Communications

Discerning What Is Best
With Dr Rex Rogers

Two New eBooks at Amazon Kindle!

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 14 February 2022

Jesus said, Be in the world but not of the world. But to do that, we have to think, we have to Discern What Is Best. But how, pray tell, do we do this?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #1 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Years ago, one of our sons returned from a date with his girlfriend. They’d gone to a movie and decided to walk out because the film proved to be less than worthy.

What was interesting to me at the time was his exasperation when he got home—something that turned out to be a teaching moment for me and what he later said was a maturing moment for him. Remember, they’d walked out because the film got nasty. I was proud of them for doing so. But when we talked about it at the dining room table that evening he said, “But Dad, it was PG-13. It was supposed to be OK.”

Yeah, it was supposed to be OK.

He’d wisely checked the ratings, as we’d taught our kids to do, to assure he wasn’t taking his girlfriend to a raunchy movie. But the film’s language and sex scenes belied the rating.

The teaching moment was this: Checking the ratings was a good thing. But a rating of PG-13 doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good movie, or one that’s worth your time and money. Hollywood or critics may say it’s a good movie, but that doesn’t mean it actually is. A rating is one indicator. It helps, but you still have to think. You have to exercise your spiritual discernment.

Through that experience my son learned to think more carefully, purposefully, and thoroughly.

He learned to apply his Christian worldview and to flex his Christian critical thinking muscles. He took another step toward mature spiritual discernment.

Thinking, particularly the kind where we apply knowledge of the Scripture to life’s everyday issues and events isn’t what it used to be.

In my estimation, as a culture if not individually, we give over too much to a host of pretenders we let do our thinking for us = celebrities, politicians, preachers, athletes, super models and super stars.

But God does not want us to be confused by the world’s false teachers and wayward influencers.

In Col. 2:8, the Lord said, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”

God does not want us simply to absorb our culture’s philosophy du jour. To “catch our worldview like measles” as Francis A. Schaeffer once said.

God does not want us confused and disillusioned.

God created us to think. He created us in his image as reasoning though we’re not always reasonable beings and he entrusted us with the responsibility to think well and wisely. This we must do to care for ourselves, our families, our country, and the world. God wants us to think, to discern as the Scripture calls it.

Spiritual discernment is rooted in Philippians 1:9-11.

God said,

9 - “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,

10 - so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

11 - filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”

It’s the act of using biblical principals and values to Discern What Is Best so that we may live the Christian life the way God intended. It’s about holiness, Christian liberty, independent judgment, and mature decision-making. It’s the act of living “in the world” while being “not of the world.”

We’d do well to rediscover or to develop how to “think Christianly.”

What, for example, does Christian spiritual discernment suggest about these thorny issues?

--immigration

--religious professions or protestations of presidential candidates

--respecting Muslims while disagreeing with tenets of Islam

--deficit spending and debt

--climate change

--healthcare

--aging

--human sexuality

--welfare

The list of issues needing, nay crying, for Christian thinking is virtually endless.

So, I say, learn to discern and think Christianly…about everything = Discern What Is Best.

That’s what this podcast is about, Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, look for us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. Helps us all learn to discern what is best.

How do we learn to discern what is best?

By learning biblical doctrine – In 2 Peter 1:3, God said, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

So how do we discern what is best?

By understanding the principals and values we’ve drawn from unchanging biblical doctrine, by learning about real world issues in this rapidly changing world, and by applying our biblical, Spirit-guided discernment to real world concerns and everyday issues of life.

As long as we breathe, we can never “not think.” We live, we are Christians, therefore we (should) think Christianly. It is our great blessing and liberty.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. For more Christian commentary, be sure to subscribe to this podcast, Discerning What Is Best, or check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 10 February 2022

This is the trailer for my new podcast, which will be officially launched later this month. This trailer is already available on Apple Podcast and several other podcast platforms.

*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 18 January 2022

Learning about podcasts is my latest thing. It’s been fun.

A podcast is simply a pre-recorded (mostly) audio or (some) video episode made available online. They can be streamed or downloaded, generally for free.

Last estimate, there are maybe 1 million, or still fewer, podcasts now being distributed. This sounds like a lot, and in one sense it is if you take into account podcasts didn’t exist until the early 2000s. They were popular for a time, dropped off for some reason, and more recently seem to be surging again.

But podcasts relative to other media distribution platforms are still a new thing. According to Buzzsprout.com, “There is a lot of unexplored space in the podcasting industry. There are at least 600 million blogs, 23 million YouTube channels, but only 800,000 podcasts in Apple Podcasts. That means for every podcast, there are 750 blogs and 29 YouTube channels.”

Some 67 million Americans listen to a podcast every month, and this number has grown 100% in past 4 years. So podcasting is a brave new world for communicating simply, personally, inexpensively, and without barriers online, making your voice and point of view, literally, accessible to the world.

