The Disappearing Bible

Greetings All,

Today's "thought" comes to you from a section of Shane Hipps book "Flickering Pixels," entitled, "The Disappearing Bible." 
     It's a critique of the dangers of the digital age and the growing aversion to right-brain learning (seeking by linear deductive reasoning to solve complex ideas by in-depth study, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of a topic), in favor of left-brain learning (seeking through art, photos, intuition, emotional stimulation, subliminal impressions, and a short not-so-comprehensive, "throw out a personal opinion and see how people respond" approach to topics). 
     The second, as Hipps points out, is an approach to learning that has made in-depth study of the Bible (to know it well) a thing that is avoided, or even seen as obsolete, in many areas of present-day church culture.  He is not opposed to visual or intuitive learning, but simply advocates what he calls "brain balance" -- seeing the need to retain our ability to reason through complex ideas, while taking advantage of digital technology and all that it has to offer.
     To use a common phrase, the growing popularity of the short, non-comprehensive, opinion-based blog, should not cause us to "throw the baby out with the bathwater."  Believers need both, lest they lose their grip on the truth and fall prey to whatever tweaks their emotions or happens to sit well with their current (but soon passing) preferences.  To help you as you read: right brain = intuitive/artistic/emotive, and left brain = reasoning/logic/science.  Enjoy.

The Disappearing Bible

     "Most books present an extensive, in-depth monologue, a thorough argument carefully crafted in linear, successive paragraphs and pages. This is true of both novels and non-fiction. The left brain is heavily engaged by such activity.  But Internet text presents a nonlinear web of interconnected pages and a vast mosaic of hyperlinks with no fundamental beginning, middle or end.  We are immersed in a boundless, endless, data space. These are conditions specially suited to the right-brain...  The power of intuition, emotion, holistic perception, and pattern recognition are all gifts of the right-brain. The right-brain is the hemisphere that allows us entry into spiritual practices like contemplation, centering prayer and silence. The left-brain is allergic to such practices; it is the dogmatic theologian rather than the intuitive mystic...

     The Internet is stunningly effective at enticing us to open a Pandora's Box of perpetual links, sights, sound, people, places, feelings, and ideas. Our intellects are spread a mile wide and an inch deep. Consider blogs. Their great wonder is their dynamic speed.  We are exposed to many more ideas than previously possible and given a chance to dialogue in near real time. Yet because of their brevity and the constant evolution of content, blogs are forced to stay on the surface. Blogs are ill-suited for deep-level analysis and thoughtful reasoning. The Internet makes a flat stone of the mind and skips it across the surface of the world's information ocean. A book, by contrast, is a sturdy submarine, diving the mind deep into the sea..

     The emerging right-brain culture presents other challenges as well. Protestant Christianity is a by-product of a single medium -- the printed Bible. Without printing, no one could have challenged the authority of the pope. How disconcerting to have a faith yoked so closely to a medium that is now in the dusk of its life, at least as we currently know it. Our culture has a shrinking preference for reading books, especially complex ones, and if the Bible is anything, it is complex. So it should not surprise us to see a growing biblical illiteracy in the electronic age.

     The Bible is an extraordinarily demanding library of books. The stories, letters, and laws are shrouded by the fog of time. The thick dusty languages of ancient Greek and Hebrew convey the message through cumbersome translations. The books were born in civilizations and cultures alien to us, and the assumptions and attitudes of the original authors often escape us entirely.  In many cases, excavating the meaning [of texts] requires the fortitude, patience, and discipline of an archaeological dig.

     In other words, bulging left-brain muscles are an essential tool for understanding the Bible. Unfortunately, our digital diet sedates the left-brain, leaving it in a state of hypnotic stupor.  The left-brain begins acting like our great Uncle Jerry, nodding off in his recliner after Thanksgiving dinner. Large portions of the Bible are growing faint and becoming inaccessible to the lethargic left-brain." 

     Hipps goes on to say these two forms of learning must find a way to co-exist.

     We must never allow the tensions and disagreements (and at times contrary purposes of the one as opposed to the other) prevent us from availing ourselves of the benefits of both. Each has its place, and it is always a danger to, "tear asunder what God has joined together."  If we are to "Love the Lord our God with all our... mind," we must seek to avoid anything that would disparage either the right-brain or left brain approach to truth.

     The Church suffers when the faith is made into something only the scholar and grasp, but it also suffers when people embrace ideas foreign to Scripture, or contrary to Scripture, simply because it came to them in a moment of earnest contemplation or artistic creativity. The two forms of learning balance each other off. After all, God could have created us without dividing the brain into left and right lobes. He could have created the lobes so they functioned identically. But He didn't.  And therefore, to disregard one, simply because we have a preference for the other, is to insult the Creator, and call His all-knowing wisdom into question.

