Facts and data are inundating you and I from every side; the Internet is a river of facts, figures, trivia, and data just waiting for you to troll, newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio pump more stuff into an already crowded room. Everywhere I look, people seem to be reacting to data as if it is a destination in and of itself. Everyday I find more search engines at my disposal, feel the numbness growing in my senses, and wonder if I will ever be able to know what is even marginally important.
As I explore the problem with others, I find we are all falling into a similar trap. Data in and of itself is becoming the destination. It almost does not matter what you do with it or even if you understand what the data is telling you, just getting the information is important. I find my facts, you find yours and we argue over whose facts are the most accurate and relevant. We ignore the question of what the data means or even what it may be telling us. The quest to arrive is the god we seek.
I cloud my journey to see God’s face with the same problem. I seek to know God facts, often calling them points of theology. I argue points of theology under the guise that the facts are codes of law dictating our lives in excruciating detail. I continue to litter my path with mistakes and this is one of the bigger ones!
“But I can hear you say, ‘If the law code was as bad as all that, it’s no better than sin itself.’ That’s certainly not true.” (Romans 7.7) Facts are, in themselves, not the problem. They never have been and never will be. The problem lies squarely in what I do with them. Do I take the facts and seek information and understanding? Do I live life or follow a preset rigid pattern? Should our lives make sense?
Facts are only important, if I use them to see God’s hand and hear the Spirit’s voice.
