A recent news story caught my attention. It was titled “20 Things We Don't Do Anymore Because of Technology”. Read through this summary list of the twenty things and see just how on target the author, Kim Komando, really is.
1. Memorize a phone number
2. Use a phone book to find a company to do work around your house
3. Park your used car on the street with a sign that says it’s for sale
4. Do math in your head
5. Call a family member to ask where they are
6. Tell time by the hands on a clock
7. Make photo albums
8. Own a CD or record collection
9. Make mix tapes
10. Call a theater to get movie times
11. Record your favorite programs on tape
12. Watch shows when they are broadcast
13. Run to the store for a last-minute gift
14. Cut things out of the newspaper
15. Send a handwritten letter
16. Look up how to spell a word
17. Use a phone booth
18. Carry enough change to make a phone call
19. Use a travel agent
20. Get your old checks back from the bank every month
So, how did you score? As a general rule, the younger one is, the higher (or closer to all twenty) he or she will score. By contrast, the older one is, the lower (or further from all twenty) he or she will score.
Accordingly, for our part, about twelve of the twenty apply to my wife and me. (We shan’t reveal which ones!) We are probably right in line with most people our age. By comparison, our children would likely score very close to all twenty, while our parents would score close to one or two.
So, what do we take form this? Undeniably, technology is changing all of our lives! And this is true, even if we do not want it to! A dozen or so years ago, the online world was considered something of a fad. Very few people could conceive of how the world was about to change.
Then came the introduction of the smartphone. Suddenly everyone was not just talking on their phones, or texting on them, but surfing the web on them as well. The proliferation of phone apps that quickly followed has so radically altered our way of living that the world will never be the same. Indeed, some argue that technology is the greatest leap forward in civilization in the last millennium. Only time will tell.
But this much is certain - the only thing constant is change itself! And in the future, change will only occur at an even faster rate than it has in the past. Which leaves us with a choice – we can either embrace change or we can eschew it.
Of course, if we choose not to ream in intransigent and resist change, we run the risk of becoming irrelevant! At the same time, as we embrace change, we must make certain that we do not let go of everything. For some things, particularly values, do not change, and thus should not be abandoned.
In by-gone days, our forebears spoke a lot of folk wisdom. Most of us can quote these maxims by heart…
“Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder”, “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”, “Confession Is Good for the Soul”, “All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy”, “Early to Bed, and Early to Rise, Makes a Man Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise”, etc… The list is long and familiar.
Allow me to remind you of one more in particular: “Don’t Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater”. In days gone by, many babies would be bathed in small 35 gallon tubs up on the kitchen counter. After the bath, the dirty bath water would be slung out into the yard. Obviously, it was important to make certain the baby had been removed from the tub before its contents were dispensed with and dispersed into the yard.
The point of this proverb is that one must let go of what needs to be discarded while hanging on to what matters most. And that is a pretty good guide for how we much approach change to day. If a better, more efficient way of doing something is invented, then we should embrace that and let go of the older, less efficient way of doing whatever it is we are doing.
But at no time in this process should we ever discard what really matters. Among the list of things that really matter are our relationships, our values, and our convictions. Whether I communicate through a handwritten letter or an email, whether I call or text, whether I send a physical greeting card or a digital one, what matters most is that I communicate regularity with those I know and love. Methods change, but meaningful communication does not.
In a similar way, for the church of Jesus Christ, the methods by which we communicate the Gospel may change over time. From one on one conversations to mass assemblies to books to pamphlets to tracts to radio to television to webcasts to blogs to tweets to who knows what else, the methods by which we have seen and will see the Gospel communicated are ever changing.
But the glorious message of the Gospel itself, as summarized so succinctly in the New Testament life of Christ as penned under the direction of the Holy Spirit by the Apostle John (chapter three, verse sixteen through eighteen) never has and never will change:
16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
And so, my friend, embrace change. It is inevitable. Grab hold of the new and let go of the old. But never, never, never throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water! Rather, hang on to that which is essential at all cost – the good news of Jesus Christ!
And remember… the methods by which we communicate the Gospel always have and always will change; but the message of the Gospel itself never has, never does, and never will!
SOURCES:
STORY SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/05/06/20-things-dont-do-anymore-because-technology.html. Kim Komando hosts the nation's largest weekend radio talk show, dispensing advice on nearly every aspect of living in today's digital world, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. Her website is: http://www.komando.com/.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/niv/john/3.htm.
