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John wrote
on Sun, Oct 22, 2017 at
10:11 AM
Hi Dana
Recently,
I was in church on Sunday morning. It is a church we frequently attend. Unfortunately,
due to the entertainment style of worship and its presentation to the audience,
we try not to get there until after the entertainment portion of the service.
We try to get there in time for the offering and then the very Biblical
teaching. That particular week, the pastor was wrapping up his lengthy study of
the Book of James.
Among
other things he was talking about a church and its values. Unfortunately, I couldn’t
write fast enough to get all the items written down. And the sanctuary was
still only partially lit, rather than the intense black of the entertainment
(whops—I mean worship) portion, of the service, so even now my notes are a
little hard to read because they are scratchy. As the pastor was talking about
values, he was also referencing a lot of scriptures. Unfortunately, I couldn’t
write the scriptural references, just most of the values. (Sorry about the old
saw of worship as entertainment, so I’ll move on...)
Next
two us were two young men. I’m guessing they were post millennials,probably Gen
Z-ers. When it was time for the message (teaching), they both whipped out their
IPhones or Samsung Galaxies or whatevers and fingered the appropriate app and, (because
I couldn’t see their screens clearly due to the small size of the screens and
print) up popped a Bible. They manipulated the screen until the correct book
appeared. And then they finally got to the appropriate chapter and scrolled for
the verse the pastor was referencing. We quickly found the Book of James in our
Bibles and turned the page to the correct chapter and verse.
While
in Bible school, I got pretty adept at taking notes from the messages of the
various preachers. Then as a professional free-lance journalist, I got more
adept at taking notes for the articles I was writing for publication (a
transferable skill to use during a message in church). I will admit now that I am older, I don’t
write a s quickly nor do I remember as perfectly as I used to, but I make a
serious stab at getting much down on paper. Ah, now there’s the rub, on paper.
Those young men were not typing anything down into their phones. There was no
margin and they didn’t have a Notes app up in order to make notes.
Thirty
some years after Bible school, I can still go back to the Bibles I took to
chapel and find the notes I took from the various messages from Brother Carr or
Greenaway or Hartwick or Tarr or whomever. The inside front cover is filled,
margins are filled, papers covered with notes bulge from various books and
chapters. The accumulation of dozens, perhaps hundreds of years of learning to
walk with God and walking with God are written in those Bibles, in addition to,
of course, God’s words. When I read or refer back to those hand written notes,
I can and do for me to learn from, refer
back to, write about, share with others, or just sit and remember the actual
message and what was going on at the time.
Those
two Gen Z-ers stuffed their phones in their pockets, and left, but not before apparently
checking other apps (perhaps Facebook or emails) while the closing number was
sung.
But
what were the values of a church that the pastor quickly went through? A church
should 1. value God’s word; 2. value people-to build people up; 3. value as
atmosphere—a place where God is and/or it is Godly; 4 value spiritual advancement; 5. home groups and societally; 6. value the last 10%. I’m going to try and
explain this last 10% item.
As
I understood it, he was referring to the group of people in a congregation who
hold back information that can damage a person during a conflict. Rather than
spilling-the-beans on someone, even though the information may be the truth,
what hurt or damage might that information do to one of the parties in a
conversation or heated discussion. This last 10% show when being honest and
sincere, along with kindness and tenderheartedness, and appropriate timing.
Unfortunately,
I don’t fit into that 10% category as much as I should. While there are some
people who are more gifted intellectually than I am and are able to have good
recall of things read or heard, most people do not. As God’s sheep, we aren’t
always necessarily ready to receive what He has to say to us, or is saying to
us, at a moment in time and we need some method of referring back to what was
said (in addition to the Holy Spirit’s helping us recall). I have my notes.
Those Gen Z-ers have multiple apps on their phones.
I was recently listening to a well known radio
preacher during my lunch hour and he talked about the importance of reading,
carrying, and using an actual printed Bible. In fact, he admonished his people
to put away their IPhones and get out a Bible. Are we so ashamed (or lazy) of
God and His word that we don’t want to be seen carrying a Bible in public?
Granted there are places in the world where that could be dangerous and maybe
even get a person killed today, but on the streets of Pennsylvania or New
Jersey? I think not.
