- RSS FeedSubscribe
- « Previous PostThe Cross He Bore - The Crown of Thorns
- Next Post »A La Carte (4/7)
Evil as Entertainment
- 04/06/09
- 79
The internet is such a strange phenomenon and one we are really only beginning to understand, at least in terms of its impact on society and faith and family and just about everything else. What passes for entertainment on the internet would, at most other times in history, be regarded as shocking or wasteful or disgusting or maybe just plain absurd. Witness the web sites that offer video after video of people cracking bones doing stupid skateboard tricks. You can search YouTube for videos of people breaking bones and spend hours in senseless entertainment, guffawing at the stupidity and wincing at the pain. Or witness the sites that specialize in the macabre, displaying lineups of dead or dismembered bodies or photographic evidence of brutal accidents. Or witness the almost limitless amounts of pornography which is a contemporary form of entertainment for boys and men (and, increasingly, girls and women) of all ages. So much of the entertainment the internet offers is entertainment at its very worst. Evil has become entertainment.
I want to say a word today about watchblogs or discernment blogs or whatever you want to call them. I am referring to blogs that specialize in sharing bad news. They share stories and videos and anecdotes about Christians and churches and supposed Christians and supposed churches. Day after day they offer examples of all that is wrong in the church. They may vary what they offer a little bit, but what is true of them is that they offer a steady diet of negative content related to the church in general or perhaps related to just one person or one ministry. You know of some of these sites, I am sure.
I was thinking about such blogs a few days ago and arrived at a conclusion about them that actually rather surprised me. This is what I realized: these blogs are really little more than entertainment. And once I had these blogs filed in that way in my mind, their popularity and their draw began to make much more sense to me. They are really just a spiritualized form of YouTube or any other site that entertains by sharing what is gross and base and negative and that does so for the sake of entertainment. There is really no value in watching boys do stupid things on skateboards and laughing when they crack their ankle bones in half; there is really no value in watching the worst pastors in America preach to the worst churches in America. Such sites offer evil as entertainment.
Watchblogs offers what I think is a classic case of what Neil Postman referred to as context-free information. He once asked this: “How often does it occur that information provided you on morning radio or television, or in the morning newspaper, causes you to alter your plans for the day, or to take some action you would not otherwise have taken, or provides some action you would not otherwise have taken, or provides insight into some problem you are required to solve?” It is worth thinking about, isn’t it? How often do you see something on the news and actually do something about it? How often is that even the remotest possibility? “Most of our daily news is inert, consisting of information that gives us something to talk about but cannot lead to any meaningful action. This fact is the principle legacy of the telegraph: By generating an abundance of irrelevant information, it dramatically altered what may be called the ‘information-action ratio.’”
That information-action ratio is what is so out-of-whack in the world of the watchblogs. They provide information about churches and Christians—information that may be important to certain people in certain contexts. After all, if I went to a church where the pastor had been involved in an outrageous scandal, I would want to know about it. But if a pastor of a church in Kalamazoo preaches a sermon in which he says something scandalous, it has no effect on my life and, beyond its draw as entertainment, I can think of few good reasons for me to even know about it. Multiply this by hundreds of new stories a week (or even just tens of stories a week) and I end up with a huge amount of negative information that stays in my head and heart, but which has no bearing on my life.
What is the problem with this? Again, Postman answers, “In both oral and typographic cultures, information derives its importance from the possibilities of action.” Telegraphy, television and other forms of electronic media have made the relationship between information and action both abstract and remote. We hear more news than ever which elicits more opinions than ever, but which leave us increasingly impotent, unable to do anything more than offer opinions and bluster about what we might do if we could. And I am left asking, do I really need to read and to know so much of what passes as news today? Do I really need to read and to know about the seedy underbelly of the church, when such things happen thousands of miles away, among people I will never meet and in places I will never be? Such news is plenty entertaining, but it is useless to me. It does nothing to further my faith or to cause me to grow in godliness. In fact, I suspect just the opposite may well be true. I think of Paul’s words near the close of the book of Romans where he says, “I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil” (Romans 16:19b). He wants these Christians to invest their time studying not what is evil, but what is good. When they have confidence in all that is good, the evil will become ever-more apparent.
