"The Computer In My Head" given Jan. 14

 I have a computer inside my head. No, I'm not speaking of my mind-- it's only a part of my mind. It's a kind of half-baked, semi-self programming personal computer. I say it's only semi-self programming because this computer has all sorts of ideas and preconceptions and assumptions that I didn’t consciously choose to program into it. I say it's half-baked because those ideas and preconceptions and assumptions aren't always very wise, or even especially useful to me. Some can even be harmful.

In point of fact, I'm not even aware of all of the ideas and assumptions and preconceptions that are in that computer. If I could trot them out anexamine them one by one, I'd probably find I don't even really agree with a good many of those assumptions. I'd probably find that I don't really want some of them in my mind. But they are there.

As I said, I didn't put them there. They got put into that computer inside my head by my parents and family and friends and the media and society at large. Some of those ideas--many of them in fact-- were put into my brain before I can remember. Some of them got into my head because of past experiences.

I've tried to figure out why I have this troublesome, half-baked computer inside my brain. The best reason that I can come up with is that it's supposed to help me make quick decisions in crucial situations when I have insufficient facts. I call these decisions and judgments "hunches", or "instincts", or "gut feelings".

You've got a computer that's remarkably similar to mine inside your head as well. That computer takes a little bit of partial input, searches our conscious memory for similar experiences and situations, and then sorts through our unconscious memories for any stories, fables, sayings, superstitions, folk wisdom, jokes or stereotypes that may be lying around. And presto! It spits out a totally subjective, instant judgment

"This is good." "That's bad, bad!" A moment later, the computer then spits out a command. "Do this. Don't do that! And do it now!" And without thinking about it, we do.

Here's an example. When I was a boy, I must have eaten some fish that had a bone in it. The bone must have gotten stuck in my mouth and gave me trouble. I don't remember that happening, but I know that it must have. My parents both loved fish. And I can recall when I was very small eating fish and enjoying it. But whenever as an adult I've had the opportunity td eat fresh fish, that half-baked computer has sent me a message.

"Gah! Fish. I don't like fish. Fish has bones. You don't like fish. Eat that fish and you'll choke on a fish bone and die!" As a result, I don't eat fresh fish. I don't consider that a great loss from the over-all quality of my life, so I've never really bothered to try and re-program the computer on that topic.

My kids are the same way about brussel sprouts. Not because they've ever gotten a bone in one. But their mom doesn't case for them and has never served them. I doubt that Jenny and Gwyneth and Gregory have actually ever tasted a brussel sprout. Until they were adults. I'm not totally sure that Donna ever has. But they all have in their computers a message that says "Brussel sprouts are yucky." And no doubt Jenny's working on my grand-kids at this very moment.

This half-baked computer inside my head isn't really too much of a problem when it confines itself to matters of cuisine. And, it can be downright useful in some situations. A carpenter might use it to tell him a particular piece of wood might have an internal flaw--no mars or marks-- it just doesn't feel right. Tribal nomads use it to tell them that a certain spring may not have drinkable water--not because it isn't clear-- they just have a certain feeling about it. Sailors use it to tell them about the weather--Red Sky at morning, Sailor take warning. Red Sky at night, Sailor's delight.

A few years ago we got a phone call out of the blue, telling us that we'd won a Bermuda vacation--free and clear. So could they please have our credit card number to cover some minimal processing costs? No, we couldn’t call them back. They wanted an answer and they had to have it now! Guess what my computer said?

"WARNING, DAN DAVIS! WARNING!"

There’s a mix of observed data, actual experience, acquired preconceptions, common sense and predictions at work there. Why take a chance? Why bother? I can't tell you why, it just doesn't feel right. And at times that can work to our benefit. But that half-baked computer inside our heads can lead us astray when we give it unquestioned power over us in the realm oh human relationships.

"I don't trust him. His eyes are set too close together."

"She wears too much make-up. I don't think I'll ask her out."

"She's a nurse. You know what they're like!”

“They make good cars—but they have a weird culture.”

“America is the great Satan”

"It's the preacher. Watch out what you say!"

"He's just a working stiff, what does he know?"

"All those old people drive too slowly!"

“Well, I sure don’t want one as my pastor.”

“They all lisp and have limp wrists.”

"All those teen-agars drive too fast!"

"People like that just don't want to work!"

"Didja hear the one about the lawyer who died and went to heaven?"

"Their food smells funny and they breed like rabbits!"

