September 18, 2013

Ecclesiastes 12:12 — And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Well, perhaps I am being a little dramatic. Surely literacy is not dead, nor even dying?
These thoughts are prompted, perhaps, by the fact that I am in Mainz, Germany, this week. Mainz was the birthplace of Johannes Gutenberg who, with his invention of movable type printing in the Fifteenth Century, laid the foundations for mass literacy and the modern knowledge-based economy.
Now it might seem that the old preacher who wrote Ecclesiates took a dim view of books. He also said, “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.”
I am sure that through the years many students have wished that their masters felt that way too! The Preacher’s comments, though, need to be put in context. He was describing the state of affairs “under the sun” – in the world. It is certainly true that there are more books written than can ever be read, and that many of them are of little value. There is one book, not a wordly book, that will repay constant endless study!
I do begin to fear, though, that the reading of books, even of valuable books, is becoming a devalued skill. Over my short life I have seen a flight from books to films and television, and from films and television to web-pages and facebook. Reading is being replaced by grazing. Journalist and master of memorization Joseph Foer has described a trend that frightens me:
Over the last few millennia we’ve invented a series of technologies – from the alphabet to the scroll to the codex, the printing press, photography, the computer, the smartphone – that have made it progressively easier and easier for us to externalize our memories, for us to essentially outsource this fundamental human capacity.
Put another way — memorizing all of scripture was a normal expectation of the Rabbis, and now we praise children for learning a few verses. Rare now is those people who have truly stored substantial portions of God’s word in their hearts so that they may not sin against Him!
Am I, do you think, worrying about nothing? Is it really fine, because we read and write as well on our iPads and Galaxy Tablets, in Twitter and Facebook, as well as we did with books and writing pads? I do not believe it. I see a daily decline in grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation. I hear that the King James Bible is now “too hard” for people to read.
I hope we are all convinced that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” If it is so, than we have a holy duty to protect and promote literacy! Let them read!