This is not the first or only time Paul has given this exhortation. In 1 Corinthians 14:20 he wrote “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” And in saying this he echoes the words of Jesus who exhorted His disciples and warned them of the persecution that would come, saying “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).
We are to focus much more on what is good than what is evil. This is one of the lessons I sought to teach in The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment. “Our efforts in discernment should revolve around knowing the truth so that we might see the evil in contrast to what is true. The reason it is better to focus on what is true is simple: error is constantly changing, shifting and morphing into new forms, always seeking to imitate what is true in new and creative ways. Truth, however, is constant. When we know what is true we will more easily be able to identify what is error.”
Filling our minds, our hearts, our computer screens, our blogs with all that is wrong in the church will do little to conform us into the image of the Savior. It can do little. My encouragement to you, whether you are a regular visitor to one of these sites or whether you simply visit them occasionally, is to examine your heart and to examine your motives. Do you visit such sites because they have information that you truly need to know? Or do you visit as a means of entertainment? Are you delighting in what is good and true and pure and lovely, or are you finding a strange, sick delight in all that is evil and ugly?
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
Releasing on April 1, The Next
Published in 2008, this book
This is a guide that calls men,
This review of the bestselling
New to the site? You can get
This is a guide written
Comments (79)
Tim:
Well, this is an interesting blog. I confess that I have several of these “watchdog” bloggers bookmarked in my browser. After reading your post I am going to examine the value of this decision.
Thank you - this is a courageous post and gives all of us something to mull over.
TImely words, Tim. Thanks for being blunt.
Tim,I agree with you on some level. I think there can be somewhat of watching a trainwreck mentality by visiting these sites that show the worst of the church.
However, I think that they can spur people to action. We do not live in a vacuum. You may say, how does what happens in Kalamazoo, USA affect me and my church? If that pastor in such church wields such influence in the church world because of the audience granted to him by the internet then eventually it could come to my church and my pastor. Look at Mark Driscoll and his sex sermons. Ed Young Jr and sex sermons. These are sweeping the nation and popping up in thousands of churches as a growth method.
Then you have subtle false teachings in the church today. Pastors that will lead naive and gullible people by false teachings and man centered philosphies. The more “watchblogs” bring light to the darkness, the less people will possibly be led astray and be awakened to the Truth.
Are the watchblogs overly critical? I would say so. But they do have a place in exposing false teachings and methods
Tim,
Perhaps there’s a tendency for Christians to blithely accept an information source as being worthy of their time; if it has even a loose association with the subject of church or religion?
What struck me while reading your post Tim, was that even good intentioned information sources can quickly become what I’ll call Springer-esque; in that the observer/reader might be deriving some dark pleasure in the thought that “I’m glad my church isn’t like that!” This could be a very subtle, even subconscious sin that should be avoided.
I’m reminded of the parable Jesus told of the Pharisee and the Publican…
In Christ,
Dan…
I stopped following three of those watchblogs a while back.
The blogs I had been following were very quick to be outraged and didn’t shy away from name calling and insults. But when countered with similar language, they cried foul and made a stink.
Neither action was Christ-like.
Excellent reminder for all of us! Thank you! We think on whatever it is that we put into our mind and that reminds me of Phil. 4:8
Phil. 4:8 “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Just over the weekend I thought (about some of those sites), “How is this different than some trashy gossip site?” then I came here and read your (much better-worded) post. Thanks for this!
I love Neil Postman’s Entertaining Ourselves to Death, so I was excited to see you quote from him.
Aside from what you’ve already said, I’ve noticed in myself that some of the entertainment I run across on TV or on the ‘net has a physically negative effect on me. What I mean is this: sometimes I’ll be watching something that has caught my curiosity, something “Springer-like” as you put it, and when I’m in the process of watching (or after) I’ll feel tired or worn out in some way. Even dirty, sometimes.
