Reading is Overrated and The Gospel According to Sargon of Akkad

You know when I was in college I was the lead singer of a rock band and you know we played it played a number of gigs I don't know maybe 20 gigs in town and in DC and stuff like that. And some one of the things we used to do we used to cover Creed songs.

I've said this before I like Creed. I don't know what could I say but there's this one song it's it's stuck in my head and it goes like this it goes children don't stop dancing. Believe. I don't know why it's in my head I don't know why but it just is let's jump into it today.

John Harris. I gotta thank you if you guys follow. If you guys don't follow John Harris first of all what is wrong with you. He's got a great channel and he's have got a very different style than mine but in my opinion and he's very informative and I personally listen to John Harris's podcast probably more than any other podcast.

Sorry guys you know Fight Laugh Feast guys I love you guys and I listen to your podcast too but but I like John man I don't know I don't know what it is but anyway yesterday you know I had missed my workout in the morning and you know it's about three o 'clock and I'm like man I gotta go I gotta go throw some plates around you know what I mean now I gotta go I gotta go work out so I needed something to listen to while I worked out and it just so happened that John had just recently released this video and it's about a Tim Keller book that if you know me if you know how I came to faith you know this book was integral it's a book called the prodigal God and I read the prodigal God it was referenced in a couple in a sermon that I had listened to.

The Prodigal Son and Tim Keller's Influence

I'd gone to my father's house in Ohio so I went to church and I was a complete pagan you know living like the devil you know that kind of thing and I went to my father's house for Thanksgiving went to his church and this pastor just kept referencing this book and so I went home and I bought the book I read it I don't remember if I was weeping at the time but I was very emotional when I read this book because I was that prodigal son right.

And Tim Keller you know one of the things he is good at is he's good at rhetoric and so the emotion started flowing and I was just like man I gotta I gotta do something and so I you know looked at the the author and turns out he pastored a church in New York City and I I lived in New York City and so I went to his church a few times and you know the rest is history you know that kind of thing but I have not read the Prodigal God since I've come to understand what God is like and understand the Bible a little better and things like that.

I always had the feeling though that it probably wasn't as good as I remember it you know what I mean I've heard stories of people getting saved and in one of the things that led them on that path was reading the book The Shack.

The book The Shack is horrible and it's like but but but it gets people thinking about spiritual things and sometimes people can you know Christ can find people through that horrible horrible book that can happen that doesn't mean that you should recommend these books.

It just means that it can happen. And so I kind of had this feeling though knowing what Tim Keller is now that there's probably stuff in that book that I don't want to face you know what I mean because that's part of my that's part of my story and it's like it's almost too hard to face but I wanted to do it and this is a perfect opportunity for me to do it and John did a great job sort of kind of reframing this book to understand really what he's up to and he's really this is an anti-church book this is an anti sort of you know it's it's an antinomian book for sure but there's a lot of things going on here that are that are subtle if you're not paying attention but it's it's it's it's it's not good it's not good and so I recommend you watch this video it's called What Hath Tim Keller Wrought and it's when I when I was listening to this podcast that you know because there's a lot of books like this that like I read when I was younger but like I probably wouldn't recommend now but they they did help me along but there's a lot of risk in these books as well because there's error mixed with truth and but I haven't really reread these books because like I said I almost don't want to face it you know what I mean but this that one line from Star Wars which I think this lines really good I mean the new movies kind of suck but this line is really good it's when Kylo Ren says let the past die kill it if you have to man that's how I felt yesterday.

Reading Is Overrated

But anyway but one of the things that one of the things that so so by the way go watch this video it's a good video but one of the things that John said about Tim Keller which I know is true is that he's got this TED talk style and that that was very appealing to me when I was a new Christian this TED talk style and he would reference these philosophers and stuff like that and he just sound like this this wise yogi and it's like wow he's so smart and I'm so smart for listening to it and he obviously wants to appear very intelligent and very smart and he's just like references the stuff and and you know you when you listen to it you feel very sophisticated.

That's how I felt listen. I'm not I'm not a proud of this but this is how I felt man reference Foucault. I mean I need to listen to some Foucault Jacques Cousteau oui oui you know like that kind of stuff and so like I would I would feel smarter having heard him.

