{"id":474,"date":"2008-04-09T14:20:32","date_gmt":"2008-04-09T19:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christandpopculture.com\/?p=474"},"modified":"2008-04-09T14:20:32","modified_gmt":"2008-04-09T19:20:32","slug":"dans-real-life-is-a-lie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan's Real Life is A Lie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One strange cultural passion is getting advice.\u00a0 This is not the same as taking advice, mind you.\u00a0 As a culture we seem to love to be told, \u201cthe right thing,\u201d or, \u201cwhat I should do,\u201d even if we don\u2019t generally follow through.\u00a0 The success of Oprah<\/a> is a great example, but despite her massive empire she is just the tip of the iceberg.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thousands of radio shows, newspapers, and websites hire people whose ENTIRE job is to give others advice on how to live.\u00a0 When we watch a movie like Dan in Real Life, nobody questions the fact that his job includes helping a high school kid to better understand his parents.<\/p>\n

A fun exercise is to take several of these advice columnists and the problems they deal with, and then compare their answers to the answers a famous philosopher might give.\u00a0 A question about whether to confess infidelity would receive a much more interesting answer if Ayn Rand<\/a> were the advisor rather than Dear Prudence<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Do this exercise several times, and you begin to see a consistent pattern.\u00a0 Advice columnists, for the most part, do not have a consistent and well-articulated worldview (whereas a philosopher, though they can be just as wrong, usually tries to be more consistent).\u00a0 In other words, they practice (and preach, as an occupation!) a morality that does not square with their beliefs and basic assumptions about the world.\u00a0 This inconsistency is, I think, descriptive of our culture as a whole.\u00a0 We tell ourselves that the Moralistic Therapeutic Deism<\/a> we grew up on is rational, but really it is lazy.<\/p>\n

In terms of a Christian response, let me get a little aggressive here.\u00a0 I do sometimes listen to or read secular advice-givers, because I am interested in expanding my understanding of the pain and loneliness in our country.\u00a0 However, I think it is dangerous and very close to being wrong for a Christian to consistently heed the, \u201cwisdom,\u201d of a non-Christian adviser, even if that adviser seems to have a conservative philosophy (in other words, do NOT let Dr. Phil <\/a>tell you how to live!).\u00a0 It is submission to worldly wisdom rather than godly wisdom, and it subtly alters your morality from the joyful obedience of the Christian to the lazy humanism of the American public.<\/p>\n

When you come to an important moral decision, will Christ guide your footsteps, or will Oprah whisper in your ear?\u00a0 Will you worry more about your child receiving right guidance through discipline, or self-esteem through constant affirmation?\u00a0 Will you confess sin, or share how your mother ruined your life?\u00a0 Do your kids need a friend or a father?\u00a0 Will you honor godly leaders or will you join a church that makes you feel more at home and less judged?<\/p>\n

Christian, don\u2019t listen to secular advisers in the area of morality.\u00a0 Don\u2019t hold them up as examples for your kids.\u00a0 Don\u2019t share their pseudo-psychology, however philosophically conservative, if it isn\u2019t based on the truth of the Gospel.\u00a0 Don\u2019t treat those whose goals are different as though they are close allies.<\/p>\n

We as Christians must reject false advisers if we desire to proclaim the separate uniqueness of a Gospel-centered worldview to a culture too lazy to know the difference.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ben Bartlett on why Dan’s advice industry should go on hiatus for a while.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[55,241,247,383,527,923,1015],"class_list":["post-474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-culture","tag-advice","tag-children","tag-christ","tag-dr-phil","tag-gospel","tag-oprah","tag-psychology"],"yoast_head":"\nDan's Real Life is A Lie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ben Bartlett on why Dan's advice industry should go on hiatus for a while.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dan's Real Life is A Lie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ben Bartlett on why Dan's advice industry should go on hiatus for a while.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ and Pop Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-04-09T19:20:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.christandpopculture.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/danw.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Bartlett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ben Bartlett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/\",\"name\":\"Dan's Real Life is A Lie\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-04-09T19:20:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-04-09T19:20:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/38a345f7247251389553b101df6da1be\"},\"description\":\"Ben Bartlett on why Dan's advice industry should go on hiatus for a while.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dan's Real Life is A Lie\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/\",\"name\":\"Christ and Pop Culture\",\"description\":\"Where the Christian faith meets the common knowledge of our age\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/38a345f7247251389553b101df6da1be\",\"name\":\"Ben Bartlett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c9659c38983e5ec1e812fdcb7586e7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c9659c38983e5ec1e812fdcb7586e7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ben Bartlett\"},\"description\":\"Ben Bartlett lives in Louisville, Ky., with his wife and two terrific kids. His degree is in Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy from Michigan State University, and he has a bunch of education from a bunch of other places with nothing official to show for it. He has taught high school speech and debate, worked for a congressman in Washington DC, and worked in the health and energy industries. He is interested in how pop culture, history, politics, and theology interact with the inner and community lives of individuals... which is weird because he now works as a business analyst. Few things make him happier than reading, discussing, and recommending books.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/author\/bbartlett\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dan's Real Life is A Lie","description":"Ben Bartlett on why Dan's advice industry should go on hiatus for a while.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dan's Real Life is A Lie","og_description":"Ben Bartlett on why Dan's advice industry should go on hiatus for a while.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/","og_site_name":"Christ and Pop Culture","article_published_time":"2008-04-09T19:20:32+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.christandpopculture.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/danw.jpg"}],"author":"Ben Bartlett","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ben Bartlett","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/","name":"Dan's Real Life is A Lie","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-04-09T19:20:32+00:00","dateModified":"2008-04-09T19:20:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/38a345f7247251389553b101df6da1be"},"description":"Ben Bartlett on why Dan's advice industry should go on hiatus for a while.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/dans-real-life-is-a-lie\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dan's Real Life is A Lie"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/","name":"Christ and Pop Culture","description":"Where the Christian faith meets the common knowledge of our age","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/38a345f7247251389553b101df6da1be","name":"Ben Bartlett","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c9659c38983e5ec1e812fdcb7586e7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c9659c38983e5ec1e812fdcb7586e7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ben Bartlett"},"description":"Ben Bartlett lives in Louisville, Ky., with his wife and two terrific kids. His degree is in Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy from Michigan State University, and he has a bunch of education from a bunch of other places with nothing official to show for it. He has taught high school speech and debate, worked for a congressman in Washington DC, and worked in the health and energy industries. He is interested in how pop culture, history, politics, and theology interact with the inner and community lives of individuals... which is weird because he now works as a business analyst. Few things make him happier than reading, discussing, and recommending books.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/author\/bbartlett\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}