I ran across an episode of “Hell’s Kitchen” the other day and was tired of watching it after two minutes. Jealousy, back-biting, and every other word being bleeped out literally wore me out, only in the two minutes that I happened across it. How do people thrive on this stuff?
Thankfully, I have plenty of options for leisure activities so I choose not to dwell on this kind of entertainment. But really, how do millions of people enjoy this kind of thing when it’s sooo physically, emotionally, and spiritually draining and unhealthy?
Maybe I just don’t know these watchblogs, but what is the difference between reading them and reading something like Irenaeus Against Heresies, or reading something by John Owen denouncing Socinianism or Arminianism?
Let me amend my comment, slightly. I know that they were concerned with presenting the truth, and denouncing error, but to do so for the glorification of Christ and the edification of the Church.
From the comments and description, it sounds like these blogs are more about showing that there are *gasp* sinners in the church! So I know that there are some major differences, I would just be curious as to further elaboration along those lines.
I came to this site because I was looking for a view of the Passion by Mel Gibson which wasn’t the fawning presentation I saw in many Christian web sites I was then visiting. How is Tim’s discernment on the subject of the Passion, for instance, different from what these other blogs do? (Without reiginting the discussion of that movie?)
It is easy to get online and gripe about things and not think about the 99% of the time things are going well or that we have been blessed by the church or other ministers. That is why I try to post something every so often about how much I love God’s people, the church, etc in order to make sure I am doing far more building up than I am critiquing. Romans 14 teaches us not to judge God’s servants but far too often we do just that and end up not edifying anyone. Thanks for sharing this.
A very timely blog for me. Definitely some conviction going on. It reminds me of the analogy of bankers studying the real thing to spot the fake.
Thanks for the insightful post. I agree for the most part. We can get caught up in the “gross” factor, even when looking at “churchy” stuff.
However, I would argue that there is some value in this: There are so many who hear about some of the extremes which the seeker-sensitive and some emergent folks are going to, and they simply disbelieve. They think, “Oh, it can’t be that bad.” And often they begin to go down these roads themselves without taking into consideration the real and eventual consequences.
Sites like these are the “proof in the pudding.” They are evidence of the un-biblical road some of these folks will lead us down. Especially when they are putting video faces on what others may think is only rumor about some of the more well known gurus these days.
We can be taken in by the train-wreck mentality, but if it helps another church avoid similar destruction, it may just be worth it.
You state the problem of information overload far better than I could hope to. A few simple words from Paul echoing our Lord was all it took. Excellent insights, Tim! Thank you!
And often they begin to go down these roads themselves without taking into consideration the real and eventual consequences.
Scott - you have demonstrated wonderfully exactly what is wrong with these blogs. They give their readers an impression that particular categories of the church are 100% heretical. None of us have a monopoly on the truth, we’re all “heretical” to some degree or another! Have you ever considered that perhaps there are things you can learn from Emergent/Seeker types?
These blogs are the spiritual equivalent of the National Enquirer. They rarely deal with serious theological error, just trash. Even when they do deal with serious error, it has usually been dealt with better and more properly by others (cf. dialogue between Piper and Wright).
Perhaps the reason people enjoy hearing the dirt about the church is more than entertainment. It is justification. If I can watch a video or read an article about some preacher’s indiscretions, then it makes me look not so bad. This does have bearing on my life - in a huge way. What do most of us do when we read of the terrible scandals in the church? We shake our heads and wonder what in the world the church is coming to. We get angry. We get sad. And we flirt with the attitude that says “THEY are bad. Sure glad that I am not.” The world loves it when prominent preachers get exposed as pedophiles, or extortioners because it justifies their rejection of the Gospel. Christians love to do it because they are struggling against less egregious sins and to read about the horrendous sins of some preacher or “significant” ministry makes them look not so bad. This isn’t entertainment. It is psychological necessity and a neat little escape from having to deal with sin. It is a wake up call of the importance of “living godly lives among the pagans”.
You make some pretty good points here.
This is one reason I like Fighting for the Faith (a watchblog podcast). The host, Chris Rosebrough, does not merely expose the problems, but he uses them as springboards to the gospel.
