It strikes me that we are a group of generations (from late Boomers/early Xers like myself to the Y'ners--no pun intended?--and on) that have this in common: we pride ourselves in how far we have come. This is particularly true in terms of intellectual progression. And we can go much farther back than the Boomers to meet those who first seized upon naturalism and led us down this path. While we doubtlessly understand so much more than those who came before us, we make the assumptive leap that we understand so much better, too. I simply don't see how this can be confirmed. For one thing--the most important thing--how can we say we understand so much better about God when all the new understanding we keep generating about the world seems to do little more than steal our time with Him?
Let this be said: I love the Internet. I drive Laura a little bonkers when my first response to her question, upon seeing an actor or athlete on TV, of "How old do you think he/she is?" is not some reflective pause and then a guess, but rather a physical move to the computer and a visit to Wikipedia. Why guess when we can know? That would be the journalist coming out in me. But I also know that I lived a big chunk of my life pre-Internet. I did not maintain a web site that had to keep up with the week's happenings, so I could spend hours in the mountains, alone or with friends in the thick of God's creation. I did not write a blog. For Pete's sake, I sat down and talked to people--fewer of them, perhaps, but more intimately, as I think God would really have me do. I didn't know so much about the pain in a thousand distant places, so rather than fretting recklessly about the faraway, I was free to work with focus and thrust on the problems right nearby--or to hear the voice of God truly calling me to just one of those places to work with focus and thrust there.
Surely, you see where I am going with this. Maybe we have not come so far as we think. Or maybe we have. Maybe we know in our souls just how far we have moved from God in intimacy as we have spent our hours understanding so many other things rather than sitting solely, fiercely, at length with Him. A jury that examined my life under the weight of the evidence of which I speak could come to only one conclusion: guilty. I am guilty of giving my attentions to so many other "valuable" things, to the detriment of the glory of God and my friendship with Him.
QUESTIONS FOR THOSE WHO MIGHT COMMENT
- Do you think my observations are correct in a general sense? Are we especially accomplished at spending our attention on many things other than God?
- What are the intellectual and entertainment pursuits in our present culture that cut most deeply into our relationship (time, energy, connection) with God?
- What is some rich thing you did 10 years ago that you are not doing now because of the many additions to the volume of life? How did that activity connect you with God in a way you are not connected now?
- How will we go about restoring the richness of life for our individual selves and our little fellowship that resides within this culture?
God Keeps Leading
11 years ago
14 comments:
Sometimes I feel really overwhelmed with our societies way of having to know about everything in detail. To me at times it feels like sensory overload or am I just getting older and cannot keep up with all the information coming at me. I feel as though its directed at me too and that its not something that I am looking for. I feel that way too about my communicating with God. Sometimes I wish I could email God, but whats his email address ? When I have sensory overload I feel I am being distracted from God and during those times I feel I need to get away from all of todays technology and go back to the old ways of writing things down on a pad or going to a very high place in the mountains for some peace and quiet. There is something to the old ways that will refresh my spirit, mind and body that todays technology cant touch.
I think back to when I actually talked to people on a regular basis, I mean in person and with no distractions other than little kids running around.
Back in the days before we carried cell phones that for some reason most people feel the need to answer immediatly rather than let that person wait and leave a message, so that you can focus on the one in person sitting with you.
I think most often we let our conveniences, cause the most mess in our lives.
They not only pull us away from time with the Lord but our families and friends.
Speaking of friends, I think that todays kids are having a harder time forging deep friendships because they are surronded with Myspace etc. that tells them that they need 1,000 "friends" that they then spend endless hours "chatting" with yet not really knowing them.
~We don't need a lot of shallow friends, but a few deep ones~
I think that is they key term, we don't really "know" people any more...and maybe for most of us, not really knowing God. Why, because we don't spend time with Him.
What about the days of going to a friends house to sit and have coffee (or tea if you like) and just talking.....not for any particular reason other than to be together. That is how you get to know someone, truly. Same with the Lord. Time (undistracted) and an open heart.
I was reading something somewhere fairly recently (maybe a book Jeff has also read?) that was talking about how life has changed drastically since the discovery and utilization of electricity in the mid to late 18th century. It used to be that people would rise with the sun and go to bed with the sun (getting WAY more sleep on average than we do now). If they stayed up later it was by fire light. Usually a family would gather in the main room of the home all together around the fire and converse before bed. Homes were smaller because they heated better that way and family life was cozier.
Since electricity became widespread, people now started to work all different shifts. All 24 hours were now up for grabs for working and living. Homes got bigger and now people don't even gather together in one room to watch TV. Now families go off into their own spaces and get on their computers and watch their own TVs, etc. If we are not even connecting with our own families the way people used to, how can we connect with friends like we should?
This might not really answer the question, but it is something I have been pondering lately. I've thought about not using any electric lights at night, or maybe just in one room of the house. If someone needs to use the bathroom they can turn the light on in there, but no TVs, computers, electric gadgets, or lights after dark.
