God's End User Agreement

I just installed a new version of iTunes on one of my computers (what does it say about me that I regularly use four different computers throughout the week?). So, I surf around a bit while it's downloading and I get a popup saying that I have to restart the machine. No problem. That takes, what, a minute or two?

So, the machine reboots and I open iTunes 'cause I want to transfer some stuff onto my iPod and another screen pops up - User Agreement - check agree if you agree with this.

I checked that I agree.

But the thing is, I didn't read it. Yeah, I know - nobody does. And that's kinda my point. This is a legally binding document (I think) that I've just blithely said I agree to - though I have no idea what it even says. Man, if I wrote these things there would be promises never to transport penguins across state lines or something...

How many times have I read about bands that have gotten their first recording contracts only to discover that they've pretty much just lost all the rights to their own songs (Chuck Berry even lost writing credit on some of his early songs because of the way the contract was written - seriously - he wrote the songs, someone else's name appears as the composer).

It's unbelievable. And we do it every day. Sure I agree with this User Agreement - after all, you're just a multinational corporation wtih an army of lawyers looking out for you - so I trust you implicitly...um...

Here's the point, I think (sometimes I'm not sure when I start these where they are going - just read the post on the last piece of cake if you wonder what I mean):

We do the same thing with the Bible. We agree with it. It's a Good Book (tm). But maybe we haven't really read it - or not carefully.

I'm concerned that Biblically, our churches are functionally illiterate. We've heard about it, good stories in there, good moral teaching, and so on. But too often we haven't really taken the time to check it out ourselves.

And that accusation gets levelled at me, too. I'm not as deep in study as I should be, either. And this is way more important stuff than how I'm allowed to use iTunes...