The Pyromaniacs blog is fairly good at doing this too, but the cheif content at the pyromaniacs website is not watchblogging.
Tim,
Thanks for your insight. I do believe that it is not healthy to be consumed with the evils of another to the point of making it your calling in life to expose them. But I am thankful for some of these groups who expose the evils of mondern day charlatans. Take Todd Bentley for example. I personally have had several people ask me what my thoughts were about him. It was only when I did my research online and found out about the true spirit behind the so called revivals that I then was able to make a judgement. It helped me test the spirit to see if it was of God. Now granted, I am not going to create my own site and go on a crusade, but the fact that someone who is somewhat of a watchdog who is exposing these things can help spare others from being infected by their false doctrine.
Tim, your blog is full of articles regarding false doctrines and the importance of knowing sound scripture. So I do not think you are being totally fair to write off others who are exposing the very false preachers that your articles warn about.
Yet, there is an unhealthy aspect to this when someone is consumed with getting all the dirt for the purpose of mulling over it with others. And on this point I agree with you.
If the goal of those who are exposing these things and those who are watching these things is not for the purpose of godliness then their motive is not the right motive. Paul warned and named people in the scriptures that were causing trouble. Yet he did not write to the Corinthian Church and name the names of someone who was causing trouble in the church of Crete. So again I see your point that it really is not going to effect me much about Billy Bob In Backwater preaching that Jesus Drove a Mercedes Benz. But nevertheless, I think these watch groups have their place in helping others steer clear of false teachers.
1 Timothy 1:5-6 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Since we are concerned about other people and their welfare, the devil wants us to be consumed with watching situations over which we have no control and we have no ability to affect.
This is television’s role. We sit and watch all of the awful things our there, and whine and moan “ain’t it awful”, and we don’t help the guy next door, or pick up the trash on our street, or start a ball league for the children in our area or…
I think KD hit the nail on the head. Excellent point! Luke 18:9-14
Hi Tim,
Thanks for sharing this post. I certainly think some of the watchblog writers coming across this post will feel the heat about their actions, much like the money-changers in the temple felt the heat of Jesus’ whip and Jesus’ words in the book of John.
One of the things I find challenging about the Internet - which you may agree with - is that not only is the Internet used for spilling out so many problem sites like the watchblogs, but it also becomes the forum for bad words exchanged between otherwise well-meaning Christians. As one example, I try to focus my blog writing on distinguishing the church as a Gospel-centered counterculture to the fallen ways of secular culture, and especially as a counterculture to the fallen ways that Christians often unwittingly entangle themselves into during their engagement with secular culture. So I make it a point to include my own Bible study lessons or my work on a layman’s commentary on Romans to support elders and pastors in their guidance of the church, and to get fellow Christians to think rightly about grace relationship with God. But even with all that, very godly well-meaning Christians, even godly ministers, can start to wag their tongues at my blog and call it heretical or the antichrist - and all because they see the Internet as their personal play toy.
Now, I’m generally fine with losing friendships from people, and I’m willing to suffer losses of people’s bad opinions of me for knowing contentment in Christ alone. But this bad use of the Internet and the blogosphere, even by professing godly Christians, really reminds me of a lesson I learned from Proverbs that people use communication outlets and their city surroundings as their idols, and they jealously defend their idols in bitter contentions with their neighbors - idolatry defended by self-righteousness. “A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, / and quarreling is like the bars of a castle” (Prov. 18:19). I think communication outlets like the blogosphere and the Internet are good things of God’s natural creation, and we should use these things very joyfully in grace-rooted relationship with the Lord, in singing to the Lord’s glory and in encouraging fellow Christians with good words. But we have to remember from the Lord’s inscribed Word that we are sinners using these outlets, and we have to bridle our tongues against what we want to say on these outlets. And I don’t think many professing Christians, even from godly denominational backgrounds like the Southern Baptist Convention or the Presbyterian Church in America, would even think twice about wagging their tongues with false words and false confrontations on these communication outlets.
‘[Love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing.’
