culture

Books Ngram Viewer

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In case you have not yet seen the Google project called "Ngram" then you are missing out on interesting data that is more fruitful than "Facebook trolling" all day long.  

The essence of Ngram is being able to see the frequency of words that have been published in a massive number of books over time.  So assume you wanted to see how often the words, "faith, hope, love" appear in in books since the year 1800, you will see this graph:


As you can see all three have been in decline for decades and are hovering at all time lows.  

However, if you search Faith, Hope, Love you get this graph:


The only difference is the first letter of each word is capitalized.  Love is making a strong comeback (notice the big dip in the early 1940's we have not finally recovering from) and Faith and Hope are on the up swing as well.  Does this mean there are more sentences beginning with Faith, Hope or Love then they are being used in the middle of the sentence?  Does this mean there are more books with these words in the titles?  

I believe Dan Pink posted this originally but it is worth Christians taking a serious look at as well.


Can you image that?  "hope" has been dominating "fear" for the vast majority of time and now they are in a dead heat.  

In the spirit of taking into account "case sensitivity" take a look at "Hope" and "Fear".

"Hope" is still in the lead (the 1940's dip is not nearly as intense in this situation), but "Fear" is at all time highs!

How is it that if we are a "Christian Nation" as some people would contend, then how is it that the Christian message of Hope is in rapid decline and Fear is taking more ground?  How is it that this so called "Christian nation" has forgotten that with God there is nothing to fear/Fear?  Is the current incarnation of the message of Christianity so watered down or irrelevant that Fear/fear is given permission to even have a foothold in a world full of Hope/hope?  

At the very lease it is good there is a lot of Love/love as it is said that it is the greatest of things.

"Ya but"

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"I am wondering if one of the reasons the Church is in decline in the traditional sense is that churches are very attractive to the "ya but" people of the world.

When an idea is pitched in the church, from my experience, we are really good at quickly going through all the reasons how or why that idea will not work:
"It will cost too much."
"It will anger people."
"It will be too polarizing."
"It is not thought out."
"It is too unclear."



I want to stand with other Christians in the community and the world to create an alternate culture in which the "Ya buts" of the world are not the dominate voice or culture.  I want to create and help foster a community culture of "Yes, and..."

"Yes, and..." culture creates an environment in which collaboration is fostered.  "Yes, and..." culture encourages people to share ideas without fear of being beat up for not having the idea totally set.  "Yes, and..." culture creates an environment that ideas quickly gain support.

I fear that the Church is dominated by "Yes but" which results in a dying culture and no one wants to join a dying culture.

JUDGE AND SAVIOR TO CULTIVATOR

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Suppose, for a moment, there is a man named James. James was set up on a blind date with a woman named Julie. When James and Julie identify one another in the restaurant and are seated by the host, and the waitress begins to place water on the table James begins the conversation saying, “When I saw you I knew right away there was something about you that I found interesting. You know what it is? You were born with one leg slightly longer than the other leg, which is why you walk with a bit of a limp. It is no big deal but I think you should see my doctor so she can have a look at it and maybe straighten you up a bit.” What does Julie do?

Or suppose for a moment, you walk along the street in Fort Worth with some friends who are trying to cheer you up after a long day at work. You turn to enter into a local business establishment, when someone you do not know says to you, “I know why you are sad and I know exactly what will cheer you up. You need to give more back to your community by volunteering.” What do you do?

As silly as these scenarios are, I have encountered non-Christians who have experienced Christianity as people who act like James and the unknown person. We have the stigma of meeting people, telling them what their problem is (sin) and then share with them the solution (Jesus). The Church becomes the judge and savior to people. Could this be why 87% of people outside the Church aged 16-29 view Christians as “Judgmental” (See the book Unchristian)? Yet not even Christ himself came to condemn or judge the world (John 3:17). Rather, Jesus spent much of his time talking with people (verses talking AT people). Jesus spent years on this earth cultivating relationships. He has a circle of 12 and an inner circle of 3. He listened to the man born blind and cultivated a relationship with him (John 9).

So I challenge all those who would take on the mantle of “Cultural Architect” to move away from judging and trying to save people and move into a life of cultivating as many relationships as we can. What would it look like if we stopped watching some of the reality television which makes us feel superior to others and called an estranged friend or family member? What would it look like if we stopped pointing our fingers at the proverbial liberals/conservatives and tied to listen to others with opposing views to work toward a compromise? I am not sure but I think that looks a little like the Kingdom of God.