I'm sure many of you have read about the teens in Polk County, Florida who allegedly lured another teen girl to a house and then proceeded to beat her while capturing the violent scenes on video for possible uploading to You Tube. There have been many incidents in which teens have done crazy things for You Tube. Currently the media and other "experts" are wondering whether or not You Tube and other web sites like it are encouraging this sort of behavior. The discussion isn't really any different when the subject is the violent video games that are popular today. The teens allegedly involved in this latest violent reality filming have been prevented by the judge from watching You Tube and engaging in any chat rooms. I'm sure some see this as a step forward. I know many religious folk would like to see such things as You Tube and video games banned altogether. I'm not sure that is really the better way to handle this situation and others like it. Don't get me wrong, I wish such stuff didn't exist at all in our country. However, is using governmental power to banish really the better way?
I receive each Monday morning an email from Roy Williams (the Wizard of Ads which you can read here). To shorten his memo just a bit, he claims that we all have a "guide pattern" and a "challenge pattern." The guide pattern is our world view. The challenge pattern is the problem we are trying to solve. We all use our guide pattern to help us solve our challenge pattern. His illustration is a jigsaw puzzle. The picture on the box is our guide pattern and the challenge is figuring out how the pieces fit together. Without that guide pattern it would be almost impossible to put that puzzle together.
These teen girls had a problem, another teen girl who was taunting them. Their guide pattern was apparently other You tube videos. So they allegedly lured her into a trap where they could film themselves solving their challenge and following their guide pattern. If they had another guide pattern their solution would have been different.
Since our country is slowly pushing out the guide pattern that has been here since our country's inception, it is no wonder that teens (and adults) are creating a guide pattern from video games and the Internet. We will all fill our lives with a guide pattern because that becomes our identity.
Jesus told the story (Luke 11:24-26) of an unclean spirit that goes out of a man. The spirit cannot find another resting place so he comes back to the man. He finds the house (the man) swept and in order but empty. He finds 7 other spirits more evil and they come and inhabit the man. His state is worse than the first. People today need the gospel desperately and we as God's people need to help them find the right guide pattern for lives.
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4 comments:
Bob,
Wonderful post.
Keep it up!
Kinney Mabry
Bob,
I think the real problem is that most Christians, day in and day out, spend their time "just looking at the pretty patterns". ;)
Kinney, thanks for your encouragement. That appears to be your job in the blog world.
Don, interesting way to put it.
Bob, I enjoyed this post. I can't help but thinking of the saying "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." The guide pattern and challenge pattern idea makes sense. This helped me to renew my resolve as a christian parent to continually pray for and teach my children that the guide pattern is God's pattern for solving all challenges. I also will keep reminding them that they have a responsiblity to be the Light and show others the pattern.
Thanks for sharing. ~A~
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