To
be continued
John
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dana replied on Tue, Oct 24, 2017 at 10:20 AM
Hi John,
I don’t think
it edifying or helpful to the Kingdom to think or say that one who uses an
electronic device for Bible reading/study/ or church is lazy, or ashamed of
God’s Word, or to insinuate that they don’t want to be seen in public carrying
a Bible.
Personally I
don’t care how a person reads the Scriptures as long as they ARE reading the Scriptures. There are a lot of Christians who have big, leather-bound
Bibles who never crack the cover of them.
Do you reckon God gets more glory from someone carrying a big Bible to
church who never reads it, or someone who actually reads an electronic Bible on
their phone or tablet?
As my wife has
spent a considerable amount of time in hospitals, and I spend a lot of time in
waiting rooms, I thank God every day for a pocket-sized, electronic iPod which
has several Bible versions and Bible study “apps” on it. I don’t think laziness or being ashamed of
being seen with God’s Word plays the remotest part in my decision to read the
Bible that way. Cannot the Holy Spirit
minister the truth of His Word electronically, or is His ministry of said Word
limited because it’s not on a printed page?
Also your
criticism of the “Gen Z-ers” who don’t have your Bible School note-taking
values, doesn’t seem to take into consideration or rejoice at the fact that
they ARE in Church. They aren’t home nursing a hangover from the
night before, or binge watching their favorite TV show, or having brunch at
Starbucks; they ARE in church.
Your judging
them for not having your generation’s value system is unfair and potentially
alienating. We’re never going to get
younger people to show an interest in church for not doing church the way we
do. We must be very careful not to make
an idol out of “that old time religion.”
That said, I
am a note-taker too. I make lots of
them, and have even developed my own “shorthand” so as to be able to take the
notes more quickly. I also have lots of
notebooks full of notes, and while I don’t write in my Bible very much, my
Bibles are crammed with notebook pages, the backs of old church bulletins,
visitor’s cards, and offering envelopes full of things I’ve written down. There is nothing wrong with taking lots of
notes.
But the “Gen
Z-ers” weren’t raised or educated the way we were, or in the day and age in
which we were. Their world, for better
or worse, is digital and electronic.
When I went
back to school in 2004 to learn about growing grapes and making wine, I was
amazed at just how much of both my class material and supplemental material was
on line. In fact, just to be a student,
I had to take a basic computer class first and foremost, just so I could be a
student, seeing that I hadn’t taken a college course since the 1970’s.
While in
college in 1976, the big debate on campus was whether or not it was cheating if
one used a calculator to do math. It was
determined by the college administration that if one used a calculator at home
to work math problems, it wasn’t to be considered cheating…however, if one
brought a calculator to class and used it there, it would be seen as cheating,
and that one would be subject to the strictest disciplinary measures.
Whether we
want to change with the times or not, the fact is that today literacy its very self
is based on computer knowledge and the ability to use one—and that goes for
smart phones and personal devices too. The new literacy is technological in
nature.
When I was a
boy growing up in rural NC, it wasn’t uncommon to run across an old timer who
had never been to school, or learned how to read and write. These people would sign with an “X” instead
of being able to write their name.
Because I had received a pretty decent public education, I marveled at
people, who in the modern twentieth century were still illiterate. It was
almost incomprehensible.
Well, today,
we old timers who are being dragged kicking and screaming into the new century
are the ones who are, to much of the new computer technology savvy crowd, the
old guys who sign with an “X.” And
unless somebody initiates a nuclear holocaust or a giant meteor hits the earth
and zaps us all back instantly into the Stone Age, we will never go back to the
analog age. It just ain’t happening.
So as I see
it, we can choose to adopt one of two mindsets.
We can sit and chafe about how the young crowd is too lazy or ashamed to
carry a physical, bound, book-type Bible around, and we can look down on them
for not doing things our way, or, we can thank God that there are young people
who are even interested in going to church and actually reading their Bibles,
even if on an electronic device, and try to bridge the age gap and be a mentor
or elder brother in the Lord to them.
But that
mentorship cannot begin with the premise that everything that they do is wrong and
everything we have been doing is, in reality, the only right and only holy way
to do things. To look down on the
younger generation for not having the values with which we were raised (and
they were not) smacks of self-righteousness and Pharisee-ism. The religious establishment of Jesus’ day, had
their religion down to a science and essentially missed the Gospel, because
Jesus’ teaching wasn’t in line with their idolized “old time religion,” so to
speak. Pharisees drive people away from
the Lord. God help us to not become
Pharisees.