1 Cor 13:6
There are fewer and fewer blogs (present company excluded - but I’m wacthing you Challies :)) that I feel are worth reading as they present themselves as “news” sites. (Glorified gossip trains.) I am encouraged, though, that I find them less and less entertaining - evidence that I am growing (slowly, but steadily). Often times I leave those sites wondering what the shock is all about: that the church is full of sinful human beings? That the world hates Christ? Don’t we know this stuff that these stories are “evidencing”?
I think Steve on comment 18 made a valid point about Tim’s post:
“Tim, your blog is full of articles regarding false doctrines and the importance of knowing sound scripture. So I do not think you are being totally fair to write off others who are exposing the very false preachers that your articles warn about.”
These “watchdog” blogs are certainly needed in the blogosphere, yet the fine line is in our motive for going to these sites. Is it for research/better equipping on what’s around us or entertainment?
Tim, your blog is full of articles regarding false doctrines
That’s a highly fallacious statement.
“Tim, your blog is full of articles regarding false doctrines and the importance of knowing sound scripture. So I do not think you are being totally fair to write off others who are exposing the very false preachers that your articles warn about.”
I think if you go way back into the archives you’ll find a few. But in recent months and years I’ve dedicated a lot less time to false doctrines and false teachers.
Now don’t get me wrong. I think there is a time to expose false teachers and false teaching. I wish I had written an article about Todd Bentley back when he was wooing so many people out to his ridiculous revival. A false teacher on a national stage as he was may well need to be exposed. A false teacher like Brian McLaren who reaches so many people needs to be exposed. But I think that kind of thing is a far cry from what watchbloggers are doing. I do not think too many people would read a review of one of these men’s books as entertainment.
I wonder how often we call ourselves on the carpet. I think that is also an important component on this. Confession is powerful and when we feel like it is needed we can’t hold it back. I find it refreshing when someone tells on themselves in an unglorified way that is not an attempt to make them seem relevant or hip or to relate with young people…but just genuine sorry over our own shortcomings and frailties. It is way easier to point the finger at someone else but way harder to honestly and openly point it at ourselves.
I think these watch dog type of sites are an important and useful thing to have around, though it would be nice if they were balanced with something uplifting but let’s face it - the nice posts aren’t the posts that get people reading and commenting most of the time. That being said, I’m glad these sites are out there. I came to faith in a very shallow church, doctrine was not a focus at this church and as I grew in my faith I saw the church drifting further and further away from what I understand to be the truth. Though I couldn’t have articulated it to anyone when asked I just *knew* something was wrong.
These watch dog sites helped me connect with other people who were seeing the same things and helped me better understand WHY these things were a problem for authentic, Biblical faith. Eventually I outgrew the need/ desire to visit these sites as much. As I did my own research and study God helped me to understand what I was seeing and eventually lead me to a church that esteems God’s Word as they should - but the watch dog sites were a great tool at one point in my life to point me straight back at the Word.
Thank you for writing this! I was reading some articles on PFO.org the other day and I just got into a mood where I was googling Beth Moore, T.D. Jakes, and Joyce Meyer just to hear all the dirt and criticisms about them - and more and more it just seemed like trash talking to me. Some of the criticisms I felt were valid, but sometimes I felt like they were just nitpicking needlessly. (Example, calling Beth Moore obnoxious… what does that matter?) I feel that as Christians, we need to choose and evaluate all texts against the authority of the Bible. I will continue to research books and things I’ve read for more insights, but I think it’s important not to get too caught up into it.
Tim,
Good post. I agree completely. However, I do think that “watchdog” sites are necessary. Imagine if the news never reported any crimes. I think that this would certainly affect your day to day behavior. (I imagine that you lock your doors. Why?) There used to be a day when everyone kept their doors unlocked. What changed that? Perhaps it was because people were watching the news and knew that the world was changing.
