Carter on the "Now This..." News Culture

Joe Carter always has must read stuff. Today is no different. On the culture of instant, always changing, rarely grounded in context news culture, he writes:

As a Christian, I’m expected to reject this “Now, this . . .” mindset in favor of an eternal perspective, viewing events not just in their historical but in their eschatological context. But I can’t do that if my attention is focused on the churning detritus of the 24-hour news cycle. Besides, events that are truly important are rarely those captured on the front page of a daily paper or found scrolling across the FOX News ticker.

The late Malcolm Muggeridge admitted, “I’ve often thought that if I’d been a journalist in the Holy Land at the time of our Lord’s ministry, I should have spent my time looking into what was happening in Herod’s court. I’d be wanting to sign Salome for her exclusive memoirs, and finding out what Pilate was up to, and—I would have missed completely the most important event there ever was.”

Indeed, imagine if CNN’s Anderson Cooper had been a reporter during that era: “. . . three revolutionaries were crucified on Golgatha today. Included among the executions was a man called Jesus, who some Jews considered to be the messiah. Those hopes were dashed, however, around three P.M. when Roman soldiers declared Jesus dead. And now, this . . . ”

The whole thing has some more fab quotes. Check it out and stop hitting the refresh button over at CNN.com (I'll try to stop, too).