The average podcast is 30 minutes, while the average listener hangs in for 22 minutes. Interestingly, the average American commute is 25 minutes. Podcasts range in duration from 4-5 minutes to 3-4 hours.

So it would seem that if you really want to get in, grab someone’s attention, and get out, something less than 22 minutes might be optimal, but it depends upon the topic and podcaster preference, not technological constraint and generally not cost.

In the early days podcasters had to work to get their podcast RSS feed onto a variety of distribution platforms. Now, with one-stop-shopping services like Buzzsprout, the service does the work of distribution once the podcaster signs on and uploads the latest episode.

Not counting the cost of a laptop, podcasters can get started with an outlay of less than $250 for a good microphone and associated equipment. Recording and editing software, a “DAW” or digital audio workstation, like GarageBand is available for free on Apple products.

Most podcasts feature interviews or conversations, while many churches and other similar organizations that regularly produce audio content simply use the podcast medium as another way to disseminate their content. A “true podcast,” one in which the podcaster is offering original content exclusively via the podcast medium are less common but are increasing in number.

I’m researching because I’m looking hard at launching my own podcast, in the midst now of learning and deciding whether to brand the podcast on my own or as an associated expression of the ministry with which I serve, SAT-7 USA.

Time will tell.

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 18 January 2022

Learning about podcasts is my latest thing. It’s been fun.

A podcast is simply a pre-recorded (mostly) audio or (some) video episode made available online. They can be streamed or downloaded, generally for free.

The average podcast 30 minutes, while the average listener hangs in for 22 minutes. Interestingly, the average American commute is 25 minutes. Podcasts range in duration from 4-5 minutes to 3-4 hours.

So it would see that if you really want to get in, grad someone’s attention, and get out, something less than 22 minutes might be optimal, but it depends upon the topic and podcaster preference, not technological constraint and generally not cost.

Time will tell.

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 24 February 2021

1–What will the Internet, originally envisioned as a place open to everyone for the free exchange of ideas, become in the months/years ahead?

2–Who will control the Internet?

3–Will tomorrow’s Internet block certain religions, like Christianity—what historically has been considered a matter of religious liberty and freedom of speech?

4–Will tomorrow’s Internet censor given religious beliefs deemed misinformation or out of sync with the “prevailing acceptable narrative,” e.g., biblical moral teachings about sexuality, gender, abortion, or maybe ideas about health or climate change, etc.?

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 03 June 2020

Years ago, in my other life as a university president I noticed a phenomenon that repeated itself time and again.

1-When I talked for a while about academic quality, inevitably, someone or more than a few would say, “Dr. Rogers doesn’t care about Christian spiritual development.” I’d think, What? I always said our commitment to quality flows from our Christian worldview. I was just emphasizing our need to develop our academic program, not taking a stand against anything else.

2-When I talked for a while about spiritual development, inevitably, someone or more than a few would say, “Dr. Rogers doesn’t care about academic quality.” I’d think, What? I always mention integration of faith and learning. How can anyone think I don't understand or care about other important matters? ...And so it would go.

People assign motives, even positions, based on their perception of what I didn't say at that moment.

Something similar is happening now on social media. I've been criticized, assigned partisan views I don’t hold simply based upon what I did not say and may not believe, or on what someone didn’t see me reference in other posts. At times, it can be "condemned if you do" or "condemned if you don't."

Recently, we witnessed via viral video the tragic and terrible death of George Floyd, killed senselessly and needlessly by coercive force applied by a Minneapolis police officer. This is sin. It is more than sad; it's sickening, and it is part of a pattern of similar injustices against Black men or teens perpetrated by American police officers. This must be discussed and we must find our way toward change that roots out racism and illegal police procedure.

In response this past week, peaceful protests took place in dozens of American cities, which are lawful and needed. Unfortunately, people of some ilk yet to be fully understood, apparently from both the Far Left and Far Right as well as locals running amok, took over protests and turned them into riots featuring vandalism, larceny, looting, arson, and violence. Businesses were damaged and destroyed and some lives were lost.

So what should we talk about? 1-the killing of a Black man for no reason by law enforcement officers, an egregious pattern of racism in this country, 2-the wanton lawlessness resulting in the destruction of property owned by people who had nothing to do with the racist killing of a Black man by police.

Here again, if you post about race killing and not the riots, someone or more than a few, will say, "You don't care about riots," or vice versa. Or if you post about both, someone or more than a few will say, "You aren't prioritizing the right matter and you're being side-tracked." I admit all three perspectives are possible, but I also believe it's possible to talk about these social pathologies sequentially or in an integrated way without being guilty of uncaring or missing the point.

People rush to judgment, particularly on social media. If you don't say what they want to hear, then you are judged.

Undoubtedly and admittedly in terms of full disclosure, I've been guilty of this along the way too. But I try not to do so, because to do so is not good critical, independent thinking, which we desperately need.

If anything, this tendency to rush to judgment is worse than it used to be, another outcome of growing polarization and hyper-partisanship in our culture.