"How does the news change the way we view the world?"

That's the question briefly addressed in this 5 minute video from the TED conference - Alisa Miller from Wired Magazine talking about news reporting in various parts of the world.

"Here's how 'news' shapes what Americans see:"

By any measure, this is not a good thing.

Whether or not you are a Christian, ask yourself:

• What news sources do I primarily depend on, and what is their bias?
• How much diversity of news sources do I take in?
• Is my concept of "international news" limited to events in other countries that directly involve the United States? (For example, that's how www.cnn.com sometimes treats their "world" news... Angelina is in Africa, Obama is in Afghanistan, etc.)

For those who primarily depend on a single source of news, the chances are very high you are not getting a balanced diet of information.

For those who primarily depend on a single, partisan source of news (as an example, let's pick on one of the most biased and least objective television news organizations - Fox News, aka Faux News), the likelihood is almost 100% that you will convincingly perceive the world through the bias of that organization, which is often not aligned with reality.

How does one balance their news diet? By taking in news from the left and the right and the center. The three food groups of news. Regardless of one's own personal leanings - regularly taking in a few diverse perspectives and sources of information is a healthy way to know what's going on in God's world. This is the world which we are called to love, engage, and live the gospel to.

If we have a skewed view of the world we won't be very good witnesses.

If our spectacles are missing one lens we won't see very clearly.

If we have sight in only one eye we lose depth perception.

If we're unaware, we won't be in prayer.

If we only know about our next-door neighbors (or which celebrities gained weight or had twins), we will not be capable elsewhere in the world of imitating the good Samaritan whom Jesus exemplified, not to mention holding our governments and leaders accountable to do the right thing in the global community.

We'll allow and enable situations like the slow genocide in Darfur, for years on end, like we now are doing.

We'll get into wars we shouldn't have. We'll kill innocent people.

We'll miss opportunities. We'll miss ways that the rest of the church (most of whom live in the world's East and South) could help us see new things about God that are outside our peripheral vision.

Get this quote from the video:
Aside from one-person ABC mini-bureaus in Nairobi, New Delhi, and Mumbai, there are no network news bureaus in all of Africa, India or South America, places that are home to more than 2 billion people.

This does not put television news networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) even remotely on any list of good international news sources. Fortunately there are some fairly good, diverse sources of news and information in print and on the internet.

More to come on this in the next few weeks.

We Americans who are Jesus-followers have to figure out ways to be informed if we want to be useful and relevant to God's kingdom.

The Bible has several references to Milk and Honey.  Some reference to heaven, or the so-called promised land, or some future god-given prosperity.

I've not thought of this before today, but our humble household (which is shockingly among the top 10% wealthiest by global standards) has always had a full supply of milk and honey.

We do run out; but we simply buy more. We have the means. We drink milk every day and eat the honey occasionally.

Many people do not have the means.

What do you think about milk and honey flowing freely? A nice literary ring to it, or something more? Essential calcium and non-essential luxurious sweet stuff? What do the Biblical references mean?

I don't know about you but I'll take milk and honey when they come my way. But I also realize several people in the world have no honey, and milk only rarely. Where's their heaven? Why do I fare better than them? Is the disparity OK with God? If not, what can I do about this?