QuakerQuaker

Primitive Christianity Revived, Again

The Power of the Reader

When a person reads . . . they have control . . . they can stop when they wish.

They can start . . . whenever they wish.

They can skip paragraphs or even chapters if they wish.

The words that are observed by the reader have the same meaning and value of the reader and not the writer.

The reader is in total control of the information that they are observing.

It is great to have this unlimited power over another persons words.

That's why people choose to read . . . instead of being out of control . . . and being in a personal relationship with God. And anyone that is in a growing relationship understands a oneway street is a very weak relationship.

Listening to the voice of God takes away the power that all readers possess.

I've heard many people grumble about a movie that was filmed from a best seller and they always say . . . the movie was not even close the book.

So a relationship with God requires we give up all our power . . . this is a price that few people are willing to pay . . . how sad.

1 member likes this

Comment by Forrest Curo on 5th mo. 14, 2011 at 6:35pm: Reading gives people the power-- to ignore big chunks of what someone else is saying-- just as if they were together talking, only easier.

Letting someone outside force information in: true, false, or just dubious-- at a rate they choose (as in watching tv or movies) is a risky practice, which most people engage in without a thought. Reading gives one the option of slowing down, thinking about what's said, maybe closing the book altogether.

I find that God brings me to the written material I need, that I'm ready to understand and make use of. Direct input-sockets into the head might be faster, but for some reason HeSheIt didn't arrange things in that way, at least for most of us.

Resistance to God's voice inside-- is a different matter. Even illiterate people seem to do this really well!

And there's always the danger of hearing God once... then seizing His microphone and wondering why no one else accepts one's holy authority....

Comment by Rickey D. Whetstone on 5th mo. 14, 2011 at 10:06pm: Well . . . what about my DVR. I can watch a movie one frame at a time. Or I can rewind and rewind and rewind.

Comment by Forrest Curo on 5th mo. 14, 2011 at 11:19pm: People can, but normally don't, probably won't use it that way.

For decades I've had to wonder how people can continue to believe... what the media tell them. I've seen the nation go from a place where sharing rides and helping each other was 'cool', to one where 'cool' meant having a big car all to oneself & screwing one's neighbor to the max. I don't think this took a major conspiracy, just a lot of organizations paying to manipulate the public a little big more "their" way. Video is pretty immediate, hard to disengage one's mind from. Also, a powerful attention magnet-- something you can readily confirm by observation.

I've been thinking more about all this, since my first comment. Concluding: "My power to do something" is "God's power to have me experience what that's like." Whether that power is digging up the back yard or thinking one thought or another. (I hope it increasingly becomes experiences of hearing/feeling/knowing God, of thinking/moving/doing-whatever in tune with God!)

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