On another forum I responded to the following quote:
"Library is to internet, what church today is to church tomorrow."
Derek said I should share it here. Blame him if it sucks. :-)
As we recreate church in the new world it fascinates me how out of touch I am with what is really going on. When I was a kid I was taught that knowledge was in books and as you read the books you would find answers to the questions. I became enamored of book knowledge and seldom questioned
what I read. I was aware that there were 'bad' books and 'good' books, but the differences were clearly delineated and I read only the good books. Then my evil curiosity got the better of me and I began to investigate the bad books. My college experience made me begin to question the validity of the good book belief system and I discovered that to know the good demanded also to know the bad. In training my children I allowed them the freedom to
read the unorthodox assuming they would come to similar conclusions as to what was good and what was bad. But I noted that some of what I considered bad was what they considered good and vice versa. And then something
changed. People began to quote the 'internet' as a source. My son would order me to visit websites and would send me links that I ought to consider. As I investigated the web I discovered too much information. Way too much.
And the process of discovery became one of trying to find gems in the middle of the morass. Anomaly begins to rule and 'proof' becomes irrelevant as it just depended on how I felt about a particular thought. For every pro I can
find an anti. For every study I can find an opposite. For every source I can find a counter. To seek on the internet becomes akin to drinking from a fire hydrant. The rapid high speed intake of information requires filters that do not come as standard equipment in my brain. My son has the filters and I'm not sure where he purchased them. So I attempt to process using my Dewey decimal system brain and quickly become dissuaded from even visiting the web.
Mom taught me to remove all distractions and sit with my feet flat on the floor at a desk with good lighting and do my homework. My kid slouches in a room with a multi-windowed computer, a TV, a stereo, and a half dozen scattered books and processes numerous items at once and produces a better paper (or electronic version) than I ever could despite my mother's best efforts. When did the Matrix rewire the brains?
Church for Rod was a carefully crafted message based on approved sources surrounded by a linear progression of worship activities. Church for Rod's kid is an interactive display of multiple sources all happening at once without centralized themes, structures,or dogmas. Christ is in both. I'm learning to like my son's more than mine. General Motors said it well, "This is not your father's Oldsmobile."
Librarian Rod | 
