Wednesday.....Culture.....Semper Reformanda (Always Reforming)

A few days ago I did a book review (November 7th, Dave, My Mind Is Going) on Nicholas Carr's book The Shallows, What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains. I didn't stumble upon this topic for I have been concerned with the overall trend away from the written word for quite a while and have been a lover of books and libraries for even longer. I've commented a number of times on my disdain for the whole concept of social networking, and a few days ago, in another blog, I gave my thoughts on the necessity, at times, of an upheaval in our own lives. Introspection into these matters brought me to a decision of my own. My constant need to check the news and email, fluttering like a butterfly over the Drudge Report, stinging like a bee on my blog, and general dependence upon updates of updates brought me to my own desire for upheaval. I want to see how I will function without HAL speaking in one ear. I want the challenge of surviving with less information. (as I paused here, considering what to write next, I checked my email and news)  So I've decided to put my blog, and all use of the Internet aside for six weeks starting on Thanksgiving Day. The blog would then be a few days short of two years. My decision here may be as uncomfortable to me as the Chinese Water Torture Cell was to Harry Houdini. I've been trying to formulate this for a few weeks now. I'll lay my Toshiba aside and have my iPhone surgically removed for that period, only opening up an old laptop for the word processor. I hope to analyze if my own thinking has been effected and even my personality. I hope to read a little bit more and see if this effects my comprehension and retention. Maybe it's time to pray more and write less? In fact it's probably always time to pray more and do anything less but I do hope to continue to write some, maybe daily notes on how I'm doing without a constant input of news and I may try something altogether new. There is really no cable television to add to this for we only receive eleven stations as it is. I may resume the blog in January, in fact I hope to, and I may not.  None of us knows what a day brings. Lord willing, I will at least report back on this little experiment six weeks from Thursday, on January 6th of 2011, or thereabouts.

Monday.....Why I Love America...Redux

The following blog was written April 15, 2009, nineteen months ago. As discouraging as the trend was in America then, it is even worse now. The TSA problem is not only the insanity of political correctness, it's not only a Constitutional problem, it's not only a harbinger of forced searches elsewhere as long as they say they are keeping us safe, it is not only hypocritical as this proclaimed determination to keep us safe has not shown up at our borders, our harbors, in the protocol our military is forced to use and a host of other areas but there is another problem of immense proportions seen here and in many other areas, that being the inability or refusal to apply common sense. The single most discouraging thing of all is the lack of discernment in a potentially fatal percentage of the American public that the history of their country was indeed special but they themselves, we, have yet to take the test to be included in that history. An all-nighter cram session is necessary and no questions on sports...Dancing With The Stars....or how to live fit and buff are not on the test.

April 15, 2009:
"America The Beautiful" expresses the wondrous bounty God had bestowed upon this country. "Spacious skies, amber waves of grain" and "purple mountain majesties" surely describe this land. I appreciate the beauty of the land and also the liberty that was built upon it, but I love this country for other reasons. When I talk about America, I'm talking about it from its beginning when small ships carried whole communities across the ocean. I love it for its diversity. We have problems but we have overcome bigger ones. We have new challenges that almost seem insurmountable but it's not the first time. We have been bonded together through a concept that demanded diversity of background but became unity as Americans. I love America because of the hope it has given the world and the stability. I can write my opinion and speak it. I can pass out books without fear of intimidation. I can oppose iniquity and protest tendencies that are too close to tyranny for comfort. I love it most because God has used it to spread the gospel to every corner of the world. Everywhere I go, in the workplace, in the recreation and shopping areas, vacation spots and at preserved historical landmarks, there are Christians. I can empathize with them, enjoy their fellowship, share my needs and pray for theirs. Our son will find them at college, my wife and I will work with them and many of our representatives will govern with Christ as their head. God has raised this nation and used it mightily, this is why I love it so. I write this blog because these things are in danger. The bond is disappearing. European immigration is occurring again but this time it is an immigration of philosophy. Illegal immigration, sponsored by politicians for political reasons, does a great disservice to the legal immigrants who continue to bolster and favor us as they become one with us. Our corporations are becoming more international than American. Our activist courts look to international law, for American law will not suffice the paradigm change they envision. Our media is failing its calling and most importantly the faithfulness of our churches to the gospel is at low ebb. Previous to revisionist history, we were taught that Americans were a special people who could do almost anything. The Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville thought this people special enough to travel here just to observe. He wrote, "Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power." Ignoring these problems and the historical tendency of many nations to collapse from within, is not love.

