Information from the external environment is relayed to the mind through the senses. A lot of it is morally neutral, or non-moral: for example, the state of the weather, the color of a dress or the taste of food. Nevertheless, it may be interest- ing, frightening, delightful or humorous.
But there is also the world of which Jesus said that its ‘deeds are evil’. (John 3:19) This ‘world’ comprises the whole condition of human affairs in rebellion against God and alienated from His life. It includes the culture, the economic system, the technology and the politics of human life.
Daily we are exposed to its pressures and its influence, its value judgements, its opinions and its propaganda. Through radio, television, books, conversation, music, newspapers, bill- boards and the Internet, our minds are exposed to its outlook and its ways of looking at things. Let us have no illusions about the world’s true character.
We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.(1 John 5:19)
. . . This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.(1 John 4:3)
Christians do not sufficiently cultivate a critical attitude towards what they see and hear. The technique of the media is often so subtle and attractive that we can be taken in by it and never realise the content of what is being presented to us. Our minds can be bent without our being aware of what is happening.
The mind-set of the world is not something that we lose automatically when we become Christians.