The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Redeeming the Time You Waste on TV News

Episode Date: October 27, 2017

Jeff Cavins has an announcement to make: He's done watching network news. In this episode, he reminds us that instead of passively consuming the "same old same old" from the news, we can use our time to grow in our relationship with God and with others.

You're listening to The Jeff Kavan Show. Episode 38, Redeeming the Time You Waste on TV News. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven Show.

Hello, my friend. the show again and I'm glad you join me I my voice sounds a little bit different I know because I am struggling with a bit of a cold but that's not going to get me down I'm still going to take some time and I want to share with you this week something that's really on my heart right now I'll be honest with you I'm I'm pretty wound up about it and and that is this this idea of wasting our time watching network news now when I talk about what network news. I'm talking about some of the cable companies. I'm talking about CNN. I'm talking about Fox. I'm talking about MSNBC and it goes on and on. And I had an experience

this last week where it really hit me that I really don't need to be spending my time watching these news shows. And I'm not getting anything out of it. But more importantly, it's sucking the time away from things that I could be doing with my family and particularly my faith. And that's what I want to talk to you about today. I'm going to give you some hard numbers as to how long it takes to read books of the Bible, say certain prayers, go to Mass, dulexio divina in the morning, the examined prayer at night, and how we can redeem the time from watching the goofiness on television and really spend that time serving Christ and putting it into our relationship with Christ. And to be honest with you, I hope that something like I'm talking about today

could actually become a national movement where we're saying, you know what, I'm going to redeem the time. I'm going to redeem the time. I'm done with this. Watching the news between CNN and Fox, for example, is getting you nowhere, absolutely nowhere, and it's taking time away from the things that are really, really important in your life. We need to redeem the time, redeem the time. Now, let me just start off by saying that there was a time in my life, at least, that it seemed like watching

the news was really a legitimate thing to do in the evening. You're going to get an idea of the news. And to some extent, I think that it's good to stay on top of the news, whether it's on the web or you take a quick view of ABC, NBC, CBS, whatever. You know, you're going to watch a little bit of the news and at least find out what's happening in the world. But to spend hours watching some of these shows, I think, is a waste of time. Now, I remember when I was younger, I was in radio in Minneapolis. And one of my jobs in this first radio station that I worked at, which was a big network station, a CBS affiliate, perennial Peabody Winner, Big Big Station. My job, as a young broadcast student, was to take care of the stars that came by.

And one of the real highlights of my growing up was to meet Walter Cronkite. And I remember when I met him. I was about 20 years old, 21 years old. And he came into the room and I was like, oh, my gosh, this is like the prophet of broadcasting, Walter Cronkite. And at one time in America, they said that Walter Cronkite was the most trusted American in the country. And people trusted him. And they trusted what they were getting.

And I still remember growing up, you know, at the end of his broadcast, you know, this is Walter Cronkite, CBS News, you know, the deep, deep voice. And we did trust him. But something happened with cable news. Something happened with cable news where news became entertainment rather than informative. And I think you know what I'm talking about. And if you tune into, if you tune into Fox, you know what you're going to get, don't you? You know what you're going to get.

You know what kind of good news you're going to get, right? Tucker Carlson's going to give you some good news. Fox and Friends, Greg Gutfeld, Judge Genean, Shepard Smith, Hannity, all of them are going to give you their perspective on the news. No matter what the news is, they're going to give you their perspective, and CNN is the same way. You've got Anderson Cooper, Aaron Burnett. You've got Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper and the rest of them. And it's so predictable. It's so predictable.

And so I'm asking myself, why do I want to spend my time listening to this? This last week I had the privilege of being down in Atlanta, Georgia, up in Roswell at Peter Chanel Parish. What a great parish. Deacon Mike Bickerstaff, yay. for you. You do a great job up there. And my good friends, Joanne and Hugh, you guys are fantastic. And Atlanta has some really cool things going on when it comes to the church. Well, I was done speaking. I went back to my hotel room. And as I often do on the road, I go into my hotel room. I turn the

television on and watch a little bit of news or whatever. And I was doing some other things on my computer writing and emails. And I was listening to the bantering going back and forth on Fox. And then I turned over to CNN. And there was the bantering going back and forth. And I thought to myself, they were talking about, they were talking about, of course, Trump. And they were talking about his response to the family that lost their son in war. And Johnson, his last name was Johnson, La David Johnson. And after listening to both of them going back and forth, I literally put my hands up in the air, in the hotel room, and I said, I've had it with this.

