The Christian Mind and Google

A scenario you have probably seen recently—you and your friends are debating certain issues and you come up on a question.  Where do you go to find the answer?  Just Google it.  That seems to be the first response these days.  If it relates to an event, entertainment, food, money, relationships, politics, the economy, and the like, we find today that often we go to Google for help in finding the answer.  It’s quick and easy.  Also, you don’t have to work hard for the answer.  What a joy!

Is it the same among Christians today?  When we want an answer to a question about the Christian life, do we Google it?  If there is a matter related to any of the same categories above and you are looking for an answer from a Christian perspective, do you Google it?  What about deeper issues of our faith and doctrine?  Let’s Google it and take a chance that what we see is biblical and correct.  What is the effect on the Christian mind when we do this?

This has been nagging me a lot over the past few years as a believer.   I have a hard time reconciling this with diligent, systematic Bible study.  After all, we are supposed to involved in studying the Scriptures, aren’t we?  Now I can even read the Bible in Tweets.  Maybe some of our brains can’t handle more than that anyway.  Leave it to the preachers to teach us.

But wait, now we just stay at home and get the preacher’s podcast.  I can lounge around in my pajamas Sunday morning and play the service in the background while petting the dog.  Get me a cup of Joe, the morning news, and my preacher on webcast.  Man, this Christianity thing is great!  I wonder what Jesus would do?  WWJD?

Well, apparently we are no longer asking “WWJD” but we are asking “WWGD,” that is, “What Would Google Do?”  The book has been written, I am not kidding.  The author Jeff Jarvis has prophesied in the new book What Would Google Do? that if we are not asking the question we are going to be left behind in the dust of some prior model of obsolescence.  Google is our new model for thinking, according to Jarvis, and it is hard to find a sector of life and business that has not already been affected by its influence.   Jarvis goes on to say, “Google is changing our societies, our lives, our relationships, our worldviews, probably even our brains in ways we can only begin to calculate.”

That’s where I got concerned for Christians.  We are new creations in Christ, the old has gone, the new has come.  Our minds should be set on what the Spirit desires as we live with the Holy Spirit within us; the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace (see Romans 8:5-8).  We read Scripture, we pray, we turn our minds toward God, toward His goodness, toward life in the Son.  Yet we seek quick answers to spiritual things by Googling it.  Dangers abound when we do.

Fight the reflex.  That’s right, fight the reflex to Google an answer to a spiritual question.  Go to the Source.  We are told to “take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).  We are even told we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).  Dwell on this a bit, and when you have a question go to God’s Word.  Ask the Lord to know your mind, to know your thoughts, and to lead you in the way everlasting (Psalm 139).

I know what I am saying may sound contrarian, but I maintain that Jesus was a contrarian.  So I am returning to WWJD next time I am seeking an answer.  I hope you will follow.

Stewardship and the Ultra Rich

Conde’ Nast Portfolio published a feature article called “The Generosity Index” in their November issue.  This profiles the upper tier of philanthropy in the U.S., complete with a ranking of the wealth and generosity of billionaires whose giving is known to the public.  They are quick to point out that the list may not include billionaires who choose to do their giving in private (apparently a sizable number of the wealthiest choose to remain anonymous).  As Scripture says, do not announce your charitable deeds with trumpets (Matthew 6:2); I wondered if that was what they were thinking.

During this time of great economic uncertainty, the ultra rich could seize an opportunity to set an example of generosity.  But do they?  As I looked over the short profiles of these billionaires, I saw that their gifts were directed largely toward three areas:  education, the arts, and health care.  Poverty and the environment come in there in lower numbers.  Curiously absent from these profiles was any major giving to religious causes.  It almost seems that the ultra rich want to play God instead of lending their largess to those ministries doing the Lord’s work here on earth.

A theme that emerges from this article is that the rich give to try to outdo one another.  One fundraising consultant summed it up, “Successful men and women want to outdo other successful men and women.”  One possible result of this one-upmanship is philanthropic dollar inflation.  In other words, an eight-figure gift can’t get you any respect these days.  The consultants are saying you have to have a $100 million gift in order for your charity to upgrade.  The billionaires are coughing up more, but doing it over a multi-year period in order to get into the category of nine figures.

I have wondered many times whether philanthropy on these levels really accomplishes much.  It seems that billions have been spent in the name of finding cures, increasing scholarship, and defining quality in the arts.  What has been the lasting effect?  One has to wonder.  I remember reading something by economist and educator Howard Bowen written back in the 1970s that dealt with “the revenue theory of cost” in higher education.  Essentially, this theory stated that in higher education the costs will always rise in accordance with how much money can be gotten or raised. Bowen argued in his works that the economics of higher education centered not on profit motives, but rather on prestige and increasing the quality of students’ educational experience.  I would argue that prestige might be the number one factor in organizations seeking larger and larger gifts.  It seems the one-upmanship of the givers has been transferred to the charitable organizations they lavishly support.

Should the next generation look to these billionaires as embodiments of stewardship?  My thinking is that we might learn from these folks, but the true lessons learned are by being faithful with the amounts we have—whether large or small.  The Lord looks on the heart.  I wonder what the hearts of some of these rich look like and I hope that they one day might experience the heart change that Christ has to offer.  Let’s learn to give from the heart, and not from our desire to attract the admiration of men.