I found this email spam to be one of the most intriguing pieces of spam that I’ve ever gotten. I seriously had to do a double take on it.. “Seriously?” “Huh?”
But then again, if I never blog or tweet again, then apparently it wasn’t spam at all.
Technology
So the Bible is just a mass of Tweets & Facebook Status Updates
This posting originally written for Sticky Sheep
I’ve been reading this article by a Jewish Rabbi about social media, its impact on youth culture, and what the bible has to teach us about participation in social media.
(I read)”..much of the narrative element of the Tanakh as a series of facebook or twitter posts. Frequently, the biblical narratives come not in long flowing prose but in short burst – often, dare I say of less than 140 characters a passuk. One of the great joys of the brevity of the biblical narrative is that it leaves much room for commentary. We are left to guess at the motivations at the contexts. And we do.”
A couple of things I’ve gleaned from this Rabbi’s thoughts.
- Never thought of the bible as a mass of Tweets and Facebook Status Updates strung together, but when you do string that stuff together you can get a glimpse into the life of that person.
- There is an embarrassing side to sharing everything. Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder doesn’t get into the fear factor thing of, employers are going to look at your drinking pictures and assume you are bad, type of thing. But instead takes a bit of a higher ground in suggesting, David’s story was a bit of an over share.. Same with Abraham. Surprised didn’t mention Amnon.. <Awkward!>
- The short ‘missives’ leave a lot of room for interpretation. Sometimes we do that intentionally. But when we want to truly be understood. Or when others, more importantly, want to be understood we need to know we operate in this short text world. Instead of interpreting what the story is from folks, take that extra moment to listen more deeply and understand more clearly. That is remarkable
- Apparently this guy wasted his time.. God already did it.
“History is written by the winners” or so that quote is said. In today’s world, we might as well change that as “History is written by the players” (or those who play social media).
Makes one think of how people perceive us through our social media interactions (or the lack of interactions). We are able to write our story, but it ultimately is rewritten by those others we might call critics, customers, congregations, friends, family, & more.
Now I’m wondering what the bible has to say about texting?…
Waking Up Our Young People
Ken Robinson first caught my radar some years back when TED started putting their talks online. Mitch Joel suggested Ken’s talk. I’ve used his talk in many teaching environments for youth, adults & other educations.
This RSA video is a great fusion of the visual with the oratory. It is also a different talk than what Ken gave at his TED talk, which was great to digest. The video is just over 10 mins long, but totally worth it!
Definite tip of the hat for this video to Mark Riddle.
How are we engaging the soulful creative character that is within the young people? It appears we are not doing it very well.
@samdavidson on One Thing I don’t need
Sam Davidson & his wife Lynnette have been good friends of mine for almost a decade. In what started out as a coffee house conversation on church & ministry has led to family traditions, ministry sharing, taking on the world, & now building a business. So when Sam offered to share what I didn’t need in my life, as part of his book on 50 Things Your Life Doesn’t Need, I was in.
For those not familiar with Sam, he’s a is a writer, entrepreneur, and dreamer who believes that the world needs more passionate people. To help people find and live their passion. He is the co-founder of Cool People Care and now Proof Branding, and lives in Nashville with Lynnette and daughter Lindley (who is just the cutest thing ever).
So what don’t I need?
One Thing Gavin Richardson Doesn’t Need: Pointless Technology
If you’ve read Gavin’s blog – or spent any time with him in the last half-decade – you’ll know that he stays up on current trends and toys in the technological realm. But what’s really refreshing about him is that he’s always searching for a focus, for the “so what” behind all of our newfangled advancements.This was confirmed for me as he and I recently led a workshop together for church leaders. We discussed social media and online marketing for congregations. Gavin didn’t simply wade through what’s available when it comes to platforms and tools; he made sure to stress the need to use these features to build community, do justice, and accomplish something worthwhile.
I think the same is true when it comes to finding and living our passion. We’ve got to have a “so what” moment.
I firmly believe the world needs more passionate people. This is why I wrote 50 Things Your Life Doesn’t Need. It’s a guide – a field manual of sorts – to getting rid of what doesn’t matter so you can focus on what does.
But when you find your passion, make sure to ask yourself why it is you’re passionate. You like music? Love art or sports? Crazy about a certain author or food? Big deal. Keep digging deeper to find out what it means.
Passions are good, but using them to accomplish something meaningful is great.
Other things (actually in the book) that Gavin Richardson doesn’t need:
#13 – Unpassionate activism
#22 – Analog versions of digital stuff
#28 – Gadgets that only do one thing
#34 – Shiny tennis shoes
The shoes is a really funny one!.. I do like my thank you cards. Still figuring out #13..
a different argument for the bunker’gate : my take on pga championship
if you are like me, and there are probably two of you, then you watched the pga championship. if you didn't watch the championship & you watch some sports highlight show then you had to have heard that dustin johnson incurred a two stroke penalty on the last hole to miss out on the playoff for the championship title. problem was that he didn't realize he was in a bunker & treated it like any other shot.
being a seasoned golfer for some 20 years now i am okay with the end result. call it out dated, but as golfer there is some pride & honor in self governing. it is the self governing that has me baffled that no one has mentioned.
you had a number of people responsible for the scoring of the player in that group: the player, playing partner, caddie, rules official, and probably a couple of other odd folks associated with tournament pagentry. as i have heard this story unfold it seems none of these folks made a penalty call and it wasn't until the end when the rules official got word from "replay" officials that something was possibly wrong.
so, where does "replay" come into play in golf? in baseball they have some replay, but we've seen over this summer and summers past that regular game play is riddled with bad calls we see over replay, but stand as calls a result of some human error which is 'part of the game.'
could this have been considered a human error of the team of people walking down the 18th and let go because there is no official "replay" in golf?