This is just silly, and I turned it off. I got better things to do than to listen to this. You would never guess they were talking about the same story. It was amazing. So anyway, I'm venting with you here a little bit, a little bit today, because I think, think I've come to the point where, and I was talking to my wife about it, I'm kind of done with it, to be honest with you. I'm done with it. I don't really want to watch Fox anymore. Yeah, but Jeff, I thought you were really, you know, conservative and so forth. Well, could be, yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to

give my time to this network, and I'm not going to watch CNN anymore. So what am I going to do? Well, I'm going to spend my time more wisely. And I want to encourage you to do that. Now, before, you email me and say, well, we've got to be informed and we've got to know what's going on. I agree with you. We do. And I think that if you have a couple of websites that you might go to on a daily basis, and whether it's Drudge or Huffington or whatever side you happen to be on, I mean, you can find your websites, too, that will agree with your views, you go to those websites and get a hold of what's happening out there. Are you going to know the exact truth? I don't know, to be honest with you.

But I do know this. If we know that an event has happened, let's pray about it. Let's pray about it. And I like what Paul told Timothy. In 1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, he said, first of all, then,

I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings, and all who are in high positions that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way.

So you see, what we're called to do as disciples of the Lord is not to spend endless hours before the television listening to banter, which ends up nowhere. I think that that is actually a waste of time, and I think we squander our time. We've only been given so many hours in a day and we are stewards of that. That means we've got to make good decisions about how we're going to spend it.

I can name for you at least a hundred ways to spend our time better than watching CNN and Fox right now, to be honest with you. I think we could come up, the two of us together could come up with, 200 different ways. In fact, I would encourage you to write me and give me some ideas on better ways. to spend your time than watching Fox and CNN and MSNBC and the rest of them. Go ahead and write me. It's The Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. The Ascension, it's literally called the Jeffcaven Show at ascensionpress.com. Send me an email.

I really want to hear what your thoughts are on this. I do. Now, I ran into a beautiful article about praying for our leaders, and it was by Dylan Burroughs, and it was on Pathios. If you're not familiar with Pathios, I'll put it in the show notes. It's a wonderful website that really gives some good insight into the Christian life. And he wrote about 1 Timothy chapter 2, which I just read to you, where Paul said, pray for your leaders, and he said this, and I thought it was good.

He said, we live in an age of political spite. Even seemingly devout Christians have decided it's okay. to bash our nation's leaders with reckless abandon. I know, he said, I'm supposed to love our president, but, or, I can't wait to get those politicians choose your party out of office in the next election. Yet these attitudes are directly opposed to God's plan regarding our Christian view of our nation's leaders.

First and foremost, the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy Chapter 2 commands us to pray for our governing leaders. In fact, just about every possible word for pray was used to communicate this truth. Further, we are not to pray for their demise. We are told that we pray in order that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. What does this mean? We pray for our leaders so we will live in stable society, a stable society, that allows us to focus on worshiping God.

Yes, we are also called in other places to pray for the salvation of others and for the wisdom of our leaders. These areas are also important. The key is to pray, not attack our nation's leaders, whether verbally or otherwise. And lest we forget, Paul wrote these words under the reign of King Nero, a fellow historically much more difficult to live under than any president in American history. When it comes to our governing leaders, God's word speaks clearly on where we are to begin in prayer. Now, that's a good article. I'll put that in the show notes for you. I'm going to take a break. When I come back, what I'm going to do is I'm going to translate the time that we waste on watching these networks.

shows into solid Bible reading and devotion and prayer that will literally yield fruit and mean something for eternity. Don't go away. I'm going to show you how to redeem your time in just a moment. We'll be right back. Hey guys, this is Shayna from Ascension. I don't know if you've heard, but with Ascension's new digital delivery platform, you can start a study with anyone anywhere. Here's how to do it. First, Go to ascensionpress.com and create a free online account. Once you're there, preview any of our study programs for free and choose the one you'd like to leave.

