D.A. Carson has a wonderfully thoughtful and well-written editorial in this month’s Themelios web magazine. It’s not particularly long and it will be a provocative way to think about this week’s open mic question, so go read it and come back.
The Question is: How would you evaluate the overall effect of technology on your development as a serious, balanced, useful disciple of Jesus?
Carson makes the points many of us could make from our own experience: technology fascinates, entertains, amuses, captivates and addicts. We gain information, access and speed, but we gain access to universes of useless and less than useful information. We occupy our minds at a high rate of speed, and we reflect less and less. We read more online and we read less of what we ought to read. We stay in touch and we say less and less. We acquire more and more gadgets and we don’t know where to stop. We see our children down the same path and call it normal.
Is it normal? And is all of this helping us become what we say we want to become?
Is Carson on target or is it just Luddite ranting?
What do YOU say? (Keep comments to a reasonable length and PLEASE don’t go overboard with your detailed history of gadget acquisition. Thanks.)
The Internet Monk Archives 
Hey! check out how Newspring’s youth ministry is using today’s culture as tool to make His name famous – bradcooper.us post from December 17
LikeLike
This may have been mentioned already, but a question that sticks out to me right away after reading the post is:
Doesn’t question the moral rightness of technology pose a false dichotomy between the message and the medium?
While I for one can see that a church reverting to pre-dital printed bulletins would not necessarily loose any spirituality thereby, I still am inclined to percieve both mediums as conveying the same life changing message. The medium therefore becomes mostly irrelevant or amoral in and of itself. The internet being used for pornography doesn’t make the internet necessarily bad. Pornography is bad, regardless of how it is used.
It seems that asking this question is similar to the question of whether or not modern music is evil or fit to be used in the church for the worship of God. Has rock’n’roll been used for many an evil? Yes! But so have you and I. I believe the God I worship specializes in redeeming what has fallen and using for good what others intend for evil.
Consequently technology in and of itself is incapable of having a positive or negative moral or spiritual effect on a person apart from the intended use.
Does anybody else see it this way? Or am I missing something pretty important here…
LikeLike
Cey,
I want to clarify my points.
First I have to agree with many that the Internet, just like any technology or any tool can be used for great good . . . or great harm. The same laptop and high speed Internet connection that someone used late at night to download disgusting images of child porn can be used the next day (by someone differently I assume) to do research about the evils of exploitation of women and children in Zimbabwe. . . with a hope of giving money, time and prayer to do something to stop it.
One positive way, I was alluding to, in how technology can be used for reform is exposing oppressed people to freedom (or exposing free people to the evils of oppression . . . which otherwise would have been hidden). Before technology this was done through books, scrolls, secret notes and eye witnesses.
You say, Repressive governments around the world merely suppress the internet as well in their countries. While that is true in part, that is certainly not an absolute. There is no paper-shield that prevents the Chinese from interacting with free people through technology, though they may try.
This photo; http://image72.webshots.com/172/3/79/8/2874379080103598246uznsbT_fs.jpg
is myself and a friend on the top of a building in Islamabad, Pakistan a couple of years ago. We are connected to the Internet via two small note books . . . one a notebook computer and one a small satellite Internet receiver. While Islamabad is relatively free, what is interesting, two days later we were surfing the uncensored WWW from deep within NW Pakistan, in a pro-Taliban region.
While the locals can not afford the technology, which we had . . . virtually every village has satellite dishes for uncensored TV. There they watch CNN . . . but they can also (unfortunately) watch the Playboy channel . . . or worse, Daystar. (rolled eyes here)
I am very familiar with how missionaries must work in “closed†countries as I was one in a Moslem country. While we did not have Internet when I was there . . . I have many friends who still reside in Moslem countries. They do have to take caution (so not to get kicked out) but I’ve also corresponded directly with Moslems, who seemed to feel comfortable in discussing their (not so Muslim) ideas.
The last point . . . good heavens, of course modern (digital) technology had nothing to do with the religious freedoms which we enjoy here. You are most correct to point back to prior historical developments. All that I was saying, if the tools of digital technology had be available to them, and if they chose to use it for good . . . reform could have come at a faster pace and earlier. On the same hand, if the printing press had never been invented, the reform would have come at a slower pace and later in history.
