The Anxious Generation – Book Review

You know it and I know it. Smartphones have a negative impact on our daily lives. For most people, it isn’t a question of whether they do or not, but whether the impact is a net negative (more negatives than positives overall). As adults, every day we have to make decisions about the use of technology. There are reminders about our screen time, technology fasts and even cell phone retreats where people pay to go off the grid for a period of time.

Most technology should be evaluated similarly, but no technology is as pervasive as the modern smartphone. It is the gateway to the internet for most people. We have digital assistants, in many cases, powered by Artificial Intelligence. For the majority of society, the first thing they pick up and the last thing they put down each day is their phone.

I’ve been reading about this topic and researching it for over a decade. Early helpful books I read were The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, released in 2010 by Nicholas Carr and What Technology Wants, also in 2010 by Kevin Kelly. Now, in 2024, the definitive book on this topic as it relates to children has been written and it is the first book in this field that I’m ready to recommend to everyone.

Jonathan Haidt’s new book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness is applied research. It takes a hypothesis and synthesizes extensive studies by others to present a bullet proof case of the damage smartphones are doing to our children.

Gen Y, the generation entering the workforce today, are the victims of our neglect, and ignorance. This is well documented in the book and the studies he relies on, showing an extreme increase in anxiety and depression in recent years, as noted in the graphs below.

Something devastating happened to children in the early 2010s, derailing the next generation. This book is the author’s attempt to answer that question. This can be a scary book to read, but if you’re a parent, educator, pastor or anyone who works with children and youth, you owe it to yourself and your kids to read or listen to this book.

The book is divided into four parts. The first part is the really bad news. It documents the damage done. As you read, I’m sure you’ll be able to think of people who are dealing with the problems he describes. I knew there was a problem, but I’m somewhat sheltered from understanding just how bad it is by my life abroad. While this isn’t specifically a US problem, the US and UK have some of the best data on the issue. We’ve been exporting technology for years and the author tracks its deployment in a variety of countries, showing how the damage occurred when the widespread exposure came into existence.

Parts two and three are the cause. First, the decline of play-based childhood. This is an issue other researchers are examining in detail and I expect new insights to be appearing that confirm this author’s evaluation. Children need “free play” that is unstructured by adults and technology for healthy psychological development. The advance of technology and the movement towards what they call “Safetyism” has put walls around childhood that rarely leaves them with many opportunities for free play.

Part three is the rise of the phone-based childhood. The author examines the differing impacts on boys and girls and the overall “spiritual degradation” that is happening to all of us as we dive deeper into a phone-based lifestyle. Our brains are rewired by both the technology and those behind it. App developers know how our brains work and both social media and games are designed to manipulate our brains to stay engaged with our phones.

The last section is the most important section. Whether you read the book or not, take serious note of the author’s suggestions, which have great merit. If you look at the suggestions below and think they are unreasonable, please don’t take my word for it. Get a copy of the book and I doubt you’ll still think the same way once you’ve read the entire thing.

Four suggestions for saving the next generation and helping the current generation in their struggles:

  1. Delay Smartphone and Social Media Use – No smartphone access until high school and no social media until the age of 16. Parents and educators who join together in solidarity have a better chance at encouraging teens and their friends to develop a more healthy toolbox of social skills by avoiding the social media/smartphone trap. I was impressed by the suggestion that we work together to encourage Apple, Google and Microsoft, to integrate an age verification into the phones and operating systems. That way, when the parent gives the child a device, they can mark the age when they register it. Then enforcement of underage access to platforms becomes much simpler.
  2. Phone-free schools – The author suggests it isn’t enough to have phone-free classrooms. The goal isn’t just to avoid distractions while in class, but to help children and teens learn to relate to one another again. This can only be accomplished if the phones are locked up throughout the school day. Breaks, lunches and recesses can become times for free play again, instead of times where they disconnect from those around them to log into apps and games.
  3. Increased Independent Play – Without smartphones, it becomes easier to create independent play opportunities. This is more challenging to implement, but the author offers several concrete plans parents or educators could choose to carry out.
  4. More Responsibility in the Real World – Kids need to learn responsibility, and growing responsibility as they pass through stages of childhood. Chores and volunteering are some examples, but the author also gives helpful household experiences a parent could use to help their children develop their internal locus of control.

