How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How an Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers—and Why That’s Great News by Peter Enns

Author:Peter Enns [Enns, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780062686756
Google: n3pbDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B079L6HVVR
Publisher: HarperOne
Published: 2019-02-19T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Seriously Updating the Ancient Faith

Adapting to Survive

I have all my computer software and operating-system updates set on automatic. I don’t want to think about the updates; I just want them to happen. I figure there are some competent Apple nerds out there who do nothing but stay up nights patrolling the internet searching out and destroying threats, foreign and domestic. There are people out there, equally nerdy, likely working out of their mom’s basement in some faraway place where they don’t have laws, who are also staying up nights thinking of new ways to invade and destroy my little cyberecosystem. As the bad guys keep adapting, so does Apple. It’s a matter of survival.

Speaking of survival, more literally, I also get a yearly flu shot. I’m never really sure exactly what type of flu I’m being vaccinated for—is it the throwing-up kind or the coughing-up-a-lung kind? Or is throwing up not a flu thing? I forget. And how different is a flu from a really bad cold? But I get the shot anyway, not only for the neat “You Did It!” sticker, but because whatever a flu is (and please don’t send me hundreds of emails explaining the difference), I don’t want it.

Those little viruses are so clever! They find all sorts of ways to adapt to last year’s vaccine, because those buggers are determined to give me whatever it is they give me. I’m not sure why they are so highly motivated, though I imagine it has to do with their wanting to survive too—which is fine, but I’d rather they do it somewhere else, like my neighbor’s four dogs that bark nonstop or the mice that keep building a nest inside my lawn tractor.* But they adapt, alarmingly quickly, and the vaccines have to keep up, or else I’m going to feel like crap.

I guess when you stop to think about it, most things adapt. I don’t mean coming out with a new version of something just because it will sell and shareholders need to be kept happy (once again, Apple), but adapting as a matter of survival. Blockbuster famously didn’t adapt and now look at it. You can’t. Blockbuster is as dead as pagers and typewriters. Companies that have an eye on market changes survive by reinventing themselves, like every electronics powerhouse that saw the writing on the wall for boom boxes when music went digital.

And of course, there’s always McDonald’s and Taco Bell, changing their menu every six months to keep people walking through the door. I’m not sure how many people turn to Taco Bell for their vegetarian option, nor to McDonald’s to grab their side salad or a gourmet coffee (that tastes like swill). Only time will tell, though while we’re waiting I’m sure their boards of directors are driving very nice cars and living in very nice houses.

Even life adapts, if you’re into evolution and that sort of thing. According to some cable show I watched, the only reason we human beings

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