Like the Chinese, or the Taliban, Rome may have wanted to monitor the interactions (via Internet) of the early reform thinkers . . . they could not have had a impenetrable electronic wall.
LikeLike
“IS GOOGLE MAKING US STUPID” is a great thought piece on this topic. It’s here; http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google
LikeLike
Having spent a good chunk of my adult live developing this technology, I am on many occasions ashamed of my part in the damage done (promoting gross consumerism). I spent 10 years writing code that runs the hidden parts of the web.
Technology is highly addictive, and while it does provide great resorces, the Sword Project Bible software is an example, it provides way too many tangents for us to track off onto. Even the number of blogs I read, from theology to woodworking to computer security is, at times, a hinderance. And I do often wonder how many blogs/websites do we really need.
LikeLike
People like us, who think differently than the herd, could have “congregated†without the fear of a crowd with pitch forks and torches outside our doors . . .
And this is precisely one of the fears I have for the practice of faith as it intersects with the internet. No fear of damaging your real friendships or drawing the attention of the real powers, therefore no real consequences to the faith at all and no real potential for crisis and impact.
Of course no one who practices any part of his or her faith on the internet (which is … I guess … what we’re doing her) takes nothing of that with them into the real world.
But how does that transition work? Is it good? Bad? both? What on balance?
LikeLike
to J. Michael Jones,
I hear what you are saying, but I would respectfully disagree. I don’t believe that the internet created the environment of religious freedom that we enjoy today in America. That came from a combination of the Great Awakening, the Enlightenment and the political pragmatism of the 18th century.
Repressive governments around the world merely suppress the internet as well in their countries. This is why missionaries in certain countries have to disguise their terms when emailing reports about what Christ is doing in their country. Some can not even email at all.
No, “religious freedom” is a mindset, a worldview not a function of technology. If the internet had existed back then, those in authority would have been watching it, too.
God bless
LikeLike
I am also not against the Internet or technology, but I do find that along with the porn and other temptations that the internet brings is the deceptive idea that one can get “more” done in “less” time. But in fact FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE, not everyone, it ends up taking more time because of all the cool things that can be done on it.
My wife and I teach at a Christian school and we’ve noticed that many of our students don’t “have the time” for church activities, and homework, or other important things, but they spend a lot of time on their iphones or the internet or text messaging or playing video games. I just wonder if those things are acting as “time-leeches”.
Once again, I realize that these issues are personal time management problems, but it seems as if these items are being marketed as “time savers”. They don’t seem to be saving time, but in fact aiding in wasting it.
LikeLike
I wonder how Christianity would be different today if, in 1182, along with the magnetic compass, the Internet had been invented (of course that would mean PCs, servers and the whole 9 yards would have to be invented as well).
If blogging and e-mails could have been done in true incognito . . . I think the reformation (both with a capital R and the internal reformation of the Catholic Church) would have happened much earlier. People like us, who think differently than the herd, could have “congregated†without the fear of a crowd with pitch forks and torches outside our doors . . . and us being led off to the stake. Critical mass could have happened much earlier in history. But could it have led to a complete fragmentation and isolation of the Church by the 21st century? I don’t think it would have . . . nor will it.
LikeLike
Ellul has the good point of making us think about all that we do and all that we are involved in. The difference between morphine and heroin is the difference between a correct medical use and an out-of-control hedonism. (Yes, I know morphine can be abused.)
Having said that, it is precisely the interaction at a blog like this one that allows me to hone, reflect, be changed, be challenged, etc. But, can the Internet and other forms of technology be addicting? Certainly, and that is when it changes to the digital analogue of heroin.
Does that make iMonk a pusher? No, not anymore than a pharmacist would be.
LikeLike
I think the printing press changed everything. Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin didn’t invent reformation; the seeds of reformation were sown in the published writings of the early humanists, like Erasmus and More, The printing press made copies of original biblical and patristic texts much more accessible. The Wycliff bible was designed to be compact, portable, and concealable. Movable print removed thought from the control of a central authority, from the protective walls of cathedrals and monasteries to the publishing house. Knowledge became lucrative.
The internet took knowledge away from the control of publishing houses and made it free…or at least much more affordable (e.g. used book listings on Amazon and Ebay). This freedom has its own negatives. This will probably lead once again to centralized control, such as the government-enforced internet censorship practiced in certain countries.