Sunday.....Christianity.....Valley Of Vision.....redux

H. L. Mencken was an influential essayist in America in the first half of the 20th century. One of his famous quotes was a definition of Puritanism as The haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy. This is a grossly inaccurate caricature of a religious mindset but an opinion totally expected from a critic in that age. The Puritans loved life and the fruit, joy, blessings and challenges of it. They might be seen at one moment laughing over beer and the next in serious contemplation of the glory of God. It is this concept that I have clung to since first reading about them. Jonathon Edwards, who died in 1758, may have been the last American Puritan. English preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who died in 1892, was called the last Puritan but modern day English preacher David Martyn Lloyd-Jones was also portrayed that way. We have experienced a grand separation of Christian traits in today's evangelicalism. We can be worldly and we can be pious but we cannot be both and either way we have to be victorious, but the solemnity of their own failures was part and parcel of the Puritan life and that introspection is what is needed most today. The pietistic element in Christianity today (liberal churches) can only mollify the secular element in society if it promises to only challenge fellow Christians and not them in being pious. The worldly element of evangelicalism (politically conservative churches) can never mollify the liberal/secular element of society and that element then perceives that Christians challenge only the secular world and not themselves which makes matters worse.  If some desire to, let them glory in their own strength but the Puritan mind gloried in the strength of Christ that overcomes our weaknesses. Please consider the following prayer and if you feel led, bring this topic up for conversation during fellowship with other believers. The book, often mentioned in this blog, that the following Puritan prayer comes from is its initial offering, and source of its title, is Valley Of Vision edited by Arthur Bennett and available through any book seller. Leland Ryken's Worldy Saints and J. I. Packer's A Quest For Godliness would be good reads on this subject.

Lord, High And Holy, Meek And Lowly,
Thou has brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee
in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold
thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to have all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from
deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter
thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty
thy glory in my valley.

Friday.....America.....Coupons

While sitting here, logging onto my blog and listening to the radio, a commercial voice said "a coupon is only good if you you use it.? I didn't catch the rest for I found myself contemplating that statement. It's certainly a true but it doesn't address the whole issue. I could hold in my hand a coupon for a free oil change for a Lexus. My choice is taken out of the equation for I don't own a Lexus, nor do I know anyone who does. The statement is still technically true but it is meant to encourage use, or action so the verity of it, in this case, depends on the coupon, not me. Suppose the coupon I had was for 100 free cable television stations? That's about 90 more than I need or want. In fact 100 cable channels would be detrimental to me, and I believe to anyone else. I might prefer to say "the coupon is bad only if I use it" but the statement obviously is referring to utility not advantage. Suppose the coupon is for ability. We've all been given abilities of some kind. Some have many abilities. Many have the same ability but to varying degrees. For instance, Thomas Sowell and I have both been given a level of intelligence. His ability here is enormously greater than mine, but we both use them, presumably to the best of our...another ability....determination. (For those not familiar with Mr. Sowell you can go to your local bookstore and pick up anything he has written and experience his abilities) What are your abilities in areas that would be beneficial to the nation that you live in, are a citizen of, and have a debt of responsibility to? I remember a comic in a Christian magazine many, many years ago where a man is kneeling by his bed, hands folded in prayer and a very satisfied look on his face as he offers up his thanksgiving with Thank you God, for not calling me to be a missionary! The purpose of this blog has always been to encourage people to look into two things that greatly effect their lives. The first of two is the security and the future of the nation we live in, we respect-even love and which will determine our children's future. Consider the events of this past ten days alone. Had an unidentified missile been launched so close to our shores in the past, as apparently happened off of Los Angeles, it would have been a development as major as the Cuban Missile Crisis. Russia has been brought into the missile defense of NATO. A terrorist played our legal system and political correct society to the advantage of all those who wish us harm. The actions of the TSA is much more than inconvenience or embarrassment. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution requires probable cause in searches yet the most improbable are not only searched but violated to insure that the most probable are not offended. It is more than odd that the rights of terrorists are strenuously guarded and the rights of those the Constitution is meant to protect are abused. George Soros, who has a history of meddling in the affairs of governments made this statement "We have just lost this election...and if this president can't do what we need, it's time to start looking somewhere else." This implies that they had indeed looked to the current adminstration for what they needed, and we know the influence Soros had here, but the results were thwarted. This is in the past ten days alone! Your nation is in extreme need right now of vigilance, common sense and determination from its citizens. You most certainly can avoid it but you cannot avoid the consequences. The second purpose of this blog but infinitely more important is to encourage you to consider this, that the common, accepted Christianity of today, it's doctrines and salvation, may not be correct. You may live in a church age that is so weak that when truths arise they are naturally dismissed as undesirable. One must read to resolve this. When Benjamin Franklin made his famous statement about the need for an informed citizenry he was speaking about the need for libraries, for books and literature. My hope for this blog has been that people would encounter it in passing and go to the books.

