Jesus lvs u & hs a grate pln 4 ur lfe

I wonder how the modern phenomenon of “text messaging” is affecting us, especially our kids? 

Functional literacy in adults in the USA, according to a 2004 National Endowment for the Arts study, declined by more than 10% during the twenty years between 1982 & 2002.  An interesting corollary to this statistic is that associated with this decline is a general contempt for the correct spelling or grammar usage.  Those who have their ill use of language brought to their attention generally disparage the correction, usually pointing out that “you know what I meant”.

What seems to be lost on our modern culture is the way language shapes and informs our thinking processes.  The degree to which language enables thought as well as reflects it, is only dimly understood but the synergistic effect is well established.  What should be a concern to us is that poor language skills not only reflect poor thinking capacities but actually hinder or perpetuate them.  The specific thing that concerns me in this meditation is “What does it say about our ability to deal with the language of the Scriptures if the focus of our ordinary communication is through the language of text messaging?”  Quite frankly, it scares me.

Consider the following two examples of teen-age or slightly older,  writing.  The first is from a young soldier in the War Between The States (he just happens to have been a Confederate) and the second is a recent text message that has been slightly altered to protect the identity of the writer.

From the Soldier: 
 I have just read your letter sent by Mr. W.... It was truly encouraging and contains wholesome truth which I hope will prove of benefit to me. Our parting was painful and my heart now saddens at the remembrance of it. Never had the circumstances been the same. Our family circle had, by the hand of providence, been rendered happy and social, but the same hand by other causes has caused us to be separated perhaps forever. This is kept hidden in the future. I had just made up my mind to settle in Shelby to return to my once loved home to ....(illegible), and do every thing in my power to make my mother happy. For god knows her latter days on earth ought to be blessed with happiness, for she has seen trouble. But providence has ordered otherwise and we must submit with all humbleness. My motto has ever been to do the best I could under all circumstance. My purpose is to do the very best I can and do my duty.        I have been protected before by a higher power when danger was nigh and I have been thankful for it. Not as much as I should have been. I have at times been led astray and have wandered from the path of duty. I hope to be humbler, live a better life and love God more. I pray his protection in the hour of danger and his deliverance from disease death and the cursing influences of camp life. I pray to live to the good and be of service to my country. I pray to get back home to comfort my poor mother and make her happy. I pray to live the life of a Christian and after the war is over and my country free and my labors on earth completed, I pray to die the death of all humble followers of Christ.

Now the text message:   lol ....  SRY.... im goin hme and thats it. u have ur frnd at least...

Now, other than the obvious difference in length, notice the degree to which these two individuals, though in the same general age class, are able to express thought and the extent to which simple “fact” in the latter and “analysis” or “contemplation” in the former, is the focus.  Notice how the first reflects a “thinking” individual who is seriously contemplating the great question of how the “same hand” of Providence can at once bring the greatest happiness and then the greatest of sorrow.  Notice how, in the second, the emphasis is confined to the “now” of what is happening and how that might affect the way they “feel” at the moment.  It is purely experiential.  The two examples reflect two entirely different approaches to living and dealing with the world.  Which, do you think, is better equipped to receive the truths of Scripture?

If language is understood as being primarily the means of communicating “fact” or “information” then the structure of language and the manner in which it is communicated is subordinated to that end.  When this is the case there is little reason to care how it is used as long as it accomplishes its purpose.  When you read a phone book there is no demand placed on us to enter into the thoughts of the writer.  It is what it is.  But God didn’t write the Scriptures as one would write a phone book.  God wrote in such a way that people gain understanding by reading it.  A mind trained, by whatever social or cultural constraints, to think only in terms of fact will have great difficulty in rising to the truth of God’s Word and will be more than a little hampered in communicating it to others.

I think that it is our Christian duty to be aware of the cultural shifts that technology is bringing to our culture.  I am not advocating that we remove the cell phones & Iphones & FaceBook pages from our young folk, unless we are prepared to put a whole different life style in place for them - like removing our families to a commune somewhere.  But I am proposing that we, as parents, and as the Church, need to seriously undertake to help our young folks THINK by requiring them to EXPRESS themselves in a coherent and disciplined manner.  Perhaps we should even require them to write papers on why they should be allowed to keep their cell phones. 

Think of it as pre-evangelism - the equipping of minds with the tools they need to understand the Gospel.

I would be interested to hear your reaction.  (No text messaging please... LOL)

Comments

[Joel Loukus]

Contrary to what people might assume based on my profound interest in, say, Shakespeare, I'm not intimidated by the l33tspeak. Language is always evolving, and I have no doubt that if Shakespeare was alive today, his writings would include witty double entendre involving lmao, rofl, and pos. He would probably be inventing them.

Relevancy and communication are the real keys, not the purity of the language.

The letter from a hundred plus years ago is so elaborate and flowery because it was good enough to be remembered. There are the same such things being written today, but we do not have the filter of time to weed out the rank garbage. I bet you, when put to it, most teenagers today can spell better than most teenagers in the ranks of the Confederacy States of America.

[Gadfly]

LOL = "laugh out loud" usually
My concern with the circumstances of a "texter" is such that I wonder if he actually does experience the same type and depth of feelings. As we move toward greater ranges of casual relationships, of no greater depth than the normal texting/email/chat-room variety, I fear that not only our means of expression but our actual human responses, indeed our humanity itself, is at risk. It is possible that not only would the "texter" not be able to communicate such deep feelings but he might not even experience them to begin with.

Thanks for the comment.

[S.K.F.]

Amen! Amen! Amen!

Once we lose the precision of our language, we lose the ability to communicate. The "whatever!" and "you know what I mean" approach leaves everything wide open to misinterpretation --disasterous for anyone who has a thought he would like to share.

Is LOL "lots of luck" or "laugh out loud"?

When you or a text-messager has an important idea, opinion, thought, or feeling to express or share, words are the most precise way of communicating. Words are the means God used to create! As you say, without language we cannot communicate the truth of God's love, and the need for seeking reconciliation with God and all that embraces.

I understand a preference for streamlined communication, but the CSA soldier was conveying his sorrow at being separated from those he loves--maybe forever on this earth, and his understanding of God's sovereignty in all of life. What does a texter do when he experiences such deep feelings?