The internet also broke down regional and imaginary barriers – such as denominations (how many denominations are represented in the iMonk comments?). It has placed biblical and patristic texts into the public domain for billions to access. The internet and mp3 players have made audio bibles much more practical and useful. It has made grass root movements truly possible. It has brought ancient practices back to the attention of a post-modern audience, like prayer beads (now there’s some irony).
LikeLike
I love the input from Ellul – nothing powerful is ever neutral.
LikeLike
It does come down to balance. I use technology as a tool. I try to grow my mental self, my physical self and my spiritual self. When a particular technology moves from being a tool to being something I crave or look forward to each day at the cost of one of those areas then it becomes a god or an appetite. That doesn’t mean I don’t fall alot. I remember when we got our kids Nintendo 64 a number of years ago. Never really a video game guy (not even in the Pong days), my wife and I found ourselves so captivated at night with Mario when the kids went to bed that we were up till 4:00 in the moring two nights in a row. That’s when I decided this was not good for me…
LikeLike
I’m deeply immersed in technology, and love it; but truthfully, I think the overall effect of it on my “development as a serious, balanced, useful disciple of Jesus” is negative. I often wrestle with whether I should just make a radical break with technology in general.
LikeLike
I think the positives generally outweigh the negatives. There are abuses of every form of comunication – I don’t think the media itself is the culprit.
For me personally I’d be very lonely without the Internet. My son has a weak immune system so I can’t really do things often like go to church services, go spend time with friends or join a bible study.
LikeLike
I heard an Israeli rabbinical student who teaches theology to Catholics say that the Hebrew word for “money” is taken from the root for the word for “mirror.” He explained that money is an ideological reflective idol of ourselves, a mirror being a window lined with silver….
LikeLike
Jacques Ellul wrote in “Money and Power” that money is never neutral and that “Jesus personifies money and considers it sort of a god. He does not get this idea from his cultural milieu. … This personification of money, this affirmation that we are talking about something that claims divinity . … reveals something exceptional about money, for Jesus did not usually use deifications and personifications” (p. 75).
This from a review in C.T. magazine back in 1984 (the book was written about 30 yrs. prior to this); “Ellul explains that in Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13 Jesus shows that money is a power, a law unto itself that acts in the material world but with a spiritual orientation. In the Bible, power is never neutral. And it is often personal. Just as Scripture often portrays death as a personal force, so it also portrays money.â€
Ellul wrote in much the same way concerning technology, or what he referred to as technique. Technique is a systematic approach to everything that creates efficiency largely through ignoring human difference. It moves in the direction of homogenization, sameness, and dehumanization.
Ellul was not a Luddite, though it would seem he was. Yet he strongly felt that the Christian was under a calling to emphasize life and all that is fully human in ways that were personal and against the dehumanizing movement of technique.
I cannot but think he was onto something, and that the all encompassing aspects of technology are something we must strive to tame through the grace of Christ.
And let me just say I love gadgets.
LikeLike
It would be interesting to see what would happen if suddenly there was no Google. I guess we would have to talk about subject matter that was in our immediate vicinity so in the eventuality that we forget what it is called, we can point to it ….
LikeLike
It seems that those outside of evangelicalism have been thinking about this for some time (Postman, McLuhan, Ellul, etc.), but I’m glad someone like Carson is taking up the subject.
I’m currently using Neil Postman’s “Five things we need to know about technological change” as a jumping off point for thinking about tech, church, and spirituality. Basically, Postman’s point is that technology always has pros and cons, and is far more influential than we usually think.
LikeLike
Didn’t do much reading out on the water, plenty of meditating, though — and some shouting out in frustration when the wind blew the sound away from human ears. But He always hears that as a prayer and answers just as if I was praying faithfully in Church – maybe more so.
And I’m coming to believe that we are made in His image and likeness in no way more than our need and deep desire to be heard ….
LikeLike
Rada –
We had hoses, too — the water was cold but tasted of plastic ….
My uncle lived in Plainview. We always felt sorry for you kids — you couldn’t play hide ‘n seek in your town, for obvious reasons …;-p)
LikeLike
That would be houses not hoses….
