Instant Gratification—Just Add Water!

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 

James 1:14-15

     Frozen meals, pre-shredded cheese, instant coffee, pre-cooked bacon, cake mixes, pre-made pie crusts, fast-food, boxed dinners, microwaves, high-speed internet, instant movies, instant messaging… shall I continue? Have you ever noticed how lazy our society has become? How low our patience level has shrunk? How the industry has pushed our temptations for our demanding whims? How so many people have the instant gratification syndrome?

     The instant gratification syndrome is basically the condition of urgently wanting something (usually trivial), having to and fulfilling that demand immediately, or otherwise creating a fuss or grumbling when you can’t have it right away. Now this is a basic, sinful, fleshly desire which everyone (including me) has at one point in their life. But the problem is many are unaware of this syndrome which they have and don’t realize what has happened to them while the culture is feeding this sickness.

     Look at the food industry. If you walk through a grocery store, much of the food is pre-made, ready for you to just add water, pop it in the microwave for a couple minutes (because the stove top takes way too long), and dinner is served. Who has time or motivation to cook a full, homemade meal anymore? Fast food restaurants pepper the streets, offering a meal in minimum time at drive-thrus. Want supper now? Cha-ching! 

     Look at spending. With just a quick swipe of a credit card, we can buy whatever we want. Loans allow people to make major purchases, like houses or vehicles, right when they want it, even when they don’t have the money to pay for all of it. Advertisements push impulse buys and foolish spending. Take car ads for example, marketing cars at only so little a month! Buy now! The offer ends soon! However, they fail to advertise for how long you must pay that monthly so little amount; but that doesn’t matter as long as you have that sweet ride right then and there.

     Look at technology. With high-speed internet, a whole world of data sits at our fingertips, ready to satisfy our whims. Suddenly desire to watch the music video to a song, or crave funny cat videos? What’s stopping you from meeting those instant demands? Have you ever felt disappointed or offended when people don’t comment on your newest Facebook status or like the video you posted, because you crave that gratification? Just look at the first word in “instant messaging.” Phones, formally used to simply make calls, can now access high-speed internet, play music, present games, store data, deliver instant messages and texts, access email accounts, and include many frivolous applications—all within hand’s reach.

     Now look at the effects of instant gratification syndrome. Food and mealtimes become just something to shove down our throats as fast as we acquire it, instead of meaning so much in that God has provided this meal, and Mom has worked hard to prepare this wonderful dinner. That truly fulfilling satisfaction of presenting and savoring a meal hard worked for is lost on fast-food and boxed dinners. Plus, packaged food reaps unhealthy consequences on our bodies.  Impulse buys rarely pay off the price, may lead to debt, and demonstrate a lack of self-control and wisdom. Working hard and saving up to buy that sweet car is so much more genuinely gratifying and is a wiser use of money than buying what we want, when we want. With internet, we get frustrated when the browser takes more than a few seconds to respond, labeling ten seconds as “slow.”

     I’m not saying all of the above is evil. Loans might be necessary for pressing issues. Instead of sending a letter for weeks in transit on horse or boat, technology has assisted in quicker communication. Looking up Scripture is so much faster and easier with internet search engines (and there’s nothing wicked about funny cat videos, although I’m sure you could use your time better). I eat pre-cooked, frozen sausages! And they’re delicious. 
            However, we must be careful how we use our instant gratification abilities. Is it just to satisfy an instant demand? Do you become upset when you can’t get something as soon as possible? “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:14-15, ESV). Of course, James is not implying we should never use the internet or eat out, but we should pay attention that our desire for immediate satisfaction should not entice us to the extent that we turn into lazy, demanding slaves of nearsightedness. Do not let the world and your desires sinfully and successfully tempt you. Realize when the instant gratification syndrome symptoms show. Inform and instruct others around you of this ubiquitous condition. And while you’re at it, throw away that microwave popcorn and try buying a popcorn maker and popping corn kernels.  Homemade popcorn tastes much more delicious while you browse for instant movies.

Klipsie

Christianity, Islam, and Secular Humanism - Worldviews Part 2

     Most of us think we know just about everything there is to know about the basics of Christianity (at least I did) but what about some of the other religions and worldviews? (If you missed Part 1, click here to find out what a worldview is) Do we really know where they stand on theology (the study of God), philosophy (the study of knowledge and reality), ethics (the study of right and wrong), and biology (the study of life)? In this article, I’ll lay out the basics of Christianity, Islam, and Secular Humanism.

