I've been reading the Internet Monk, a blog written by Michael Spenser. Michael describes himself as "a post-evangelical reformation Christian in search of a Jesus shaped spirituality.” I like his self description! Sounds sort of familiar. He is an excellent writer AND has things to say that are worth reading. The following is a post he wrote earlier this week entitled, "Is This the 'Better World' You Were Talking About?" This is only a brief excerpt from a much longer piece. If you go to the bottom, you'll see my response.
For my parents, what was important happened in your family, your neighborhood or maybe your county. Events in Washington or around there world were distant, and when they touched you, it was for reasons of obvious importance.
Were they ignorant? Were they under informed? Would their lives have been better if they could set in front of Fox News or CNN and watch the stock market’s every move?
I don’t think so.
They trusted a few sources of information. They believed that what they heard in church and Sunday School was what was really important. (And that came from their own pastor! Not a religious channel!!)
They believed in talking to their neighbors and family about what was going on in the community. Perhaps they needed to be overwhelmed by information, so they would know they couldn’t be happy without the stock market at 14,000 or a flat screen television. Perhaps they needed to be wired into the world-wide information superhighway, where “friends” are tiny pictures on facebook that may never say a word to you and “neighborhood” is the a collection of property belonging to other strangers you never talk to.
I grew up in the same world as Michael. He was born in 1956, one year earlier than me. I have the great benefit of still having my Dad with me, a faithful reader of this blog every day. (I'm sure he will have some comments.) I half-way agree with Michael's conclusions. Life pre-Internet was certainly MUCH different. I wouldn't agree that it was better.
What we have today are simply different options than were available when we were growing up. Media options, in particular, have grown exponentially. But I'm guessing that a writer in the 1960s could have lamented over the fact that first radio, and then television, created a much more complicated media cafeteria than existed fifty years earlier, when everything was in print. So much simpler. So much better.
What we need today is the same thing that our fathers and our forefathers have always needed. Discernment. We need to decide what is important and what is not, and then focus on what is important and filter out what's not important. In fact, our ability to do this is much greater today than ever. We have the technology to set up our Google Reader to capture EXACTLY what we want to read. We have the option of ignoring everything else. Our 500+ channels on cable television give us the option to zero in on the programming we wish to view. We don't have to watch the talking heads if we don't want to. Frankly the best technology is not even that new any more. It's called a remote control. We don't even have to get up to change the channel or turn off the TV.
Maybe there is one more thing we need beyond discernment. Our forefathers had it in abundance. Discipline. Midst the cacophany of voices wanting to scream in our ears about the world falling apart around us, we need the discipline to listen to that still small voice of God, our Father. If we listen well we can still hear Him whisper His will and His worldview. Fortunately, that's one media outlet that never changes.