LikeLike
Surfnetter – following your link – brought back memories when I grew up in Plainview – not so far from Levitown – I remember the hoses especially. Also – reading the Cloud of Unknowing out in the Sound would be one heck of a contemplative experience…
LikeLike
I think The Atlantic article “Is Google making us stupid?” is indispensable to this discussion.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google
The facts are, yes, we have had similar concerns as communication technology has changed over the years, but they have not all been unfounded fears (We do not develop the oral narrative proficiency and ability to memorize that nontextual cultures do). Also, the flood of information is not increasing mathematically as it did with the addition of the printing press; in the new digital age, it is literally growing exponentially every year.
It will take a different set of skills to cull information now? Some are learning many times faster with the internet, and other, who might flourish on a steady diet of the former literary canon, are foundering in the insignificance of what they find on the www.
LikeLike
“We are so hard wired to communicating with faces, that we can watch long dead actors on TV, and even the most simplistic of cartoon characters and still feel as if that we had a relationship going there.” – Surfnetter
Something gets lost in the translation when one can’t see facial expressions and body language. Because I am remote from my customer’s worksite I do a lot of teleconferencing – my least favorite form of meeting -why? Because I can’t see reaction to what I am saying. The internet and blogspace allow contributers to reveal of themselves only what they choose to through words, or even invent a whole new persona.
If the internet went away tomorrow I would morn the loss of quick information at the touch of a button. I might even miss the reading and contributing to the two whole blogs I visit each day. But in reality – I don’t run a blog like Michael does, no one sends me letters because of it and if they did it would overwhelm my already crazy chaotic life. In fact it might make some things easier over time because I might spend this time doing something else or maybe (gasp) just be, rather than do… Realistically though reading blogs must be filling some appetite in my life – I’ll need to think on it a bit…
H.U.G – I once spent a lot of time reading SciFi/fantasy – you will have to let us know when you are closer to completion…
LikeLike
Unicorny – Guy —
It’s much easier in some ways getting my thoughts across to you without watching your reactions — or having to figure out how you are hearing me without a head … 🙂
But then again, I can’t see how you are receiving what I’m saying, and so the need for the emotocon, which, being only three font characters, conveyed to you the attitude behind my words. We are so hard wired to communicating with faces, that we can watch long dead actors on TV, and even the most simplistic of cartoon characters and still feel as if that we had a relationship going there.
If we really want to get down to spiritual basics, we have to go back to the faith of the Fathers. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph had only a voice they heard and sometimes symbolic dreams and angelic messengers. There were no writings for them to refer to, ponder and discuss.And the First Commandment of Moses, the very first of ALL Biblical writings forbid the rendering of ANY graven images, not just those to be worshiped.
Why not discuss what the photos of sunsets and family members and the like on our walls and refrigerators, to say nothing of television and movies and the Internet, has done to our relating to real life?
LikeLike
Since the MTV era we have become more of a people with short attention spans, looking for short cuts, and less likely to do the deep dive into any particular subject. — Radagast
I’m trying to start a second career as an SF writer, and today’s publishing environment is either one-page “flashfics” or 500+ page Trilogy Components, nothing in-between.
And with so much free online stuff, nobody’s willing to pay for anything. “INFORMATION YEARNS TO BE FREEEEEEEE!” without the second half of the actual quote: “But the producer of that “information” wants to be compensated for the time and energy (and money) he put into creating and collating that information.”
I have heard of artists getting nastygrams from Netizens about “WHY SHOULD I GO TO YOUR SALES PAGE? JUST PUT IT UP ON THE WEB SO I CAN DOWNLOAD IT FOR FREEEEEEEEEEE!”
It is interesting though to see a group of kids in a room with cell phones – in silence – choosing to text each other rather than use a more traditional form of communication – talking. — Radagast
I saw the predecessor phenomenon 30 years ago on the first (mainframe-limited) chatrooms. Several students at adjacent terminals, “talking” entirely by messaging each other online, never even noticing the others’ physical existence next to them.
LikeLike
Again — the status quo felt just as threatened by the printing press. But, empirically speaking, did it really change anything?
Following thoughts, yours or anyone else’s, can only be judged by where they lead you. And theologically speaking, God is not a thought, and will not reside in anyone’s thoughts and imagination. If theological thinking only leads to more thought, than it was not really a theological exercise, was it?
