Monthly Archives: July 2018

WHY I AM NOT ON TWITTER OR FACEBOOK

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Echo chambers abound.  In other words, on Facebook and Twitter you “gather” with like-minded people who confirm your entrenched views.

Funny name that Facebook.  There is no real face to face interaction and “gathering” or connecting is all virtual.  Real person to person interaction has gone the way of the Dodo bird!

Great pooling of ignorance.  Yes, there are thoughtful people on both Facebook and Twitter, but there are many more who are ignorant, and a large percentage seem not to know it!

The ancient Greeks said that to “learn is to suffer.”  Real learning usually means we have to unlearn something that we believed to be true.  This rarely happens, though I know of a few examples like the Westboro Baptist woman who realized via social media that her views were wrong.  But these kinds of examples are rare, very rare.  Probably not wise to build a case for something based on rare examples.

Let’s say you spend twenty minutes a day on Facebook and /or Twitter.  That adds up to a little over 120 hours per day.  Now think what you could do with 120 extra hours!

 

 

OIL WELL NOT ORWELL!

We spent several days last week visiting with friends from Brenham Bible Church.  This is the church I preached at from 2010-13.

During a break between visits, Doreen and I went to Starbucks to read.  I met a man there from New Orleans with a thick accent.  He was curious about about the books I write.

During our conversation he said he “liked to read about oil wells.”  I thought he said Orwell so I enthusiastically replied how much I “loved Orwell.”

He laughed and said my confusion was due to his heavy accent.

REAL THINGS MATTER!

I’ve been posing a dare to some friends. I’m daring them to read the introduction to this book and seeing if they can stop. Like one potato chip (which is hardly digital!) they will find themselves devouring the rest of the bag, er book.

The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter is a terrific book. There is hard evidence in this book that digital is not the only game in town, but studies and statistics are augmented by engaging stories.  Stories of people making things that we thought went the way of the Dodo bird add to the book’s allure, poignancy, and persuasiveness.

Vinyl records and used bookstores are back!  They, of course, never totally went away, but their demise had an inevitability that was widely held.

So I dare you as well: Grab a copy (you will have to go to a bookstore to do this!) and read the introduction.   I think you will find yourself wanting much more.

By the way, my “Moore’s Law of Reading” held true with this book.  “Moore’s Law of Reading” takes the total number of pages of a book (242 with this book) and divides by two, so 121.  If my marginal notes exceeds half of the pages then it was a worthwhile read.  In this case, I made 166 marginal notes of various kinds, so it definitely was a great read.

BIBLE CONUNDRUM! CAN YOU HELP?

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I often interact with Christians who “believe” the Bible, but don’t read it very much.

I know several non-Christians who don’t believe the Bible, but still read it.

“Ah,” you say, the non-Christians read it for the wrong reason.  They just want to be literate.
“True,” I concede, but what about the Christians who don’t read the Bible?!
I await your answer…