Today I came across an abbreviation that I hadn’t seen before in a Facebook comment stream. This one peeked my interest because of the context, so I went over to Google (the search engine, y’know) and started to look up the abbreviation to learn what it stood for.
What I was looking up isn’t important—I’m not going to tell you—but what popped up in the Google drop down I thought was more interesting.
Naturally, the way the list is presented is by the most popular search entry to the least. So the list above comprises the top ten searches that begin with “define.”
Do people really not know the meaning of ‘love’? Is ‘agnostic’-ism really that interesting to the general populace? It struck me as ironic that all these terms up there are so, well, ironic, and they are right along side of ‘irony’. They are ironic because, for most of the list, these are things that children should be taught at an early age and have a concrete understanding of. What mother or father doesn’t explain what ‘love’ is to their child, and what teacher in liberal arts doesn’t explain ‘culture’?
Maybe it’s not that we don’t understand these terms. I think that many do not understand them, and that is one reason they are popular search terms, but there are other reasons these words are popular search entries.
Man wants to have ‘love’ and be ‘loved’; people want to know they are right or wrong about the existence of God, as it directly impacts their total existence for the present and hereafter; many want to know what makes culture tick, and where it is all heading; at the core, man knows there is something wrong afoot with ‘socialism’, so it’s aggressively debated; and because it’s seems to be so scarce, one wonders if ‘integrity’ is really to be had or possessed by any man.
I could go on. This little list, I think, is quite profound. It says what we think is important to humanity. It says we hope someone on the Internet has the answers we are looking for about the hottest issues that hit home and the heart.
Strangely, the answers are very available, but the Internet makes the right answers hard to find. Parents, missing the mark with their children are not solidifying important values in their children’s lives. Teachers in all arenas are not altogether good teachers if people need to still look up the meaning of ‘ethics’ with Google on such a regular basis.
I pose to you as a Believer in Christ, that genuine Christianity based on an authentic understanding of the Bible is the way to go for all of life; the Bible has the answers to these terms and issues. There is a lot of misunderstanding, lies, and mysticism shrouding Christianity produced by unbelievers, but if people learn for themselves what the Bible actually stands for on their own, they would get what true Christianity is all about. The Bible answers all your imaginable questions about love, God, culture, character, ethics, and, yes, even the tough issues like racism (and no—the Bible doesn’t support racism, incase you’re wondering).
If you want a couple great websites you can start with to learn what the Bible supports, you should check out the following. AmericanVision.com is an excellent resource that deals with apologetics (the defense of the Christian Faith), history, ethics, eschatology (what Christians believe about future things) etc. They regularly post articles, videos, podcasts, and have a worldview discussion forum as well. There are many people on that site that would be glad to answer your questions.
Then, if you have questions related to science, the age of the earth, evolution, and the whole of Biblical history and its accuracy, check out Creation.com. This ministry, Creation Ministries International, is led by many biblical (young-earth) creation scientists. They have many expert minds in all fields of science and have a biblical view of scientific data that makes sense. They are most interested in making sense of deep stuff for ordinary people like you and I.
Lastly, you should get familiar with the Bible by simply reading it. The first few books of the Old and New Testaments are especially informative, and you can figure out which those are in a Bible’s table of contents. You might check out getting a printed copy, or if you want instant access to the Bible via the web, I recommend BibleStudyTools.com or gnpcb.org/esv/browse/.
Christianity isn’t just another school of human thought about some issues of life. The Bible is God’s Word to mankind. If you believe the Bible, and follow what it says, it makes perfect sense of the world around you. You will have a much better chance of coming to grips with reality and culture with the Bible than with Google searches any day.
