Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.
Ecclesiastes 10v1 KJV
When I was in my twenties, I dreamed of writing a book about computers which I titled “Computers Simplified”. It is almost difficult to explain what life was like before smart phones and the Internet, you had to go to the theatre to watch a movie and the only streaming was from the FM radio in your car. We used to buy vinyl albums and listen to them over and over again, pouring over the liner notes and trying to understand the lyrics. Home computers were brand new, and I got my first, a Commodore VIC-20, at K-Mart for about $200 (which was more money then than it is now after 40 years of inflation, but still not as much as an Apple II which then cost over $1000 dollars). The Macintosh, iPod, and iPhone didn’t exist yet, but Steve Jobs was still alive and in charge. My parents’ generation struggled with setting the clocks on their brand new VCRs, which could have been VHS or Betamax format since those were the competing tape technologies, and it was probably manufactured in Japan, not China (there is a difference, even though they use the same writing).
In this Neolithic environment, I wanted to write a book that showed computers were easy to use, had great potential to improve human productivity, and that just like any tool created by humans they were not inherently good or evil (I had also considered titling my introductory computing book “The Tool” but that seemed too pretentious). I found my draft in the back of my filing cabinet and read it over the other day, and it is honestly hard to believe how incredibly naïve I was. There were some truthful statements, even some correct predictions about the future use of technology, but ultimately I did not understand where technology was going to take the human race. The first computers were made by nerds for nerds, and mostly men. As Douglas Adams famously said, “I think a nerd is a person who uses the telephone to talk to other people about telephones. And a computer nerd therefore is somebody who uses a computer in order to use a computer.” But as the computer morphed into the cell phone and communications became widespread, digital and wireless, a whole new generation grew up with tech that was simple and intuitive to use, could instantly connect you with anyone on the planet (in the developed world of course), and the number of people who understood how it all worked internally became smaller and smaller. At this point, perhaps no human can understand the complete technology stack from soup to nuts (from silicon to software).
Now we get to the hard to write about stuff. What does this all have to do with temptation? Well, when I was growing up the first pornography I ever saw was an 8mm film reel that my brother found in some deceased relatives belongings. Black and white little frames that we held up to the light to try and see – we had no projector. I don’t even know if there was sound or not. This was the era of Playboy and Penthouse magazine, and it was considered quite scandalous for a lady to appear in such a publication. But clearly I loved porn. I won’t make any excuses although a great number of them pop into my mind unbidden. At some point in high school one of my friends offered me a joint and in my adventurous, unequipped state, I embarked upon a lifelong battle with addiction. Later alcohol and cigarettes were added into the mix and I began questing for the ultimate sensory experience. I don’t want to get X rated on my blog, and I’m certainly not proud of any of this. I will leave the rest up to adult imaginations to fill in the slow (and sometimes fast) slide down into depravity. But God was with me through it all, I can recall numerous occasions where I should have died or wound up in jail, but somehow the Lord kept working on me, never giving up on me, and the Holy Spirit kept convicting me and I would return somewhat to the straight and narrow path before falling off the wagon again and again and again… To the outside observer, I appeared more or less successful, though never completely so. I suppose you might have called me a “functional” addict.
Now fast forward to the future, after hitting rock bottom and waking up one Sunday morning hungover and unable to sleep, I turned on the TV (because I was a television kid, no doubt, that was what we had growing up and I still watch more than I should). Charles Stanley appeared on my screen and for once I didn’t immediately change channels. I watched his patient, caring sermon and began to think about my step-father who had tried to get me to attend church with him and introduced me to Christ. At the end of the sermon, I prayed the Sinner’s Prayer and invited the Lord Jesus into my life to please help me stop wrecking myself. A virtual save, I suppose; the Lord works in mysterious ways! The journey hasn’t been easy, hasn’t always been fun, but as time goes by I have felt a new emotion enter my lexicon – joy. It’s a funny kind of happiness that sometimes makes me cry.
Now fast forward again, after 10 years doing my best to let the old man die and the new man live as bondservant to Jesus, and I look around and see: the Internet provides virtually unlimited amounts of free pornography – I can even find the old movies I used to watch on VHS once upon a time. I have used parental controls to block as much as possible, especially for my kids, but you know a cell phone connected to 4G/5G is an open firehose of smut. And as my kids are now becoming adults (still living at home because of post-COVID nightmare society and a pre-apocalyptic social fabric) they have discovered VPN technology, which is marketed as “privacy protection” but is really a way to circumvent any and all types of parental control. I suppose in Iran or North Korea they may use VPN’s to defeat censorship and access the Bible, but here in the good old US of A we like baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and porn. “Hawk Tua!” So although I can’t assert that my temptation is worse than someone who lived 100 years ago, I can certainly say it is materially different.
Now, smoking and drinking have been legal for many years (since prohibition I suppose), so that’s nothing new. But right now I could easily go to a special dispensary and purchase high quality THC products (don’t even have to actually smoke the stinky stuff any more if I don’t want to ). Nothing but cash and an ID is required (slightly more difficult than voting). There is little to no social approbation about drug use, if anything society seems to pity and feel sorry for drug addicts – and blame society for their problems. When I was growing up they were referred to as “druggies” or “dopers” and drug use was seen as a moral failing. To this day I believe Jesus runs the only successful 12-step program.
Why am I writing this? Honestly I am not sure myself, maybe it is helpful to me to confess the ongoing modern temptation that I face. All I can say is, sometimes I think the world would be a better place if we all threw our cell phones into the garbage and tore down the brain frying radiation towers that are popping up all over the place. What happened to the computers I used to love so much? That I went to college to study and teach about? Where are all the positive, life-enhancing effects of technology we all expected? Is the microwave and the internal combustion engine really the high points? Even so, Jesus please come soon because the love of many is growing cold.
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Matthew 24vv11-13 KJV