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数字时代妨碍个人灵修的18种障碍 (中英文)

2015-11-28 建造幸福家庭



一份澳大利亚的研究发现,“如果牧师能只做一件事,帮助灵命成熟度各异的会众加深他们与基督的关系……他们就会激发鼓舞和装备会众阅读圣经 ——具体来说,思想圣经,寻求他们生命的意义。”


类似地,圣经接触中心这家机构发现,“在灵命方面,你能为自己所做的头号大事,就是一周读圣经四次或更多。经常读圣经,你的生命与那些不读经,或者读经次数少于这水平的人相比,看起来就完全不同。”


另外一份调查的结果写成了一本书,《1000家教会对灵命成长的发现》,它发现“思想圣经是最影响个人灵命的做法。”


但是读经和祷告这些个人灵命成长的基本要素,在数字时代是如此难以坚持。请思想我们尝试把祷告和读经变成我们生活固定一部份时面对的障碍。

1失去界限:工作不再局限于一个场所和固定的时候。我们总是在工作,从晚上第一件事到最后一件事都在工作,总是可以被人找到,甚至在放假的时候也是如此。75% 25到29岁的人睡觉时开着手机,25%的雇员说,他们觉得他们的工作保障取决于在正常工作时间之外仍能随传随到。
2失去专注:对办公室员工所做的实验表明,他们一小时检查电邮30到40次,虽然他们以为一小时自己只查电邮10到15次。四人当中有一人每隔30分钟查看智能手机,五人当中有一人每十分钟查看一次。
3失去阅读能力:上下翻动电脑屏幕,已经导致大量的浏览和快速阅读,这与从读经获得益处的要求完全相反。
4失去默想:当人的思想从一件事跳跃到另一件事,深入持久思想任何问题就变得非常罕见。我们比50年前吸收的信息多了三倍,但对信息的思想却少得多。
5失去记性:背诵圣经经文和经文出处已经成为一种失传的艺术,因为我们只需要一个特别的词和对出处有一个大概知道,就能使用Google查到经文。
6失去解决问题的能力:我们不下功夫回答问题,认真把问题想透;再一次我们只需用Google进行搜索即可。
7失去社交联系:我们不需要人的帮助,只需要Google。亚当斯在《YouTube是我父亲》一文中,描述了YouTube如何已经变成他的代父,教他从如何打领带到弄好漏气轮胎这样的事。
8失去睡眠: 过量和深夜仍使用科技产品,破坏睡眠质量和睡眠长度。小孩子现在每天花11个小时在社交媒体上,这给睡眠质量和数量带来了巨大冲击。
9失去安静:不断的嘟嘟声、蜂鸣声和更新,减少了大脑不受干扰的休息时间。和收音机、电视这些其它革命性的媒体产品不同,互联网无处不在。我们排队只不过是几分钟时间,思想都不会停下来,而是转向智能手机打发我们的等候时间。
10失去友情:在线交友已经变得比面对面的友情更普遍,孤独已经成为我们今天其中一个最常见的抱怨。
11失去家庭时间:家庭成员在家中的时候,不断与外面的世界保持连线。
12失去隐私:我们已经不再有太多的私人生活,生活的大部分是在公共领域进行,错误也变得非常公开。另外有大量收集个人资料的活动在进行中,却不被我们察觉。
13失去时间:如此大量的时间被浪费掉,减少了灵修生活和基督徒事奉的时间。
14失去纯洁:大量的和多方面的试探,这一切在我们自己家中个人的领域发生。
15失去耐心:我们已经变得习惯了马上要有结果,但是每日的灵修是长期的计划,极少或很难看到马上有可见的改变和改善。
16失去智慧:通过互联网我们可以得到更多的知识,但是缺乏处理,在我们自己头脑中掌握这种知识,就妨碍了我们的大脑进行联系,发现联系,看到更大的画面。当我们所知道的一切都在Google上,而不是在我们的大脑里,我们怎能解释信息、组织、处理、分辨信息,从信息得出结论呢?
17失去谦卑:舒耐特在《这就是你在Google上的大脑》一文中写道:“这些日子我们仍说‘我不知道该怎么办’,‘我不记得’这样的话。但我们的无知很少持续长时间。几秒钟之后我们就使用Google或YouTube解决我们的无知。我们不知道的信息离我们如此之近,真的就像所说的那样是触手可得,以致我们忘记了其实我们并不知道。”
18失去常规:固定和节奏在人的生活中变得非常罕见,因为今天的工作性质和时间都变得难以预料。


面对如此的数字泛滥还进行个人灵修?肯定这是不可能的!