Christianity

   Of the different worldviews I studied in my worldview class, I had expected to know the most about Christianity–which was indeed the case, but I still learned quite a bit!  We learned that Christianity is really very different from most other worldviews.  Christians believe that there is only one God, but He exists as three different persons in the Trinity, and that He is a personal and loving God who is perfect, all-powerful, all-knowing, and much more.  The Christian argument for the existence of God is that since every design must have a designer, and every law has someone who instituted it, creation must have a Creator.  

     Christian philosophy teaches first and foremost that truth is absolute and comes from God.  The subsequent view of reality is that it consists of both the natural and the supernatural–the things that you can touch, see, hear, and smell, but also the things that you can’t.  Therefore, both our minds and our bodies are equally reliable.  In other words, we don’t rely only on science, or only on our own thoughts, but we combine both.  

     Their ethical code teaches that right and wrong are grounded in the character of God, which can be seen at work in the bible, and they are one of the few religions that believe in an absolute standard of morals.  They also believe that God gives everyone a conscience which shows His absolute moral code.  

     Finally, the Christian view of how life began is that God created each life form separately in the course of 6 days, though since then, they have likely experienced microevolution–meaning they have had small changes to help them adapt, but none have turned into a separate species altogether.

Islam

     Of all the other worldviews studied, I found Islam to be the most similar to Christianity.  Muslims agree with Christians about the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing God, but they believe that there is only one God (they view the trinity as being three Gods), and he is very impersonal.  Also similar to Christians in the area of philosophy, they believe that reality exists in both natural and supernatural, and that knowledge comes both from science and our thoughts, though more so on the second, as the basis for their philosophies came from the Greek philosophers.  Islamic morals are determined by God, but not his character.  He decides what is right and wrong, even though those same ethics don’t always apply to him.  Also, they believe that our actions redefine morality.  Their views on how life began are that the world was created by God in a period of 6-8 days, and all but a small faction disagrees with the theory of evolution.

Secular Humanism

     Before I started this class, I didn’t know very much about Secular Humanism, other than some of the very basic ideas.  This isn’t something you really learn much about unless you take a class like the one I’m in, so maybe this will help you understand their beliefs better if you didn’t already know anything about them.  Their beliefs on the existence of God are that he doesn’t exist but is simply a figment of our imagination–something we made up in order to try to explain the existence of the universe.  Instead, they believe that we (humans) are the ultimate source of knowledge and only we can solve our own problems, create our own futures, save the earth, etc.  Their philosophies claim that there is no supernatural, only the natural – the things we can feel, see, hear, taste, and smell.  Matter is all that exists, and it is always changing, evolving to make things even better than before.  They believe that truth is only found in what can be seen and is grounded in science.  

     The Secular Humanist view of right and wrong is that they are relative.  Nothing is really right or wrong, and each individual determines his or her ethical code by their experiences.  There is no God or other “higher power” other than ourselves on which to base our ethics.  Also, since there is no God to have created the universe, they believe that life came about through spontaneous generation–the evolutionary theory that life came about spontaneously from non-living matter by a natural, random process–and that it continues to change (evolve), getting better and better over time.  They also rely heavily on natural selection (nature selects favorable characteristics of an organism and eliminates the others), the struggle for existence (only the best-equipped organisms will survive), beneficial mutation (genetic mutation adds characteristics that will help an organism survive), adaption (slight changes in an organism that help it survive in a certain climate, area, etc.), and the fossil record (evidence found in fossils).

Check back to find out about Marxist-Leninism, Cosmic Humanism, and Postmodernism!

Comma Queen

Sources:

“Understanding the Times: A Collision of Today’s Competing Worldviews (Revised 2^nd Edition)” by David A. Noebel

Malachi

So Hi, 

     First off you will notice I am (probably) the only sane person on this blog, or at least the only human; everyone else is either an alien, some weird super intelligent animal, or a part of English grammar. 

      I am a somewhat stereotypical geek/homeschooler, by that I mean I’m anti-social and spend more time with anything but humans and I enjoy every second of it. I mean seriously, I hang out with a lizard, a heron, a haiku, an alien in a human suit, and a comma. I like reading Old and New school Christian novels and sermons. 

     Malachi is Hebrew for ‘God’s messenger’ (literal is “My messenger”). That is what I want to be in life, a voice crying in the wilderness. I am here because I want to challenge young men and women to get out there and be God for those around them. The one thing that hit me when I wrote this is that North America is the only continent that is losing believers every year. We needed another Great Awakening and each one was started by the youth at that time raising the bar above what even the adults had set for themselves. I believe that we are starting the next Great Awakening. 

      I am currently writing a book/devotional on God’s search for man. I decided on writing this because there are so many bizarre accounts of God calling people that didn’t want to be His workers and running from Him. 

     I am also a committed Whovian, if you don’t know what that is then here are some words of advice: “Don't blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't blink. And stay out of the shadows. Good Luck.” 

