Opinion: Future looks bright if we keep the faith – Gwcommonwealth

Recently, many of my friends and acquaintances have expressed their worry about the future of our country and the world. They ask me if I agree.

My first reaction is to tell them Im off duty. As a journalist, Ive been immersed in these social issues all my life. Been there done that. Theres nothing new under the sun. All these issues have been debated for eons.

Whats new is the pace of technological development, which is faster now than ever. This creates both good and bad, but mainly good.

I was born an optimist. I truly think this is a genetic predisposition. So I cannot help myself. As such, I am biased. Thats why its important to have a variety of opinions from a variety of people. Everybody possesses their own intrinsic point of view.

Its fun writing your opinion. For decades I have had the pleasure of making a living doing this. Thanks to technology, today anyone can write their opinion and launch it into the world via social media and the world wide web. This is progress.

Social media and the internet have launched an explosion of opinion, commentary, opinions, rants and the like. People were starved for an outlet and when they finally got one, the world began brimming over with internet posts, blogs, comments. etc. These opinions were always there, they just didnt have the means to be expressed.

Over time, this creative explosion of free thought and opinion will calm down as we adjust to the new reality of immediate unlimited commentary and opinions. The human mind has amazing adaptive ability and we will take this in stride. It just takes time.

Sooner or later everyone will have heard every rant. Well all know both sides. It wont be new and exciting. And our culture will adapt and move on.

I am reminded of an elderly gentlemans group that meets for lunch once a week here in Jackson. Over the years they have told the same jokes so many times that they just refer to the joke as a number and everybody laughs.

Congress is debating getting the National Science Foundation to study and propose appropriate algorithms for social media. Facebooks algorithms are rooted in engagement and nothing engages like outrage, so Facebook is eager to stick outrageous content on your newsfeed. Its good for their advertising.

Instant communication, unlimited search and unlimited data over the internet allow news talk shows to instantly find the most outrageous news of the day. So if you watch these shows you will be bombarded with outrageous stuff non stop. Human nature is such that, when bombarded by outrageous content, people get outraged, angry, worried, anxious and fearful. Thats how the Jan. 6 Trump election riot happened.

So if you dont want to feel these emotions the solution is very simple. Dont watch talk news. I dont. And I rarely feel outrage and anger. Nor do I spend much time at all on social media, especially when its deliberately designed to manipulate me.

The biggest of the Big Tech is Apple. I find it amazing that hardly anybody I know connects Apple, and its graphic of the bite out of the Apple, with original sin. How can you miss it? Especially in the Bible belt.

Adam wanted to know what God knows. He wanted all the knowledge of the world. So he took a bite out of the apple, just as the Apple imagery projects. Its one reason I dont use an Apple phone.

That bite out of the apple didnt turn out too well for Adam, nor is it turning out too well for the human race. Be careful what you ask for.

Our search for knowledge and truth seems insatiable. The James Webb Space Telescope is an infrared observatory orbiting the Sun about 1 million miles from Earth to find the first galaxies that formed in the early universe and to see stars forming planetary systems. It cost ten billion dollars.

I hope to enjoy some cool photos, but I am under no illusion that it will significantly advance my understanding of the universe. No doubt we know more than we did 2,000 years ago. But our knowledge, as a percent of the whole, was infinitesimal then and its infinitesimal now.

The book of Deuteronomy says secret things belong to the Lord. Were never going to know them, no matter how big our telescope is.

Just go to You Tube and search for quantum eraser delayed choice experiment. God is only going to let us know what he wants us to know and it will never be complete.

What is truth?, Pilate asked Jesus, confused when Jesus told him that Everyone on the side of truth listens to me. Oh we so much want to know the truth, we creatures made in the image of God. We are giving dominion over the earth, above all its creatures, but we are most definitely not the creator, no matter how much we wish to be.

Look at wokism. This is just a weird hodgepodge of insights that more or less go back to loving your neighbor as yourself. But instead of attributing good aspects of political correctness to God, the new generation of unbelievers claim it as their own creation, as though anything inherently good can come from us.

Or take the critical race theory, an idea that human exploitation was a driving force in history. News flash! The total depravity of man was known long before this trendy buzz theory, and its certainly not limited to any one race.

Is the world going to hell in a handbasket? Could be if we turn our back on God. Hes done it before and he can do it again. Its his world, not ours. Our command to be good stewards of the world should never be confused with being its master or creator.

Global poverty has declined from 35 percent in 1990 to 12 percent today. That is astounding progress, never equaled before. The marvel of the Internet and high-speed wireless communication, search engines and data storage will make that progress look like nothing compared to the next 30 years.

God makes straight paths with crooked sticks. He will use these new human advances to advance his kingdom. The future will get better and better. There is only one thing that can screw it up: Us and our unbelief. Fortunately, we have a patient and merciful God.

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Opinion: Future looks bright if we keep the faith - Gwcommonwealth