This is not like a necessarily a good impulse but that's how it was and but there's just this air of Tim Keller that really really wants to appear smart. Speaking of people that want to appear smart. I was just thinking about this as well.

This is gonna be a transition in in in this video there's this thing and it's not just the woke that do this. This is something that a lot of people do where they just have this idea that reading in and of itself is like the solution to our problems.

It's like it's like it's like a good in and of itself and it's like well why don't you read a book. Read a book. It's just what you that's how you get. That's how you get right. That's how you get moral.

You read more. That's people. If only people read more we would have a better society. And I gotta say reading is overrated. Reading is overrated. Now what I'm not saying is that reading is bad. What I'm not saying is that I don't read.

I used to read a lot more than I do now I'll admit that but and I'm not saying that you shouldn't enjoy reading. Some people really do enjoy reading. But I think and I think you all kind of know this when you enjoy reading it's like one of those things that you have to tell everybody about because it kind of makes you feel superior.

Because there are people out there that really don't enjoy reading that much. So like I was talking to a guy the other day it seems like a real smart guy to me and he says I don't read novels. You know I just I don't enjoy it.

I don't feel like I get much out of it. I like to read. I read. You know I've read a book yesterday about the World War two or the Great War. And you know it's like I like that stuff. I just don't read novels.

It's not my thing. But it almost is like he was like a shame to admit it because there's this thing where it's like if you read then you're like superior you you're like you're like up here if you don't read you're like down here.

And and honestly like reading doesn't solve anything. Guys like reading doesn't solve anything because there's a lot of awful books out there and there's a lot of awful books that a lot of people think are smart.

So the peer pressure on you to think it's smart is also good. I'll never forget this. I remember I bought the the Barack Obama book as I had heard it was it the the audacity of hope. I this is when I realized reading was overrated.

I bought the audacity of hope because I kept hearing how intelligent it was and how smart it was just an amazing work of genius and and all this. And I just kept hearing this and hearing this and I was like yeah you know okay I gotta read it.

I mean Barack Obama he gave the the best speech on race since Martin Luther King. I mean this guy's obviously intelligent. So I bought the book and I started reading this. This was the most boring book I have ever.

I didn't finish it. Did I finish it and I can't even remember. But I do remember thinking this was awful. This is not smart. This is not intelligent. This is really dumb. And so I just I don't know if I threw it away but I just put it down.

I just didn't finish it. I mean I don't know like there's this idea that like reading is this superior pastime. And if you're not reading then when what good are you. And I just gotta say like that's not true.

That's not true. There are plenty of men out there. Look reading is for certain kinds of people. What I mean is that not that reading shouldn't everyone shouldn't read. No everybody should read. What I'm saying is like this whole thing look at the screen here Russell Moore really wants you to think that he is super intelligent.

So what does he do with his set. He sets it up and his library and his study. And he's got all his books all of these books. Some of them are even leather bound. It's like look at these books. I'm just so well-read.

I'm obvious it's like this thing where you kind of present yourself in in a certain way and it's like okay but he's an academic and that's fine. If you're an academic this is your life. Reading is your life.

And so if you're a plumber you might read. You might be interested in you know the Great War. You might be interested in a certain historical thing. Maybe you're interested in novels. Maybe you like Star Wars books.

I read some novels. Not that many. I read some novels. You know the ones I read the ones I'm interested in you know the ones I'm interested in the Star Wars novel Timothy Zahn's novels are great. But the thing is like there's almost like this embarrassment that you're expected to have if you're not spending your evenings reading I'll never forget this one meme where it's like enough of the man cave.

Let's bring back the study. And it's like okay. I see I see what you're saying. Yeah like sports are kind of a waste of time. But you know look let's just face it like not every guy needs a study. They just don't.

Pastors need studies because that's a big part of their job. Academics need studies. But you see not every man has to be an academic and a pastor. I've got books. I have books. I don't display them and it's an intentional choice.

And and listen I know this sounds petty but like everyone nowadays because we're so used to zoom calls makes an intentional choice about their set what they present themselves. It's saying something about me.