LikeLike
I definitely think that the fact that so much volume of information (even vis a vis religion) comes “from” the Internet has a subtle but enormous effect on how we process it. The medium (blogs, email, and chat, if people still do that?) is sort of a least-common-denominator way to think and relate to people: almost nobody is special on the Internet because of what they’ve done or how they’ve done it, but for what they say and how they promote themselves. Credibility doesn’t work the same way. I expect that as Christianity gets swallowed by the medium, and the medium becomes ever more a lifestyle accessory, we’ll start to think of faith differently, too.
LikeLike
You sound a little scary yourself ….
LikeLike
Is Carson aware that humans have ALWAYS had technology . . .
LikeLike
I have an internet audience of thousands and thousands. I do not have a church that wants me to preach or a church family where I belong. When I’m not leading worship for our students, I have no church where I am more than just a visitor.
I have hundreds of letters a month to read, many asking for serious input into their lives, and I know none of these people.
I could go on and on. There is technological connection and personal isolation. I would really be afraid to meet some of the people who are a big part of the blog!
LikeLike
The culture of the world gets into you with or without the internet. When we weren’t checking our email in the morning we were turning on the TV. Before TV it was radio. Before radio — I don’t know — penny novels …?
And praying can be just as much of a distraction if you pray to idols or ideologies and not the Living God, or you’re praying rather than caring for your crying child, or paying attention to your neglected spouse.
The thing is to seek God’s will for you. If He wants me to be commenting here at this moment, if He is with me on this, then it’s good. But if I’m using this to distract me from what is really the good, then it’s not good. I’m thinking it’s good ….
LikeLike
“We need to hear competing voices of information from the world around us, use our time in the digital world wisely, and learn to shut that world down when it becomes more important to get up in the morning and answer emails than it does to get up and read the Bible and pray.”
Carson was right when he said that. Right where it hurts.
LikeLike
How would you evaluate the overall effect of technology on your development as a serious, balanced, useful disciple of Jesus?
Wisdom is having much to say and knowing when not to say it
Having been a techno in the day job for thirty years, and knowing the first IBM PC was introduced about the time I acknowledged Christ as Savior, I must say there has been a profound effect.
I have seriously been availed to resources I could neither have afforded nor in some cases would have considered; both to my benefit and demise.
The balance often tips from side to side as the influence varies. But as with all influence, there is as much usefulness as I allow. My greatest challenge while attending Clearwater Christian College as a young believer just back from Southeast Asia and fresh out the USAF computer operations school was spelling and typos. Today I just hit F7. I have a thirty year theological library and seldom (not never) crack the covers, yet DAILY (with rare technoSabbatarianisms) peruse the net.
I perceive the most important aspect to Michael’s query is usefulness. Am I today a believer of more impact because of our technology? I believe not. For all its benefit it has caused me to reach no one for the cause of Christ more than if it had not existed. We are what and who we are within the framework of our existence as allowed by the Lord. It is no more significant to our efforts within Christianity than the dispersion in 70 A.D. It is within our set of circumstances and a tool in our bag. Space program members theorize how the Egyptians built the pyramids. The electrician wonders how the plumber or surgeon does their work. Each operates with the tools the have at their disposal. Though we may marvel at the blessings or wickedness of the use of technology; we might also consider the similar impact of Gutenberg, Edison or Einstein.
Our usefulness is due to our yielding to Christ and not the circumstances or “tools†at our disposal. Technology impacts our tool set more than our usefulness.
LikeLike
The internet is nothing more than a really fast printing press. The same concerns were voiced when that thing was invented. “There is no end to the writing of books,” and “If all the things that Jesus did were to be written down it would fill all the books in the world,” are texts that inform on this subject.
The interpretation is this — if you don’t understand the import of the Incarnation you can read everything there is to read and you will become ever more confounded and confused. But if you do see that Jesus, who was (is) crucified from the foundation of the earth — that He as the fundamental basis of Life itself is God’s own and only perfect metaphor for His otherwise Unfathomable Being, than whatever you read or otherwise encounter in dreams or in waking life will just be a further clarification of your experience in and with the Living God.