Whether you agree with all of these measures, we all should be open to making improvements in these areas. Our children’s mental health and future as members of society are at stake. It is irresponsible to kick the bucket down the road. The adults of today, whether they be Gen-X or Millennials, have the power to change the destiny of the next generation. We didn’t grow up with a device in our hands and we can help ensure that our children have a healthier future.

Note: In just the last few weeks, almost to perfectly coincide with the release of this book, the state of Florida has signed into law a social media ban that seems to take to heart many of this author’s suggestions. I was aware of the ban before I read the book and after reading it; I believe it is the right kind of top down response, but is not the best solution. Better solutions will be organized on a more grass-roots level by parents and educators. If both of these things happen, it will be even better for the health of our kids.

I Don’t Hate You

Years ago, famous atheist and noted illusionist, Penn Jillette made a short video on Christian proselytizing. As a known atheist, he’s had many people try to explain their faith to him and the point of his video is it doesn’t offend him. In fact, he has respect for the people who share with him.

The big zinger of the talk is when he says, “How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that. I mean if I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn’t believe it, there’s a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”

It’s true. I believe in the Christian faith of the Bible. That faith says that we all stand condemned before God for our sins. Every one of us. Every person who has ever lived. You, your neighbors, your family members. Everyone. According to the Bible, the only hope that we all have is Jesus. You can’t be a good enough person. It is impossible to Mother Theresa your way into eternity. The only hope is one thing:

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”

Romans 10:9-10

Saved from what? An eternity without God. We live on this earth in a place where we benefit from the grace of God. We know in part the blessings of God. We experience His creation. All people are protected from an unreleased outpouring of evil because of God.

Heaven is forever with God. Hell is forever without Him. There is only one thing that can make the difference. Faith in Jesus. Here is the progression of reality defined by Paul in what is sometimes called the Romans Road.

Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” – This means that we are born into a broken relationship with God. Our sin, which we all have, separates us from Him.

Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Even though we didn’t deserve anything but death, God loved us enough to send his son to provide a way to salvation.

Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – It’s a gift, but it must be accepted. If we refuse the gift, we continue on the path to death. We will be paid for our sin with death, which is spiritual death.

Romans 8:1 – “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” – The Bible is a book of absolutes, and this is one of the best ones. If we are in Christ, there is no condemnation.

Romans 10:9 – “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Back to where we started. This is what we have to do to accept God’s great gift. Confess and believe. There’s no faking this before God, but this is the ultimate Good News.

So, I don’t hate you. If you aren’t a follower of Jesus, you stand condemned and you’re facing an eternity without Him. It is impossible for me to describe how bad that is. You think you know misery and suffering on this earth, but what we face here is just a taste of what is possible in the realm of evil without God. The good news is you don’t have to live with that as your ultimate destination. Today, even in this very moment, you can move your life into the “no condemnation” column.

All you have to do is believe that Jesus is who He says He is and that He did what for us what the Bible says He did. Believe it and confess it, making Jesus the guide for the rest of your life.

Because I don’t hate you, I need you to know this and more. This path isn’t just the best deal for eternity, but it’s also the best deal for this life as well. Living with Jesus helps life make sense and makes our lives better in a thousand little ways on top of the eternal peace. It doesn’t make us good or perfect people. You know that. But it does give us access to a good and perfect guide for life.

This is the most important decision anyone will ever make and I want this great gift for every one of you.

Two Houses

““Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭24‬-‭27‬ (ESV)

This passage comes from the end of Jesus’ most famous sermon, usually called The Sermon on the Mount. It is the application point of the sermon. He’s giving the crowd a choice to make. The choice every follower of Jesus makes. How will you follow Him? Will you be wise or will you be foolish? Will you build on the rock or the sand?

I don’t know how many of you have experience with building things. Construction in Jesus’ time was much closer to the average person’s daily life. Most people were probably familiar with the way their simple home’s were put together. Many of his hearers in their lifetimes probably saw a house fall because of where it was built. Rain will wash away the wrong kind of foundation. Wind can knock down an improperly put together wall. 

