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One week from now, we will have a new President. I have some opinions about all of that, but I will keep them to myself. President-elect Obama has asked Pastor Rick Warren to pray at his innauguration. Of course, Warren accepted. There have been a number of reactions to this. It has proven to be a little sticky for both Warren and Obama. Because of Mr. Obama's positions on the issues of abortion and homosexual marriage, many conservative Christians have taken the opportunity to use this as ammo against Warren. Cultural liberals, especially the homosexual lobby, have accused Obama of teaming up with Hitler (or worse). Obviously, neither of this is true. Liberals lump Warren in with ultra-conservative, fundamentalist Christians, and they would never claim him as their own. The reverse is also true.
Because of the attention given to Warren, along with his hosting a couple of political forums, the media is making the case that Warren is the next Billy Graham. I have a great deal of respect for Billy Graham. His testimony has been above reproach in the areas of finances and marital fidelity. He typically did not get involved in partisan politics. This opened the door for him to preach in countries that have traditionally been closed to the Gospel. Between his large crusades and television specials, he has preached to more individuals than anyone in the history of the church. I respect that. I also know that he has primarily been an evangelist, partnering with local churches for follow-up. This gave him the luxury of not needing to (publicly) clearly define a number of doctrinal positions.
Rick Warren is a church planter and a local church pastor. He has been responsible not only for evangelism, but also for developing a plan for discipling converts and growing a church in the community.
I do not think Rick Warren is the next Billy Graham. I do not think there will be another Billy Graham. I think Rick Warren is the next Rick Warren. I think God works in seasons. Seasons come and go.
Today, Ross noted the mashup on Google Maps that allows you to easily find your local voting location. I think that is an extremely valuable and productive use of the power of Google. But there are a couple of other Google products that I find more troubling.
The first is Google Chrome. Personally, I like Chrome. It has a clean interface (like Google, itself). It is fast. When there are a wide array of add-ons like on Firefox, it will likely be the internet browser to beat. But there is a feature in Chrome that is a little disturbing. You can open pages in what Chrome calls "Incognito Mode". They promote it by talking about the value of doing your online banking, online ordering with credit cards, etc. This mode allows you to surf the internet without leaving anything on the memory of the local computer. While this is truly valuable, it is also commonly referred to as "porn mode". You can look at whatever you want and your wife, girlfriend, kids, boss, etc. will not see anything on the memory of the computer.
The other one is a feature available in Gmail. I love Gmail. I use Gmail. I sing the praises of Gmail. It is clearly the superior to any other email program. Here is the feature: Mail Goggles. This feature was designed to benefit the Gmail user who tends to consume products that impair his judgement then fire of emails he would regret having sent. You can set the hours when the feature is in effect. When you attempt to send an email during those hours, Gmail asks you to answer some basic math problems. If you are unable to correctly answer them, you clearly are not clearheaded enough to send email.
Google would say they are simply providing a service to their users and a more valuable product for advertisers to buy space on. From a business perspective, I would have to agree. From the standpoint of a company's responsibility to its community, I think Google is inadvertantly promoting the use of pornography and the abuse of alchohol .
I still use Google. It best accomplishes the purposes for which I use it. This is just a reminder that we live in a world where the convictions of the believer are not held by the community at large. This is a world we are to be salt and light in. We are to engage and be involved in the world around us. Use Google Maps to find your voting location and influence the community around you.
