If you are sitting under a single teacher week after week with no intention of ending that authority in your life, you can be sure that you have exchanged your mind for someone else’s. If you are reading and studying the same book over and over again, you can be sure that your mind is a slave to that book. If you are performing the same rituals repeatedly in the same way (and this goes for any ritual) you can be sure that it will become an unchallenged second nature, so that you will hardly be conscious of even doing it.
Just like most students go to school to learn, so do most Christians seem to go to church in order to “grow in their walk with the Lord.”
I don’t see anything wrong with learning from others; in fact, this is a necessary part of a human being. We need each other in order to learn and grow. The problem comes in when our teachers do not give us the freedom to eventually walk on our own. We become helpless, dependent creatures when we should be using our own cognitive ability. And when we’re helpless, we’re open to anything taking advantage of us. Mind slaves.
I can hear the fear behind Christian comments loud and clear. “Don’t listen to that heresy. It’s dangerous…. The devil is trying to deceive you…. What would your pastor say about that? ….Read your Bible! …You are confused…. If you skip church you are opening yourself up to Satan and the world which entices you…. Let me see what my pastor has to say about that…. God hates sin because it will destroy you…. God is giving you a free choice and if you choose wrong, then God will have to punish you in eternity.” Fear.
I'm tempted to agree with the cartoon, I certainly like it... But I have probably "installed more new software in my brain" by talking and listening (being an introvert reverse the order) than by reading alone... the very best is when both potentiate each other :)
Naw, books are passe: The Internet is the source of all knowledge.
Unfortunately, the research showing that the Internet is making us brain dead and leaves us unable to concentrate to be able to read books (while we think we can multitask, but that's an illusion).
Not to worry, the Barnes and Noble guy told me that Nook folks are growing at the same rate as books are being purchased, so B&N isn't planning to close up shop. There's also quite an active trade in Technological books at Amazon.com. Softer stuff? Anyone's guess, but people are still buying, but a lot of people are not really reading books any more, so let's hope Kindle helps.
And by the way, books aren't for downloading new software into our brains -- it's just part of the data in the mental database -- not really the same thing as software.
If you are sitting under a single teacher week after week with no intention of ending that authority in your life, you can be sure that you have exchanged your mind for someone else’s. If you are reading and studying the same book over and over again, you can be sure that your mind is a slave to that book. If you are performing the same rituals repeatedly in the same way (and this goes for any ritual) you can be sure that it will become an unchallenged second nature, so that you will hardly be conscious of even doing it.
ReplyDeleteJust like most students go to school to learn, so do most Christians seem to go to church in order to “grow in their walk with the Lord.”
I don’t see anything wrong with learning from others; in fact, this is a necessary part of a human being. We need each other in order to learn and grow. The problem comes in when our teachers do not give us the freedom to eventually walk on our own. We become helpless, dependent creatures when we should be using our own cognitive ability. And when we’re helpless, we’re open to anything taking advantage of us. Mind slaves.
I can hear the fear behind Christian comments loud and clear. “Don’t listen to that heresy. It’s dangerous…. The devil is trying to deceive you…. What would your pastor say about that? ….Read your Bible! …You are confused…. If you skip church you are opening yourself up to Satan and the world which entices you…. Let me see what my pastor has to say about that…. God hates sin because it will destroy you…. God is giving you a free choice and if you choose wrong, then God will have to punish you in eternity.” Fear.
I'm tempted to agree with the cartoon, I certainly like it... But I have probably "installed more new software in my brain" by talking and listening (being an introvert reverse the order) than by reading alone... the very best is when both potentiate each other :)
ReplyDeleteNaw, books are passe: The Internet is the source of all knowledge.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the research showing that the Internet is making us brain dead and leaves us unable to concentrate to be able to read books (while we think we can multitask, but that's an illusion).
Not to worry, the Barnes and Noble guy told me that Nook folks are growing at the same rate as books are being purchased, so B&N isn't planning to close up shop. There's also quite an active trade in Technological books at Amazon.com. Softer stuff? Anyone's guess, but people are still buying, but a lot of people are not really reading books any more, so let's hope Kindle helps.
And by the way, books aren't for downloading new software into our brains -- it's just part of the data in the mental database -- not really the same thing as software.