Then, find at least three friends, family members, or co-workers who want to do the study with you. Once you have your group, make sure everyone registers to receive their study materials. Then you're ready to go. Meet with your group in person, online, or both. It's that simple. Welcome back to the Jeff Kaven show.

We're talking about redeeming the time that you waste on TV news. And I have pretty much come to a decision. I'm done. I'm not going to watch this stuff anymore. I've got too many other things that are important in my life than Fox and CNN and MSNBC and the rest. There's other things on TV that are very interesting. Just to tell you one thing, just earlier this morning, in fact. I was at a funeral for a man who was at the Battle of the Bulge and featured on HBO's series Band of Brothers about World War II.

And this man from Minneapolis died this week, and his funeral was in Deep Haven, Minnesota, and I was there this morning. And that's something I'd like to see. I'd like to see that documentary series about these heroes who exhibited valor. That could be worth it. the rest of the news, Fox, CNN, MSNBC, and the rest, I got better things to do, friends. I do. And I think you do too. I want to hear how you could spend your time more wisely than watching network news on cable. Now, as I promised before the break, I'm going to give you some ideas on how you could use your time a little bit more wisely. And what I'd like to do is share

with you some lengths of time on how long it takes to read certain books of the Bible. Now, if you watch Jake Tapper or Anderson Cooper or Hannity, that's an hour, right? That's an hour. Well, what could you do? What could you do for an hour, right, of watching network news? Well, I got this off the web off a guy who actually timed every book of the Bible and how long it took to read each book of the Bible. Let me give you some examples, okay? When it comes to watching Hannity, you can trade Hannity in for reading the book of Nehemiah.

It takes an hour. Nehemiah takes about an hour to read, all right? Going down the list here, for three and a half of Anderson Cooper shows, if he's on the show for an hour, let's say, three and a half hour. let's say, three and a half hours of Anderson Cooper will give you Genesis. Have you ever read Genesis? Have you ever delved into the creation of the world and God's purpose for our lives, an original sin and God's plan of sheer goodness after that? Have you ever spent time just meditating on God's goodness and using Joseph as he suffered

for his brethren and it meant their salvation and freedom? Hmm. Well, I don't know if you're going to get that with Anderson Cooper. but three and a half of Anderson Cooper's they'll give you one Genesis okay I'll trade you it's like baseball cards back in the 60s I remember it so well I'd trade you know I'd trade three Olivas for one kilo you know for the twins well I'll trade you three and a half Anderson Cooper's for Genesis how about let's see let's see here what else do we've got a couple other books how about Psalms I'll give you five half

for one Psalm. That's right. It takes five hours to read the Psalms. And that's that's one week of Sean Hannity. Are you willing to, are you willing to give up one five-day segment of Hannity to read the Psalms? Hmm. Some of you're going to send this into him. He's going to get upset with me. That's okay. Song of Solomon. You want to improve your marriage? It's only one thing. third of Jake Tapper. That's it. 20 minutes. 20 minutes. You get the Song of Solomon's. It's how long it takes to read it. That's amazing. Absolutely amazing. A lot of these minor prophets, Daniel's only an hour and 25 minutes. Josea's 30 minutes. You can read Josea twice, twice for what you could see Gutfeld. You can watch Gutfeld for an hour. You can watch Gutfeld for an hour. You can

read Hosea twice. Joel was only 12 minutes. Amos is 25. Obadiah is four minutes. You can read it ten times for one of these newscasts. Let's go to the New Testament here for a second. Take a look. Oh, look at this. We got Matthew is two and a half hours to read the entire gospel of Matthew. Not bad. Not bad. Let me ask you this. Would you give up Wolf Blitz? for two and a half shows for the gospel of Matthew, especially when we say, I don't have time. I don't have time to read the Bible. Okay, so we got Mark is one and a half. Luke is two and a half.