I think that when your motive is to gossip, slander, or be entertained by sinfulness, then you are clearly not honoring the Lord. However, if your motives are good, then being aware of what is happening in the world of Christianity is important. (Even if the pastor is from Kalamazoo)
It’s true that many people read the watchblogs with wrong motives and are actually in sin. But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. We could also talk about the sin of spending too much time on blogs, and suggest that people should not blog at all because many people are sinfully wasting their time reading blogs all day instead of being productive.
The key is to glance over the watchblogs so that you are aware of what is happening the the world of Christianity, but then spend most of your time in the word of God, or reading works that help you to understand the word of the Lord better.
Don’t throw the baby out!
Hi Tim,
Thank you for your post. Having read it earlier in the day and only now getting a chance to respond, I’ve had plenty of time to think it over. Here are my thoughts:
1. There is a natural downward pull that appeals to all human beings - including believers to sin. The potential for unholiness - gossip, malice, evil thoughts, etc, that these kinds of things can produce is great. I think you are correct when you warn us to be on guard.
2. The reality is that the Church is full of false teachers who promulgate false doctrines and are leading many astray. Many of these false teachers have no accountability as they literally lead thousands down the path to eternal destruction. All the meanwhile the sheep sing their hymns and carry their Bible’s to church each Sunday. The cry of my heart as of late is that God WOULD raise up holy men bold enough to call out a falsehood when they see it & call these false teachers to account. They will not be popular because many of these ministries are household names in the evangelical word. But, my prayer even now is that God take many of us in our studies through the “John the Baptist School of Diplomacy”. Too much is at stake!
Tim,
How timely. This is something I’ve been thinking about lately. I wonder if *some* of the good apologetics blogs get type cast as watchbloggers because of the perceived tone.
Very good items to think on.
Thanks brother,Mark
I agree with one exception. I do appreciate the blogs and posts that exam books and prolific preachers in light of Scripture. It saves me time. For example, I appreciated your review of Shack. It saved me from wasting money. Some might accuse you of being a “watchdog” in regards to that particular book, (LOL, I don’t thing so, but I sure have friends who do).
My husband and I would have never realized Rob Bell’s videos, being shown in our Sunday School class ,were emergent theology without a watchdog blog. We felt uncomfortable with the videos and knew we didn’t agree with them but didn’t realize it had a name and an entire ideology.
I wholeheartedly agree that much of what are considered “watchdog” type blogs are not making a positive impact on the church. So as with most things, such posts should be done prayerfully and with Christian love and grace.
Great Article, you are precisely right, and I needed the confirmation to vouch my sanity.
I agree with the post, even though it is kind of the ultimate in watch-dog posting. It’s watch-dogging the watch-doggers.
Blowing the whistle on watch-doggers is ironic. It’s also biblical and a little clever. So are *some* of the watch-dog blogs.
Tim, thanks for this… I have to admit that I am one of those people who have fallen into the habitual monitoring of such blogs… watching ever so closely to see (and become irritated by) the antics of the so-called church in America.
But a similar thought to this post did occur to me a few weeks ago that sometimes I allow those blogs to anger me then I stumble into my sins of arrogance and pride that I am so prone too to begin with.
I have resolved as of late that if any of these posts should cross my desk and I take the time to check them out that I will not close off the window without taking adequate time to privately contact that pastor/ church via email (as a last resort) and primarily by phone.
With the intentions of approaching them in love and sharing with them the Gospel. Trying to reason with them to see the power, sufficiency, and necessity of the Word of God. I, of course, quote Paul quite often and also refer back to events in the History of Biblical Christianity such as Calvin’s Geneva, Puritan America, etc…
Encouraging and admonishing them to trust God and trust the power of His Word and stop relying on the secular culture. A wise mentor of mine once told me, as I prepared for ministry, what you attract them with is what you must keep them with.
I wish I could say that my phone calls and emails were always well received, they aren’t. I wish I could say that it was making a change in those pastors/ churches. It might, but I will likely never know if it does or not.
I simply feel the conviction that watching, and being frustrated, and doing nothing about it makes me a hypocrite and an apathetic disciple.
Thanks for this post. It did help me iron our my thoughts and organize the convictions on this that I felt a few weeks back.
