This was recently posted on Hal Lindsey's website. It is so pertinent and current that I felt led to give you the opportunity to read it. - Ron Taylor
Walk down the midway of a fair or the main corridor of a carnival. You encounter a mass of people and an explosion of sights, sounds, and smells. Every attraction competes for your attention. They know that wherever your eyes go, your wallet soon follows. Their appeals are not high art. They are not about deeply moving experiences, but superficial thrills. Instead of thoughtful persuasion, they rely on instant enticement.
As a child, I went to the local fair every year, and I marveled at it all. I wanted to try every fried treat, every game, every ride, and even the sometimes bizarre, sometimes naughty-looking sideshows. Thankfully, I had a limited budget, so I settled for a few of the rides.
Today, we and our children don’t just occasionally visit the midway — we live there. A thousand things cry out for our attention all at once, all the time. They are carefully designed to play havoc with the wiring of human brains, changing perceptions and warping outlooks.
In his 1985 book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman said Americans had thus far escaped the dark vision of George Orwell’s 1984. But Postman believed we were inching toward a different dystopian vision — Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Orwell feared a society in which truth would be suppressed by force; Huxley feared one in which truth would become irrelevant because people would willingly trade serious thought for endless amusement. “Orwell feared those who would ban books…” Postman said. “Huxley feared… there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”
When Postman wrote in 1985, social media, smartphones, and today’s immersive online gaming still lay in the future. He saw television as the primary threat — turning important issues into sideshow fodder, reducing public debate to slogans and emotional impressions while eroding citizens’ capacity for rational judgment. Even then, he recognized shrinking attention spans, the rise of insult politics, and a growing inability to think critically and clearly. Since then, those trends have grown into full-blown cultural phenomena.
Now 41 years deeper into this terrible brain experiment, many who were once avid book readers struggle to read more than a paragraph of even a news story that interests them. On social media, people discuss important issues, but usually at shallow levels. Every debater aims at a “mic-drop moment” — whether it makes sense or not. Someone poses a non sequitur question on social media, and then says, “I’ll wait,” as if their “logic” can’t possibly be refuted. And insults are seen as proof of a position. As Postman put it, “We are getting sillier by the minute.”
Like children meandering along the midway, our new journey makes us increasingly susceptible to instant enticement rather than thoughtful persuasion.
It’s time to read books again. Read — and let your children see you read. Take them to the library (if your town has a safe one) and to bookstores. Most of all, read the Bible. When you’re waiting for a friend or in an office, don’t just check your email or social media feed. One of the great blessings of a smartphone is that the Bible can be ready and waiting for you at any time. Open the very Word of God and let Him speak into your life. Read a little whenever the opportunity arises — but also indulge in lengthy sessions. Dig in. Ask questions. Marvel at the Bible’s revelations and wonders. Puzzle over its mysteries. Find real answers.
In a world saturated with bright, noisy distractions, stop. Patiently focus on God. Seek the Prince of Peace and let Him fill you with His peace.
https://www.hallindsey.com/