Jesus, in His great love for us, gave us this wisdom. If you want your house to stand you need to build it on a firm foundation. Now, even though Jesus was a carpenter, his primary concern wasn’t construction. Jesus was about building lives. He wanted lives built on the truth. On God’s Truth. As people took the teachings of Jesus and the Bible that they had at the time, their lives would stand strong. 

Jesus is referring to life. Eternal life, a portion of which is lived on this earth, but most of which is in the life to come. We’re all here on this earth for a limited time, and during that time we’re building a life. The wisdom of Jesus is to indicate to people that there is a wise way and a foolish way to build.

Both of the men in the story are building something. They are giving their lives to a purpose, establishing a structure with their lives. The house they are building has elements to it. It has things which hold it together. It has connections. Friendships and family. Meaning and purpose. Every day given to adding something else to the house we’re building. Like we are adding bricks to our house with every decision we make.

Life is a series of decisions and we build our house based on these decisions. Will I give my life to light or darkness? Will I choose life or death?

If only all decisions were that clear. Think back over the course of the last week. As you watch the replay film, are there decisions you regret? Did you have any moments where you where you did something and immediately you felt in your spirit that you’d violated God’s teaching or stepped outside of God’s path? Maybe it was a moment of intense emotion and you didn’t think about it at all, but the end result was you lashing out with your tongue or actions in a way that did not glorify God.

As we walk through this life, we are to become something new. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, as it says in Romans. We are becoming like Christ. That is the calling of a believer. That is the house we’re to build. The only hope of it standing is if it is built on a relationship with Jesus. It is only in Christ that we can build anything that will stand.

One doesn’t become “like Christ” overnight, but over a lifetime of making the right decisions we all can become more like Him. Day by day, moment by moment, we are building a strong house.

There is a trend going around online that talks about life hacks. Things you might not have thought about before that make your life easier or better. The videos you see online might be for practical things like doing laundry or studying more effectively. 

When Jesus talks about these two men building their houses, he is giving a picture of one man putting his efforts to good use and the other who is essentially wasting his life. One of them will work hard over the course of their life, only to find it wiped out when the trials come. The other is building something that will last.

The Bible is the ultimate life hack. Jesus’ teaching is a true path to a better life. This is the real blessing of Scripture. It is not a guarantee or wealth or success, but it is a promise of a life lived in accordance with the world God designed. We can live this life with Him.

We can build our life around the promises of God. We worship Him. We don’t live our life for selfish ends. We come together to encourage and love one another. We get married and build a strong marriage where the husband loves his wife sacrificially and the wife lovingly gives herself to her husband.

We’ll have kids and raise them up in this way of life. We’ll teach them of God’s love and truth and that we are created for His purposes. We’ll tell everyone we meet of the Way, as Jesus’ earliest followers referred to it.

A Way that leads to life, life everlasting through the belief in God’s Son and His sacrifice for our sins. This is the house that is built on God’s Foundation. It is a house that stands when the wind and the rain comes. This house will not fall. It experiences the blessings of a life lived with Him. It holds together with others who walk side by side as a part of the family of God. We live and walk by faith together, forgiven and free. We are sinners, but no longer under the condemnation of a system of works. We follow God out of our freedom, not out of our bondage.

This is the better way. This is the life every young believer should want for themselves, for their family and for their friends. When you look ahead and dream about the future, picture that house built on the solid rock. Imagine the joy of a life lived in faith with Him. A life without regrets. A life where you look back on your past decisions and you praise God for His faithfulness in allowing you to experience the joy of His salvation.

All of you should want this. In a world where we have trouble, just as we are promised, there is a clear path through the trouble. It is not of our own creation, but is paved by the hand of the Father.

Open up your Bibles to Matthew 5-7 today and read the Sermon on the Mount in its entirety and read and understand the great love that God has for you in giving you a better way to live. After salvation, it is His greatest gift to you and me. 

A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War

Anyone who follows this blog, has read my book, Seeing God: For Who He Really Is, or who knows me personally, knows of my love of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien. When a pastor friend recommended this book, I knew it would be one of my first reads of 2024. What’s not to love? This is a narrow focused biography, which reminded me most of another book I enjoyed: Steal Away Home.

