Technology and the Christian - Part 9

(Read the previous articles to get the context of this one. Part 1 here; Part 8 here)

One of the things educators and researches are noticing is that we are becoming good at skimming, but we are losing our ability to interpret what we read accurately as well as the ability to think carefully and deeply about what we read. The reason this is important is that when God communicates through words, He is communicating truth and concepts that are not necessarily understood with a quick skim. Many of the sentences in the Bible are long and complex and many modern readers are unable to understand such complexity whether it is in the Bible or a book about the Bible. Think about how important this is. God desires to speak to us through His word and we may be unable to understand what He is saying because we have become surface readers and have not trained our minds to think deeply and logically about what He is saying. That's something that should not be dismissed lightly.

So let me encourage those of you who desire to be faithful to God to train yourself to put aside the technology and focus on the Word of God for extended amounts of time. Let me encourage you to insist that the children for whom you are responsible do the same. They will grumble and complain, but it is essential for them to learn how to hear from God.

Read to children early in their life and then encourage them to read for themselves throughout their growing up years. Have regular conversations with your children. You'll be keeping the relationship strong and at the same time you will be giving them the vocabulary they need to navigate through life.

Mark Bauerlein writes, “Everything depends on the oral and written language the infant-toddler-child-teen hears and reads throughout the day, for the amount of vocabulary learned inside the fifth-grade classroom alone doesn't come close to the amount needed to understand fifth-grade textbooks. They need a social life and a home life that deliver requisite words to them, put them into practice, and coax kids to speak them.” (Dumbest, page 138)

This is especially true in the Christian home where you want your children to pick up the vocabulary that they need to describe God's relationship to man and our relationship to him. In a recent study of adolescents and twenty-somethings, it was observed that young people simply do not have the vocabulary to describe their thoughts and feelings about God and the truths the Bible teaches about God.

...to be continued...

Part 10 available once it's been published here.

PDF version of the entire series

References:

Bauerlein, Mark. The Dumbest Generation. New York: Tarcher/Penguin, 2008.