Talkology vs. Theology

Over the past few years I have grown concerned that many conservative Christians seem to get their theology from talk radio. In a sense it seems almost natural. After all why would we not? We label ourselves ‘conservative’ and most talk radio is conservative. So it is pretty easy to cruise along in that conservative boat, philosophically three sheets to the wind. It may not seem so at first. For, look, those talk show guys are tough on crime, pro military, and all for lower taxes. Being Christian we (supposedly) support those ideals so we are on the same team right? So they (we) believe. But of course we are not on the same team. Glenn Beck is a Mormon, Neal Boortz is an agnostic or possibly an atheist, certainly not a Christian, Ingraham is a Catholic – maybe saved maybe not, Rush does not talk much about his religion if any, and so it goes. Yet the conservative church finds itself all on board with these talkers. We listen all day long and then use our vacations to go on cruises with them. Now, I am all for cruises but maybe we should pay attention to a few details.

The details I am thinking of have to do with simple things like noticing what their sources of truth typically are, what are their stated sources of morals, or how do their personal lives pan out? These things can give us insight as to how worthy their opinions might be. After all, if the Devil’s minions can show up in sheep’s clothing maybe it is not unlikely they can show up in conservative garb as well. Maybe we are not looking too carefully because we like the message (and we hate the left).

As Bible-believing Christians we are supposed to be drawing our beliefs, er, doctrine, (why do we hate that word? Also, which do we hate more, the left or the word doctrine?) from Scripture. Yet we find our thoughts and conversation returning again and again to the talker’s opinions like a dog returns to its vomit. Does the radio talker think we should use statistics and circumvent God’s commands, then so do we. Does the talker believe it is impolitic to condemn gays in the military based on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah? Maybe he just uses quotes from military experts, so, so do we. When it comes to economics the talkers blab about Keynesian principles vs. free market principles but never Biblical economic principles, so, so do we. Plus, the fact that an opinion is politically conservative is certainly not evidence that it is Biblically sound. We need to be taking every thought captive not just the liberal ones.

I am thinking maybe the reason we sound just like the radio talkers and rarely like the Biblical talkers is that our hearts really are more captured by the radio guys and less by the Bible guys. This is a call to repentance. We need to start sounding more like the Bible talkers and less like the radio talkers. It would be another step toward the restoration of Christian civilization. This is a journey worth taking.

For Christian Culture,

Don Schanzenbach