Traveling with the Schroeders -- Disney 2024

Not a bad place for some reading.

Summer Reading -- Redeeming Technology

Yet another book has jumped in to delay reading through St. Augustine's The City of God.  I suppose I will keep chipping away at The City of God as the weeks go by, but I just started a new book which was also a gift from IssuesEtc.  Redeeming Technology is an intriguing title, and a glance at the table of contents and just getting into the book has vaulted it to a higher priority.

It was written by a psychiatrist, Dr. Brian Smith, and a pastor, Rev. A. Trevor Sutton.  They do not go to the extreme in saying that technology is evil, but they do note that our use of technology has gone to extremes.  The consequences are not insignificant.  

Consider these paragraphs from the first chapter of the book.  

"We have witnessed the pain of technology addiction.  We know the struggles of unhealthy technology use.  For us, this is more than statistics.  For us, this is personal.

"Dr. Smith has treated children on the brink of suicide, influenced by social media that romanticize self-harm and websites detailing how to take one's life.  He has gotten truant children back into school after they had become vampires with reversed sleep-wake cycles, up all night playing electronic games and sleeping all day.  He has corrected the cognitive distortions of patients convinced that something is wrong with their bodies because of the distorted images of beauty prevalent on the internet.  As a psychiatrist, Dr. Smith has witnessed the pernicious power that technology can have over mental health.

"Pastor Sutton has provided pastoral care to individuals whose lives have been destroyed by technology.  He has visited young adults staying at inpatient psychiatric care facilities because of social media and cyberbullying.  He has counseled individuals rocked by the public shame of internet call-out culture.  He has worked with couples torn apart by pornography and extramarital text messaging.  He has helped people discern the differences between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Facebook.  As a pastor, Trevor has witnessed the pernicious power that technology can have over the soul" (pages 14-15).

Perhaps these words will be enough to encourage you to get the book and read it for yourself.  If I think about it, I can offer a review of the book when I am done.  At this very early stage, I can envision changing my use of social media and internet.  I already know that it has become addictive, but their research may be the catalyst to actually refrain and to reprioritize my time. 

And, yes, I get the irony of posting this on a blog.

Summer Reading -- (Dis)ordered

This book managed to jump in line and interrupt my reading of St. Augustine's City of God.  This book was a gift from the IssuesEtc studios that we received when we popped in for a visit back in June.  They gave us a lot of gifts.  The gift of this book saved me a few bucks as I was planning on buying it anyway.

Well, I just completed it and highly recommend it.  Perhaps it will be used as the basis for an upcoming Adult Bible Class.  But don't wait for that.  Purchase it now.  It will equip you for answering people who promote the LGBQ+ philosophy, reinforce your understanding of God's plans for human design, and help you to honor God in your vocation as a man or woman, husband, wife, or single person, and especially as a blood-bought, body-and-soul saint in the kingdom of God.

Summer Reading -- The City of God by Augustine

I am hoping to read through The City of God by St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo in north Africa (November 13, 354 – August 28 430).  It is considered a classic.  I fear my intentions will not measure up to my stamina.  I don't know if I enough time or ambition to read all 511 pages with small print, archaic translation, and heavy content.  Oh well, at least my summer reading title sounds impressive. 

Here is a brief snippet to start things off.  Something from Augustine on God's intentions in allowing suffering to come upon both the righteous and the wicked.

"Nevertheless does the patience of God still invite the wicked to repentance, even as the scourge of God educates the good to patience.  And so, too, does the mercy of God embrace the good that it may cherish them, as the severity of God arrests the wicked to punish them. ... But as for the good things of this life, and its ills, God has willed that these should be common to both; that we might not too eagerly covet the things which wicked men are seen equally to enjoy, nor shrink with an unseemly fear from the wills which even good men often suffer."

-- The City of God: Book 1, paragraph 8.  

Page 5, The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, edited by Philip Schaaf.  Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, MI. (c) 1956.