LikeLike
Technology is also changing the culture. Since the MTV era we have become more of a people with short attention spans, looking for short cuts, and less likely to do the deep dive into any particular subject. This is seen in the blurbs on 24 hour news channels, all candy – no meat, in communication – text messaging (try to get some of these kids to write an email without texting language), the proliferation of TV channels and the never ending places to go on the internet.
I am not a culture warrior by the way, just an observer. I am just not sure where all this will eventually take us. It is interesting though to see a group of kids in a room with cell phones – in silence – choosing to text each other rather than use a more traditional form of communication – talking.
LikeLike
Perhaps I am a bit of a luddite, I refuse to bring a computer home. I am addicted to this whole internet thing, but I take time out to indulge other addictions: wife and family, reading genuine books, work (yes I am addicted to my work), hunting, and so forth.
Technology like most anything can be good and bad depending on how you use it.
LikeLike
Time for quiet contemplation is eaten up by easy access to radio, TV, cells,etc. Myrddin’s idea of a techno fast should spread.
We are the best connected yet loneliest generation ever.
LikeLike
My 17-year-old son and I were playing one of those “what-if” games that people play to pass the time on a long road trip. He asked me what three things I wish had never been invented. That is, what three things, if they had never been invented, would have caused the world to be a better place in their absence. (He was quick to point out, correctly, if these three things had never been invented we would not miss them in any way, because we had never experienced them.)
Here was my answer:
1. Rap music. (He thought this was hilarious.)
2. Satellites. This would have done away with cell phones, text messaging, and also satellite TV. We would still have television, but people would only watch the same three channels. Hence, people would bond and discuss the same television programs…and everyone would have a common database of “Brady Bunch” episodes (et. al.) to draw them together.
3. The internet. I use the internet, and maybe even love what I can do on the internet. But, I think it (and other forms of technology) make everybody more impatient with each other. And…if I had never had it, I would not miss it.
LikeLike
I’ll add a hearty “Amen” to Radagast’s post above. Tech is a tool, but in terms of Neil Postman, we easily slide from “tool using” to “tool enslavement,” what Postman calls “Technopoly.” My personal experience is that I read less (in terms of books), engage people less (face to face), and produce less (in terms of genuine productivity). We now have communication without communion and information without knowledge, ideas without wisdom. Look at the masters of the past. Can the technological age produce an Aquinas or Luther or Bach or DaVinci? I don’t believe it can.
It’s no coincidence that the leading industry on the internet is porn.
LikeLike
Oh, I must add that the internet saved me from my own fundamentalism. Honestly, I probably would have taken my life by now if I hadn’t found others who had come to a similar crisis of faith.
LikeLike
Lately I’ve been thinking that it’s really a larger issue than technology. I’m starting to lean toward the thought that Consumerism may be the larger or deeper issue. Most of us, here in the west, have all of our basic needs met, and then some. So marketers and advertisers have had to convince us that we have other ‘needs’. And I think it has worked. We now, unfortunately, ‘consume’ anything and everything we can get our hands on; from material items to knowledge and even people (porn), all in hopes that it will ‘satisfy’ us in some way.
LikeLike
It seems to me that the most helpful thing about internet blogging and the like is the openness that it has created. It has become a market place of ideas where people are free to listen, think, and express. However, the speed at which these ideas are expressed, without first listening and thinking, that becomes problematic. We jump to say what we think before we have really thought. More patience is needed…along with more love, more respect, more time praying over what we are hearing and saying. I stand as guilty as anyone.
That being said, without the Internet, I wouldn’t get to interact with your ideas. It truly is a great tool.
LikeLike
I am in the technology business, so I get to do this for my day job. That being said there are a couple of pros and a lot of cons to technology.
The internet is a great place to retrieve information fast. But it also poses a few other issues.
– It is a window to let every bit of trash in society into my home. Like having a porn shop or a place of corrupt ideas or misinformation next store it is always available to those who want to partake without having to leave the comforts of home.
– It is anti-social from a face-to-face perspective. Ever sit in front of a screen for a few hours and then go try to interact in the real world? It’s like a wall or fog separates me from the rest of the world for a while until I readjust.
If we throw in phones, gamestations, texting – I find it all hampers our comunication with others – either by reducing the manner in which we communicate and/or robbing our time.