While some biographies try to be all-encompassing, this one deals with a very specific point. We know that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien both fought in the Great War (which we now call World War I), and we know about their friendship at Oxford. The author attempts to take what is written about these things and use them to form some opinions about how the war might have affected their relationship, their lives and their writings.

This is not a work of great scholarship, but it is filled with the kind of conjecture you might find in a well-researched work of historical fiction. Because of this, it is difficult to recommend the book to everyone. Where possible, the author draws upon the original published writings of the two authors and some historical sources like letters and interviews, but this book is comfortable going further than the historical record.

Personally, I enjoyed this journey, and it didn’t bother me that the author makes some assumptions along the way. He gets more right than not and through the recounting of both these authors’ war experiences and the common experiences of other soldiers in the same battlefronts; we get a very clear picture of the potential impact this might have had on Lewis and Tolkien.

“Tolkien and Lewis offer an understanding of the human story that is both tragic and hopeful: they suggest that war is a symptom of the ruin and wreckage of human life, but that it points the way to a life restored and transformed by grace.”

We can be grateful that both the religious catholic, Tolkien and the softening atheist, Lewis, found each other in the aftermath of the war. Tolkien was one of several learned men of faith who played an important part in Lewis becoming “the most reluctant convert.” And it was out of this friendship that the encouragement of Lewis spurred on Tolkien to keep working on his masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, when he frequently was ready to set it aside for more academic pursuits.

“Part of the achievement of Tolkien and Lewis was to reintroduce into the popular imagination a Christian vision of hope in a world tortured by doubt and disillusionment.”

The author recognizes how unusual these two men’s viewpoints were when compared to the general pessimistic malaise that arose after the Great War. Somehow, in the midst of the despair, they found hope in their philosophical, faith-filled discussions.

“The best thing you can do for your fellow, next to rousing his conscience, is—not to give him things to think about, but to wake things up that are in him; or say, to make him think things for himself.”

Lewis and Tolkien were influential thinkers who demanded intellectual honesty in their discussions and arguments. Out of the discussions of them and their friends were born some of the greatest works of fiction and non-fiction of their age, many of which continue to be read today.

In reading this book, I couldn’t help but think of the challenges of our own day. Looking back on recent days from 2020 on, it would be easy to give in to pessimism and darkness. There is plenty of both to go around, but if Lewis and Tolkien can find a path towards hope out of the horrors they saw and experienced in the Great War, surely believers today can find our own truth to share in this current age.

Love Came Down

A mother so young
A Father so strong
A journey so long
They weren't expected
Who would take such a journey
To leave home and family at such a time
Anyplace, safe and warm
Little comfort, but enough for them
The waiting, almost done
Pain, blood and birth
The sacrifice of a mother
To bring a King to His throne
Fragile and tiny
Born into simplicity
There was no news spread throughout the land
Only a star, leading the way
And a choir, singing to an audience so few
All hope bound up in a babe, both for now and eternity
The most important event in history
But a mystery to all the world
They continued their lives, not knowing everything changed
God's plan
Humanity and Sovereignty
Bound up in flesh
Humble beginnings
Marching towards a violent end
What love is this?
In the proper time
All would be made known
Heaven sent, finding His way
Baby, boy, man
Born, lived, died
Alpha, Immanuel, Omega
A baby's cry
A man's anguish
A torn curtain
The story begins
We praise this great gift
We believe and receive our salvation
The author has joined the story
He lived in it among us
He cleared the way to the finish line
Celebrate Christmas
Praise this indescribable gift
Tell the Joy to all the world
Today, in the city of David,
A Savior is born
Who is Christ our Lord

What is Your Life Worth?

Merry Christmas! There’s a line in my favorite Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, where our beleaguered hero is navigating the latest crisis, a run on the banks driven by panic. It’s a beautiful scene where it contrasts two different world views, one built on community and the other built on money as an abstract resource.

In the scene, people are scared by the dire financial straits at the time, probably meant to mimic the years of the Great Depression. The way the Building and Loan operated is fascinating and a vastly different system than our modern mortgages. This article, which explains it, is worth a read if you want to know more. I won’t explain it here, as it isn’t the main point of the scene.