困难,但并非不可能,下次文章我要给你20个提示,帮助你如何在数字时代保持灵修生活。


作者:大卫•默里牧师(David Murray)



【英文原文】

18 Obstacles to Personal Devotions in the Digital Age

Australian research found that “Ifpastors could do only one thing to help people at all levels of spiritualmaturity grow in their relationship with Christ…they would inspire, encourage,and equip their people to read the Bible—specifically, to reflect on Scripturefor meaning in their lives.”


Similarly, The Center for BibleEngagement discovered that “the number one thing you can do for yourselfspiritually is read the Bible four times a week or more. Read it thisfrequently, and your life looks completely different to those who don’t readthe Bible, or read it less than that.”


Another survey that resulted in thebook What 1000 Churches Reveal About Spiritual Growth, found that “Reflectionon Scripture is, by far, the most influential personal spiritual practice.”


And yet these basics of personalspirituality, Bible reading and prayer, are so difficult to maintain in thedigital age. Consider some of the obstacles we face in trying to make prayerand Bible reading a regular part of our lives:


1. Loss of boundaries: Working lifeis no longer limited to one place and certain hours, but we are always on fromfirst thing to last thing at night, always contactable, even on vacation. 75%of 25-29 year olds sleep with their phones. 25% of employees say that they feeltheir job security depends on them being available beyond normal working hours.


2. Loss of concentration: Tests ofoffice workers reveal that they check email 30-40 times an hour, although theythink it’s only 10-15 times an hour. 1 in4 people check their smartphone every 30 minutes, 1 in 5 every 10 minutes.


3. Loss of reading ability: Computerscrolling has resulted in much more scanning and speed-reading, the exactopposite of what’s required to profit from Bible reading.


4. Loss of meditation: Deep andprolonged thought on anything is very rare as minds flit from thing to thing tothing. We consume three times as much info as we did 50 years ago but thinkabout it much less.


5. Loss of memory: MemorizingScripture texts and references has become a lost art because we just need theodd word and a rough idea of location to Google the verse.


6. Loss of problem solving: We don’twork at answering questions, puzzling something through but, again, just Google it.


7. Loss of social connection: We don’tneed people’s help but just Google it. “In YouTube is my Father, Michael Anthony Adams describes how YouTubehas become his substitute father, teaching him things like how to tie a tie andfix a flat.


8. Loss of sleep: Excess and latetechnology use damages quality and length of sleep. Kids are consuming 11 hoursof media a day with huge impact on quality and quantity of sleep.



9. Loss of quiet: Constant beeps,buzzes, and updates reduce undisturbed time for the brain to rest. Unlike otherrevolutionary media like radio and TV, the Internet is ubiquitous. We never geteven a few minutes waiting in line with our own thoughts but turn to thesmartphone to fill it up.


10. Loss of friendships: Onlinefriendships have become more common than face-to-face. Loneliness has becomeone of the most common complaints of our day.


11. Loss of family time: Familymembers are constantly connected to outside world when in the home.


12. Loss of privacy: We don’t havemuch of a private life any more as so much lived out in public arena, makingmistakes very public too. Also, so much gathering of personal data is going onundetected.


13. Loss of time: So much time beingwasted, reducing time for devotional life and Christian service


14. Loss of purity: Multiple andmanifold temptations and all in the privacy of our own homes.


15. Loss of patience: We have grownused to instant results, but daily devotions are a long-term program withrarely or barely perceptible changes and improvements.


16. Loss of wisdom: We can accessmore knowledge via the Internet but the lack of possessing and owning that knowledgein our own minds prevents our brain making connections, discoveringconnections, seeing the bigger picture. How do we interpret information, organize it, process it, discriminate,draw conclusions from it, when all we know is in Google rather than in ourbrains?


17. Loss of humility: In This isyour brain on Google, Kate Shellnut wrote: “These days, we still say thingslike “I don’t know how” and “I can’t remember it,” but our ignorance rarelylasts long. Seconds later, it gets pulled up on Google or YouTube. Theinformation we don’t know is so close—quite literally at our fingertips—that weforget we don’t know it.”


18. Loss of routine: Regularity andrhythm are rare in people’s lives because of the unpredictable nature and hoursof jobs nowadays.

Personal devotions in the face ofsuch a digital deluge? Impossible surely!


Difficult, but not impossible, andtomorrow I’ll give you 20 tips for maintaining a devotional life in the digitalage.


延伸阅读(点击阅读文章)

Dave Boehi ▎男人长不大 怎能勇担当?

约翰·派博 ▎婚姻:基督教快乐主义的组合

【祷告】我们能重新得着能力 ▎王明道

越寒老弟兄的见证 ▎背十字架的人生——我跟从主的一些体会

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