Tuesday.....International.....Euro Zone

The European Union has 27 members, 16 of which belong to the Euro Zone, a term we are not all that familiar with in the United States. The Zone is the economic and monetary community within the European Union itself. It has a central bank, but no treasury, and it relies on suggestion not authority. That's the problem in the eyes of many and, as they believe, could eventually lead to the collapse of the Zone and ultimately the Union itself but many are very hesitant to turn their lives over to other nations. Ireland is the latest European Union and Euro Zone member to face a financial disaster, Greece preceding it. Referring to an article by British correspondent Ambrose Evans-Pritchard titled The Horrible Truth Starts To Dawn On Europe's Leaders, many believe, as previously mentioned, that the Euro Zone was formed without the proper authority within it needed to protect the currency, the Euro, that was prematurely established to begin with. Making promises of no defaults of member nations, speculators took chances based on political faith alone with no Treasury to enforce common sense. It was a recipe for disaster. The Horrible Truth that the article's author refers to is not just economic collapse of a continent, but the rise of fascism. In what he calls an authoritarian Putsch, the leaders of this new entity, the EU, refused to accept the rejection of the European Constitution by the French and Dutch and then similarly strong-armed Ireland. Because of this the European Union is illegitimate in the eyes of Evans-Pritchard. See if this sounds familiar: the author writes: Mr. Delors ( Socialist economist and former European politician, Jacques Delors) told colleagues that any crisis would be a "beneficial crisis", allowing the EU to break down resistance to fiscal federalism, and to accumulate fresh power."  The phrase more familiar to us would be never let a crisis go to waste. This is what Americans have be warned of for the last two-plus years. These folks, either across the big pond or here, have no intention of following the will of the people, unless that will coincides with theirs. This is why Americans are in revolt today. This is why we cannot sit back and just "hope" that a new Congress will keep their promises. The first thing that we should look for, if and when an economic or domestic disaster should occur, is attempts by the government to implement emergency powers that are ideological in nature. The Congress has to exert itself right now to discourage any such possible plans that may be in the formative stage. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is not without bias and surely those who he writes about would place him in the same category that we are placed in. So what else is new?  It's up to the individual to determine in their own mind where the truth lies and if we are indeed experiencing a resurgence of Fascism and a good place to start would be the book highlighted below! As the author also wrote Elected leaders can violate democracy as well. There was a corporal from Austria...but let's not get into that.