Instead, we have George Bailey arguing that people shouldn’t give in to the perfectly legal grab of resources the villain of the story was engaging in. “Potter isn’t selling. Potter’s buying!” George exclaims. He knows that the richest man in town is on the path to owning everything. A path not only to riches, but to power and control over everyone in town’s life.

While this type of specific financial scenario might not be something that is easy for us to understand, the battle remains and is just as common today. When you wake up and pick up your phone or turn on your computer, someone is offering a price for your life. They want a piece of you. They want to control you. The companies advertising their products and services are selling you something. They’re buying your time. They’re buying your life.

Each of us has limited life resources. Time is the most essential. We choose to trade our time for many different things. Money, relationships, entertainment. Every day we wake up and choose what we’ll spend our time on. If you’re like me, this will include moments wasted, sometimes in excess.

I remember years ago talking with a friend who was in his seventies. Over the course of his life, this man had sold his time for many important things. Because of his commitment, the New Testament was translated into two of the most difficult languages in the world. He gave thirty years of his life to that task and those people. Then, in a moment, his access to those people was taken away by a government ban.

I met him because he was looking for remnants of those people in other countries, desperate to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with any who he could find. His life amazed me and here he was, at the age when many are well into retirement, still going strong for the sake of the Gospel.

One day, as we were talking about the choices he’d made, including some difficult choices along the way, he made a comment that stuck with me.

“A man has only one life to give in service to the Lord. He shouldn’t give it away too lightly.”

That’s what life is. We choose each day how we will spend our time. Each day we sell our life for things like our career, our family or achieving the next level on a game on our smartphone. We can feel “accomplishment” because we’re rewarded with something that flashes on a screen.

All of these things that are bidding for our time are challenging us to sell bits of our life off for what they offer. The question for us today is what will you sell your life for?
 

This is the message of the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. George Bailey’s life didn’t go as planned. He had big dreams, centered around personal accomplishments. He wanted to travel the world, build things, get rich. These were the desires of this likable young man.

What happened? Life got in the way. He fell in love, got married, raised a family. He stayed home, cared for his mother, helped his uncle and dozens of other people in the town, if not hundreds. He gave his life away for the good of others. He sold his time to build something, but something small and personal. Something that ultimately saved him in the end.

There are few things we touch in our daily lives that touch eternity. Few things that last forever.

I Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

For followers of Christ, this is our destiny. We will spend eternity knowing and glorifying God. Time spent preparing for that future by getting to know Him more through His word is always well spent.

Mark 10:45 says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus Himself, gave His life away. His sacrificial death is the only reason any of us have eternal hope.

So, what will you sell your life for today? Diversions? Trinkets? Or will you sell it for eternity? Investing in your children and in those who God brings into your lives.

This is the way that George Bailey became the “richest man in town” and it is the path to a life sold for the greatest price of all.

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope all of my American friends are enjoying this day with family and friends. Thanksgiving has always been one of our favorite holidays. Growing up, it was a gathering of family, with my mom’s large extended family gathering together. Fun times with cousins and lots of good food marked my Thanksgiving memories.

After moving overseas, we were far from our immediate family almost every Thanksgiving. In our new city on the other side of the world we spent Thanksgiving with our “found family”. Our kids learned to be grateful for their honorary uncles, aunts and cousins.

For 19 years we lived in that city where Turkey was hard to come by, carrot souffle replaced sweet potato casserole and the pumpkin for the pie had to be cooked and prepared ahead of time, since it didn’t come in a can. Thanksgiving was one of many things that were more difficult living as an exile in a foreign land.

Today, we celebrate Thanksgiving by not celebrating it. We’ll have a small gathering tomorrow with one American and a few other friends, but we now live on an island where there are very few people even aware there is such a thing. A few friends who know we’re American have sent messages and soon all of our friends in the US will be waking up, cooking and eating and most likely, posting all the pictures of their gatherings together.

Our three children gathered last weekend with relatives to celebrate (along with our two bonus children who married into the family). I was filled with joy to see them together, having fun and sharing this holiday without us. I expected I might be more sad than I was, but it really wasn’t a moment of sadness. They’ve gone off into the world and they’re all doing well. It was a blessing to see them all together. I was thankful.

