Garbage in - Garbage out

   It's odd how certain things tend to work out in time. Way back when I was still in high school, I took a computer programming class. Being somewhat of a class clown who was far more interested in getting a good laugh than furthering my education in any tangible way, I didn't learn much in the class.

   But during my time in that class, one simple lesson caught my attention and has remained with me ever since.

   There is a law in computer programming referred to as "Garbage in - Garbage out." It's really one of the simplest laws one could imagine, meaning exactly what it says. It's based upon the truth that if you put bad information into a program, you will always see bad information returned to you once it runs.

   While I'm not a computer programmer, I have seen this law at work literally thousands of times over the course of my life. Not in computers, but in people's lives. It's clear to me that no matter where you see this law applied, the results are always the same.

   I have known many people - and seen many more over the years - who have had some sort of "garbage" placed into their hearts and minds. I've experienced it myself. Sometimes I'm the one who invites it in, and other times it's someone else who insists upon this "garbage" being a part of my life.

   This can come from how we were raised, who we choose as our friends, who we enter into relationships with, you name it. It can come in the form of the television we watch, the music we listen to, etc.. Many times it comes to us from well-meaning people who really do care about us. Other times it comes from people who care more about control and manipulation than they do the well-being of those around them. They want us to act in a certain way, so they fill our minds with this "garbage" to confuse us to the point where we may not even trust in our own thoughts.

   In a recent study by the journal Pediatrics, researchers found that children who watched more educational television were generally more well-behaved than children who watched more violent programming. Somehow this became news to us. I saw it reported on my local news as if we'd all be shocked by this information...........Well, are you shocked? Or did you immediately think to yourself: "Yeah, that makes perfect sense to me?"

   It's evidence of the "Garbage in - Garbage out" law in application, and it's truth cannot be denied. What we feed our hearts and minds will always work it's way out through our thoughts and actions. It may do so in subtle ways, or in more obvious ways. But it will always show up somewhere.

   That is the truth behind why there are so many wildly successful self-help books on the market, and it's why we keep rushing to the bookstores in droves whenever an author we respect releases a new one. We always want to know the latest theory on how living or thinking differently can make us more successful, happier, thinner, calmer, wealthier, you name it. However we'd like to see our lives improve, there's a self-help book out there on the topic.

   And once we've bought these books, how many of them have actually led to a profound change in our lives? How many have we actually read through - applying the principles found within - and been left feeling more empowered for any length of time?

   And yet, with this enormous market for self-help books in this country, the greatest self-help book of all time is largely dismissed as irrelevant, out-dated, or even classified as fictional fantasy.

   Oddly enough, it is the best-seller of all time...............and by an enormous margin. No other book has ever, or will ever, come close. It's teachings, when rightly understood and applied, have literally changed the lives of those who have read it. It has helped countless people over centuries, releasing them from addictions, shame, guilt, horribly destructive lifestyles. It has played a key role in restoring broken relationships. It's kept people from making horrible decisions about their lives, and it's given them the ability to put previous horrible decisions behind them and move forward into very productive, joyful lives. It has taken people from being in a place of feeling no hope whatsoever to a place of having more hope in their future than they had ever experienced before reading it. In fact, if one were to truly study the instructions found in this book, they would not find one thing that would do anything other than to lead us into richer, deeper, more rewarding, joyful lives.

   All of that being said, if you quote from it in a public place, you will more than likely be classified as a quack. If you attempt to base your life upon it's teachings, you will more than likely be labeled as being someone who has completely lost touch with reality. You will have friends and family members who turn away from you, not because reading this book will cause you to do them harm, but simply because they don't believe in it's teachings.

   This book, if you haven't guessed it yet, is the bible. One of my favorite quotes from this book goes as follows;

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8-9

   Those words were spoken by Jesus Himself, and over 2,000 years later, I submit that no self-help author in the history of mankind has written anything more applicable in today's world. If the law of "Garbage in - Garbage out" is an absolute truth, what should we expect to see happen in our lives if that garbage was replaced with gold?