Sunday.....Christianity.....George Washington

How many of our Founding Fathers were Deists? I don't know. Certainly Jefferson was.  Deism was a popular belief system where there may be a God but he would be a very impersonal one that does not involve himself in the affairs of man, there would be no Holy Scripture for man to refer to, and certainly no atonement. But what about George Washington, the Father of our Country? How do the historians weigh in on him? Peter A. Lillback is an historian but he is also a theologian whose 725 page tome, along with 232 pages of appendices came to a different conclusion than most of the secular historians.  I often wondered about this question myself and eagerly looked forward to reading the book, published in 2006, to see if I could put the issue to rest in my own mind. Lillback has a distinct advantage in this particular area of our first President's life for he knows what the gospel is but he also has biases of his own and those biases have bred controversy. So much, but not all, of secular commentary on Christianity today is given from people who are incapable of understanding the Gospel or who just do not care. Lillback's book breaks down the issue into various areas such as the religious historical setting of the day, Washington's early life, his church and family life before and after the Revolution and his presidency, the testimony of others who knew him well and of course his connection to Masonry. One thing that you have to know about George Washington to even begin an examination of this question is his character and personality, for these traits may effect the impression others will have of his religious belief. Personal honor was everything to the man! If he was going to do anything at all in life it was display a strong character and integrity and let his observers do what they want with it. Lillback gives evidence upon evidence here on Washington's fanaticism in this area and the extreme pains he took to guard it in his life.  How does this relate to the issue of his Christian belief?  Deist belief is not a hazy agnosticism that one could weave in and out of. It was distinct. Lillback makes the case, and I wholeheartedly concur, that one could very well be a deist and be a churchman; but one could not be a deist, a churchman of Washington's level of involvement with orthodox Christian churches, and prize honor and integrity anywhere near the level that Washington did without being a complete fraud. It's not the total answer to the question but it's a beginning and all in Washington's favor for he could not have taken the vows he did, constructed the prayers, espoused the Christian causes he did, and at the same time deny the essence of Christian belief through an actual embrace of Deism! George Washington had a knowledge of the Bible and documentation proved that he read it and valued Holy Scripture from his youth to the day he died when an open Bible was beside his bed along with his Christian wife who had the hope that she would see him in heaven. I understand Lillback's description of Washington's intense personal peculiarities for I hold to many myself. I will not look to the left or the right of the pulpit during a worship service. I will not let any intrusions or intended aids to the preached message enter my mind for I spent my first years in the Christian faith studying "Christian cults" and aberrant theologies and know all to well how easily we fall for man's, often well-intentioned, motives! One of Washington's creeds was actions not words and consequently he came up short on the words as a result. This is evidence enough for someone who wants to come to the conclusion that George Washington was a Deist. I understand this situation. Washington's usage of words such as Divine Providence, which was his norm, is further evidence for some that Washington viewed God as simply a grand architect, but he also used the word God, and the vows, prayers and teachings that he was officially involved with were evangelical.  Whether a young soldier, a general or President of the United States, Washington could not possibly have held to his personal convictions of honor and integrity and continued to hide his deist beliefs. His library was voluminous and he paid great attention to the books he bought, kept and cherished. Many Christians books are included here, as well as sermons, yet no books, of which their were many in existence, that proclaimed Deist belief. Washington relied on others to raise the children in his care and under his sphere of influence. He took great care in this area also and chose Christian teachers over some well respected teachers and professors who were known for their secular emphasis. Lillback gives us one of those biographies that searches out and tackles all the arguments against the main premise. So you'll find chapters on mundane areas of Washington's life as well as rumors that were in existence. All of these are satisfactorily answered. The biggest question of all in this examination of George Washington's religious belief, and the one that many seem to answer even before examination is concerning his well-publicized membership in Masonry. I had this question in the back of my mind as I read through the book, eagerly looking forward to how Lillback would handle it. I've read a fair amount on the Masons, particularly many years ago, but Lillback gave some thoughts to ponder that I had not read. The essence of his defense of Washington is this. Masonry underwent a fundamental change beginning in the late 18th century, a change that put it directly at odds with Christianity, which has remained to today. Previous to this faction coming to the fore, and according to Lillback, Masonry was attempting, in albeit a very unwise way, to advance the Christian religion with the help of Masonic characteristics of order. Before the change in Masonry, a heated debate existed as both factions fought for influence. One prominent Christian minister was recruited to Masonry for this purpose, to halt the slide into an unChristian, even anti-Christian mode. He wisely refused for none of the discerning Christian ministers of the day would have taken the path the George Washington did. Washington himself was warned in a letter against the influence of the European Illuminati. His response was that he did not feel that such a precarious influence existed here in the United States, yet added that he had only been to two Masonic meetings in the past thirty years. George Washington's eternal soul is not dependent on the opinion of historians...either way, but it is a legitimate endeavor to see where this giant of a man and maybe the most illustrious and most influential of all our Presidents stood. After reading Lillback's book I still do not have a definite opinion on this but do acknowledge that this man who had so many qualities and abilities may have been a Christian. Certainly, he was no Deist! The fact that he had weaknesses effects me only as long as it takes me to look in the mirror. The fact that Peter Lillback puts froth some of the very ideas that I have warned against time and time again in this blog does not eliminate the usefulness of this massively documented book on the primary issue that it addresses. The gospel cannot be compromised in any way. Works play no part in the regeneration of a person's soul. If George Washington believed that one does, in effect, work his way to salvation, it would be to his eternal demise. Our hope is not in America's might or its continuing display and defense of liberties and freedoms yet many have fallen for just that fallacy! This book should only be used as an historical biography concerning the religious belief of that historical figure. George Washington may indeed have been a giant among governmental leaders of his or any day but he was a man nonetheless and my interest in his eternal salvation is ultimately no greater than of the person who checked out my apples, coffee and pickled eggs at the Giant Eagle this evening.