Thankfulness is a powerful force that helps us keep the right perspective on life. Sometimes we receive truly wonderful blessings that are obviously far more than we deserve (like our salvation). Other times it might be just enough to provide for our needs. Finding ourselves grateful in these circumstances is good, but somewhat expected.

What defines a grateful spirit is being able to find things to be thankful for when things don’t turn out the way we’ve planned. We can choose to find things to thank the Father for, even when the thing we want the most to happen turns out differently.

We just “celebrated” the fifth anniversary of one of those events in our lives, my wife’s stroke. She documented her recovery and the experience here. That day changed our lives permanently, but we continue to walk in grace with the challenges and changes that brought. She’s still here with us, and we get the joy of continuing to serve the Father together on this earth.

Soon, I’ll have the third anniversary of the night I flew to the other side of the world, only to be detained and deported, knowing I was permanently banned from my home of the last 19 years. In the midst of that, I found things to remember and things to be grateful for. Here are a few of the lines I wrote while locked up in a holding cell before deportation:

I’m grateful for many laughs with local friends.

I’m grateful for trying to be fully present in my new home and not trying to live like I was in America.

I’m grateful for so many friendships over the years.

I’m grateful for tea and the way it’s the perfect way to sit down together with old friends and new acquaintances.

I’m grateful for the tradition of having a long local breakfast with friends.

I’m grateful for my local friends who would drop everything to do literally anything with you.

I’m grateful for friends and co-laborers who taught us how to persevere through suffering as they dealt with cancer and other trials.

I’m grateful for those who do a thankless job to make my job easier.

I’m grateful for prayer and its power to change everything. 

I’m grateful for trips to the island.

I’m grateful for public transportation and how it improved over the years.

I’m grateful for our church family, who our family loved and loved our family.

Mostly I’m grateful for a great God who uses frail creatures of dust like us to accomplish His purposes.

I was in lockup there for about 24 hours. It wasn’t what I wanted. It wasn’t what I prayed for, but it was a time to reflect on the things I was thankful for. My life has been filled with many twists and turns, but looking back there are few things I would change. The things I would change don’t take away from the facts that God has given us a joyful life and it is right for us to be thankful for the things we’ve done and seen.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Paul writes: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

This is the model of life I want to live. Not because it is more pleasing to God, but because it’s a better way. It is better to filled with joy. It is better to be thankful. God’s will for us is to live with that perspective. I hope you’ll take time on this Thanksgiving Day to reflect on God’s goodness in both the good times and the bad. He is faithful and we can be grateful. This is the way…

Defending the Canon

The place and authority of the Bible is a key distinguishing factor in where people fall across the Christian spectrum. In the churches I grew up in and continue to be a part of, we tightly cling to the tradition of Sola Scriptura, which began with Martin Luther and means “by scripture alone”..

This is the belief that for modern Christians, our sole infallible source of authority for the Christian life is the Bible. We see our life and experiences through the lens of God’s Word and it guides our decisions and the practice of our faith. Theological drift most commonly occurs when people begin to question this and move away from the Bible as true and authoritative.

Several years ago, I was asked to provide my input on the question of Canon. It is a common accusation that the Bible we have today is nothing but the result of the choices of a few men during a period of history. The accusation is that there were many writings available at that time, but only a few powerful individuals made the choice to include some and discard others for the New Testament.

There are many excellent resources on this topic out there and I’ll list a few at the end, but this article is my brief response to the attacks on the Canon of Scripture.

First, I want you to understand that over 90% of the books we have in our Protestant New Testament were accepted very early on as Scripture (during the lifetime of some of the followers of Jesus who knew Him). They were considered firsthand accounts from the apostles and Paul (Paul’s miraculous encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus wasn’t questioned). The early church passed these writings and letters from church to church as key foundational documents for early church doctrine.

There was some uncertainty with a few documents at this time, but most of this uncertainty didn’t become prominent until after the original authors and those who knew them personally began to die out. At that point, new “scriptures” began to appear with great frequency and it was often difficult to distinguish between what was seen as originally written by Paul and the apostles and what was false.

Many of these new documents contained helpful teachings and stories that may have been true, but their source was problematic. It was out of this difficulty that the idea of developing a list of authorized documents that could be gathered together into one collection seemed like a necessary step. This would protect those documents regarded as the most reliable and distinguish them from the rest. It also would make it easier to share those documents with the various early churches.

