SUNDAY: Bible Study - 9:00 AM | Worship - 10:00 AM | PM Worship - 6:00 PM WEDNESDAY: Bible Class - 7:00 PM ~ 8110 Signal Hill Road Manassas, Virginia | Office Phone: 703.368.2622

Someone using a Samsung G 008I have tactile issues with my technology. The issues are wholly mine, but are not created by irascibility on my part. I am trying to follow instructions. But when I make my fingers do what I have been told to do I end up doing everything wrong. I think the problem stems from my coming of age in the 1970’s. Back then we used lots of machines, and when you pressed a button, turned a knob, or flipped a switch you did it firmly, and immediately things happened. You weren’t delicate about it, and you didn’t have to wait awhile for things to load up. I learned to type on manual typewriter, and I can type really fast (although not as fast as my Dad who could type 90 words a minute without errors). But one had to strike the keys with authority. I always thought the clickety-clack of a typewriter was a pleasant sound. Nowadays as I type along some young person will invariably ask, “Are you angry?”, or, “Why do you hate your laptop so much?” “I’m just typing.” I will answer, and then they will come back with some criticism like, “Why don’t you use a hammer instead?” or "Good luck with that, grandpa."

            When I received my first Kindle as a 50th birthday present from the congregation, I was eager to get started. I was instructed to tap this place and that place and I did. Nothing happened. I was told that I was doing it all wrong, that a light touch was what worked. My instructor was right, a light touch was needed. I was irritated. If they wanted me to touch the screen then why did they tell me to tap it? If I was drumming my fingers on the table you would say “Stop tapping your fingers!” You wouldn’t say “Stop touching your fingers.” Why not be specific? If you want me to touch the screen tell me to touch the screen.

            Two weeks ago I finally got a smart phone which I thoroughly enjoy (I don’t hate technology – I just expect it to make life easier – if it doesn’t then why use it?). But I had a hard time answering calls at first because it instructed me to “swipe in any direction” – which I did – to no effect.  I was getting really angry at this when Jill showed me how to let my finger land on the pad for an instant, and then move it a bit more slowly across the surface. That worked. “This is not a swipe, it is a drag!” I pronounced. “If they wanted me to drag my finger across the face of the phone why did they tell me to swipe it?”  “It is not a drag,” Jill explained, “a drag is when you move your finger from one specific spot to another specific spot.”  Where do I read that definition - certainly not in the OED, or Webster’s?  When I swipe my credit card I don’t rest it for a second then move it slowly – I swipe it. If that isn’t what they want me to do to answer my smart-phone they should say so.

            The problem, of course, is not technological but etymological. The meanings of words evolve. Each sphere of endeavor has its own bag of words it uses in specialized ways. Kids who grew up tapping, swiping, and dragging their fingers on the surfaces of screens know exactly what to do.

            One of the miracles of the Bible is that it defies this phenomenon. The Bible is so direct and clear that it transcends the limits of language – even the changing meanings of words.

            A few weeks ago I wrote about those verses that describe God as showing a mother’s love. I subsequently presented this material to teens, some of whom had absent, neglectful, or abusive fathers. It meant so much to children for whom the word “father” held no positive meaning to listen to those verses describing God’s maternal care. 

            The Bible is not limited by culture, century, or continent.  It communicates everything that pertains to life and godliness in comprehensible words. When we listen to it, and do what it says, we will always be right.  God never says “tap” when He means “touch.”

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