.All The Right Moves---Aren't Enough

November 11, 2010        

         There are times when upheaval is necessary. The corporate world experiences it. The military experiences it when wars are lost, even the church had its Reformation. We experience upheavals in our own personal lives. It's a turning from one philosophy, one tactic, one foundation, one love to another. It can be painful or it can be exhilarating. One can be dragged into it and one can purposely charge into it. It can be peaceful and appear violent in the form of democratic elections and violent and appear peaceful as the Gospel takes hold in a person's life. We need an upheaval in America today.
         Much of our corporate world has departed from its responsibility to the people it employs and public it services, where the appearance of ethics has replaced ethics itself. Higher Education has strayed from training minds to seek knowledge and truth to training minds to seek profits and self-fulfillment in spite of nagging evidences and longings for that knowledge and truth. Elementary and secondary education too often seeks to procure its own financial security while forming minds that support the legitimacy of their actions. We exalt ourselves in this society and pamper our egos through social networking. We have turned privileges into rights.  We form opinions after having put no thought into it. We buy what they want us to buy and subscribe to what they want us to subscribe to, whoever they may be.. We have become a nation of followers not particularly interested in questioning those we follow as long they keep the benefits coming.
         The problem is that they have reached the bottom of the well. The pensions and the entitlements are sinking the boat. The near future, even without terrorist attacks or international disasters, will not be the same America that we were raised in. The chasm between private and public sectors cannot be bridged. Either the government benefits will be adjusted or the private sector will cover the debt through taxes. Either decision will add to turmoil. Californians, last Tuesday, elected to stay on the path that brought them to where they are today. The other states eventually may either have to bail out California or watch an entity that will be proclaimed too big to fail, fail. Either decision will add to the turmoil, and other states will follow. Illegal immigration will either be halted through strict measures or one by one all the states will be overburdened and those states and its citizens affected may begin looking into seceding from the union. Either decision will bring turmoil. . The health care reform bill will either be repealed, which the Left will use to stir the Socialist pot, or it will be allowed to stand until it would be too late to see how disastrous it is. Either decision will add to the turmoil. The new Congress will either follow the Lindsey Grahams in its midst, which could very well lead to a third party, or it will follow Jim DeMint and bear the brunt of every outrageous slander the old guard can muster. Either decision will add to the turmoil.
         Most of us have contributed to this mess and I contributed more than my share for the few who have not. The basis of this upheaval needs to come from the realization that we are on a path to nowhere. This society, as it is, cannot sustain itself for long either economically or philosophically. There is one remedy and one remedy only. A sufficient number in this nation of upwards of 300 million has to humble themselves before their Creator. We find ourselves at the brink and at times such as this God often pours His Spirit over the land, and as maple syrup that slowly seeps into the pancake, the people change from the inside out, without the help of political parties and hardly aware that that they have taken another path.
         At times like this, in an Awakening if you will, life appears in that people, and hope. Wisdom overtakes greed; patience...insatiability; and humility....arrogance. All the right moves today, the election included, are mere reminisces of a time when the strongest fragrance in the land was that of grace and the greatest bounty was mercy. It's an impossible task, utterly inconceivable and this is to our benefit for if God were needed merely to help us, or to guide our paths, we would never fall on our knees in thanksgiving. My prayer is that this Thanksgiving, God would begin to shake the columns of hell with the same power that, at one time, gave light and heat to every atom in the universe, and apply it to an unworthy people and may He start with my stone cold heart.