John is two. Let's add that up. We've got five, seven, eight and a half hours. Eight and a half hours. Oh, my. For eight and a half hours, the statistics. are showing us that we are watching well over, well over 20 hours a week of television. And a lot of it is the news for eight and a half hours.

You could give up six or seven shows in the next week and literally consume all four Gospels. What a deal. See, what I'm showing you today, being a little bit funny about it, but I'm being very serious too, and that is that I'm showing you how to redeem the time, make the most of every opportunity, as Paul said. Have you ever wanted to read Romans? That's one Hannity. That's an hour. First Corinthians is a Hannity. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying he's bad. Don't get me wrong and don't email me about, well, he's really good. He may be. Oprah may be good.

Ellen may be good. Dr. Phil may be good. Dr. Oz may be good. But none of them compared to Romans or Matthew. look at this you can read first and second timothy in 26 minutes both of them that's half that is that is literally half of aaron burnett show on cnn that's half of an aaron burnett so i can read both first and second timothy for half of one erin burnett show now let's see here we've got Oh, you ever want to read the book of Revelation? That is an incredible book. The Book of Revelation is a great book about understanding the mass and the end times. And that is really, really good.

And that will only take you one Judge Janine. That's all. One Judge Janine. Or a Shepherd Smith. You can take your, maybe a Judge Janine and part of a Shepherd Smith. You might get the Book of Revelation in there. But go for it. If you make it better, if you make it quicker,

judge Janine and part of Shepard and let me know because we're going to change these stats on that one right there well I think you know where I'm going with this and what I'm saying is that you know we complain so often that we don't have time for things but the truth of the matter is we do we do have time and it's a matter of how we allocate that time and make the most of of every opportunity look in the end we are we are stewards of all that God has given us and our heart aches for justice and truth and love and our heart is made for God and we've got to be wise about how we spend our time. Sorry if I sound like I'm ranting a little bit, but I am because as I was sitting in my hotel room in Atlanta, Georgia, Roswell, it just hit me. Life is more important

than this. My time is more important than this. And if good people like you and me don't make decisions to change our lives and allocate our time differently, then we are going to go down with the flow. And the problem with going with the current and down with the flow is that it ends in the rapids. And I don't want to be in the rapids. I want to be in the rapids. I want to a quiet and peaceful life of worshipping God and loving my family and spending my time with those things that are really important. Now, will you do me a favor? Will you email me?

If you email me at The Jeffcaven Show at ascensionpress.com, I want to know something. I want to know. I want to know how you can redeem the time. It might not be reading books of the Bible. It might be doing other things. Like, do you know that it takes 20 minutes to read the rosary or to pray the rosary? Do you know that you, for one, Jake Tapper, you can get three rosaries? What a deal.

What a deal. Mass is only 45 minutes, 15 minutes to drive. You know, and you've got 45 minutes of daily mass. There's one Aaron Burnett right there. Lexio de Venus, 20 minutes. You get three shepherd Smiths there. Examined prayers, 10 minutes. Five Hannity's for an examined prayer.

prayer. It just goes on and on. Pray at an abortion clinic, 60 minutes. One hour of praying for your children, one hour praying for your grandchildren. We've got so many opportunities here. But write me, seriously, write me, and tell me how you're going to redeem your time. And if you can find another hour or two a week to give to the Lord, isn't that a good thing? The Jeff Kaven show at ascensionpress.com. And please know that I'm praying for you. And I love you. And I want to be a disciple of Jesus just like you. Let's help each other. Go to iTunes and go ahead and rank the show and leave your comments on iTunes. You can go to ascensionpresents.com and also leave your comments. Pass this show on to those who are wasting

their time on network news right now and they don't have time for the Lord. Maybe it'll make a difference in their life. Let's close in prayer, shall we? In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Lord, I thank you today for giving us life. I thank you, Lord, for giving us an opportunity to serve you in 24 hours a day. Help us to be good stewards, Lord, and to make the appropriate decisions to give our time to the things that are really important and not to the frivolous. May our hearts be in tuned with what's happening in Rome rather than necessarily the network news. Lord, lead us and guide us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. God bless you, my friend. You have a fantastic week.