Is America Dumbing Down?

I just recently bought a new Blackberry Torch smart phone. With my new "phone" I can access the Internet, check emails, send texts, listen to thousands of songs, take pictures, record videos, get GPS directions, play games and dive into a myriad of apps and (deep breath), I can actually make phone calls with it! A few days after I bought my new gadget and trying figure out where the number pad was I heard the word "Blackberry" on the radio. I turned up the volume in time to hear someone say that the Blackberry would need to make some serious upgrades or be obsolete within a year! Seriously! The rapid advancement in technology is staggering! Next thing you know you will be able to start your car with your phone! Oh, never mind just saw a commercial advertising such a device! There is no doubt that we have more access to information than at any point in world history through the worldwide web and now we can get it from our phones! But there is a question that keeps nagging me in this age of information overload - are we getting smarter? Could it be that our ability to gain information at the click of a button is actually causing us to become mentally lazy towards analytical and vigorous thinking? Could we in fact be dumber (or is it "more dumb")? A few examples to consider. First, a recent article The Atlantic Monthly revealed how American student test grades compare by state to other countries in the world. The numbers are telling. Many of our southern states are testing at the same score level as many impoverished third world countries yet we spend more money per student than any other country in the world! A second example - I was watching TV and saw an advertisement for the upcoming Sunday night schedule on the Fox network deemed "Animation Domination." Cartoons apparently is how Americans enjoy their Sunday night leisure time! (Why go to church on Sunday night when The Simpson's are on?). Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all about sophisticated comedy and creative animated arts but these shows have little of that. Though admittedly funny at times, for the most part these cartoons for grown-ups project an image of male stupidity and genealogical arrogance making parents inferior to their children. In a culture where our heroes are celebrities who are famous for their consumersitic and immoral lifestyles (i.e. Jersey Shore) and where athletes get paid abundantly more than the President of the United States and leader of the free world, something is seriously wrong. All of this information has not made us smarter but in fact has had the opposite impact. This same trend is having tremendous impacts on the church. Even though we have abundant access to the Bible and great theological writings of the past,(you can download the app on your phone!) many church members are biblically and theologically illiterate. Our main concern is what works, what draws a crowd and what satisfies my perceived needs. The church has become a product of a consumer culture producing a culturally captive people. We are like the Israelites who became centered on the cultural idols of their day. So what is the answer? How do we impact the culture without allowing it to impact us. Answer - refuse to dumb down! Refuse to surrender your mind and your heart to the idols of the age. Train your mind to think well. Read great books, read the greatest book of all, the Bible. Stretch yourself! Turn off forms of media that are an insult to your intelligence and train your soul to hunger for rich healthy foods. Readers are leaders so go deep, think hard, laugh hardily and live well! Become a culture maker! Take your resources, talents and gifts and use them to create mindful cultural expressions for the glory of God.