Participants: Lincoln Steed (Host), Paul Anderson
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000312B
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00:05 Welcome back to the "Liberty Insider."
00:07 Before the break with guest Paul Anderson, 00:10 you made a really heavy statement about 00:13 where we are headed and the importance 00:15 of religious freedom. 00:16 And so let's continue this discussion. 00:20 When I first started with religious liberty 00:22 I used to quote what are my 00:23 then favorite pieces of writing, 00:27 "Tale of Two Cities," you know, 00:29 because it's the best of times and the worst of times. 00:31 And I still think with it, you know, 00:33 we are well along on the war on terror that scares 00:37 most of us silly from time to time 00:39 but yet at the same time 00:41 things have never been better on many levels. 00:44 So, you know, don't you agree? 00:45 I think it's irresponsible to say we've lost everything. 00:48 Yeah. I think-- 00:49 Nobody is knocking on my door yet, 00:51 nobody has told me I can't practice my faith 00:54 or indeed they restrict me a little bit of civil liberties 00:58 but not greatly. 01:01 But yet I can see evidence 01:02 that the understandings have changed in radical ways, 01:06 even some laws certainly relating 01:08 to how this war on terror has been fought. 01:10 I can see that it's a big net 01:14 that could catch many beyond the real targets. 01:19 I think that technology has made our lives wonderful 01:25 but I learned that in our cars 01:29 the car manufacturers have the capacity 01:32 and certainly the insurance agencies to monitor everything 01:36 we are doing in our cars. 01:39 The speed you drive, when you braked, all of those things 01:42 can be monitored especially with the new cars. 01:44 I like the Tesla, don't have one yet, but that car 01:48 is eternally connected to the Tesla manufacturer. 01:51 Are church salaries 01:52 ever gonna rise to want you to get a Tesla? 01:53 No, I don't think so 01:55 but if there's a benevolent benefactor 01:58 who wants to donate one, I'd take it. 02:00 But also when you go to the stores 02:03 and you use your loyalty card, 02:05 that creates a record of everything you bought. 02:07 Oh, absolutely. 02:09 So there could be 02:10 and I don't want to sound like chicken little 02:11 but there could be mechanisms around 02:14 to tell whether or not by diet or by your budget 02:18 you are compliant with your doctor's 02:22 recommendations and prescriptions. 02:23 Oh, it's all implicit in the information. 02:25 Which is not any sinister intent 02:27 as you said, but the technology 02:30 has pretty much mapped out our lives 02:32 and everything can be recorded, 02:35 analyzed and perhaps, 02:38 perhaps accurately given out what we are doing. 02:41 A Seventh-day Adventist 02:43 that works in a government computer center in Washington 02:45 came to my office once and he said 02:47 pretty much the same. 02:48 He says, "You have no idea what's going on." 02:49 He says, since all this is being gathered he says, 02:53 they can tell a Seventh-day Adventist 02:54 and I thought about it. 02:56 You know, your travel, 02:57 your buying habits, your telephone habits. 02:59 He says, there will be huge hole 03:01 around the Sabbath when everything is grided. 03:05 Interesting. 03:06 Because obviously we are not on our phones in church 03:08 unless we're texting and tweeting 03:10 about the sermon, right? 03:11 Yeah, but and that in itself is not wrong 03:14 but if someone was wanting to isolate you, 03:17 very easy to do. 03:19 So we tend to think, well, 03:20 they would look at the church books, he is a member. 03:22 But now that isn't really the way. 03:23 Yeah. 03:24 And by you signing the contracts for the cell phones 03:28 or whatever media that we are using, 03:30 our internet provider, 03:34 we give right to that information to be collected. 03:37 And what I found troubling 03:39 and I keep telling my kids to be careful, 03:41 Facebook is bad enough but you don't know 03:44 what other people are posting your picture 03:47 and things about you on Facebook 03:48 and then again that's all gathered. 03:50 It isn't just what you would put there. 03:52 Everything can be interconnected. 03:53 Yeah. Yeah. 03:55 And even if that were accurate, that's fine, 03:57 but inferences can be drawn 03:58 that might not be just because 04:02 I know somebody doesn't mean 04:04 that I'm party to what they do. 04:06 That's true. 04:07 And I guess what it does boil down to 04:09 is the responsibility of the believer 04:13 to practice integrity at all times. 04:15 Yeah, I mean, just I made a illusion to Daniel over here 04:20 but I think it's a lesson we should take. 04:22 We live before God regardless of what is thought about it. 04:26 Pray at that window even if, you know, 04:30 it's being recorded on account of our machine. 