For me – I’d rather be running, swinging a hammer, or reading a book in hardcopy – but then, the hypocrite I am, I am instead responding to this blog…
LikeLike
I’ve read a while ago that by just reading your local newspaper, you get more “information” in 20 minutes than your medieval ancestor in his entire life. I do not know if the figure is accurate, though.
Let’s see: it would be impossible for me to pursue my theological training without the wealth of material I can find on the Net.
On the other hand, there was a period in my life where I spent way too much time consulting Christian web-sites. This was certainly due to the fact that the ecclesial landscape in my country is quite gloomy, and that I needed some fresh air.
The problem of this attitude is that it disconnected me from reality. When all is said and done, the fact Michael Spencer (or anyone else) has a cool blog does not change anything to my cultural context and to the challenges I face daily.
Following Jacques Ellul (who wrote a lot about technology), I am now trying to “think globally and act locally”.
To think globally, the Net is a great tool, if you know how to select your information sources. To act locally, you have to turn your computer off.
LikeLike
I think Carson is right.
I have had to learn to slow down my writing else I become just as rabid as some fundie. It takes time & patience. Knowing the right things to post is not always easy, knowing the right time is difficult too. The problem for me is that when I have collected my thoughts it is old news. This is why those who write too quickly get a lot of attention, but they often offer little of substance. On the positive side it is improving my writing. I also am understanding more how to ignore the truly contentious ones.
LikeLike
Like many things in life, communications technology probably comes best in moderation.
Reading (offline, that is) is still really important to me, but a lot of the good stuff I read nowadays is what I’ve seen recommended online.
So without the internet, I’d have more time to reflect but less awareness of good books to read. Of course, Carson’s point may be that I would benefit from more reflection on the Bible and the corpus of “great books.” That may be so, but the internet has also enriched of my understanding of the Bible and great literature.
I guess that’s a lot of words to say that it’s probably best to keep a balanced approach.
LikeLike
I think the technology itself is morally neutral. I think pretty much anything that could be said for or against the internet could be said about libraries and videos. Access is broader and easier with the internet, but I think they are generally the same.
My struggle right now is trying to find a healthy balance of how much information I can actually benefit from. Whether it is books or stuff online, it is easy to keep craming information in and never really apply much of it.
The fact that the first century church didn’t even has an option for most individuals to study the scriptures and yet was expected to be able yo be faithful say something.
LikeLike
I have certainly revised my theology because of technology. The internet has greatly expanded my ability to do something I love: write what I think, with the biggie being getting good feedback. It has confirmed a gift. Overall, I think the affect is greatly in the positive, and I probably watch much less mindless TV because of it.
LikeLike
Carson’s in the ballpark, but I don’t fully agree with his views. If iPhones and the web draw us into the world, so can radio and television and print media.
They are tools, and like anything else, they have to be properly managed. I believe the church is just now beginning to think through how to do this, and will for the most part figure it out.
That said, the tools also offer a world of opportunities for people to learn theology, gain access to different texts, hear from superb teachers and pastors, and interact with believers from different expressions of Christianity. Those definitely are positive developments for the church at large.
LikeLike
I’ve spent my entire adult life online (I’m not-quite-30), so it’s hard to really picture my Christian life not including technology.
Having access to teachings and writings from Steve Brown, Fr. Cantelamessa, iMonk, and others has seriously helped me grow as a Christian. Also, having access to texts, lectionaries, prayers and prayerbeads from the various Christian traditions has been very helpful.
On the other hand, it’s been a lot easier to be a lone ranger rather than plug into an actual community of faith. And that’s VERY bad.
Though I have troubles with making technology a constant background noise with podcasts, music, dvds, etc., having access to the lectionairies, prayerbooks, and patristic writings via the Internet has provided an incentive for real silence and reflection to balance that tendancy.
LikeLike
Great article! Thanks for pointing it out.
For reasons very like those Carson points out, I have begun practicing technoSabbatarianism. From sundown on Saturday to sundown on Sunday I rest from my technological integration.
It’s my own liturgical way of breaking the grip and grind of everpresent information technology without becoming a Luddite or rejecting any sense in which God might work through the good of technology.
Let me tell you though … the first week it was amazing how strong the draw was to check my e-mail, write a blog post, put a CD in the player, turn on the game …
I welcome any fellow practitioners.
LikeLike