Automaton

Lately I've been thinking about automaton's. They are really quite beautiful. Intricate pieces of machinery woven together; and when in working order, create a being nearly completely self-sufficient. Di Vinci, in 1495, sketched his plans for an automaton that, when built, moved its arms, turned its head, and could sit up all on its own. In 1739 Jacques de Vaucanson built a duck that could eat a grain of wheat, and then defecate. Voltaire is quoted as saying without the duck, there would be nothing to remind you of the glory of France. Automatons have only become more complex and developed. There are robots to sweep and mop your floors; disarm bombs; build cars. It's amazing how much time, energy and expense we are willing to put into these machines.

But are we devoting too much time to these pursuits? Are we becoming a society that is so desirous of the perfect being, that we are willing to loose the relational aspect that makes us human?

I think it can be seen in the things that we have, the stuff that we use. Our iPods, our computers, even our phones. We can check the weather, a baseball score, or who has been kicked off American idol, all with out leaving the comfort of our homes, or our heads for that matter. Perhaps we are inadvertently creating a generation of human automatons through our technological advances; by providing ourselves with technology that allows us to function with little to no assistance from others.

At times I feel a bit like a machine. I'm constantly being fed a stack of information, expected to process and file, and start again; all this with little to no human interaction, just me and my old think pad. But is this how it should be? I don't think God created us in the image of the Defecating Duck. As a matter of fact, I know he didn't. He created us to be in his image; a piece of him.

I'm currently reading Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. I just finished the chapter entitled Naked. In it, Miller talks about the beginning. About how God created Adam, and had him name all the animals. And the whole time Adam kept looking for a helpmate, but he couldn't find one. And he was lonely. So after he was finished naming the animals, God put him to sleep, and created Eve. Moses sums up this information in two chapters, but Miller speculates that it probably took nearly a hundred years. Adam and Even were over 100 when they had children. This would mean, that for nearly 100 years, Adam searched the planet looking for someone else. Looking for his helpmate. Now, Adam was the first man. The first perfect man. Created in God's image. His DNA and soul, at this point, hadn't been mucked up by sin. So the man that we see wondering the garden with God, and searching for another, is in fact the most concentrated version of God that a human has ever been, (well aside from Jesus). He was what we were to be. And he had a desire, a need for someone else. If Adam was lonely, and needed someone to help him, to help complete him, then why should we expect to be different?

It is a shame that we are striving to live in a self-automated society. We should throw technology to the side, even if only for an hour, and embrace the need for others. I'd much rather be an image of God, then of a defecating duck.

NIU Shooting

This was an email I sent to a friend in the beginning of February. She sent me an email, part of which said, "So I am really annoyed with the NIU shooting, when the Virginia Tech one happened it was like the world ended and now the same thing happened somewhere else and it doesn’t seem to be a big deal. I don’t understand!?!?" She was frustrated at the lack of interest at our work place here in Maryland. Here's how I responded. I realize this is random and probably doesn't make much sense, but I'm posting it anyway. Mainly because I don't want to loose it.

I don’t know. Maybe it’s because VA Tech was the first of its kind. Maybe they’re finally going to stop glorifying school shootings in the Media, maybe people don’t know about it yet. VA Tech was a huge thing in Ohio too. I haven’t heard anyone say anything, then again I haven’t seen many people. The church shootings in Colorado weren’t nearly as big as I though they would have been either. Maybe as a society we are just becoming immune to this sort of violence, and we see it as a norm. Regardless of any of those reasons, it is a big deal, and effects thousands of people, and our social conscience should feel it to some sort.

Maybe this is a showing of our moral values spiraling out of control. Maybe soap box preachers are right and everything is coming to an end and it’s starting with the desensitization of our nation. This is an awfully depressing conversation but it’s something that we, and I say that in the group sense, should be wiling to talk about. We, being American citizens, human beings and most importantly Christians. It’s unfair to overlook the angst of fellow Christians, and even more so the lost. Christ never did. He made an effort to reach out to the lost, the woman at the well, the adulterous woman, Zacceous. Were called to live a life like Christ, so why don’t more Christians follow not only the teachings and doctrine of the bible, but the red letters. The words that Christ spoke. To not only uphold his teachings, but to imitate our very creator. If more Christians were able to do this, then we would be able to empathize with the poor and the broken. They would be able to reach more, touch more lives; and theoretically, if we could reach more, reach all, shootings like this wouldn’t happen, and we wouldn’t have to grieve, or be angry that at the lack of grief and civil responsibility.

The Christian nation should be broken over this, the nation should be broken over this; striving to not only answer the "whys", but to find a way stop things like this from ever happening. And since this doesn’t seem like it is going to be an option, then we won’t take responsibility to correct these wrongs. Maybe there is a new need. The need for people like you to put your concerns out there. To make others aware of their short comings, not in a judgmental way, but in a rebuking way. In the way we're called. To point out our faults so help us become who we are supposed to be. To help us pull the log from our own eyes, so we can help pull the logs out of others.

Perhaps this shooting wasn’t the fault of the gun man. Maybe it was much bigger than that, maybe the blame should be put on all of civilization, for failing to reach him. For failing to see his hurt, and his anger, and for failing to help and love. You’re right we should feel bad; we should beat our chests, cover our faces in ashes, and wear our hair shirts. We should feel, because I’m just as much to blame.