I presented a lesson on Sunday based on the article I wrote for truth for today's youth. One of the points mentioned the fact that the 'net is a tremendous source of information and unless it's in a different character set (cyrillic, kanji, etc...) it really is breaking down communication barriers.
An older brother who is one of the exceptional (from my experience) seniors who is fairly 'net connected made a statement following the assembly that was pretty profound and a little disturbing. I don't remember the exact words that he used, but the idea is this: thinking of all of the connections we have, the barriers to communication are dropping and in some way, the internet/ISS/etc... are reminding him of the tower of Babel.
That got me thinking: So, language was made different for people when they were too tightly bound together, we're doing something similar with the 'net - for good and bad - what is our consequence going to be?
This is maybe just the paranoid part of me, but I think we are too much focused on the division of labor in our society and if something serious were to happen (low-yield nuke detonated a few dozen miles above the U.S. to set off an EMP that would effectively immobilize us) most folks wouldn't know how to make it without cell phones and computers (in everything from toasters, to most cars built after the mid 90's).
I think more of us need to spend some time in the heartland, visit with the DeVores, and stock up on supplies at lehmans.
Have a beautiful weekend (^_^)
Friday, July 21, 2006
Monday, July 10, 2006
Fishing - Jesus' Way
In our class yesterday morning, we were discussing Peter in Luke 5:1-11. One of the questions supplied was about Peter's work fishing that changed from going after men instead of aquatic life. Specifically, the direction of answers migrated to equipment and preparation.
In the course of discussion, many people mentioned “bait” as a necessary ingredient for effective fishing which immediately made me think of two things.
“Bait” is a deception – the goal of bait is to fool your intended quarry by offering something they want and wrapping that around something painful/bad/etc... When fishing for men, that is the exact opposite of what we are doing. In fact, the better analogy would be that we're helping remove the hook that Satan has snared them with by wrapping it in the temporary pleasures of sin
When we think of today's fishing to explain the picture of what was going on in Jesus' day, we are completely missing the point. I don't even know if rod fishing was going on back then, but the fishing that is talked about is net fishing which is quite different
Rod & Bait fishing is angling for a specific type of fish (discriminatory), net fishing catches anything that swims by (non-discriminatory). So, rod fishing is what most of “the church of Christ (non-denominational, non-institutional)” has done for at least the 20 years I've been paying attention. We go to neighborhoods where we're comfortable (if we go at all!) and talk to the pharisees of our day who feel that they lack nothing. Instead of casting our nets to spread the message to all who need to hear it – including those unfamiliar to us for whatever reason – we keep the message to ourselves!
Perhaps the other problem with Rod fishing is that you can just cast your line out, sit down and wait – it's very passive! With net fishing, if you just leave your net out there all day, it'll become tangled or torn up and will be completely useless. It has to be actively used!
If we are willing to engage ourselves and get down to work sharing the message in whatever community we have opportunity to do so (obeying what Jesus commands!), we will likely have the same problem that Peter and his associates did when they listened to Jesus – their nets were so full they nearly broke and it filled two boats to the point of nearly sinking them!
Let's all get a plan together and get out sharing God's message today!
In the course of discussion, many people mentioned “bait” as a necessary ingredient for effective fishing which immediately made me think of two things.
“Bait” is a deception – the goal of bait is to fool your intended quarry by offering something they want and wrapping that around something painful/bad/etc... When fishing for men, that is the exact opposite of what we are doing. In fact, the better analogy would be that we're helping remove the hook that Satan has snared them with by wrapping it in the temporary pleasures of sin
When we think of today's fishing to explain the picture of what was going on in Jesus' day, we are completely missing the point. I don't even know if rod fishing was going on back then, but the fishing that is talked about is net fishing which is quite different
Rod & Bait fishing is angling for a specific type of fish (discriminatory), net fishing catches anything that swims by (non-discriminatory). So, rod fishing is what most of “the church of Christ (non-denominational, non-institutional)” has done for at least the 20 years I've been paying attention. We go to neighborhoods where we're comfortable (if we go at all!) and talk to the pharisees of our day who feel that they lack nothing. Instead of casting our nets to spread the message to all who need to hear it – including those unfamiliar to us for whatever reason – we keep the message to ourselves!
Perhaps the other problem with Rod fishing is that you can just cast your line out, sit down and wait – it's very passive! With net fishing, if you just leave your net out there all day, it'll become tangled or torn up and will be completely useless. It has to be actively used!
If we are willing to engage ourselves and get down to work sharing the message in whatever community we have opportunity to do so (obeying what Jesus commands!), we will likely have the same problem that Peter and his associates did when they listened to Jesus – their nets were so full they nearly broke and it filled two boats to the point of nearly sinking them!
Let's all get a plan together and get out sharing God's message today!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