Sunday.....Christianity.....To Those On A Great Campus!

I had the opportunity to leave some small cards with this web site's URL on them on a college campus today, and whenever I get to leave these cards I try to write on a topic for those who may visit the blog that day. And...this one (youth) is one of my favorite topics anyway. I can hardly express how nice it was to see the exuberance of our son's friends on the dance floor at his wedding this past summer!  There's an enthusiasm, an energy and an awe at this age that I remember very well. In my own experience, I misinterpreted that enthusiasm, misdirected that energy and never contemplated beyond that awe and excitement. Only God's mercy on the poster boy of immaturity permitted me to experience His blessings later on in life. So I come to you with that on my resume' and also this; I have distractions, but fewer distractions than I could have in viewing with concern this world that we live in. The sports page is started and completed in the drive-through line at McDonald's every morning. I haven't the slightest idea what the television show Lost was. My iPhone, my XM and my blog are the extent of my electronic knowledge of gadgets. I break away from this blog or a book long enough to watch Lawrence Welk and Middle every Saturday and Wednesday while old classic movies and Penguin playoff hockey can bring a sense of guilt. So I guess it's a rather weak resume' of only I've been where you don't want to go but I don't waste a whole lot of time today in trying to warn. I say this only to emphasize that there is only so much time in a day and what is lost, is lost forever. What do I do for real excitement? Well, I'll tell you, buckle your seat belts, for not only did I sow wild oats in my youth but I was a Johnny Appleseed of it, yet there is no excitement, no joy, no awe as great as the realization, and continued refreshing, of what happened on a rocky hill outside the walls of Jerusalem and in a cold tomb on one of its hillsides. There is no thankfulness as powerful as opening one's eyes every morning knowing that God has not abandoned you, no hope as sure as the strength of His grip, no love as strong as displayed by the one most deserving of praise on the one most deserving of forsaking. Remember that you have had only a few short years of navigating adulthood. Be wary in the realization that you are the target of many who want your services only to further their own goals. Consider the faces of old celebrities that often adorn the covers of tabloids at the checkout counter. They were young and beautiful not all that long ago. Time never stops. Fame is fleeting. Plead with God's Holy Spirit to show you your weaknesses, for if you are not aware of them you may fall victim to them. Thank God for for every glass of water, every meal, every breath. Never let a day go by without lifting up in prayer all of your brothers and sisters in Christ who are, at that moment, being persecuted, who are without at that moment, and who are crying out at that moment to the God who beckons you for your acknowledgement of and petitions for them. Do you think that you are relatively smart? Know this...there is one who wants your soul with him in perdition who laughs at your intelligence, and mine. You could not win in a fair fight and this would not even be a fair fight. There are traps all around you. Do not only acknowledge the perils but be sober-minded! Be vigilant, for as theologian Michael Horton warned, this Christian life of ours is not just another social networking. This is real, that is a farce. This has a cost, that is a wage. Press on!
www.whitehorseinn.org
www.ligonier.org

