On my last of several road trips into Los Angeles recently, I found myself putting way too much faith in technology. I had become quite dependent on the Google Maps application on my tablet over the past few months and intently listened to the voice advising me the best route in and out of the city to reduce my travel time.
I quickly discovered just because technology works well most of the time, there’s no guarantee it will work well every time!
On this last trip returning home to Santa Barbara, that familiar voice told me to take surface streets to apparently avoid freeway congestion late this particular afternoon. I actually was enjoying being directed through the hills of Encino for a while.
Unfortunately, I did not realize the real issue was the operator (that would be me) improperly set the parameters, which navigated me home without taking freeways at all. When I found myself going north even though my destination was due west, I decided to turn off the device and trust my better judgment in getting home through past experience.
We can easily get trapped into totally trusting technology rather than trusting our better judgment in numerous ways. Technology certainly has its advantages, but we need to be cautious to not place our total confidence in it.
I find it truly amazing all the information we have at our fingertips these days. As a forward observer in Vietnam, I became proficient in reading maps along with my trusty compass to determine our position in preparation for calling in aerial or ground fire in case we were attacked.
Those were the methods used for centuries by military personnel. These days, sophisticated electronic systems have replaced those archaic methods of the past.
Technological advances have taken us into a new realm of information that simply wasn’t available last century. The information library available to the average person in a few seconds these days could not be contained in book form in an arsenal of public libraries in the past.
Although there is one big problem — not all the information at our fingertips is accurate. We must be careful in what we digest through the Internet.
In my writings, I’ve learned to check references closely since I don’t want to mislead anyone in what I convey. Unfortunately, there’s no ethics control over what we can access in our constant search for more information.
What we have is loads of data and potential knowledge at our fingertips. There’s an old saying from the early days of the computer industry that still runs true today — “Garbage in, garbage out!” We need to be very careful of the sources of data and realize that there’s lots of garbage floating around in cyberspace.
It’s truly a shame that there’s no real control on what we can access online these days. Many of our young people have come to depend on this online barrage of data for knowledge in all areas of life. Many are swayed in what they believe and fall away from how they were instructed as young children. Christian values have been gravely distorted through online garbage, which some proclaim to be truth.
I take this whole issue of false claims on the Internet very seriously. Many folks are constantly being persuaded by half-truths that cause them to look at life incorrectly. It affects our families. It affects how people conduct business. It can affect our personal beliefs and the morals by which we live our lives.
These false ideas conveyed worldwide are serious business and we need to be very cautious of what we view electronically. There’s lots of propaganda in media, period.
Since Satan’s encounter with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we’ve been bombarded by half-truths of the Deceiver. We need to understand that all we hear and see is not necessarily as it appears at first blush.
In the Gospel of Matthew, you will find nearly 30 times where Jesus uses the phrase “I tell you the truth” or similar words to convey He was not just throwing out lofty concepts at those who intently listened to His words. He was sharing the Truth!
I trust the Word of God, and I hope you will trust it as well and not fall for the deception that’s all around us in this fast-paced world. In John 14:6, Jesus proclaimed “… I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
May the Truth be known.
Passages to Ponder
— Jim Langley has been writing for more than 30 years while working as a life and health insurance agent in Santa Barbara. In recent years, his passion has turned to writing about his personal relationship with God, and his goal is to encourage others to draw near to Him as well. As a longtime member of CBMC of Santa Barbara (Christian Business Men’s Connection), he started writing Fourth Quarter Strategies columns in 2014, and he now reaches an international audience through the CBMC International devotional Monday Manna. He can be contacted at jim@fourthquarterstrateies.com for more information. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.