Praying for you brother.
j
Wow, some very convicting thoughts here. If I am not doing anything constructive with the information I’m taking in, then should I be reading it in the first place?I’m going to bookmark this article and refer back to it. There is much that I need to pray over.
Thanks you for this.
I’ve read these sites in the past, but I’ve always felt they were preaching to the choir. Blogs have to try to be entertaining, though, to garner readers - with thousands of Reformed Christian blogs online, which are you to choose? I have only about ten that I read, and I only check them about once a week (except for Doug Wilson’s blog, which I check regularly). Blogs as entertainment can be addictive in many ways, something I learned the hard way. Its shaped my thinking recently in how I should be writing on my own blog. What are we writing for? Good question…
Aspiring Theologian
The Knight of the Living God
I think it would be helpful to define the term “watchblog.” For me, that term conjures us several distinct kinds of websites.
The ones that I find the most disturbing are those that don’t expose one or a handful of obscure false teachers, but who wield Scripture against every well-known Christian teacher, speaker, pastor, author of the last century, from C.S. Lewis and Billy Graham and John MacArthur and John Piper, and so on…deeming them all heretics.
Some watchblogs focus on one area where there has been spiritual abuse. I find these the most helpful when researching a particular topic. Sometimes the ex (insert legalistic or otherwise cultlike movement) who authors the blog may come across as bitter or sarcastic, but most of the time they are there as a resource, both for discernment and for healing.
I appreciate the watchblogs that convey an attitude of concern rather than scorn; that are genuinely wanting to uphold Biblical integrity, practice fairness/objectivity, and keep people from stumbling.
Recently I was talking to a woman in my church who was very eager to share about all she had been learning in her personal Bible study. Terminology and ideas she talked excitedly about set off alarm bells, but I couldn’t quite figure out what she was really saying. Eventually she mentioned she was reading the books and listening to the tapes of a particular Bible teacher. I asked her his name and she said “oh, no one’s ever heard of him.” As soon as she said that, I was up for the challenge, so I memorized the name (using a mnemonic device), googled it, and found not only his website, but more about him on some watchblogs.
The trouble was that the websites with the most information were of course the ones that were “exposing” everyone and everything that didn’t fit into their narrow interpretation of “true Christianity.” Thankfully, though, there was enough accurate information there for me to discern the errors in this teacher’s theology. The only trouble with that is that I don’t like to link to such websites.
In God’s grace, I’ve been kept from discovering these so-called ‘watchdog’ blogs. I find spiritual encouragement from a whole range of preaching and commentating blogs, but none that major on highlighting another preacher’s shortcomings.
Sure, there have been times where I have had to ‘clue up’ on a particular individual, who may be coming to our area. In that case, a quick ‘google’ can usually give you the info you need to make a wise assessment.
Whatever is good, whatever is noble… think on these things.
Lots of food for thought.
Also liked the reference to Postman. Since reading a couple of books of his, I have wondered more than once what commentary he would have had to offer about blogs, twitter Facebook, and the internet in general.
Come over to my blog and see the Evangelical Pope-cum-Watchman in action. :)
Tim,I do agree somewhat with your article, but mostly do believe we need to know about these false doctrines, teachers and websites that are blatantly trying to destroy true biblical Christianity. Just because it is not in my hometown or down the street from me doesn’t mean that it does not affect me. Anything that happens to hurt the family of God does affect me, you and any other true believer. Be that Todd Bentley’s farce in Florida or Young’s “The Shack” - it is all part of the downturn of what society believes to be Christianity.
These things need to be known by Christians so we can be in prayer specifically for them. We can’t let things come in unaware in our smaller communities that are already happening in larger cities. These “watchblogs” are the watchmen of our day as in Isaiah 62:6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,
Insert verbal equivalent of nodding head here.
Definition of a watchblog:
Any blog-like website which has the primary objective of “exposing” the church life errors of people in the English-speaking, North American church; sees “apologetics” as primarily the prosecution of guilty heretics and not as turning a brother away from sin; rarely turns its attention to exhorting the exceeeding beauty and sufficiency of Christ.