04:34 Do you remember that term? 04:35 Yes. Yes. 04:36 It was a bad PR name 04:38 and so they've changed it to something else. 04:39 And, you know, I'm as spooked 04:41 as anyone by what's happening 04:42 but I generally don't think it's a bad intent, 04:46 but I think it's heading toward a bad conclusion for all of us. 04:50 Not just Adventists, not just Christians, 04:52 not just people of faith. 04:54 I think such a net is being drawn 04:56 that the framers of the Constitution's idea of privacy 05:00 and the autonomy and rights of the individual, 05:03 it just automatically dissipates. 05:06 Technology tends to change the contemporary dynamics 05:10 on the principles that we've held dear, 05:13 privacy and autonomy, 05:15 those things are kind of sacrificed 05:17 when you're on shared networks. 05:18 Yeah. 05:20 You know, I'm a bit of a lud. 05:22 You know, I think it's best to personally stay away 05:25 but the new generation, they don't have that thought. 05:28 So the best to say to them is "Live your life consistently." 05:32 You know, there is a problem with younger people. 05:34 Well, all younger people had it 05:35 but it's worse I think currently. 05:37 You know, they will act a certain way in church 05:40 but they can party with the hearty of the terms 05:42 and they might somehow in their mind 05:44 they reconcile it 05:46 but it's not reconcilable by surveillance. 05:48 Yeah. 05:50 It would undercut you horribly. 05:51 You know, it's going to challenge us as a church 05:55 on how to communicate and maintain relationships 05:59 with our younger children. 06:01 I have grandchildren, the eldest is three and they, 06:05 neither of them can read but they can navigate YouTube. 06:08 Yeah. Yeah. 06:12 I know Apple computer and this is not an ad for them 06:14 but I am a pro Apple person. 06:16 You know, they developed 06:18 what they said was an intuitive interface 06:20 whether it truly is we don't know 06:22 but I've got to admit 06:23 looking at some of these kids I wonder, 06:25 are they almost built in with the aptitude for it 06:29 or is it just a well designed intuitive interface. 06:32 But these kids are, they seem to know it 06:35 before they can talk or walk. 06:37 They absorb technology. 06:39 Little children are able to manage multiple systems 06:43 in order to look at a DVD. 06:45 They can figure out 06:46 how to turn this thing, this thing, 06:48 that thing on and get to watch 06:50 the DVD they are interested in. 06:51 But maybe all of these mechanisms are like 06:54 the fruit on a forbidden tree that we are eating 06:59 that dulls their sense of what is right or wrong 07:01 or in religious liberty, 07:03 dulls our sense of what duty holds for us. 07:06 But I think technology is amoral 07:11 but how we utilize it 07:13 is dependent upon our sense of values. 07:16 Absolutely. Some is not. 07:18 Yeah, that's true. 07:19 I'm not anti TV but I got to admit 07:21 and we could have a whole program on it 07:23 that some of the carry away 07:24 and things that are going on are positively harmful 07:27 and mesmerizing, the whole mechanism. 07:30 Like, I can remember few years ago 07:32 there was a spate in Japan of TV programs 07:35 that had strobing lights 07:37 and thousands of kids went into seizures. 07:39 So it's not just how your mind processes it, 07:44 it just affects the human mechanism 07:46 in a subliminal way. 07:47 Right. 07:48 But there's no question, isn't it, 07:50 that religious liberty is a threat or at least 07:54 endangered by these sort of dynamics 07:56 and we need to be on our guard. 07:57 Absolutely. 07:59 On our guard and able to process and provide 08:04 what we need without giving too much of our liberty away 08:08 to facilitate other things. 08:11 And if we are living in harmony 08:13 with what's right, best and proper 08:16 we will be okay. 08:18 If you ever want to spend a sleepless night 08:21 then just spend an hour or two cruising the internet, 08:24 YouTube included, and look at some of the postings 08:28 having to do with martial law, internment camps, 08:32 even guillotines and the whole thing 08:35 and of course don't forget to end up with space aliens 08:38 and all sorts of nether creations perhaps like 08:41 Atlanteans live under the crust 08:44 or the surface of the ocean. 08:46 All of these things are floating around 08:48 and you will be sleepless for a long time. 08:50 But I want to tell you all of that aside 08:53 which may contain small kernels of truth. 08:56 All of that aside, religious freedom, 08:58 civil liberty is indeed under threat. 09:01 A lot of it is being sacrificed 09:03 in the battle against terrorism which is a very real war. 09:08 All of it is being sacrificed in the culture war 09:10 that has put up hedonism and self-fulfillment 09:14 ahead of religious commitment and morality 09:17 or moral godly living. 09:19 The threat is real and we should not be misled 09:23 by the sitzkrieg if you like in this war 09:26 where things appear unchanged 09:28 but beneath the surface real changes, 09:31 real threats are rapidly emerging 09:34 and will soon reveal themselves full blown. 09:37 This is Lincoln Steed for Liberty Insider. |
Revised 2016-01-01