Friday.....America.....Dave, My Mind Is Going

Nicholas Carr begins and ends his book The Shallows, What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains with thoughts on HAL from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. "Dave, my mind is going...I can feel it. I can feel it" were the computers last words as the astronaut disconnected circuits. Carr follows with I can feel it too. Over the last few years I've had an uncomfortable sense, that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. Marshall McLuhan appears throughout the book with warnings from years ago that we would experience the dissolution of the linear mind and that we were breaking the tyranny of text over our thoughts and senses. Carr says that he no Luddite and points out that because of the Web, research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes but that this boon comes at a price for it shape (s) the process of thought. His book gives us a history of the written word and dissemination of books throughout the world in general. Likewise there's a history of the computer, it's ever increasing use along with some fascinating anecdotes. He spends considerable time on the latest discoveries on the human brain, memory, the processes of learning and cognitive thought...all very readable for the layman. He also gives a caveat on social networking and  companies such as Google. Since Gutenberg's invention, according to Carr, the linear, literary mind has been at the center of art, science and society. The heightened consciousness of the elite in earlier times and most people in more literate times has devolved into computerized minds today that experience cognitive overload from the massive input of semi-related data which eliminates deep thought. Books once enhanced and refined people's experience of life and of nature, writes Carr but this is being replaced by the shallows as the new technologies can displace but not replace the written word and linear mind. Carr details how his own normal  usage of the PC became a dependence upon it and its services. He had first been turned into a human word processor (my present condition) and then something like a high-speed data processing machine, a human HAL, and laments I missed my old brain then set out on research that resulted in this book. We get a fair amount of history and philosophy, from Gutenberg's invention to Nietzsche's use of a typewriter prototype after he went blind but these are only morsels, for the main course is the human brain, how it functions and how it ultimately became dependent on the technology that it invented. We read thoughts on wisdom from Socrates and Aristotle to McLuhan and Henry David Thoreau. This topic isn't new to me and I've recommended Arthur W. Hunt's book The Vanishing Word, The Veneration Of Visual Imagery In The Postmodern World a few times. I recommend both books but Hunt writes of God's design of the written word as a primary method of communicating with man, whereas Carr barely mentions the biggest selling and most powerful book, and source of all wisdom, the Bible.  I'm mentioned in the book! Well, not me personally but the millions of bloggers who wield a keyboard like a magic sword, sending their thoughts into cyberspace. The statistics are there to prove his assertions that extreme computer usage tends to lowers intelligence. It may increase "knowledge" but neuters what intelligence can do with it.  Carr writes The Net's cacophony of stimuli short circuits both conscious and unconscious thought, preventing our minds from thinking either deeply or creatively. Our brains turn into simple signal-processing units, quickly shepherding into unconsciousness and then back again....If our brains are computers, then intelligence becomes indistinguishable from machine intelligence.   Numerous experiments are referenced showing that the hypertext-laden usage of the Internet is producing that cognitive overload. Carr writes research continues to show that people who read linear text comprehend more, remember more, and learn more than those who read text peppered with links. He quotes a certain Rhodes Scholar in that he is comfortable admitting not only that he doesn't read books but that he doesn't see any particular need to read them and cites a digital expert in that we have been emptily praising  great writers of the past. Carr asks Why bother, when you can Google the bits and pieces you need in a fraction of a second. The Net is making us smarter he writes only if we define intelligence by the Net's own standard. Carr explores the phenomenon of Social Networking but saves his greatest concerns for Google, Google's Silicon Valley headquarters-the Googleplex-is the Internet's high church, he writes, and the religion that it practices is nothing more than long established theories on how to improve efficiency in industry transferred to efficiency in the circuitry of the mind. He quotes Google's CEO Eric Schmidt in that the company is founded on the science of measurement striving to systematize everything constantly seeking to refine algorithms to find meaning in our navigation of the Web, the next best thing to actually being able to read (our) minds. Carr quotes Neil Postman in that technical calculation is in all respects (deemed) superior to human judgement; that in fact human judgement cannot be trusted and that the affairs of citizens are best guided and conducted by experts. Carr writes the last thing the company (Google) wants is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. Google is, quite literally, in the business of distraction. Google, Facebook and others are in a constant competition to keep us distracted. The efforts to digitalize every book in the world is explored with the comments by some in government who were suspicious of Google's motives, despite the altruistic rhetoric...that... when businesses like Google look at libraries, they do not merely see temples of learning...they see potential assets...ready to be mined. Another observer wrote that Google has become a true believer in its own goodness, a belief which justifies its own set of rules regarding corporate ethics, anti-competition, customer service and its place in society and that the real value of books in not in the self-contained literary work but in the data to be mined. Carr enters the debate on artificial intelligence coming down solidly in that it will not happen but does warn that humans may indeed be transformed into computers. He quotes David Brooks of the New York Times in that he once thought that the magic of the information age was that it allowed us to know more but came to realize that the magic of the information age is that it allows us to know less. A little bit of personal commentary here in that this is in no small way related to our voting patterns today. Our knowledge of national and international affairs comes from snippets of information garnered from television shows where hosts who speak in soundbites devoid of any deep meditation on any of the issues seem totally ignorant of accurate opposing views. And this is all that we want, for the pace of the Internet allows no contemplation. Memory is outsourced as David Books put it. Carr enters into this thought with evidence that memory is unstable for a brief period of time and the Internet is the perfect antidote for the development of long-term memory. Allow me another personal comment here in that the proclamation of the Gospel is also effected by the information age in that decisions for Christ are all too often mere hyperlinks in religious surf, just one more piece of data to be stored. The short-term memory of an altar call fails to plow deep in the mind and heart. This is why I concluded my short story, Seaman Murphy, from October 25th with John Cermak's refusal to lead Shane Murphy in the sinner's prayer. Nicholas Carr sums up his theories in that it is becoming much easier for humans to operate computers...but also....easier for computer networks to operate human beings. I want to add Carr's experience in writing this book as he was without the Internet as he worked on it: The dismantling of my online life was far from painless. For months, my synapses howled for their Net fix. I found myself sneaking clicks on the "check for new mail" button. Occasionally, I'd go on a daylong Web binge. but in time the cravings subsided, and I found myself able to type at my keyboard for hours on end or to read through a dense academic paper without my mind wandering. Some old, disused neural circuits were springing back to life, it seemed, and some of the newer, Web-wired ones were quieting down. I started to feel generally calmer and more in control of my thoughts-less like a lab rat pressing a lever and more like, well, a human being. My brain could breath again. Carr's brief sojourn in the Bible was profound in these verses:
Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men's hands.
They have mouths, but they speak not;
eyes have they, but they see not;
They have ears, but they hear not;
Noses have they, but they smell not;
They have hands, but they handle not;
Feet have they, but they walk not;
Neither speak they through their throat;
They that make them are like unto them;
So is every one that trusteth in them.

