From my own experience, I came (back) to the faith through other Christians who befriended me and lived their lives in a way that was very attractive and informed by their faith. Not so much any books or even Bible reading. The more literate aspects of the faith came a few years later for me; I didn't read nearly as much as I do now back then and it took a while before i got serious about the Bible and other books. I'm glad I did eventually!

How to reach the post literate mind? I base my theory on recent and ancient thought. If reading is a skill we must add to our being? Why not lean on sound, speech, song? I argue audio-books, and using listening to engage the listener. To entice the audience to learn and endeavour to read, maybe not immediately. Entertainment is distraction, engagement is focus. As research shows: we are short on focus and that is the true gauge of learning... So we need to extend that focus. I say we are Literate, but not fluent. Like the internet that is miles wide, but milimetres deep. We need to learn how to engage with material in a deeper fashion. That cannot happen by fiat alone, we must learn to learn. Again I argue that short-cut is through our ears, not our eyes alone.

I am struck by the timing of your video. I found in my nearest thriftstore yesterday a fascinating book, The Narrow Road, about a Dutch Christian, Brother Andrew, who devoted his life to smuffling Bibles behind the Iron Curtain, where owning a Bible could often lead to imprisonment or more. I found it a riveting read, and read the whole thing in a fell swoop. And it certainly raised for me the same question you pose, one which is always bubbling around in the back of my mind-clutter. Western cultural Marxism has probably done a better job of suppressing the Bible not by banning it but by trivializing the Bible and Christianity in general. I suppose that in many ways a contemporary version of modern biblical translation might be the series The Chosen. I have a young friend who often asks me questions about the Bible, to whom I gave a copy of the New Jerusalem Bible Saints Devotional Edition, which I thought might be helpful. He keeps it in his selection of 'spiritual books', from which he may read a short excerpt at random on random days. But he has been a faithful follower of The Chosen. Hmmm. I have also been reading Thomas Oden's The Rebirth of Orthodoxy, which is very optimistic. (Optimistic video coming soon,)

@ma-mo

3 ай бұрын

I could use an optimistic video. Thank you, neighbor. And thanks, as always, for more worthwhile book recommendations.

I am trying just as my grandparents did for me, I am reading daily in front of my children and grandchildren. Also my wife and I read out loud during our chronological Bible study. We do this in the early evening after supper and nothing is on during that time. We ask the grandchildren (two live with us) to pick one book each week and they read to us and we follow along and correct when necessary. They can pick any books, but we also have them read from the Bible. As a child in the 60s each week we had a Book Mobile come and we got to get 3 books (lived in Detroit) and couldn't wait till the next week. I am sad to say somedays it is like pulling teeth to get them to read...but we never give up. Good or bad, I've never read a novel in my life, only History, Biographies, or Religious books. There were a few books required for school, but I don't count those. take care

@ma-mo

3 ай бұрын

I used to love the Bookmobile! My wife and I were just reminiscing about that the other day.

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us".” ― Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

@ma-mo

3 ай бұрын

Postman's AOTD was one of the most formative books of my early adulthood. And I never would have read Huxley's dystopian masterpiece if it weren't for Postman.

The man who does not read has no advantage over one who can not read...Mark Twain

Thoroughly depressed... But I also get depressed about lack of penmanship. Glad you like the wee little book. Keep spiritual Flat Stanley going!

@ma-mo

3 ай бұрын

As you may or may not know, my own penmanship is: atrocious.

@joest.eggbenedictus1896

3 ай бұрын

@@ma-mo You should print out those old penmanship practice sheets and use them during your pencil reviews. That would be funny.

@ma-mo

3 ай бұрын

@@joest.eggbenedictus1896 funny but probably beneficial.

@ThriftStoreBibles

3 ай бұрын

@ma-mo

3 ай бұрын

@@ThriftStoreBibles Sir, this is a No Shame Zone.

Your review of the Goodspeed translation reminds me of the Berkeley version, which I have in a Gideon pocket new testament form, and actively use. I switch between a few translations for variety. They were both released before the mid-point of the 20th century (Goodspeed in 1923; Berkeley NT in 1945). I believe Goodspeed was from a northern baptist background, Gerrit Verkuyl (who prepared the Berkeley version), presbyterian. About post-literate society; I don't have a good answer. I understand median literacy among adults in the United States is below the equivalent of a 6th grade level; a sad state of affairs. I believe historically that emphasis on the importance of bible reading drove literacy upward in english language culture.

@ma-mo

3 ай бұрын

I know I've got a copy of Berkeley lying around here somewhere as well.

A Mel Gibson movie.

It's something that has bothered me a lot lately. Trying to encourage my classmates to read the Bible & parts thereof is a challenge since many of them (and myself) all either struggle with the time on their hands, or simply don't care because it's too much to read. Of course, the whole Bible isn't just something you read in one sitting, but even just chapters is what I mean. Compound that with the intrusion of Social Media, & it is just worse. Perhaps publicly talking about Scripture is the way forward, as you said - people may listen instead of forcing themselves to read for a period of time. We may be on the cusp of ''post-literacy'', but it is not the case everywhere. I would say there are pockets of it, but there may be a way to turn back from it - I don't know, if the internet suddenly just vanished or ceased to work, maybe more people would turn to books for learning or entertainment again.

@ma-mo

3 ай бұрын

Thank God for the pockets, then! Embers, as it were, from which a fire might still come!

The most direct route to souls in a post literate society is holy icons and images which worked fine prior to the invention of the printing press

Perhaps there is a reason why our savior is reffered to as "the word", and that in the last days the evil one will require everyone to worship an "image". God's word is forever settled in heaven, the sum of them is true from the very beginning, his word is the truth that sanctifies. Indeed Jesus is the word, but this does not exclude the reality of the scriptures being the written form of his word. We love images we can see, and think our mere preception of a thing is validation enough, forgetting that there are such things as lying signs and wonders. I think the overwhelming depressive zeitgeist present in the world shows that the opium of the masses doesnt satiate the soul. I have hope that some will get fed up with the circus and seek out the light that is lit by the Holy Ghost, rather than the technicolored neon Bob's big boy.

@ma-mo

3 ай бұрын

Very interesting, the Word vs Image insight.