To the end that we may love the Lord our God as we should -- with ALL our mind -- Pastor Jeff

Modern Media's Effect on Human Psyche and Personality

Greetings All,

This week's 'thought' comes to you from Shane Hipps intriguing book, "Flickering Pixels."  It has to do with cultural trends, but especially the effect that modern media has on the human psyche and personality (both positive and negative in nature). Shane, the lead pastor of a church in Phoenix, Arizona, has some wise insights, making this book extremely helpful for understanding how and why people today feel the way they do, and react as they do. This thought has to do with modern day photography's adeptness at what he calls, "Soul Stealing."   Enjoy.

     "Certain African tribes believe the camera possesses mysterious powers that can steal your soul. The Amish reject the photographic image for fear that it will develop in people excessive vanity and pride. Neither group is entirely wrong.... 
     The Amish fear of vanity has played out, though often in an unexpected way. The photograph contributes to the growing narcissism in our culture. Unlike Narcissus, however, whose self-obsession was excessive self-love, our self-obsession often takes the form of excessive self-loathing.

     A friend of mine has a lean, active and beautiful eight-year-old daughter who asked her one day, 'Mom, do I look fat?' The question was jarring and absurd, and the answer was an emphatic, 'No!'   But the question indicates that the natural self-consciousness of adolescence is now beginning much earlier. Equally disconcerting is that this body-image crisis of our culture now dogs us decades after adolescence has subsided. What are we to make of this addict-like preoccupation with our looks?

     First, you should know this: It's not your fault. Really. It's not your fault.  A few years ago Dove (facial products) launched an ad campaign called 'Real Beauty.' It boldly sought to expose and correct the body-image problem in our culture -- and, of course, sell basketfuls of Dove products. The campaign aimed to change our culture's narrow definition of beauty beyond the artificial perfection of models and movie stars. One ad featured a split screen shot of a models face. It was a 'before' and 'after' shot. That is, 'before' make-up, hair, and the all-important post-production retouching, and the 'after.'

The woman who doesn't really exist.

The real woman who needed fixing.

     The extent of retouching on her 'after' shot was astonishing. The model didn't merely receive smoother cheeks and flawless skin tone. The size of her eyes was increased. Her neck was heightened. Her lips were plumped up. And her jaw line was completely reshaped. It was no longer the same woman, or even a real woman at all.  She had become pixilated perfection. 

     How noble of Dove to expose the dirty tricks that advertisers use to make us feel unsatisfied with our bodies. Yet their campaign had its own little secret. The man responsible for the image retouching of the Dove ads is a legendary digital artist named Pascal Dangin -- the 'photo whisperer' -- able to coax unimagined beauty from nearly any image...

     Our culture has descended to a place where even the natural beauty of a supermodel is simply not beautiful enough to withstand the unflinching scrutiny of the camera. The most beautiful individuals in the world must be thoroughly transformed before being shown to the public.  Is it any wonder that eight-year-old girls are already questioning their own self-image?

     The medium of images draws our attention away from the inner life and toward the appearance of things, and this has serious implications for the soul... Images focus our attention on the realm of cosmetics. Often, it is for the sake of showcasing beauty and talent. It teaches us to scrutinize not just others, but also ourselves. Thinning hair, splotchy skin, love handles, cellulite, stretch marks, and wrinkles become sources of preoccupation, depression and great effort (even great spending).

     The funny thing is, Jesus never talked much about thick hair, ripped abs, youthful skin, or sexy legs. Paul never mentioned any of these things when he listed the fruit of the Spirit, and yet our energetic pursuit of everything surfacey seems to say otherwise.

     Think back to the last time you looked at a photograph of yourself in a group of people. What was the first thing you looked at? It wasn't the other people. It was you. And then the scrutiny begins: 'Whoa, I look pretty pasty.' 'I'm never wearing that shirt again.'  'Oh, how's the double chin treating me?'

    Not to worry. Your true friends will offer reassurances like, 'Oh, you don't look like that at all, that's just a bad angle.'  So we simultaneously blame that image for making us look bad, and trust that the next image will make us look better and restore our self-worth.  Maybe God was on to something when he commanded his people not to make graven images." 

     My twins (now thirteen) will often look at a girl on a magazine cover and occasionally point out to me (in almost envious fashion) that she has not one imperfection on her entire face. Not one single pore, not one less that perfect white teeth, not one eye lash or anything that has any sign of even the slightest defect or imperfection.

     So I showed them this chapter from Shane's book, and have since reminded them that what they are seeing is not a real woman, but a photo-shopped woman -- an image that distorts the soul of the real person being portrayed in the photograph. Even the most beautiful and shapely are not beautiful and shapely enough for magazine covers -- how then could we ever expect to be?

     It helps (I hope) to know that that kind of beauty really doesn't exist.  It's an image. A graven one.  One that is meant to make us all the more conscious of all our own imperfections, envy that false image of pixilated perfection, and, of course, see our need to buy the product the ad is selling.

May the reminder of Easter, and the fact that God left the scars to remain on Jesus' resurrected and immortalized body, helps us remember that with God it truly is a person's heart that matters -- or better yet, what he or she trusts in, and not what they will look like -- not even when "glorified," made, "immortal," "imperishable" or "perfect" by God. 

In His Service, Pastor Jeff