Of course, we have a lifestyle that demands many of those things so we can all get our homework done and such, so I think it's a pipe dream. Maybe it's a good experiment for the summer. I was thinking about what it's like camping and how uncomfortable it can be for a moment when you realize at home you'd be up another 3 hours, but camping or backpacking, there's nothing to do but stare at a fire and converse with your friends and family. Then when you get used to the idea it's wonderful. I can't even get Chris to light a fire in the fireplace. He's too afraid of chimney fires and pollution, which are serious concerns, but I love fires.
I'll quit rambling.
Yes, we need to return to some basics.
BUT, I do feel I am doing more now to grow in my relationship with God than I ever did 10 years ago...
So, ??
I definitely agree that there are powers that work for no other purpose but to thwart the work of God. Technology, entertainment, and media can be forces that move me away from God, and I am not alone.
Religion is another enemy power. Jacques Ellul writes, "Religion is one of the constant forces in man's alienation ... It offers man a fine method of avoiding true encounter with God."
It is naive to think that we (here and now) are any better or worse off than any others in history. We are all caught up in the same drama, and I don't think advancement has anything specific to do with it.
In a sense, I agree with Jeff that these "advances" serve to keep us at arms length in our relationships, especially our relationship with God, but nostalgia doesn't help us make better choices. Instead, it keeps us stuck in fantasy and wishful thinking.
Advancement isn't the problem that separates us from God. Separation is the ORIGINAL problem, and we use whatever means available to distract ourselves from this core problem. Wikipedia is just one in a long line of substitutes for real relationships, if that's what we make of it.
From a different angle:
I don't resonate with the idea that advancement "seems to do little more than steal our time with [God]" as though we can divide secular and sacred. Christians don't decide when to be spiritual. We are spiritual.
I'm not sure how specific categories of activity steal my time from God. Now, quality of content may be harmful (and best avoided), but all sorts of activities can be spiritually edifying if done to the glory of God. The Christian does not negotiate two worlds, sacred and secular, but lives in only one world: The Land of the Living.
Is the study of nature, literature, biology, engineering, or language any less edifying to the Christian and one's relationship with God (i.e., time with God) than any other activity? For instance, is the Salk vaccine for Polio not a demonstration of God's merciful intervention in the world just because it resulted from the scientific rather than "spiritual" disciplines? Advancements that save and improve lives are evidence that the powers that work against us are being held back to some degree. Human advancement might be a sign of victory.
Amy, you sure made me go back and read the original post. I know where you are headed with the sacred and the secular and how they really can not be separated out. But I also know that Scripture refers to our enemy as "the prince of this world." I think there is some degree of separation--how much I cannot say--just as there is a degree of separation between work and home. Even though my covenantal marriage, say, cannot be removed from either place, I can certainly let my job steal time from the relationship I have with my spouse. Not a perfect analogy (is there such a thing?), but I hope you can see where I am coming from too.
We are entangled with God in every place, and He is entangled with us. But sin unquestionably hinders the flow of that relationship (though not the covenantal nature of His love)--and everything that does not come from faith is sin. Maybe what I have been saying since the beginning here is that my life is full of lots of things (mostly activities, and many of them newer than older) that probably in some cases and certainly in others do not come from faith.
I think that the idea that we can find distraction anywhere and with everything is true. And while it can be said that back in those "simpler" times one could still find someone who still finds distractions with which to avoid relationship, I think that in looking at the bigger picture, and this is supported by most of the history that I've studied, the family unit has changed dramatically over the years. We are much busier in terms of the things that we pack into our days than folks were a couple of hundred years ago. That's not to say that they weren't just as busy, but the variety wasn't there.
Back when I used to actually work in the great outdoors, I usually spent one entire day just mowing the lawn. This was one heck of a big lawn. And I didn't have a tractor. The conversations that I could have with God in those times were much easier to follow and understand than those times when I was out running errands.
I think about camping (like my wife). We intentionally leave things home that might be distractions. When backpacking, we leave them home because they distract us from our surroundings by causing us to complain about our heavy packs. But sitting around a fire with friends and family breeds relationship. All there is to do is talk and listen. Conversation can happen other places, but I'm taking it down to the bare minimum here. Man (and woman) and fire. Maybe something dead roasting (are marshmallows dead?). Whatever.
It feels distraction can be found anywhere, but the simpler times that I think of make it more difficult to be distracted. When I'm alone in the wilderness and I come across bear or mountain lion sign, I'm very distracted. But not in the same way. Believe me, I'm talking to God. If I sit in front of the tube, I'm generally distracted. And that's what I want sometimes. Not from God, but from the hectic life. Perhaps I would do better by finding a quite place to reflect, but if you've been to my house you know it doesn't exist.