Dana
++++++++++++++++++++
John responded on 10/29/17 at 8:54, instead of watching the fifth game
of this year’s very exciting World Series. Go Houston! Hang in there!!
Dana
I
do hear you. But I don’t think the answer to the dilemma is a straightforward
as you are presenting it.
Friday,
I forgot my cell phone. I never leave home without it. I was on edge all day
wondering where it was, what was I missing, and how would anyone contact me
without it (among other fears)? When I got home from work, the charge was 0%.
Dead as a doornail. Try using a phone in
church that is misplaced, left at home, or with no charge.
Have
you watched people in a congregation try to finger their phone to keep up with
a pastor who is constantly jumping from book to book and verse to verse? How
much are they missing?
You
know how easy it is to get distracted from what the preacher is saying
while trying to find something using a
Bible. How much more are the distractions with a phone? How much is missed?
Sure,
I’m glad those Gen Zers were in church and not at Starbucks. But what are they
getting? How much is the Holy Spirit really sinking into their souls?
Yes,
I agree, we are the old timers. I remember people coming into the bank I worked
for and signing their check with an X. I couldn’t believe it. Those people only
wanted money, we’re talking about serving the living God and knowing His word
to help us navigate the stormy and treacherous seas of life. Not just play
Angry Birds or ask Siri where’s the nearest bike store or Chinese restaurant.
I
know about dinosaurs. I’ve seen one of the few Gutenberg Bibles in the world on
display in the Library of Congress, but I work for a graphics company whose
presses can turn out 1000s of printed pages a day vs one book in weeks. Yes, I
would agree to a point, we’re dinosaurs, but our printed Bibles don’t need to
be recharged. If dropped the case won’t break nor will the glass, because there
isn’t any. I can refer to my notes at any time. If I have tabs that mark the
Books, I can look something up even faster than trying to scroll through a
never ending line of books, and chapters and then verses. When I travel, I
don’t have to be concerned about finding a charging station or a possible
hassle from the TSA. Even down to the security and comfort of “holding” God and
His words in my hands, when it’s necessary (if I don’t have an appropriate
verse memorized) and not hoping that Siri can understand my fading Midwest
accent.
Perhaps
this might be a workable suggestion. For those who rely on their phones, make
them the secondary choice for church, after their Bible. As one phone user
actually acknowledged when asked about this, she said, “A person short changes
themselves for all the benefits they can get out of a (paper) Bible.” I would
agree, especially when I take our NIV Essentials Study Bible off the
shelf and use all the study aids that are in it.
And speaking of this Bible, in the Preface of
the NIV Essentials Study Bible are these words:
“Our work as
translators is motivated by our conviction that the Bible is God’s Word in
written form. We believe that the Bible contains the divine answer to the
deepest needs of humanity, sheds unique light on our path in a dark world and
sets forth the way to our eternal well-being.”
Can
I get the above from an iPhone? If I can
find it amongst all the other apps, I do have a Flashlight app. But the
“...shed(ding) unique light on our path in a dark world and set(ting) forth the
way to our eternal well-being,” I would rather hold it in my hand and turn the
pages daily along that path while I walk with Him.
Your friend
John
PS In case
you’re wondering, the Astros took it in the 10th with a score of 13
to 12—in what many baseball writers and others are calling one of the best
ever!!!! Go Astros
++++++++++++++++++++++
Dana Replied on Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 11:37 AM
Hi John,
I get your
point. I too prefer the printed
page. While I have a Kindle app on my
iPod, and have access to a number of books in a device about as big as a pack
of cigarettes and a quarter of the thickness, when I buy books, for the most
part they are real printed, hard copy books.
But we are not the young people of today.
Younger people
are whizzes with electronic devices. My
son has never known life without microwave ovens and ATM machines, and
everything else that goes with those technological developments. And as each new or updated technological apparatus
comes along, they are primed and ready for it.
My elementary school-aged granddaughter can already do more on cell
phone than I’ll probably be able to do if I live to be 100.
My point is, is
that we simply cannot transfer our own technological inabilities and
trepidations onto a generation that doesn’t possess our generation’s
inabilities and trepidations.
