We have become a society that relies more on visual sources of information than the written word. Newspaper circulation is near a crisis point. Libraries continually add more computers and rely on their DVD collections. Book publishers continue to struggle and even their biggest source of sales is novels where we are not gathering information. The Discovery and History Channels grab the attention of the youth more than a book and we learn how to cook and do home improvements from television. Michael Moore and Bill Maher become our political science teachers. The golden arches tell us that it is a McDonald's. In the evangelical world, impressive architecture draws people to a church and the absence of a pulpit that hides the stylish clothes of the preacher are more important than proclaiming scripture in keeping them there. President Bush is an evangelical but from his comments in interviews, it doesn't appear that he has read much, if anything, in the faith he proclaims. Barack Obama, on the other hand. has written two autobiographies and even liberal commentators are amazed that he has revealed nothing of who he really is in these books. We have been able to delve deep into the mind of great historical figures through collected letters. The closest we come to that today is the collected emails of some business or government figure as revealed in their trials. R U :) happy about this, or R U
:( ?
God choose the written word to reveal His Son to us in. Jesus responded to Satan's temptations with "It is written..." For further reading on this concept I recommend THE VANISHING WORD: The Veneration of Visual Imagery in the Postmodern World by Arthur W. Hunt III isbn: 158134404x. Other good books somewhat related are AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH by Neil Postman and THE SCANDAL OF THE EVANGELICAL MIND BY Mark Noll.
