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.

Madoff, Merckle, Wealth, and Suicide

Grim news hits hard. It appears that the unraveling of another business empire claimed a life this week in Germany. Adolf Merckle, a 74-year-old multibillionaire, apparently took his life after a failed attempt to restructure the finances of his family’s conglomerate.  Officials found his body on a train track.

I thought back just a month or so earlier to news about a French financier’s suicide in relation to the Bernard Madoff scandal. He oversaw a fund largely invested with Madoff that lost close to $1.5 billion.

There are others. On the same day as the Merckle news, The Wall Street Journal listed 4 apparent suicides of high-profile business officials occurring recently. WSJ probably figures obituaries sells newspapers these days.

How can we take this news and use it as a teaching point for the next generation?

First, let’s stress the importance of keeping your identity free from notions of personal wealth. This is nothing new, for it seems that men continue to yearn for the type of power and recognition that wealth has to offer.  A person’s identity needs something much greater than this earth has to offer.

Next, focus on developing quality relationships with balanced people. I wondered many times about the relationships these reported deaths have left behind. Are there family members with broken hearts? Any other friends who might come forward to share something positive about these men? Strange, such reports elude our attention.

Also, develop personal interests other than the ones money can buy. I can think of a few that require relatively little investment of money: reading (check out local libraries), gardening, cooking (you’ve got to eat), walking, listening to music, developing a skill, outdoor recreation, etc. Creativity helps. Don’t give in to notions that you are not creative.

Finally, cultivate your spiritual life. My personal relationship with Christ takes on new meaning when the media shouts the word “uncertainty.” I know what certainty is, and that is having a hope and a future because of the saving grace of God expressed through Jesus Christ. This makes life worth living, this gives life worth. This is the type of wealth you want to share with others.

Next generation, please realize that change rests with you. Notions of wealth reside within each generation, so ask God to help you change your heart and influence the hearts of others with true notions of worth.

Wealth Transfer and the Next Generation

From time to time I enjoy hearing the advice offered to the general public by various wealth managers.  It is instructive to hear their views on the basics of wealth management, but further to hear their views on the values of the wealthy and how they handle their wealth in light of these values.

I must give credit where credit is due for getting me on this topic.  In my rapid perusal of current business news, I ran across an older video of an interview with wealth manager Stuart Lucas on the Business Week website.  Lucas is one of the heirs of the Stuart family, whose patriarch E.A. Stuart founded the Carnation Company.  Due to this connection, Lucas actively manages the wealth for at least 18 of the heirs and provides advice to many others.  He has written the book Wealth: Grow It, Protect It, Spend It, and Share It.

One of the issues that Lucas runs across in managing the wealth for this family fortune is teaching everyone to have a concern for their next generation of heirs. In particular, if the values of the family are not passed on along with the money there will be potential problems with the future value of this fortune.  Passing money on to the next generation without passing along sound values could cause adverse effects according to Lucas.

Let’s think together–how do we transmit values to the next generation? Is this not the number one question anyway? Many times among Believers we share a concern for passing along solid values to the next generation, but do we really focus on doing it?  It is a challenge that we must bolster up and address.

It would be interesting to poll some of the younger generation to see what their perspectives are on wealth. Perhaps that is what Jesus was doing when he encountered the rich young ruler as recorded in Matthew 19:16-22.  Through this interaction, Jesus got to the heart of the matter when He encouraged the rich young ruler to consider the poor, thereby laying up treasure in heaven. Then He simply ended by saying, “Come, follow me.”  This produced sorrow in the young man’s heart perhaps as he realized what values he held in his own heart and how he could not get a perspective on a future generation that could benefit from his fortune.

This angst is not the value I want to pass on to the next generation.  We must set ourselves free from the love of the world and its passing treasures, and to pass on eternal values as we teach stewardship principles to the next generation. Investing in eternity is part of God’s plan for us and the next generation.

Does God Want Me to be Rich?

I have wanted to comment on this for some time now, so now that we are mired deeper in this economic dilemma I have returned to an article on the ministry of Joel Osteen, “God Wants Me to Be Rich,” from the August issue of Conde Nast Portfolio.  Can everyone say, “prosperity gospel revisited?”

They are really packing them in at Lakewood Church in Houston.  Over 40,000 regular attendees swoon over the words of their “Reverend Feelgood” and why not?  Most of those regular congregants face high gas prices, swollen credit card balances, possible mortgage issues, and job insecurity.  We deserve to hear a great message of hope, to hear what we deserve, to hear an encouraging word on our situation.

But a closer look may reveal that Americans still look to Scripture for answers, especially to those large questions about their finances.  This is good—God wants us to look to Him for answers, for help, for trust, for mercy.  These represent those attributes of our Heavenly Father that make us run to Him over and over again through life.

Can one man soothe the suffering?  Does Osteen bring anything new to the plate that helps us understand the care of our Lord in these troubled times?  We might want to examine closely the words of all of our spiritual leaders as we move through this part of history together.  Do they invoke Scripture as support for their position?  Do they defer to the masses over tricky doctrinal issues that deserve closer attention?  Are they avoiding the issues in order to remain popular?

One thing for sure—many of our spiritual leaders today have perfected their “branding.”  Osteen made his brand the “inspiration brand.”   I am waiting to hear from someone who says he has been “branded by God.”

The next generation deserves better and we must encourage them to embrace a biblical perspective on the economy and their personal financial situation.  It seems easy to talk about what we deserve; it is harder to talk about what we should give up for the sake of the Kingdom.