What you see back here I've got my fishing rods back there. I've got a picture of the Rangers winning the Stanley Cup. I've got my kids drawings up there. Let's see what else I got up there. I've got a clock.

I've got a sword. I've got a Boba Fett not Boba Fett the the Mandalorian. I've got some certain things right there. Listen there that's presenting something about me. And and the thing is we all know the one zoom guy who who takes the zoom calls from his kitchen table.

So it's like you know I just don't care. Yeah he's presenting something to though let's just face it when you take your when you take your zoom calls and terrible lighting and at the kitchen table that's saying something to.

You know what I mean it's the person who thinks I'm not saying anything by my clothes is the one that's saying something the most aggressively with their clothes. But anyway readings over reading doesn't solve anything.

You've got to read the right books. You've got to read the right books. Like if you read Rush Dooney's Institutes of Biblical Law that's a totally different thing than reading James Cone you know Kill Whitey kind of thing like both are reading.

But they're not equal. They're not equal. And I'm not even saying read only things you agree with. That's not what I'm saying. But one has value and the other is completely worthless. You still might want to read the worthless stuff to know what you know these other people are thinking because you know there's a lot of people out there thinking like James Cone these days.

So you might want to read that but you don't have to. That might be good for an academic or if someone who's writing a book about social justice or something like that. But if you're just a regular Joe you don't have to read the doo-doo.

If you don't have time to read you don't have to enjoy learning how to read and consume the doo-doo. You just don't have to. So I don't know I wanted to say that because there's just this air of they would reading books.

Look I would say this I'm not saying this is only the woke but if you look at any woke podcast and all the chances are there. When they're taking their phone calls they're taking it in front of their many many thick multi-volume works.

They're trying to say something that through that I don't feel bad if you don't spend all your time reading don't feel bad if you have a man cave like I don't really have a man cave. I have an office but if you could see I mean I've got you know fishing lures over here I've got certain this might people might say this is a man I don't have a study and I'm fine with it and I'm not.

It's almost like a it's almost like when you take your calls in front of your let your many leather-bound books it almost displays a little bit of an insecurity there anyway all that to say speaking of academics oh man this is a interesting gab from Sargon of Akkad.

Now Sargon of Akkad is a is a youtuber and a podcaster from the the UK and he is he's an interesting character. You know he's got a pretty popular YouTube channel. He talks about politics he talks about you know society a social justice all this kind of stuff feminism.

And I agree with much of what he has to say. He also is an atheist so obviously I don't agree with what agree with all of it. He used to be a more aggressive atheist one of those kind of village atheist types the annoying kind but now he's kind of softened on that and I think that that's what happens often when you're a when you're an atheist that has a decent head on your shoulders you're not just a zombie atheist.

Oftentimes you kind of grow less aggressive over time because you actually do see the value in Christianity and and in all of that but but he's not a Christian so I don't want to say he is but this is an interesting post.

I'm not gonna read it all because it's pretty long but basically what he said is he thinks the time for trolling has passed because he says that the power of trolling is to expose idiots. Right. You know you expose the mask and it looks oh look he's a fraud.

You know what I mean he's a snake oil salesman and it's almost like it's a spell-breaking thing when you're trolling the right way but it's really only useful for people that are frauds. And what he's saying here is that yeah there are a lot of frauds out there there are a lot of idiots but the people that are kind of pulling the strings are very intelligent and they've been scheming for hundreds of years in some cases on how to how to how to change society how to create a communist hellhole for everybody else to live in and all of this and I don't disagree with him.

I think he's right. I think he's definitely right. So so he's he's he's diagnosing the issue very well but but this is the thing and this is the problem that I think pretty much every atheist has while they can diagnose the problem fairly well not completely but fairly well they do.

They do two things consistently. One is they give people way too much credit. They give people way too much credit and I think that that's because in their universe there is no God and so they you know man is like the pinnacle and so man is very capable and maybe even potentially close to infinitely capable and perfect and all of the they're very man-centered and so man as the pinnacle of of nature is the most capable being ever the most the most cunning being ever and all of that.

