Are You Being Discipled by Algorithms? | Deep Dive with Dan & Sheila

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Starvation usually looks like scarcity, but we start with a stranger image: a lavish buffet where you eat all day and still waste away because nothing is absorbed. That is the modern spiritual formation crisis. We have more Christian content than any generation in history, yet many of us feel distracted, underdeveloped, and stuck in the same patterns. So we ask the uncomfortable question: how can we be so full and still so empty? 

We follow a roadmap from Pastor Robert Young’s resource, Growing Deeper with God in a Shallow World, and we ground the problem in Acts 17:21. Ancient Athens lives for the latest ideas, and it sounds eerily familiar: novelty without transformation. From there we name the trap of spiritual skimming and contrast biblical meditation with digital consumption. The issue is not technology itself, it is distraction, speed, and the attention economy that trains our minds to crave the next hit. 

Then we push deeper into the most sobering line: we are being discipled by algorithms. If attention is the currency of discipleship, whatever shapes attention shapes the soul. We talk dopamine loops, outrage bait, and why emotional inspiration can masquerade as growth when obedience never follows. 

Finally, we walk through practical steps you can start today: slow down your intake, choose repetition, practice before seeking more, anchor your life in real community, and build rhythms of reflection with three simple questions. If you want less noise and more depth, listen through, grab the free PDF in the links, and then subscribe, share, and leave a review. What is the one thing you will obey today?

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1) Guided Christian Meditation for Beginners 

2) The Goal of Christian Meditation

3) How to Become an Intercessor in 7 Days 

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