We just traded out Cheryl’s car for a slightly newer model. She seems pleased with it, and I hope it will make a good, safe and serviceable vehicle for years to come. So, tonight I was looking through the papers to make sure everything was in order to change the insurance and register it. Not only did it come with the owner’s manual, the former owner had saved the original window sticker.
I started looking through the owner’s manual when I suddenly thought, “Why am I doing this?” Most manuals are horribly written and confusing. I’ll just wait until tomorrow, sit in the driver’s seat and help walk her through the various buttons. Who needs instruction manuals?
When was the last time you saw anyone under 30 read an instruction manual? For those of us over 30, why would we want to read an instruction manual? If I were to get a new digital camera or cell phone, I would just hand it to my fifteen-year-old granddaughter who would have the entire menu mastered in less than 30 seconds of pushing buttons. Doesn’t that sound easier than reading some impossible-to-understand manual?
The current thinking of youth is that digital devices should be so well-designed that they don’t need an instruction manual. Why would anyone want to read an instruction manual? That would just mean that the device in question is junk!
I think maybe it’s time that I cleaned up my language. I never again want to refer to the Bible as life’s instruction manual as I did repeatedly in my preaching and teaching years ago. Our words are important. I don’t want to communicate that God has given us a life that is nothing more than junk. Maybe it would be better to call the Bible Life’s Love Letter, or God’s Extended Text Message to Humanity.
Instruction Manuals and the Meaning of Life
We just traded out Cheryl’s car for a slightly newer model. She seems pleased with it, and I hope it will make a good, safe and serviceable vehicle for years to come. So, tonight I was looking through the papers to make sure everything was in order to change the insurance and register it. Not only did it come with the owner’s manual, the former owner had saved the original window sticker.
When was the last time you saw anyone under 30 read an instruction manual? For those of us over 30, why would we want to read an instruction manual? If I were to get a new digital camera or cell phone, I would just hand it to my fifteen-year-old granddaughter who would have the entire menu mastered in less than 30 seconds of pushing buttons. Doesn’t that sound easier than reading some impossible-to-understand manual?
The current thinking of youth is that digital devices should be so well-designed that they don’t need an instruction manual. Why would anyone want to read an instruction manual? That would just mean that the device in question is junk!
I think maybe it’s time that I cleaned up my language. I never again want to refer to the Bible as life’s instruction manual as I did repeatedly in my preaching and teaching years ago. Our words are important. I don’t want to communicate that God has given us a life that is nothing more than junk. Maybe it would be better to call the Bible Life’s Love Letter, or God’s Extended Text Message to Humanity.