Brother Newman at BYU devotional: Beware the ‘Dead See Scroll’

Social media lures users into countless scrolling — which is one in every of the explanations Brother Jan E. Newman, second counselor within the Sunday School general presidency, likes to seek advice from it because the “Dead See Scroll.”

The Dead Sea, a salt lake situated between Jordan and Israel, has living water which flows into it, but “nothing comes from it,” Brother Newman noted to those gathered within the Marriott Center on Brigham Young University campus for the weekly devotional on Tuesday, Feb 6. “Social Media is very like that. We so often put in our time and a focus, and nothing of value comes out. We can often lose ourselves on this salty sea, void of life, that drains us of our self-worth, robs us of our purpose, and effortlessly floats us away in its toxic brine.”

Brother Newman’s caution regarding social media was one in every of several bits of counsel the Church leader offered listeners in regard to learning to navigate using their “precious time” on earth. 

Time is a present from Heavenly Father, Brother Newman declared. “You have a sacred responsibility to administer it properly.”

The myth of balance

Through the years, Brother Newman said he has been asked repeatedly how he has balanced the entire responsibilities in his life as a father, husband, Church leader and business leader. Quoting Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Brother Newman said there really is not any such thing as perfect balance in life.

“In fact, I don’t think balance is even the appropriate word, since it implies that each one points of our lives are getting an equal amount of attention. Not all points of our lives deserve an equal amount. And at different times and seasons, some points will need more attention than others,” Brother Newman said.

Instead, discover essentially the most “necessary things and never let the lesser things take precedence over them.”

To those that worry that they’re already at maximum capability, Brother Newman reassured, “should you trust the Lord and draw on His strength, He will increase your maximum capability.”

As life changes and evolves, so should individuals’ views about their time and the way they spend it, Brother Newman said. As an example, Brother Newman shared how from his young boyhood, into his teenage and young adults years, and even into his marriage, he loved hunting and spent many hours planning and happening hunting trips.

One day while on a hunting trip, the Holy Ghost helped him realize that his hunting trips were taking him away from his family and opportunities to serve within the Church and that it was time to place it aside for a season.

Although he initially wrestled with the thought, eventually he conceded that it was not right to permit hunting to eat a lot of his time. “To be clear, this will not be about hunting. This is about anything that becomes a thief of our precious time and focus,” Brother Newman said.

Greatest priorities

Brother Newman explained that there are three things that need the utmost attention as individuals undergo life: The Lord, family and work. “Remember, you simply have a certain variety of hours available to you each day. The period of time required by each of those necessary points of life will ebb and flow over time. Just ensure you retain the right perspective on the necessary things. If you deal with those three things, often the whole lot else takes care of itself.”

Get to know what is significant to the Lord and make those things necessary. “Really, that’s just one other solution to state President [Russell M.] Nelson’s quite simple counsel to ‘think celestial.’” (“Think Celestial,” October 2023 general conference).

Satan will do anything he can to monopolize individuals’ time and misdirect efforts away from the things of biggest importance, Brother Newman said. “He tempts us to displace our most significant blessings with a large number — and I emphasize mess — of pottage.”

In issuing his caution against the “Dead See Scroll,” Brother Newman noted some might think he’s being too hard on social media. In response, he encouraged listeners to note how Church leaders use their social media accounts. 

“Their purpose is to encourage us to think a little bit deeper and a little bit more purely. I feel their hope is to extricate us from this meaningless Dead See Scroll and seek something higher and holier,” he said.

Brother Newman invited listeners to ask themselves: “Is social media — or anything for that matter — helping me think celestial? Or is it dragging me into terrestrial or telestial pondering? Is it helping me make what’s necessary to God necessary to me? Or is it displacing necessary things with trivial things?” 

To those that find themselves getting caught up within the Dead See Scroll, “just pause and think celestial,” Brother Newman invited. “Then click on the Gospel Library app and skim from the Book or Mormon or hearken to a general conference talk. I promise a latest light will come into your life as you drink from living waters.”

Correction: An earlier version had referred to Brother Newman as the primary counselor within the Sunday School general presidency. He is the second counselor.