Our Tuesday and Wednesday AM Men's Small Groups have been reading through the book of Proverbs. Talk about challenging? The book of Proverbs rocks! And I don't mean "rocks" in the way of bobbing your head up and down, while mindlessly lifting your hand in the air as Bon Jovi sings, "It's My Life..." Don't know where that came from, I'm not really a Bon Jovi fan... But you get the picture...
I mean the book of Proverb "rocks" in that it "rocks your world, shakes you out of your complacency, smacks you in the face" and says, "Pay attention, dude! This stuff is important!"
Well, this morning, our Small Group covered this verse from Proverbs 20.
Proverbs 20:13 (NLT), If you love sleep, you will end in poverty. Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat!
At first glance, this passage doesn't have a lot to say to a group of guys that get up at 5:00 am so that they can be to small group by 6:30 am... Further, as one of the guys in our group said, "I'm so broke I don't sleep at all..." So, this verse can't have anything to say to people like us, right? Right...
Now, while I'm sure the specific warning / meaning of this verse is probably something like: guys and gals who constantly hit the snooze alarm and roll back over in bed for a few more zzzz's are going to end up being 40-something-year-olds who walk around in their pj's, stalk people on Facebook, and hang out in their parent's basements playing World of Warcraft 24/7... In short, they'll probably snooze their way through life...
Well, this morning after hitting this verse, along with a "few" others in Proverbs 20, I got another little right hook to the temple when I read this post by Seth Godin... (After the way God has been working me over this am, I don't think I'll need any Ambien later on tonight...)
This post really hit hard... Hold on, I'll come back to Proverbs 20:13. Here's what I mean...
Information, knowledge and possibility of wisdom are more readily available than ever before... Books are so stinking accessible... They're even more affordable than they've ever been... And if you can't buy them, many of them are available on line via Google Books and other "legal" sights...
Further, really good and insightful blogs are one click away... I've got about 10 blogs that I check on a periodic basis by guys who post really challenging articles...
Further, podcasts and mp3 downloads by world class pastors, speakers and evangelists like Mark Driscoll, Erwin McManus, Francis Chan, Andy Stanley, Craig Groeshchel, etc., can be downloaded absolutely free!
Which begs the question: Why do so many of us willfully remain "ignorant."
Now, don't misunderstand... Don't get ticked off... Don't think I'm calling people names... The word "ignorant" actually means, "lacking in knowledge or information." I'm ignorant on a variety of subjects... Some of them, I want to remain ignorant on...
But why do so many of us remain willfully ignorant about stuff that really mattters! It's not that we're stupid... It's not that we struggle with a learning disability, it just way too many of us are "sleep walking through life." Now, we're back to Proverbs 20:13...
Oh, we might not be hitting the snooze button on our alarm clock, but way too many of us (including yours truly) are mindlessly and indiscriminately watching loads and loads of television... Vegging out on silly little magazines about Paris, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Joy Behar, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Avatar, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...
Don't get me wrong. Some television and entertainment might be helpful to the guy who is wired way too tight, and sometimes just needs to sort of unwind and relax... But when we're watching so much television that we've made a permanent indention in the couch... When we're watching so much television that the remote control has become permanently glued to our hand...
IMPORTANT: When we're watching so much televsion that we don't have time to read God's Word, pick up a great book, invest in Bible Study, talk to our spouse, read with our kids, have a meaningful conversation, you get the drift... Well, we're just sleeping with our eyes wide open.... NOTE: That's where Proverbs 20:13 comes back in...
So, with that intro, here's Seth's post... Check it out, then TURN OFF THE TELEVISION AND READ A STINKING BOOK!
Better yet, READ YOUR AMAZING BIBLE!
If you need a recommendation, check out Steven Furtick's new book, Sun Stand Still... As Steven says, "It's not a dose of Ambien, it's a wake up call to audacious faith..."
Go ahead, read Seth's article and then grab a book (or your Bible)!
Deliberately uninformed, relentlessly so [a rant]
Seth Godin
Many people in the United States purchase one or fewer books every year.
Many of those people have seen every single episode of American Idol. There is clearly a correlation here.
Access to knowledge, for the first time in history, is largely unimpeded for the middle class. Without effort or expense, it's possible to become informed if you choose. For less than your cable TV bill, you can buy and read an important book every week. Share the buying with six friends and it costs far less than coffee.
Or you can watch TV.
The thing is, watching TV has its benefits. It excuses you from the responsibility of having an informed opinion about things that matter. It gives you shallow opinions or false 'facts' that you can easily parrot to others that watch what you watch. It rarely unsettles our carefully self-induced calm and isolation from the world.
I got a note from someone the other day, in which she made it clear that she doesn't read non-fiction books or blogs related to her industry. And she seemed proud of this.
I was roped into an argument with someone who was sure that ear candling was a useful treatment. Had he read any medical articles on the topic? No. But he knew. Or said he did.
You see a lot of ostensibly smart people in airports, and it always surprises me how few of them use this downtime to actually become more informed. It's clearly a deliberate act--in our infoculture, it takes work not to expose yourself to interesting ideas, facts, news and points of view. Hal Varian at Google reports that the average person online spends seventy seconds a day reading online news. Ouch.
Not all books are correct or useful. Not all accepted science is correct. The conventional wisdom might just be wrong. But ignoring all of it because the truth is now fashionably situational and in the eye of the beholder is a lame alternative.
I know this rant is nothing new. In fact, people have been complaining about widespread willful ignorance since Brutus or Caesar or whoever invented the salad... the difference now is this: more people than ever are creators. More people than ever go to work to use their minds, not just their hands. And more people than ever have a platform to share their point of view. I think that raises the bar for our understanding of how the world works.
Let's assert for the moment that you get paid to create, manipulate or spread ideas. That you don't get paid to lift bricks or hammer steel. If you're in the idea business, what's going to improve your career, get you a better job, more respect or a happier day? Forgive me for suggesting (to those not curious enough to read this blog and others) that it might be reading blogs, books or even watching TED talks.
As for the deliberately uninformed, we can ignore them or we can reach out to them and hopefully start a pattern of people thinking for themselves...
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