Wednesday.....Culture.....Scrapbooks

         I had previously played with the concept of merit badges in a few blogs. The first merit badge that I offered was on Freedom or Liberty and it was from July 16, 2009.  The blog gave my impressions and gratitude for the Boy Scouts Of America and listed three books to read to attain that particular merit badge (one of which is recommended again at the bottom of this blog.)
           I'd like to give another merit badge to be earned here today called Scrapbooking. This coming transfer of power in our Legislative Branch through the electoral process is vital but only a tourniquet. If our Senators and Representatives try to return to business as usual it won't even be a tourniquet and the Democrats are already playing the "common ground" card. After two years of thuggery in tearing down the hedges that protected our Constitution, they are going to try to come off as moderates concerned about possible gridlock...and people will believe it!.
          The goal of this new Congress has to be one of "holding in abeyance" the agenda of the Executive Branch and possible executive orders, using their subpoena power as they investigate the shenanigans of Congress and the President over the last two years, taking their power back from the Czars, getting hold of our national defense and sending a message around the world that we may have a lame duck but there's a big dog right behind him.  In this past campaign season we saw the utter contempt by some for those many candidates who kept citing the Founding Fathers and their documents.
         The agenda of the Obama administration is meant to exorcise these fundamental concepts of government and yet more than one Republican has already stated that they want to work with the President!  Karl Rove and the boys will be riding into town posthaste and will try to get the old gang back together.  My recommendation to everyone that may read this blog is that you go out to your local craft store and purchase a large scrapbook and begin to document what those who were just voted into office do and say in the coming months. The results of yesterday's voting turned the focus from the Democrats to the Republicans. We are going to find out in short order who meant what they said in the campaign and who were along for the ride. When your at the craft store, pick up a coupon cutter. Every time their name appears in print, cut it out and file it. It may just be you that runs against them next time. This holding their feet to the fire, if they need it, will also prepare you in case your name is on those yard signs next time around.
         
There may be a battle royal in the Senate and hopefully Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, and a few others, receive some help from yesterday's additions; and there are plenty in the House ready to rally. The cream will rise to the top but it will take a discerning eye to spot it. If there are heroes around today, and indeed there are-many, Jim DeMint is at the top of the list. Rally around him folks!