Ad majorem Dei gloriam, inque hominum salutem.

Malachi

What Is A Worldview? - Worldviews Part 1

      Some of you may remember that I (the Comma Queen) switched to an Administrative position at the beginning of the school year because of my school load. Well, I’m back for a little while at least to share some of the stuff I’ve been learning through a really big Worldview class I’ve been taking this year. I’ve been learning about different worldviews – what they are, how they affect people, the different types of worldviews that exist and what they believe, and much more. To start off with, I’ll be sharing what a worldview is and how it functions.

     First things first, as my history teacher has drilled into me, define your terms. So, how do you define, “worldview”? One definition I found on an online dictionary was, “A worldview is an overall way of looking at the world.” According to Norman Geisler and William Watkins, respected Christian authors and speakers, a worldview is “...a way of viewing or interpreting all of reality. It is an interpretive framework through which or by which one makes sense of the data of life and the world.” Personally, I would define it similarly to the dictionary and say that a worldview is the way we view the world.

     I also learned some comparisons to help illustrate how a worldview works. One is that of a pair of glasses. You use them to help you see the world around you. Depending on the prescription, they will either give you a clear view of things, or they will distort everything. Another example is a tree’s roots. When you look at a tree, you don’t often see its roots. Instead, you see the trunk, the branches, the leaves, etc. Even though you can’t see them, though, the roots are very essential to the survival of the rest of the tree. They go deep into the ground to produce nourishment and they anchor the tree to keep it from falling over.

     Like the glasses, you use a worldview to help you view the world and while one worldview will make things clearer, others will just confuse you and make it difficult to understand the world around you. Like a tree’s roots, it’s essential to life and stability, though you can’t see it. All you can see are the exposed parts–the actions that are made as a result. It’s like meeting a new person; you can’t tell right away what type of worldview they have, but if you watch their actions, you’ll get an idea of what they believe. For example, you might see someone praying over a meal. This would indicate that they believe in some sort of a higher being (a god) and are very likely a Theist—a Pantheist believes that everything is god and ultimately, that they are their own god, so they wouldn’t likely take the time to pray to themselves; an Atheist doesn’t even believe in any sort of god to be prayed to in the first place.

     Hopefully this helps better understand what a worldview is. I know that before I took any type of worldview class, I had no clue what it even was! In my next few articles, I’ll be going into specifics on the six different worldviews I’ve been studying in-depth, including Christianity, Islam, Secular Humanism, Marxist-Leninism, Cosmic Humanism, and Postmodernism. In the final section, I’ll be looking at similarities between the different worldviews and then analyzing their flaws from a Biblical perspective.

Comma Queen

Sources:

“Understanding the Times: A Collision of Today’s Competing Worldviews (Revised 2^nd Edition)” by David A. Noebel

YourDictionary (http://www.yourdictionary.com/)

“Loving God With Your Mind” with J.P. Moreland

MARCH UPDATE!!!

It has been a year!

This has been a great year. It has been great to see the ideas, brainstorming and work all come to fruition. I am extremely nostalgic about last year, and extremely excited about this one! We have some great things planned, some new writers, new areas to branch out into...

So many thoughts to think and so many things to be thought!

We hope you've enjoyed, learned from, wept over, and eaten our articles as much as we have writing them!

So, this is an update... what's new?

-First off, due to copious amounts of schoolwork and other factors, Justin Gummi, Chipper and Haiku will be taking a hiatus or retirement from The Thought Box. We hope you've enjoyed their articles over the past few months!

-The Comma Queen is still in her advisory role, though she has some articles that will be coming along shortly.

-Klipsie will continue writing her fun, inspiring, and challenging articles.

-Haron will be back and taking a look at some pretty cool stuff.

-And it is my pleasure to introduce the newest member of our little band, "Malachi"! Be sure to look for his  bio on March 11th.

-I am here... as usual...

Other new and cool stuff:

We have an e-mail! Got something you want us to write about? Want to be spotlighted in our NEW younger guest spot? Shoot an e-mail to tchthoughtbox@gmail.com and we'll get back to you in a timely manner.

Did you catch that? In addition to our by-invitation-only Guest Spot on the last Monday of every month, we are now accepting submissions for the not-by-invitation-only Guest Spot on the Thursday following that Monday. Just shoot us an email a week prior and we will look at it and tell you what we think.

We are also now encouraging idea submissions (also via the thcthoughtbox@gmail.com address or the contact us page) for articles and Guest Writers. So, shoot us an idea and it might probably will get chosen by one of the writers for one of their upcoming articles!

That's all I've got for now!

All the Best,

Leaping Lizard