And so you know we have to fight fire with fire is what he's saying. So in other words we're facing these intelligence people intelligent people and so we need to beat them at their own game. We need to beat them as intellectuals because we can't pretend like our enemies a bunch of morons because they're not and so we can't fight moronic we can't fight intelligent people with foolish games is essentially what he's saying.

We got to fight fire with fire. We got to fight intelligence with intelligence and so what. This is like a call for you know basically like philosophical intellectual you know he calls them crusaders.

That's what he says. He calls them crusaders. And again I find this so interesting about about atheists. They can't help but use religious sounding language when they're talking about their things because it is religious because God is there and this is a spiritual battle.

See that's the other thing. That's the other thing that atheists consistently mess up. So they give man too much credit and they miss miss miss miss diagnose. No they don't misdiagnose they misapply solutions.

Right. Because he's trying to fight this as a philosophical crusade as an intellectual crusade. And all of that sounds very spiritual. Right. And in fact you can even see what listen what he says. He says the fight the right must construct the framework of modern alternative that addresses modern issues and prevents leftist corruption of its metaphysics in order to draw away the lost souls that have been enchanted by the forces of disorder providing a better alternative to the debauched swamp of left-wing politics is the only way to win.

This is all very spiritual sounding language. He's talking about saving lost souls through a crusade. He's talking about enchanting people or disenchanting people that have been enchanted by the liberal hell hell whole scape that has been created.

And it's like right. But you can't do these things without having this framework that is the that is reality the spiritual enchanting framework of reality. Like like we need to be enchanted by what's real not by what's fake.

Right. And so God has created. We do have to save lost souls but they're lost for a very particular reason and they've got a very particular problem and there's a very particular solution. And it's like man Sargon you're like you're right there.

You're right there. You're exactly right. This is a spiritual thing. But and and and this is basically where Sargon's I was like you know reading and and academics that's the only thing that can solve this.

And it's like no actually it's the foolishness of preaching. It's the foolishness of preaching. And the thing is that doesn't exclude academics that doesn't exclude philosophy like yes those things are valuable they're part of this world and God has given us what to you know the truth of these things.

And he's also hidden some things away from us and we get a search that stuff out. So it's not like we have this book and we never learn. No no we've got this book. It gives us the guardrails it gives us the truth.

But there's lots of things. He's revealed some things but then he's hidden other things. And so we still have this great place to live with full of mysteries full of things to explore full things to discover.

And it's awesome. And so we need the academics as well as the philosophy. But here's the trick guys when you accept God's worldview his framework because that's what a framework is. It's a worldview when you accept the worldview presented by God as real which is real.

I meant Israel not Israel. It's all of these things are legitimate. You see trolling is totally legitimate because God is there. Laughing and making jokes and mockery is totally legitimate because God is there.

Yes academics and you know books books everything is. But also you could be a just a great fisherman and fight this fight and and accept the real framework and and and and and do what God has actually said make disciples of all nations.

That's what Sargon is talking about here making disciples of of of a better secular nation. That doesn't work. It's not gonna work that way. Secularism always tends towards this kind of tyranny that you're trying to fight here.

And there's only one way out of this and that is accepting the worldview presented by the triune God of scripture. It's just that simple. Sargon is so close you can even see the language the spiritual language that he's talking about here.

But he's wrong about this. He's wrong about this. Academics will not save us. Philosophy will not save us. There's only one thing that can save us. And that is the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ preached applied to sinners saving sinners not only for heaven later but for for today for now.

So that we can sort of start start building. Right. That's what the second part of the Great Commission is. It's like yes you get baptized in the name of the Father the Son of the Holy Spirit. And then you are a disciple.

You start learning everything that Christ commands everything and you use that framework that worldview to go and to build and then discover make new discoveries to do all. It's it's that's the solution here guys that's the solution.

You need to have your sins forgiven. You become regenerate born again and then get to work. And then all kinds of work is legitimate. Academics totally legitimate philosophy totally legitimate fishermen totally legitimate.

Troll totally. Is that a real job trolling. I don't know I don't know man I hope this episode made sense. I tried to tie it all together like a real pro but you know I'm not really one. So anyway hope you found this video helpful.

God bless.