My wife Tammy and I have gone to several Ligonier Ministries theology conferences over the years. One thing we always look forward to are the “Question and Answers” sessions, which are some of our favorite sessions of each conference. I also enjoy the Ask Ligonier podcast as well as the Friday edition of The Briefing, when Albert Mohler takes listener questions.
I have listened to the Ask Pastor John podcast (I listen on the app), since it began in 2013. Tony Reinke is the host of the podcast. He asks questions submitted by listeners to pastor John Piper. Through the end of the first decade of the podcast, 1,881 episodes were released, which had been played over 230 million times, or about 125,000 times each. I was able to attend two Ask Pastor John live sessions at the 2019 and 2022 Sing! Conferences. In fact, at the 2019 conference, Reinke asked Piper a question that I had submitted for the session. Continue reading →
12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke. 224 pages. Crossway. 2017 ****
Look around, and many of the people you see will be looking down at their smartphone. It is amazing how smartphones have transformed our culture. This well-researched book by Tony Reinke is both an important one and a timely one.
More than a billion iPhones have been sold since Apple introduced it in 2007. Smartphones are now omnipresent. Amazingly, people check their smartphones about every four minutes they are awake.
The author looks at the positives (all the things they can do for us), and negatives (distractions, easier access to sexual sin, for example) of smartphones. The book is neither pro-smartphone, nor anti-smart phone. He encourages us to consider what impact the smartphone has had on our spiritual lives. He states that we might not know what our smartphones are doing to us, but we are being changed. He looks at the question of what is the best use of our smartphones in the flourishing of our life. The book is more diagnostic and worldview than it is application. The author states that the book will succeed only if we enjoy Christ more.
The author tells us that to look at our smartphone history is like piercing into our souls. Our smartphone habits expose our hearts.
He looks at a history of technology and offers a theology of technology. He shares that those addicted to smartphones are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety and have a harder time concentrating at work and sleeping. He looks at the spiritual dimensions and consequences of our digital addiction and distractions. For example, when texting while driving, we are twenty-seven times more likely to have an accident. He addresses topics such as online anger, approval addiction (likes, shares, followers) and the impact smartphones have had on our reading of books, including the Bible. Other topics he looks at are identity and idolatry (do we worship our smartphones, our online presence?), isolation, slander, and the fear of missing out or being left out. Continue reading →
12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke. 224 pages. Crossway. 2017