Ask the average Christian if they know who William Carey was and most will probably say "no" even though he has had seven colleges named after him around the world and is considered the Father of Modern Missions. He was a cobbler, a shoemaker, who felt the call to take the Gospel to the world, and his story is one of one discouragement after another. He finally arrived in India and it was seven years before he saw his first Hindu convert.
Mark Zuckerberg is infinitely smarter than William Carey for it has only been eight years since he founded Facebook and he already has 900 million converts including 45 million, or almost 4%, of the Indian population. Let me segue here; France voted to keep the benefits coming and ignore the warning signs. Local elections in Great Britain were similar and even Greece is balking at the austerity measures it had previously OK'd. One report out today has austerity becoming a "dirty word" in Europe. German philosophy has given us a word, zeitgeist, that somewhat describes what is influencing these decisions. Zeitgeist, the spirit of the times, is an "ambiance...a direction and a mood associated with an era" as Wikipedia describes it.
My nomination for America's zeitgeist is Facebook, the corporate name for acute narcissism. The American zeitgeist as Facebook...cyberspace gold...Silicon Valley tea. Oh, I've heard the defense...it's a great way for mom to keep up with the pictures of the grandchildren and now Facebook is into organ donations, but what has transpired in the last eight years is nothing less than insidious. There was a comic in the newspaper a couple of months ago ...a funeral home with four or five seats taken out of about a hundred and the funeral director remarks, "I can't understand it. He had a thousand Facebook friends."
It, the zeitgeist, has become all about us. Facebook finds itself in a predicament. With its new IPO, it must produce to that level. It's telling its advertisers to be patient, that new and innovative ways to advertise are on the way. Who knows what they are going to be but it's definitely not going to be the banner on the top of the page. The world is...well, what's the use of describing it, you either see the decay and imminent collapse or you don't. All the while, we the people, are setting ourselves up for some very unwanted surprises.
Friends, the voice I hear from Facebook is not that of a friend. Right from the beginning Facebook was built on sand. It has become a veritable monster with ever growing tentacles. One more segue; a new president is not going to make a difference in a land with whatever our zeitgeist is at this time. As an American and a Christian I have failed. How about you? I look back at my life and I have added to the chaos more than contributed to the well-being of our nation. Even my blogging is tinged with pride. The best thing that I can say about my Christian walk is that my redemption must drive the enemy of Christ mad, for he could not even keep someone such as me...!
Should not our prayer be Humble us Lord. Spare your rod if it be yours to show us mercy? But no...we just want Obama out and a couple of sound Supreme Court Justices and we'll be OK. As desireable as that would be...we would not be OK. I have to reiterate here from many past blogs. If you are at all familiar with this blog you know that I write about politics most of the time. We cannot abandon this essential part of our constitutional republic but at the same time we cannot elevate that duty beyond the call of the Gospel nor elevate that constitutional republic to that of deity for it was a blessing given to us from the only Deity. There is a more pertinent word than zeitgeist and it is outpouring. An outpouring of God's Spirit upon us is not only what we need, it is our only hope. Should not we be praying for this. Maybe this question should be asked..."How much time do we, as a people, spend on Facebook alone as opposed to time spent in God's Word to us?" Would not the answer incriminate us? I have to believe that if every minute spent on Facebook were to be on our knees then mercy might just be given us.
Mark Zuckerberg is infinitely smarter than William Carey for it has only been eight years since he founded Facebook and he already has 900 million converts including 45 million, or almost 4%, of the Indian population. Let me segue here; France voted to keep the benefits coming and ignore the warning signs. Local elections in Great Britain were similar and even Greece is balking at the austerity measures it had previously OK'd. One report out today has austerity becoming a "dirty word" in Europe. German philosophy has given us a word, zeitgeist, that somewhat describes what is influencing these decisions. Zeitgeist, the spirit of the times, is an "ambiance...a direction and a mood associated with an era" as Wikipedia describes it.
My nomination for America's zeitgeist is Facebook, the corporate name for acute narcissism. The American zeitgeist as Facebook...cyberspace gold...Silicon Valley tea. Oh, I've heard the defense...it's a great way for mom to keep up with the pictures of the grandchildren and now Facebook is into organ donations, but what has transpired in the last eight years is nothing less than insidious. There was a comic in the newspaper a couple of months ago ...a funeral home with four or five seats taken out of about a hundred and the funeral director remarks, "I can't understand it. He had a thousand Facebook friends."
It, the zeitgeist, has become all about us. Facebook finds itself in a predicament. With its new IPO, it must produce to that level. It's telling its advertisers to be patient, that new and innovative ways to advertise are on the way. Who knows what they are going to be but it's definitely not going to be the banner on the top of the page. The world is...well, what's the use of describing it, you either see the decay and imminent collapse or you don't. All the while, we the people, are setting ourselves up for some very unwanted surprises.
Friends, the voice I hear from Facebook is not that of a friend. Right from the beginning Facebook was built on sand. It has become a veritable monster with ever growing tentacles. One more segue; a new president is not going to make a difference in a land with whatever our zeitgeist is at this time. As an American and a Christian I have failed. How about you? I look back at my life and I have added to the chaos more than contributed to the well-being of our nation. Even my blogging is tinged with pride. The best thing that I can say about my Christian walk is that my redemption must drive the enemy of Christ mad, for he could not even keep someone such as me...!
Should not our prayer be Humble us Lord. Spare your rod if it be yours to show us mercy? But no...we just want Obama out and a couple of sound Supreme Court Justices and we'll be OK. As desireable as that would be...we would not be OK. I have to reiterate here from many past blogs. If you are at all familiar with this blog you know that I write about politics most of the time. We cannot abandon this essential part of our constitutional republic but at the same time we cannot elevate that duty beyond the call of the Gospel nor elevate that constitutional republic to that of deity for it was a blessing given to us from the only Deity. There is a more pertinent word than zeitgeist and it is outpouring. An outpouring of God's Spirit upon us is not only what we need, it is our only hope. Should not we be praying for this. Maybe this question should be asked..."How much time do we, as a people, spend on Facebook alone as opposed to time spent in God's Word to us?" Would not the answer incriminate us? I have to believe that if every minute spent on Facebook were to be on our knees then mercy might just be given us.
