be discerning. If we would take that extra moment to think - having allowed Scripture to govern our minds - before we speak or act, we can make decisions that are keeping with God's holiness.