"Why don’t they learn our language?"

"Watch your wallet when you deal with them!"

"Roll up your windows in this neighborhood!"

“They’re all ignorant hillbillies---Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

It's called prejudice-- literally to pre-judge-- to make a decision about someone or something before all the facts are in. And you and I do it all the time- -often without being aware that we're doing it. We're in too much of a hurry to stop and get the facts, to get to know people before we judge. So we pre- judge on the basis of that half-baked computer inside of our heads. And we react—without further thought. Programmers call it GIGO—Garbage in, garbage out.

We do that when we are too busy, or too inexperienced about our own selves and the world, and too lazy to consider evidence that conflicts with what the computer tells us. We do it because we're human. We do it because we were taught to do it that way. We do it because we're sinners.

Ever since we were small children, all those o-so-neat classifications of other peoples and cultures have been slipped into our heads. Swedes make depressing movies and commit suicide a lot. Scots wear kilts and pinch pennies. Bohemians drive old cars and put their money into Savings and Loans. The Welsh sing and work in coal mines. Germans like to drink beer and wear leather shorts. The Irish like to drink and get into fights.

There's a mix of truth and fable, experience and exaggeration in all those generalizations. We pick them up so early we often can’t recall where they came from. Do you recall the song from Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific?

You've got to be taught to hate and fear.

You've got to be taught from year to year.

It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear.

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid,

Of people whose eyes are oddly made,

And people whose skins are a different shade

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it’s too late,

before you are six or seven or eight,

To hate all the people your relatives hate,

You've got to be carefully taught.

You and I carry all that around inside the computers inside our heads. It's handy and its easy to simply judge people on the basis of what we've been carefully taught. It’s quick. It's neat. We only have to accept people of our own culture, our own tongue, our own color, our own tradition, our way of worship.

On the other hand, if we do that, we'll never be challenged. We'll never have the joy of encountering and making a near friend who comes from a different race or religion. We'll never have the fun of learning about and exploring the differences between people or differing backgrounds. We'll never receive the gifts that other cultures, other races, other peoples, other faiths have to give us. And we'll not be following Christ's will.

"This is my commandment. Love one another as I have loved you."

The Jewish Rabbi who taught the Samaritan woman at the well offered her the Water of Life--despite her gender, her race, her faith, her past. The Messiah who healed the servant of a Roman officer came to save all the nations. The Jesus who ate with sinners and Pharisees was a Redeemer for all people. The Teacher whose followers included zealots and tax collectors and fishermen and respectable women and ex-hookers came for all men and women.

The message he brought from God was initially heard by only a few rural Aramaic speaking Jewish peasants. But it spread from them to urban, Greek-speaking Jews, to Greeks and Ethiopians and Romans. And eventually, it changed the world. And the heart of that message was that

the Christ who died on the cross died for the sake of all humanity.

If you and I are going to call ourselves by His name, we have to understand--God is the God of all peoples, all nations, and all cultures.

"Now I understand that God shows no partiality" preached Peter when he finally figured that one out. If we call ourselves Christians how are we to deal with that judgmental, simple-minded, racist programming inside our heads?

What are we to do with all those carefully taught opinions and ideas and assumptions and preconceptions? What about all those all-too-easy discriminations and prejudices that we all leap to make?

It seems to me that if me are to take the teachings of this man Jesus seriously, you and I need to learn to fine tune our consciences. We need to open up our minds and our lives. When we begin to make a judgment about someone, we need to stop and ask ourselves.

Are we prejudging on the basis of that half-baked, o-so-carefully taught computer? Or are we accepting this person on the basis of who they have shown themselves to be? Have we accepted them for who they actually are-- or who we think they had to be? Have we remembered who it is that Jesus told us are the least of His brothers and sisters?

You and I can let prejudice and racism rule our hearts and lives--simply by unthinkingly going on, heeding that computer. Or we can begin to take control. We can begin to consciously re-program that computer in our skulls with truth.

We can do it! You and I can begin to look beyond our stereotypes of class and color and culture. We can begin to make choices based on intelligence and principles and faith. We can just do it.

After all, we know the truth--the Gospel truth. that Christ came to save all. That red and yellow, black and white.... and brown and all other colors-- all are precious in His Sight. It is, after all, up to us. Who will we allow to rule our lives and our attitudes and our hearts? Who is Lord for us? Some loud-mouth down the street? Some half-baked computer in our heads? or Jesus the Christ?