One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

by Rev. Thomas R. Fuller

“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?” -Proverbs 1:22

I have an old telephone in my house that is commonly called a “candlestick” model. The base features a rotary dial, and the receiver is mounted on top of a column. The speaker hangs on the side, and to use it, one generally has to hold the phone in one hand and the receiver in the other. Believe it or not, it still works. Every now and then, just for old time’s sake, I place a call on this phone. It’s fun to hear that old rotary dial click out each number.

Back in 1963, AT&T introduced the Touch-Tone telephone. It didn’t take long for a nation obsessed with push-button convenience to warm up to the new thing. It was said that to dial a seven digit number on a rotary phone took an average of ten seconds, but only five seconds on the new push-button variety.

Our family was very excited with our first push-button phone. In short order, we were punching out numbers at lightning speed! Back then, each button created a different tone, and before long we were calling friends and irritating them with push-button renditions of our favorite songs. At one time, I even had a push-button phone songbook.

Well, if only we would have known then just where all this push-button convenience would lead. Now, thanks to push-buttons, we never have to actually connect with a live human being when we call a business or agency. Instead, we get a recording that tells us to push more buttons, offering us a myriad of options that have nothing to do with what we really need. We end up stuck on the phone forever, pushing one button after another, with a good chance of eventually slamming the phone down in disgust. But, we should remember that, on the average, it only took us five seconds to dial the initial number, instead of the previous ten it took back in the old days when we actually connected immediately with a helpful, living person. Boy oh boy, aren’t we smart?

I’m not really against technology or opposed to progress. Actually, in a lot of ways it’s great. But, more and more, as our technology gets increasingly complex, I think we tend to get increasingly simple. We don’t think things through. We don’t look at the whole picture. We accept everything. We don’t evaluate much. Overall, it seems to me that we are not really doing a better job at anything. And thanks to technology, we can be stupid a whole lot faster.

The Book of Proverbs in the Bible was written, “That men may know wisdom and instruction, understand words of insight, and receive instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice and equity” (Proverbs 1:2-3). Psalm 111:10 tells us that, “The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.” Is it any wonder that, as our nations falls away from God, and in spite of all the technological advances, America seems to be in the process of “dumbing down?”

There is no push-button device that can make us smart. Our technology creates as many problems as it solves. Wisdom comes from God, and those who desire to be wise will seek him.