NOTE: For an extensive list of American Proverbs and Folk Sayings and Maxims, see: https://www.brownielocks.com/folksayings.html.
1. Memorize a phone number
2. Use a phone book to find a company to do work around your house
3. Park your used car on the street with a sign that says it’s for sale
4. Do math in your head
5. Call a family member to ask where they are
6. Tell time by the hands on a clock
7. Make photo albums
8. Own a CD or record collection
9. Make mix tapes
10. Call a theater to get movie times
11. Record your favorite programs on tape
12. Watch shows when they are broadcast
13. Run to the store for a last-minute gift
14. Cut things out of the newspaper
15. Send a handwritten letter
16. Look up how to spell a word
17. Use a phone booth
18. Carry enough change to make a phone call
19. Use a travel agent
20. Get your old checks back from the bank every month
So, how did you score? As a general rule, the younger one is, the higher (or closer to all twenty) he or she will score. By contrast, the older one is, the lower (or further from all twenty) he or she will score.
Accordingly, for our part, about twelve of the twenty apply to my wife and me. (We shan’t reveal which ones!) We are probably right in line with most people our age. By comparison, our children would likely score very close to all twenty, while our parents would score close to one or two.
So, what do we take form this? Undeniably, technology is changing all of our lives! And this is true, even if we do not want it to! A dozen or so years ago, the online world was considered something of a fad. Very few people could conceive of how the world was about to change.
Then came the introduction of the smartphone. Suddenly everyone was not just talking on their phones, or texting on them, but surfing the web on them as well. The proliferation of phone apps that quickly followed has so radically altered our way of living that the world will never be the same. Indeed, some argue that technology is the greatest leap forward in civilization in the last millennium. Only time will tell.
But this much is certain - the only thing constant is change itself! And in the future, change will only occur at an even faster rate than it has in the past. Which leaves us with a choice – we can either embrace change or we can eschew it.
Of course, if we choose not to ream in intransigent and resist change, we run the risk of becoming irrelevant! At the same time, as we embrace change, we must make certain that we do not let go of everything. For some things, particularly values, do not change, and thus should not be abandoned.
In by-gone days, our forebears spoke a lot of folk wisdom. Most of us can quote these maxims by heart…
“Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder”, “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”, “Confession Is Good for the Soul”, “All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy”, “Early to Bed, and Early to Rise, Makes a Man Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise”, etc… The list is long and familiar.
Allow me to remind you of one more in particular: “Don’t Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater”. In days gone by, many babies would be bathed in small 35 gallon tubs up on the kitchen counter. After the bath, the dirty bath water would be slung out into the yard. Obviously, it was important to make certain the baby had been removed from the tub before its contents were dispensed with and dispersed into the yard.
The point of this proverb is that one must let go of what needs to be discarded while hanging on to what matters most. And that is a pretty good guide for how we much approach change to day. If a better, more efficient way of doing something is invented, then we should embrace that and let go of the older, less efficient way of doing whatever it is we are doing.
But at no time in this process should we ever discard what really matters. Among the list of things that really matter are our relationships, our values, and our convictions. Whether I communicate through a handwritten letter or an email, whether I call or text, whether I send a physical greeting card or a digital one, what matters most is that I communicate regularity with those I know and love. Methods change, but meaningful communication does not.
In a similar way, for the church of Jesus Christ, the methods by which we communicate the Gospel may change over time. From one on one conversations to mass assemblies to books to pamphlets to tracts to radio to television to webcasts to blogs to tweets to who knows what else, the methods by which we have seen and will see the Gospel communicated are ever changing.
But the glorious message of the Gospel itself, as summarized so succinctly in the New Testament life of Christ as penned under the direction of the Holy Spirit by the Apostle John (chapter three, verse sixteen through eighteen) never has and never will change:
16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
And so, my friend, embrace change. It is inevitable. Grab hold of the new and let go of the old. But never, never, never throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water! Rather, hang on to that which is essential at all cost – the good news of Jesus Christ!
And remember… the methods by which we communicate the Gospel always have and always will change; but the message of the Gospel itself never has, never does, and never will!
SOURCES:
STORY SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/05/06/20-things-dont-do-anymore-because-technology.html. Kim Komando hosts the nation's largest weekend radio talk show, dispensing advice on nearly every aspect of living in today's digital world, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. Her website is: http://www.komando.com/.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/niv/john/3.htm.
NOTE: For an extensive list of American Proverbs and Folk Sayings and Maxims, see: https://www.brownielocks.com/folksayings.html.