Case in point:
during the War Between the States, Confederate General Jeb Stuart’s troops were
defeated by General George Armstrong Custer’s Union forces. One of the reasons for the upset was that
Custer’s soldiers were armed with repeating rifles (the Spencer carbine, I
believe,) while Stuart’s men had muzzle loading weapons. What’s this got to do with the electronic
church? Bear with me.
In the
infinite wisdom of some person in the War Department of the US Government in
that day, it was decided that it would be “better” for some reason either
political or economical, to take a step back and change the service rifle of
the US Army to the 45.70 caliber Trap Door Springfield.
These rifles were
the same size and weight as the old, muzzle loading “thunder sticks,” but fired
a single round from a metallic cartridge, which was loaded by opening the
breech via a lever. Upon so doing, the
spent cartridge casing was extracted, and could be replaced by manually
inserting another round. The breech was then
closed and locked, the hammer manually cocked, and the weapon was ready for
firing. There was significant time
between shots, whereas the Spencer rifle had a tubular spring-fed magazine
which held (I think) seven rounds. When the loading lever, which also
functioned as a trigger guard, was pushed forward the empty round was ejected
and upon being pulled back, a fresh cartridge was chambered.
The 45.70
cartridge was a buffalo stopping round, which made the bullet quite heavy, thus
not all that efficient for long range shots.
The rifles were heavy, slow and cumbersome, but of a size and weight to
which most soldiers were accustomed.
These 45.70’s were the weapons with which most of General Custer’s 7th
Cavalry were armed, when they encountered Sitting Bull’s and Crazy Horse’s
warriors, who were carrying…repeating rifles.
It’s more than a little ironic that Custer won one of the last, very
important battles of the War Between the States with the use of repeating rifles,
then several years later, lost most of his command and his own life because his
troops were armed with single-shot weapons and the Native Americans had
repeaters.
Davy Crockett,
in most cases, would have preferred his “Old Betsy” flintlock rifle, but I bet
he’d have given anything under the sun for a repeating rifle at the Alamo. It’s not that the old technology is bad; it’s
that for the most part (overwhelmingly) the new technology is better. Those who
grasp and employ it tend to move ahead of those who don’t.
We needn’t
fear technology too much. Yes, there are elements in our military and covert sciences
that are doing their dead level best to integrate and hybridize mankind with
machines, and, are developing machines that can think for themselves, and
that’s no small concern, but an electronic Bible and its users aren’t the bad
guys here. All of your issues, I
understand, and to a degree, empathize and sympathize with, but the one factor
that overrides all your concerns is the Holy Spirit Himself.
You wrote:
“Sure, I’m glad those Gen Zers were in church
and not at Starbucks. But what are they getting? How much is the Holy Spirit
really sinking into their souls?”
Will
technology and apps really limit the Holy Spirit from working in the life of
one of our younger generationals? You
and I might stumble from pillar to post while trying to keep up with the pastor
on an electronic Bible app, but I have more confidence in those who know how to
use the technology, and even more so in the ability of the omniscient,
omnipresent, and omnipotent Holy Spirit to touch the life of the end user
despite technology or the lack thereof.
The New
Testament which we revere as God’s inspired Word (along with the Old Testament)
was something which the first Christians didn’t have in any portable form. They could hear the Scriptures read at
synagogue (if they were Jews) and they would be able to sit under the teachings
of the Apostles or their subordinates, but the writings that became the New
Testament existed primarily in the form of letters that went to and were
perhaps circulated by churches, not individuals. First century believers had no personal
Bibles to read, and yet thousands were being saved and filled with the Spirit,
and, churches were springing up, and, I might add, in the face of fierce
opposition from Jews and pagans alike.
The Holy
Spirit will do His work in His people whether they have no personal Bible to
read, or if they have a leather bound study Bible with the words of Christ in
red, or a Gideon’s pocket New Testament, or a memorized verse, or an iPod,
iPhone, iPad or any of the other electronic platforms (Galaxy etc.)
It says in
Hebrews 4:
“For the word of God is living, and active,
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit,
of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the
heart.”
Given the
omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, and what we just
read concerning the “living” word of
God, are we truly worried that the same word and Spirit cannot “…sink into their souls,” because they
access the Scriptures on a hand held electronic device that we just haven’t
been able to master as well?
Jeremiah 32:27
says:
“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is
anything too hard for me?”
Indeed!
Dana
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