Spellcheck Christians
For book lovers, this is a day in which we can really enjoy, because bookstores abound. In recent years with proliferation of books, I have noticed a remarkable abundance of mistakes, misspellings, and typos within nicely bound books by reputable authors and well-known publishing companies.
Yesterday I was reading an article by Houston’s best known editor. He had written an article on bookstores. The article was intriguing as he discussed where you could go to find good books. Here is a sentence from his article quoted exactly as given: “The book shop has volumes on art history, books covering art from antiquity to modern children’s books, ‘very scholarly’ books from aboard.” The last word of this editor’s quote is an obvious mistake. From the context of the paragraph we can tell the word should have been “abroad” not “aboard”. My first thought was, why would he have made that mistake; then it occurred to me, this was the result of a computer’s spellcheck. The word “aboard” is a legitimate word and therefore would not be caught. My common mistake when I am typing is I quickly type out “form” instead of “from.” The spellcheck misses it because it is a word, but alas, not the word I wanted. The spellcheck is great. Since we have moved into the wonderful world of computers, our writing and editing has been perfected and sped up. One of the strange things about spellcheck is the very instrument that is supposed to help us has also become one of the greatest contributors to printed mistakes in books and publications.
As I write these words I see also in the work of God we have developed a “spellcheck Christianity.” The very methods we use have allowed some our down falls.
I. Spellcheck Christianity allows us to trust the machinery instead of the Master.
I have found myself thinking, I don’t need to go back over my work, spellcheck caught it. Inevitably, I will find some things are not caught by spellcheck.
We sometimes think, “we have a great church, I love our pastor, and my Sunday School teacher will correct me if I go astray.” Others may say “Our Christian school will bring me along. Women’s Missionary Sorority will guide me.. We are Bible-believers, we are okay!”
The machinery and operation of the church is designed to lead you and me on to faithfulness to God. No one and nothing can ever replace the one-on-one relationship with God. “...to his own master he standeth or falleth…” (Romans 14:4).
2. Spellcheck Christianity takes us away from personal accountability.
The Bible says, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: So also is Christ” (I Corinthians 12:12). We need each other!
In the same way we need a proof reader, we need a brother or sister in Christ to help spot things we overlooking. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend…” (Proverbs 27:6). A good Christian friend will not only rebuke us when we are wrong, they will encourage us to do right. David and Jonathan were best friends. At one of David’s darkest hours the Bible says, “And Jonathan Saul’s son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God” (I Samuel 23:16).
3. Spellcheck Christianity creates a false assurance that keeps us from personal evaluation.
The Psalmist said, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” Psalm 139:23,24).
We need to look back over our life and see if we need to redirect our walk and align ourselves back into a godly walk. Things that have gone wrong do not aright themselves; we must take the initiative and act on what needs to be changed.
After I write an article, I activate the spellcheck, but I always go back and read it the old-fashion way. Almost always I catch something the computer missed. Don’t wait for the machinery of this church to catch you - open up your life before God. I Corinthians 11:28 says, “But let a man examine himself…” and II Corinthians 13:5 says, “Examine yourselves….” Be your best spiritual proof-reader!
- Pastor Pope -