Hello everyone! We hope you enjoy and benefit from this episode. If you notice some interesting edits, that is due to some technical difficulties we experienced. Even better, we didn’t realize those difficulties were happening until after we posted an episode that had a lot of choppy static, etc. All that to say—this is a shorter version of the OG 313, and we hope you still get something here! Thanks for your patience. If you ever notice bugs in an episode, please let us know so we can try to make improvement! And…here is the episode: The Thinklings Podcast — Episode 313 — Moral Purity, Social Media & Mortifying the Flesh Welcome to Episode 313 of The Thinklings Podcast! This week we share several upcoming Thinklings announcements before revisiting John Owen’s The Mortification of Sin. Our main conversation considers moral purity, social media, and whether seemingly harmless habits like endless scrolling can feed the flesh and prepare us for greater temptation. We conclude with James 1:1 and what it means to identify ourselves as servants of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. ⏱️ Chapters 0:00 — Welcome & Introduction 1:09 — Announcements 6:12 — Books & Business: The Mortification of Sin 9:01 — Main Content: Moral Purity & Social Media 16:31 — How Social Media Feeds the Flesh 20:30 — Proverbs 7: Walking Near Folly’s Corner 22:11 — Social Media as a Gateway to Impure Content 25:21 — When “For You” Isn’t Really for You 29:55 — Boredom, Scrolling & Endless Consumption 33:49 — Empty, Lonely, Anxious or Tired 35:38 — Final Meditation: James 1:1 📣 Announcements Our September book giveaway is Understanding Christian Theology, and every Thinklings Substack subscription counts as an entry. We also preview the IRBC Young Adult Retreat on October 23–24, the upcoming Baptist Theology Bible Study app, and an Abounding Grace book event at Faith on October 8. 📚 Books & Business 📖 The Mortification of Sin — John Owen We revisit Owen’s classic treatment of putting sin to death, especially his description of mortification as the “habitual weakening” of sinful desire. Rather than focusing only on the moment when we fall into sin, Owen helps us examine the smaller indulgences and desires that lead us there. We give the book an 8 on the Thinklings Goodness Scale and recommend returning to it regularly. 📖 Main Content Moral Purity, Social Media & Feeding the Flesh We ask whether Christians are taking the fight for moral purity seriously enough—particularly when it comes to social media, reels, shorts, and endless digital consumption. Using Proverbs 7’s picture of the young man walking near Folly’s corner, we consider how sexualized content, algorithms, boredom, and habitual scrolling can feed desires long before an obvious moral failure occurs. Rather than merely asking, “What did I do wrong?”, we need to back up and ask what desires and habits were being cultivated beforehand. The goal is not merely avoiding one particular sin, but learning to recognize and mortify the flesh before it carries us farther down the road. 🌿 Final Meditation James 1:1 We examine the simple but significant way James identifies himself: “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Rather than emphasizing his status or connections, James identifies himself by the Master to whom he belongs. His introduction challenges us to remember that Christ owns our work, our decisions, and ultimately our lives. 🎧 Listen & Subscribe Follow The Thinklings Podcast on Substack, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Subscribe on Substack for show notes, updates, and future Thinklings content. JOIN THE THINKLINGS ON SUBSTACK @thethinklingspodcast@profstearns@timlittle00@thinklingcarter This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thinklingspodcast.com
