"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
Innovator. Visionary. Entrepreneur. Technology Genius. Inventor. These are only a few descriptors I have heard, referring to Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, Inc. His products have changed our world. His death was not a huge surprise, his battle with cancer no big secret. As with anyone who passes on from this life, I am sad for his family. I also wonder about his eternal future. He was once quoted in the Summer 1993 edition of the Wall Street Journal as saying:
"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me...Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful...that's what matters to me."I have no doubt he was able to go to bed at night knowing he had done something wonderful in this world, I just wonder how much peace he had about the next. I researched many quotes he gave over the years of his life, some for which I could not find the sources. Here are some quotes attributed to him:
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma--which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice..." (Taken from a Stanford University Address in 2005)
"I want to put a ding in the universe." (I could not find the source.)
"Here's to the crazy one, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes...the ones who see things differently they're not fond of rules...You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things...they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do." (I could not find the source.)
"We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas." PBS series, Triumph of the Nerds (1996)
"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something--your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life." (Stanford University Address, 2005)
"I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates." Newsweek, October 29, 2001
"We want to stand at the intersection of computers and humanism." (I could not find the source.)It may seem heartless to post about the death of a man who may not have known God, or if he knew Him, only in a "He might be out there" sort of way. I do not write this to bring pain or judgement or criticism. I just think that when anyone who we deem important passes from this life, it is important to take stock in our own lives, and examine for what or for whom we are living. As testimonials poured in on the news stations, one image particularly caught my attention. I could not get the image to embed here, but I have provided the link, http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=8380876, if you are interested in looking at it. The very last image of this almost three minute news segment arrested me. It was something I had not thought about before. If you choose not to check out the link, I will describe it as best as I can. Imagine a black background with a black Apple logo. Just behind this is a white glow appearing from behind the logo with white writing on the black apple. It is almost as if Jobs is speaking to us from the afterlife. Somehow that glowing apple reminded me of something. Although the idea for the logo itself is attributed to Isaac Newton under the apple tree, a more religious icon came to my mind. A bite out of an apple. What Bible story does that most frequently reference? Of course, I would be talking about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Bible does not say that the fruit was an apple, but many of the artistic renderings picture just that. I know Apple's CEO was not making any kind of reference to God or the Bible when he commissioned this logo, but isn't it a little ironic, that everything always points back to God? The thought of what the bite from the apple symbolizes may have more significance than even he knew. I have no way of knowing whether this innovative engineer is in Heaven or Hell. I pray that as he closed his eyes on this earth for one last time, that he uttered a salvation prayer, if he had never done so before in his life. From all the quotes of his life, it doesn't seem that he ever gave acknowledgement to the God of the universe. He may have changed our world, but he has no power over the next.
In an All Things Digital Conference on May 30, 2007, Steve Jobs was talking about how the ITunes software caused Apple to be the largest developer for Microsoft Windows. Here is what he said:
"It's like giving ice water to somebody in hell!"Let's pray that this was not a prophetic statement for the man himself. The verse at the top of the post is my husband's favorite. It really gets to the heart of what life is all about. We might have creative leanings, we may have ingenious ideas, but if we never give credit to the Creator who put those ideas and dreams in us, we have this life only, and nothing in the next. The life after this is eternal, I think I would rather be investing in that.
Stephanie:
ReplyDeleteThanks for your recent comments. It prompted me to come over here and see what you had posted lately.
Wow... this is such an excellent post. It's exactly what I felt when Steve Jobs passed away, based on some of the same quotes you used here. And the scripture... that covers it all, doesn't it?
I pray too, that he had seen a glimpse of his own mortality and eternity, and that his heart was opened to Jesus. I feel a sense of sadness about him based on all he had 'figured out' on his own.
Life is short!
Thanks for this post.
xo
Thanks for stopping by Sonja. Part of me felt a little uneasy about posting. I don't want to seem like I am condemning someone. But we know that if He never embraced the God of the Bible, and most importantly, His Son, Jesus Christ, (and I think there is sufficient proof that he did not), he may have a lasting legacy in the technology world, but what about a spiritual legacy? How does God feel about troublemakers and rebels? The more I read, the sadder I became, but prayerfully, I am completely wrong and he came to understand God's saving grace before he passed.
ReplyDeleteStephanie,
ReplyDeleteMy son read somewhere that at last report, Jobs was a Buddhist. I'll have to ask him about the source of that information. Yes, to gain the whole world and lose our soul. I read the words of another blogger this morning in which he hoped that in those last days of Jobs life, he came to know Jesus. You're right...we just don't know.
Thank you, too, for the encouraging words you've given me so many times, and thank you for your prayers for Michele. I appreciate you so very much.
On another note, why do people say/write RIP? As if our saying so would make it so. Anytime a celebrity dies, the world is (ultimately) uncomfortable with the passing, thereby needing to memorialize the person's memory in a public way. Why do we clamor around it, like we really new the person. Honestly, before his death I hadn't read one quote from him. Certainly, good quotes, but unless rooted in the knowledge and truth of Jesus Christ (so that I don't have to dig to hard to figure it out), I don't pay much attention to them.
ReplyDeleteThought provoking post.
peace~elaine
I heard information that he was a Buddhist as well, Trisha, but am not certain. I agree with you Elaine about the RIPs. I see that all the time and my first thought is, but maybe the person isn't resting in peace. I don't mean to sound harsh, I just think it is a way we often try to give false comfort. I also had never really heard much about him, but I decided to do a little research in case I was wrong, and maybe at one point he had professed Christ. Sadly, I don't see that it was ever the case.
ReplyDelete