Do You Believe in Cloud Storage?
This article is our fourth installment on things you can learn from your cell phone.
A recent podcast mentioned that Steve Jobs did not put an “off” button on iPhones because he didn’t like the idea of death. Jobs mentioned this in Walter Isaacson’s 2011 book “Steve Jobs.” Some pundits think Steve was speaking ironically rather than philosophically, answering a question for his own amusement rather than sharing a personal belief. Regardless of his intended meaning, I have to talk about this.
In my recent observations about phone tech, I’ve gathered lessons about how our apps have affected us, for better or worse. I had certainly not considered that there might be a lesson in the power button on my iPhone or the lack of one. Now, if you are curious about how to turn your iPhone off, plenty of YouTube videos show you how to do it. I won’t bore you with low-tech tips here. But I cannot pass up the opportunity to discuss the off button.
A power button is the most basic feature of an electronic device. From a consumer perspective, it makes sense to omit the power button on our phones. After all, if the phone is off, it can be ignored. But when the phone is on, the dings, blips, and chirps attract us, and we use the phone more. More use translates into more money spent.
However, Steve Jobs did not talk about the power button in terms of consumer use. He spoke about it from within the context of his battle with cancer. A battle that eventually claimed his life. He tells Isaacson, ”Sometimes I believe in God, sometimes I don't. But ever since I got cancer, I find myself believing a bit more . . . But sometimes I think it's like an on-off switch," he continued. "It just turns off, and you're done.” Isaacson paraphrases Steve’s explanation of why he chose not to put an “off” switch on Apple devices.
A 2021 Pew Research Center poll indicated that most U.S. adults (73%) believe in heaven. Ironically, fewer people from each survey group said they believed in hell. So, if you are from the U.S., there is a good chance that you already believe there is an afterlife. (Maybe Steve Jobs would say you likely believe in “cloud storage”?)
There is an off button for the human body. I don’t need a Pew Research Center poll to tell you that one out of every one person dies. But long after my body's battery has run down, I will be very much alive. So will you.
For those who share the Faith, death is the ultimate upgrade. Joys, beauty, delight, and pleasures of this life will pale compared to what awaits in the next. In God’s presence, there is fullness of joy.
But the same Source that gives us the vital details about heaven also gives us explicit imagery about hell. Although few want to consider it, hell is a place of psychological suffering, spiritual suffering, physical suffering, and being cut off from God’s presence. For all humans, there is an eternity. Although this life has an off switch, the afterlife does not.
Staring into the abyss of physical death caused Steve Jobs to wrestle with questions about the afterlife. Considering that you will one day die should also cause you to think about the big questions. What is the quality of your life in the here and now? What legacy do you want to leave behind when you are gone? What are your expectations about how you will spend all of eternity?
Andy Stanley, a pastor and leadership author, recently described how he was able to identify his core values simply by imagining what he wanted his family, friends, and community to say about him at his funeral. He took several days thinking about the important people to him and what he would want them to say as they stood around his casket. He made a list of statements he wanted them to be able to say. And from those statements, he penned his core values into a list of a few words.
Recognizing that you have an off switch can clarify your values, clear up your priorities, crystallize your faith, and qualify your decisions. Recognizing that the next life does not have an off switch might help you decide to make the most crucial decision of all and put your trust in Jesus Christ.