I guess it's a bit different for me because I don't look back to simpler times. There are simpler times for me and those are times that I look for, but there is no line that is drawn in my history where I can say, "Ahhh... those were simpler times." I look back on those points in time with pleasure. And I look forward to them on a daily basis. I'm gonna go ride my bike now.
1) How is "time with God" defined?
2) A good friend of mine has this on her car's bumper:
"It’s no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society" ~Krishnamurti.
Our spiritual lives are affected by our environment, and there are strong cultural influences that can weigh us down.
"Evil communications corrupt good manners" ~Menander (Paul probably quoted this in 1 Corinthians 15:33)
We do live in a time when these things are as true as ever. I'll admit, I'm poorly informed on world events because I don't read the news. I cannot take in any more information, especially about tragedies I can do nothing about. I have to limit my intake and this is one place I choose to cut back, for a season. I also don't read magazines or watch TV (unless for the purpose of joining in a shared activity with others). I am out of touch in some ways, but there has to be a limit.
Chris,
Yes, marshmallows are dead. They are made from gelatin, but I won't elaborate on that here ;)
Well if we go back as far as I think you are talking about then the way we all live now has definitely interferred with our relationship with God. For example Sundays were always dedicated to God and it was a time when neighbors who lived quite a distance from one another were able to see and have a relationship with each other. Not to mention the only book most people used to have was the Bible so it was certainly more present for a lot of people than it is now.
I know I spend way too much time on the internet, and a lot less time reading or hanging out with friends than I used to. I no longer have to go outside of my home to have relationships with people, but certainly the intimacy is lost.
As I spend more time with my exchange students I find myself longing for their way of life. They really protect their leisure time, make it a priority to get enought rest, etc. Something that is not well understood in this country with it's fast pace, and get it now mentality. A lot of them live without things that we are so used to having like a car, stores open 24 hours, etc. I can think back to only 20 years ago and you would never find a store open on Christmas. I often wonder what happened to that life and wish it were that way again. Technology has hurt us in many ways as it seems to me it is teaching us to be so enmeshed in it that we lost other things, although I have to admit to being glad I don't have to spend an entire day doing laundry by hand! Wouldn't it be nice though to have that conversation piece of speculating as Jeff stated how old that runner is instead of getting the answer? How much more time would we spend on our relationship with each other if the internet wasn't a minute away? I think a step in the right direction though is to protect our time with each other and our leisure time, something I'm not very good at but I hope to get good at.
It really is quite simple, think back say...in the last 20 years of your life. What were the best times you can recall? Now do it all over again.
20 Years ago I could stay awake all night, now I can barely make it past 10 p.m. I think age has something to do with that.
Going back twenty years puts me into a time frame in which I would love to do a lot of things over-- just not the way I did them the first time around. That's not what we're talking about here, but that's what going back twenty years makes me think of.
Going back 20 years takes me to a place where I was 20 years less mature. Since then, I've grown 20 years worth (however much that is on planet Amy) in my relationships with others, including God. I'm also that much more reconciled to myself as a human person with human needs and challenges.
I can't think of any other place or time that I'd rather be than right now. That's not because I'm better off, or that I'm feelinhg a surge of positive emotion. In fact, the last 18 months have been some of the most difficult in my entire life. It's because, more than ever, I have made peace with God and with myself.
I don't mean to imply that I've arrived, far from it. It's that I am both content to be where I am now, and eagerly seeking a deeper understanding of God. My soul is relatively content (compared to other times in my life, and to a purely theoretical understanding of absolute contentment).
In other words, I love God more than ever before, and I am more compassionate with myself than ever before. I can't think of a better place to be even though some of my circumstances are less than pleasurable.
I'm with Chris, I don't want to go back 20 years. I understand that technology, distractions, the pace of life, vile imagery, and social isolation all war against our humanity. These are weapons that the enemy can wield against us.
At the same time, those things are no more powerful than the forces of evil have ever been. I can't imagine that people were less distracted from God and more holy 20 or 100 or 1000 years ago. We are living in a time of extremely rapid changes. We identify and name these powers more clearly because the contrast is more evident, and nostalgia tends to "win" when it comes to regretable change.
Maybe I wasnt clear, As I look back on my life I have highlights of things I have done and experienced, some 20 years ago, and some last month. They are happenings that I remember, and feel positive about. Most involve connections with other people that exclude technology. Like sitting around a campfire with my kids, helping someone fix a fence, a conversation that got deep, and helped a person straighten out their life, hanggliding with a friend. And I remember, how good these things felt, and because I like feeling good I try to repeat them as often as possible. I must confess there are alot of things id like to do over also but i dont think much about them...i guess i have no good memories of technology...
I've seen some good movies and heard some great bands. Both involved technology. That's just to say that there's nothing inherently wrong with technology, but in the ways that we use it. That said, it goes back to everything in moderation and putting God at the front of everything that we do. And not to be too smart, but building a fence requires technology. Perhaps not the kind we often refer to, but we should not forget that technology has been advancing for millennia. Sorry, that's just me being a pain in the rear.
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