Among their most devastating weapons are surprise, fear. ruthless efficiency; sometimes their brilliant red uniforms, but never a fanatical devotion to the Pope.
Tim,
You make some good points here. However, of all the ‘watchblogs’ that I am aware of, few if any, don’t also engage in teaching and correcting of the errors they are bringing to light.
Even the Museum of Idolatry, which I run, constantly links to good resources that correct the errors being exposed in the exhibits that we post.
I also want to point out that, we live in a day of significant paradigm shifts in the church. Because of the internet and the successful networking of the leaders spearheading these changes, what happens to a church in Pigs Breath Nebraska in all reality can and probably will have an impact on churches in your town. For example, last January a small unknown church in Ybor City Florida decided to have a 30 Day Sex Challenge. They sent out a press release announcing their challenge because they learned to send out press releases from Seeker-Driven Conferences that the pastor had attended. That story became a national story and now there are literally hundreds of churches across the country who are following suit.
The question that I continually try to explore is how these Seeker-Driven methods directly impact the message being preached in the pulpit. These methodological changes have run through the church like wild fire and I for one don’t think that these methods are neutral in regard to their impact on the gospel and faithfulness to the message that we’ve being given to preach, teach, proclaim and pass to the next generation.
Contrary to your claim that this type of information doesn’t lead to action, I receive hundreds of emails per week from people who’ve taken action from the information and teaching provided through the information that I publish via blogs, twitters, and internet radio.
BTW, I was watching TV last night, and the Discovery channel was running part of its warehouse of historically-inaccurate, exegetically-challenged refutations of the Christian faith and the Bible.
It would be nice to see the Watchblogs deal with that stuff — even if they reposted their previous refutations every year — to show that they’re concerned about things which the average Christian can use rather than, well, what they do do.
I’m paying .99 for this?
Seriously, though, Tim: You’re reaching for a point that is valid, but only if properly and carefully qualified. There are indeed some bad watchblogs out there, whose only purpose seems to be voyeurism and recreational sarcasm. They aren’t wrong because they shine the light of truth on evil things that are better left in the dark. They’re wrong because in a backhanded way they seem to glory in the evil—as you say—as a form of entertainment.
It’s just like journalism per se: There are some sleazy tabloids out there. They don’t invalidate legitmate investigative journalism. Still, whenever a Robert Tilton gets exposed by 20/20, he’ll squeal that he is a victim of yellow journalism.
Certain evils (not all the evils in the world, but certainly the ones that undermine the purity of the church) DO need to be exposed and refuted, and sometimes rebuked harshly.
I was actually fine with your blogpost, because I figured all those careful qualifications were a given in your mind (what with you having written the book on discernment and everything). But my confidence was shattered by comment #26, in which you almost seem to imply that you are ashamed of things you yourself have written in the past. And I’m troubled trying to imagine what things those might be. Because I have always pointed to you as an example of excellent balance. And if you’re planning to devote “a lot less time to [critiquing] false doctrines and false teachers,” that will be to the detriment of your blog’s quality and usefulness, and it will greatly diminish the value of what I am paying .99 a month to get on my Kindle every day.
You’re one of the few reasonable, biblically-minded voices of discernment out there with the courage to say what no one else seems to want to say but a lot of us benefit from hearing. That’s your spiritual gift. Don’t hide your light under a bushel just because it happens to cast its rays from time to time on things that are evil.
Tim,
are you criticizing the “watchdogs”, or the people who love to read such stuff? If the former, how do you exonerate yourself from the charge of Mt. 7:1?
Also, in your opinion, do you think du Moulin, the opponent of Moses Amyraut, is a “watchdog”? Afer all, he tirelessly worked to indict good old Moses Amyraut of heresy!
Tim:
“But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.” 2 Thess 3:13.
Yes, there are an excess of lurid “watchblogs” out there. All the more reason for mature men with disciplined minds and sound doctrine to speak the Truth…the whole Truth.
Please, Timothy, do not lay down your sword. Remember what Paul said to Timothy…”Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.” - 2 Timothy 1:14.