The word, “illiterate,” is an adjective used to describe someone who is unable to read or write. It can also mean uncultured or ignorant of various subjects or activities. I never thought of myself in those terms until technology came into being. Don’t get me wrong. I would be lost without my computer. My phone has become an extra appendage which goes with me everywhere. However, I am not in tune with all the mechanics of this wonderful new invention. So, in that respect I could be called illiterate. It used to be that illiterate meant you couldn’t read or write. Now we don’t even need to read and write. However, if we don’t read or write, we can’t use it?

I use the Internet to do research, but how can I be sure that what I find is true or just someone’s opinion? If I was independently wealthy, I could self-publish all my writings, but who would read them? I could set up a website or pay someone to do so, but that would require cataloging everything I’ve produced over the years, and it would take more time than I have left. Technology is like a cancer. It wheedles it’s way into our brain cells, invades our thinking, our mentality, our theology, our daily life, work, habits and everything else that affects our living. Unfortunately, there is no cure for it and the more you use it, the more it spreads.

Technology has opened many new doors to our minds. We can watch church online. We can get a degree online. We can train our children, pets, spouses, neighbors and friends online. We can create a beautiful picture of who WE are to the world through social media, while in the shadows, our lives may truly be falling apart. Who are we trying to impress? It has also made a clear path for Satan to move into young and old minds with all sorts of evil. As with any innovation there will always be choices. Someone needs to monitor what we’re looking at – but wait, they’re probably already doing that. In 1949, George Orwell published a book titled, “1984.” It was a science fiction evaluation of what would happen in the future. The book investigated how minds could be manipulated to accept various truth and facts. 1984 has come and gone, and just look at how the world has changed since then.

Like I said, I don’t consider myself illiterate. I’m just a creature of habit – a reader – a writer – someone who still writes in cursive – who knows that in spite of all the changes in history and the last hundred years, our God still remains the same.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s episode of Technology 103.