As mentioned earlier, most of what we see in our New Testament today was included without question and with universal agreement. A few of the books (Hebrews, James, 2nd Peter, Jude) were only finalized after extensive research and backtracking to talk to the early church fathers and determine their origin. Many documents were eliminated and early lists were very conservative before a few final books were added in as authoritative. These lists continued to be debated even after various church councils, but there were few changes.

In the end, the need was apparent for the sake of the future church to indicate what books of the Bible should be recognized as God’s Word. Only these books, which we still have today, should be read as Scripture.

The Bible we have today is one story with many pens. When we examine the multiplicity of authors writing over a great length of time, and consider the strong consistency of the message, we can see the hand of one true author. God directed what would be included.

One of the greatest arguments for this is what we find when we read the Bible. It is filled with the sinful and embarrassing actions of God’s followers. These accounts show men and women as weak and very human, failing time and time again. There is much in the Bible that a human editor would have been tempted to remove in order to make their religion and its followers look better. By God’s inspiration and protection, we can read about sinful people just like us in the Bible.

Later there were discoveries that would call into question the validity of a few passages. As Bible historians discovered older manuscripts, they found that a few verses were not in these older copies. This represents a scattering of verses across the New Testament and most modern translations have moved these to the footnotes to still include them in an appropriate way while helping people to understand their questionable provenance.

We can still read these verses, just as we can read the apocryphal books found in the Catholic Bible, but shouldn’t hold them up as the same as the rest. There are many things we read that are probably true, but are not Scripture.

Some call for a revision of Scripture. They point to the desire to update the Bible for the modern world. The reality is there are groups revising the Bible every day, editing it either formally or informally. Some churches revise the Canon by choosing to ignore much of what is found within it. Studying church history, we see this process repeated around the world, sometimes with whole denominations joining in.

But a more important lesson we learn from church history, is that wherever and whenever the church holds to the authority of Scripture, the Church is strong and growing. Where churches teach and practice this in the personal lives of their believers, people’s lives are changed and they have hope for the future. When the church turns it’s back on scripture (changing the canon), it loses its ability to exist as a living thing, putting in its place something that is hollow which will ultimately die or disappear.

We see this in the westward movement of the Gospel, where the center of Christian life is constantly moving west. In some of the earliest places where the Gospel spread, we now have an empty version of the faith that has little meaning, left behind by the remnants of Constantine’s decision to nationalize Christianity. In Europe, you have a shell of Catholicism and Protestantism, where only a faithful few hold onto the truth and most look upon Christianity with disdain.

In America, many places have given into a corrupted view of the faith where the main emphasis can be something as diverse as materialism wrapped in Christian language or nothing but social ministry, with most “Christians” practicing their faith in hypocritical social clubs. Compare this to Asia, S. America and Africa, where the church is vibrant and alive across some whole countries. Wherever God’s Word is preached as true, it is alive, regardless of location.

The Bible is the center of growing Christianity because it is the authoritative source of truth about God and Jesus Christ. It and Christ are what unite Christians with the truth. If we abandon it, then our bonds are nothing more than the paper-thin, fragile yokes of the words of people. That cannot keep the Church grounded in the truth. Only God’s Word can do that.

Some good books on the Authority of the Bible:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2. Timothy 3:16-17

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 5:24

Fragrant

They catch a whiff on a distant breeze
It carries to them, a memory and a dream
Penetrating the armor at the seams
Breathing deeply, it consumes them
The bouquet is free and freeing
The prisoners raising up find the shackles fall away
Others lift a fist and find their fates sealed
Sealed away in the iron will of self
From above, He sees all, knows all
Tears fall for all who inhale the truth
Tears of joy for those find life
Anguish for all others in their pride
We step in line, strolling into the future
Our sweat and stench now washed away
What's left is the free breath of hope
It's scent imbibes us forevermore
The procession in not full
Spots remain for all
Some will find their spot
Others…choose another path

This poem was inspired by 2 Corinthians 2:14-17.

