EULAs and Liars

Okay, there are many problems with EULAs.  These are the End User License Agreements that we all click through routinely, every time we install an app or software upgrade.  I find them annoying.  They often show you four lines of text at a time, requiring about 200 clicks and 10 minutes to get through them.  With them I promise not to break the law, reverse engineer, or share government secrets.  I agree to third party arbitration and accept the software as is, with no guarantee that it will do anything.  I agree that if I lose data or business, it's not their fault and I have no recourse.  Fine.

At least, that's what I think those agreements say.  I barely read them anymore, especially if they come from well known companies like Apple or Microsoft.  I figure that if there were any really abusive parts to the agreement, people would light up the internet with protests.

So, here's my main problem with EULAs.  They make liars out of us.  "I have read and agree to the terms of this agreement."  *Click accept.*  No, I actually haven't read your litany of legalese.  I don't care what you are afraid I might do with it.  I know that you don't really expect me to read it anyway.  I know that you are covering your legal butts.  I just want to use the software.

So, I lie when I click.  Maybe you do too.

This seems to cheapen my word.  I feel like I am compromising every time I click "accept."  But what is the alternative?  Spend valuable time plowing through worthless jargon?  Delaying my work with nothing to show for it?

So I am caught.  I can waste time and know that I really do agree with the terms; or I can violate my conscience and get on with my work.

Maybe I am over reacting, but I think these agreements desensitize us to truth.  They diminish the value of our words.  They make us willing to accept anything.  They keep us from careful examination of details.  They make us more like mindless sheep, following the flock.  Who knows where that may eventually lead?

And that bothers me.

Hearing the Truth

I recently finished Peter Lord's book, Hearing God.  His down-to-earth, humble style assures me that I too may hear the voice of God.  His practical suggestions for learning to hear the voice of God help me develop the habits needed for real communication with God.

For many of us, prayers are those letters we put in the mail, stamped with our time invested, which we hope and assume arrive in God's mailbox.  We never expect replies.  We just hope that something happens that looks like God may have had something to do with it.  Then our prayer is answered.  Or at least we claim that it is.  We have some evidence that God actually opened our prayer-letters, and that he actually did something about it.

But prayer really can be more like a conversation.  We limit the two-way communication by the way we approach prayer.  We cover our prayer lists without taking time to listen.  We never think of listening, because we so rarely ask God to speak.  We just ask him to do.  Why should we listen?

Peter Lord teaches on prayer at Crossroads in February 2012.

Peter Lord gave me a new idea for prayer.  When I face a puzzling situation, I can ask God to show me the truth about it.  I assume that I have all the information I need.  But I don't really know what motivates others.  I don't know for certain how or why things developed.  I need the truth.  I can ask God to reveal to me the truth behind someone's frustrating behavior, behind my sinful habits, behind the roadblocks to ministry.

Then I need to listen.

It takes time, patience, quiet, peace--all things in short supply today.  We have to nurture peace in our hearts and carve out time in our schedules.

When I hear the truth from God, I will probably be surprised.  I never understood it that way.  I never realized the key to that person's heart.  I never saw how my behavior contributed to the problem.  I never knew that my attitude made such a difference.

God will reveal these things, if I will listen.  Then I can repent, respond, or wait, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus has his way.