The news is reporting that yesterday was a sad day for Generation X'ers with the loss of both Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. Personally, I don't know that Generation X has any stake in the latter, but the former was certainly part of the GX vernacular. But more than the deaths of these two, this week marked the death of something else far more sinister.

Restraint.

In mere hours, Twitter was all atwitter with the news of Jackson's demise. In moments, statuses (stati?) were updated and commented on, recommented, retweeted, and passed along. IM's and SMS's were ablaze, networks hummed with electrons passing on information both wirelessly and wired. The news was disseminated faster than anything I have ever seen. Perhaps restraint is the wrong word, maybe verification is what I'm looking for, but restraint does play into it.

SO there are two sides of this.

1) What if this was false?

2) Why cant we get the gospel out with the same effectiveness?

Addressing the first, the Bible commends the Bereans for looking into a matter, searching out the truth. I question how many people truly looked into the facts of MJ's death before passing on the news. Even if they did, the news reports were vague, and speculative at the time the news was being spread. Even the confirmation was based on a "friend of the family" who "confirmed" the story. This one happened to be true, but so often they are not. Mark my words, there will be people trying to use this lightning fast news network for more insidious and deceptive means.

Is it the Postmodern's need to be heard that drives this? Is it the need to be talking, regardless of what is being said? Is it the need to pass along some truth? Is it a need to be first to say something? What is it that drives this? Personally, I think all the above, but more importantly, it is the need for truth. It is the need to believe in something bigger than ourselves, even if its a sad piece of news. Whether it was true or not was immaterial, it became the truth of the moment. It was true now, even if proved false later. See, when you can change your truth based on what you feel, the trueness of truth isnt important.

And the second--I'll just leave that as a rhetorical question. But I will leave with this verse..

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 2 Thessalonians 2:7

a.

Last update : 26-06-2009 18:41

Average user rating

   (0 vote)