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

2 Corinthians 2:14-17 (NLT)

Great Expectations

In school, you might have been assigned to read Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. I have a feeling most new readers aren’t reading this novel by choice. Dickens’ books get a bad rap, but perhaps that’s because of the negative expectations created by the opinions of others and the size of his books, which tend to be thick with small print inside.

I’ve read several of his books over the years and while Oliver Twist remains my favorite, Great Expectations is one of the first great coming of age stories in literature and will always be a book I fondly remember, even if I never intend to read it again. The novel was original released as a serial novel over the course of almost a year and as a writer of serial fiction; I think it would probably be better received today in this form. Maybe the 2023 BBC miniseries will enliven fresh interest.

In the story, we see the transformation of the main character from an orphan with no expectations to a young man of “great expectations.” In the culture he’s born into, expectations often determine reality. While not a true caste system, such as might be found in India, the barriers are significant for anyone looking to cross between them. The same might be true at some level in your own culture.

You’ll have to read the book or watch one of the adaptations to learn whether or not the hero is successful, but today I wanted to talk about how expectations affect our own reality. It was in college when I realized that all disappointment in life comes from unmet expectations. Think about it. When you feel sadness, frustration and sometimes anger, the source is usually that you expected things to come out differently than the way they did.

So what am I saying? Expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed? No, that’s not a feasible or healthy solution. In fact, sometimes our response to the situation can make it worse.

Do you:

  • Expect the worse from those around you, living your life as a cynic.
  • Suffer in silence until you blow up or let your resentment grow until you’re overcome with bitterness.
  • Make snide, passive aggressive comments to those who disappoint you.
  • Complain to others, becoming the person known for having a negative opinion about everything.
  • Leave the situation, cutting off contact with anyone who doesn’t meet your expectations.

Functioning in any of these ways might serve as an effective survival mechanism, but it doesn’t lead to a better future where you can get things done while having good relationships with those you interact with. During my career, I’ve worked in people-centric fields where my job was related to interacting with others, both those I was working with and sometimes “customers”. If I’d functioned in the manner described above, I would never have been able to do my jobs well and I most likely would be in a much darker place emotionally.

I hope I’ve improved some over the years in how I navigate expectations. Here are a few of the things I’ve learned and wish I was more consistent practicing:

  • Communicate expectations well – this is the cornerstone of having positive experiences with expectations. If we turn it around, think about any time you’ve been working and your boss expected you to do something that you didn’t understand or knew nothing about. No one enjoys that experience. Complex expectations are better communicated in writing and clarified verbally. If you have to let people know what you expect in a conversation, make sure they repeat it back to you so you know they heard what you said.
  • When your expectations aren’t met (and this will happen sometimes, no matter how careful you are), learn to deal with it in a positive way. You may need time to cool off and take some time to think about what went wrong. If you see it as a learning experience, you’ll be able to improve what happens the next time.
  • Learn to communicate disappointment in a positive way. When people fail to meet clarified expectations, they need to know it’s problematic and you want it to go better the next time. Even if you won’t be using the service again, it’s helpful for the person or business to know why. People can’t improve if they don’t know there’s a problem. At the same time, this isn’t a personal attack. Focus on the specific point of shortfall and what you think went wrong. Ask them if they agree or have another idea.
  • Give grace. Sometimes things go wrong that are beyond anyone’s control. Sometimes people just make mistakes. When this happens, treat people the way you would like to be treated when you make a mistake. Grace is always appreciated. This doesn’t mean you ignore the mistake, but you don’t have to bring the maximum penalty just because you can.
  • Walk away from those who continually disappoint you. Some people prove themselves to be toxic. Some people don’t care. You don’t have to break off the relationship completely if you work with the person or they’re someone who is a part of your life, but you don’t have to depend on them and set yourself up for more disappointment.

One note, these points are meant for regular work/church/personal relationships. This is not a a guide for relating to your spouse and children. Some of these principles will be helpful in those relationships as well, but close family relationships come with an intensity that can sometimes cause practical tools to backfire. Your spouse is not your business associate. Don’t treat them like that. Start with grace and go from there.

What does the Bible say about expectations?

Great expectations don’t have to be a problem. If we can properly manage our own expectations and carefully influence the expectations others have of us, we can function in a way where they are truly great and not just a great burden to bear.