Wisdom from a Screen?

“You can’t get wisdom from a screen!” My Greek professor made this adamant assertion to a class of young preacher boys in January 1992. He was responding to a question regarding the new Bible study software named Logos. Version 1.0, a forward thinking shareware product designed by two Microsoft employees, had been released in December 1991. Little did my professor know the technological tsunami that would soon pound the cultural landscape in the form of the World Wide Web and its home, the Internet. As with all big waves, some watch, some run, and some grab 12 foot boards and head into the surf.

You might be wondering why I would discuss the Internet and New Communication Technologies (INCT). Isn’t this the 21st century? Isn’t this a tired subject? Am I just transitioning from cassettes to CD’s? There are a few reasons why I think this topic is pertinent. For one, conservative Christians are generally the last adopters of technology because of the fear of the unknown, or a general lack of understanding. Why fix it if ain’t broke? How do I get on The Twitter?

Beyond that, Paul advised that in everything we do, we should have a kingdom purpose in mind, and glorify our great God. I believe this applies to our engagement with INCT. We should have a philosophy and integration of INCT into our worldview.

Lastly, prior to my current assignment as a pastor, I spent four years at the head of an e-commerce company where being ahead of the technological curve was a habit. I enjoy and embrace technology while also loving Jesus, and embracing the people that follow Him. I think I have a unique perspective on the topic.

I believe there are several intersections of INCT and the Christian life, yet brevity of the article necessitates that I camp on one theme. From a macro perspective INCT is not about function, tools or efficiency. Its dominant characteristic is connectivity. To understand connectivity, we must understand the transmission of information, communication.

Communication

Human communication began in the Garden of Eden. God taught Adam and Eve about himself. He interacted with them and laid down a few ground rules, though they seem to have only skimmed his blog on spiritual death. Despite Adam’s prideful disobedience and a change in proximity, God continued to communicate. The command to multiply was followed and community was created. The community catalyzed by communication and contact would be a constant among the human race. He continued to interact with humans, often in spectacular fashion. The ten-phase guerrilla marketing, shock and awe plan introduced in Egypt got everyone’s attention. Yet it was the still, small voice that snapped Elijah back to focus. According to Amos 4:13, if God kept a book of world records for his supernatural activities, God’s translation of himself to human thought would rank as highly as creation (ESV).

Since, then, it is the nature of God to communicate, interact and commune, it is no surprise that these attributes permeate the human psyche. In every informational conveyance from Rahab’s thread to Paul’s legal defense, greater emphasis was on the message than the medium. Yet the medium has relevance to the message in the same way verbal tone and body language put spoken language into context.

What can we conclude from this? The dominant characteristic of INTC, connectivity, is rooted in community, and is therefore as much an expression of cultural identity as it is a functional product of advanced technology. Bearing the image of God, all men carry the desire to worship something as well as relate poignantly with others. Without regeneration, we embrace gods of our own creation and interact with others selfishly and injuriously. Yet the spiritual longings of our hearts persist, and are reflected in the post-modern accoutrements of technology. We seek the treasure of community by deciphering a code of 1’s and 0’s where URL marks the spot.

In How Then Should We Live, Francis Shaeffer argued that art painted in a style of fragmentation represented a loss of hope in the search for unity of knowledge (p.184). We understand this to mean that the style of art expressed a particular mindset within the culture. The art was more than a functional work to decorate a room. The artwork itself communicated. My emphasis is that INCT represents a paradigm shift in artistic expression that gives us insight into our culture and allows us to engage as never before. How then should we live, encompassed by the information surge?

Ride the Wave

You cannot avoid the massive wall of water headed to shore. You can be crushed and left behind to curse modernity, or you can ride the wave. Hebrews 5:14 advises that discernment is a mark of spiritual maturity. Thus we can immerse ourselves in INCT’s benefits, while separating from its destructive nature. How does this look in the real world?

You should be on Facebook. The social networking site provides a place to stay connected with people, to learn, and to disseminate information. You can catch up with your long lost college roommate, your 2nd grade schoolteacher, that weirdo kid who bunked with you at summer camp, or your neighbors from two states ago. Facebook’s user-friendly platform allows you to see friends, drop a quick line, look at a few photos and keep up, even on a cursory basis. I believe it creates ministry opportunities as you see into lives through status updates, pictures, entertainment choices, etc.

Further, it highlights my assertion that people want to know and be known. They desire connectivity and affirmation. I know there is much debate as to the usefulness or value of being on Facebook. Many of those arguments were summarized in R. C. Sproul Jr.’s recent article Should Christians Be on Facebook? He concluded rightly that our use of Facebook should be deliberate, and our choice of activities should be purposeful. Used properly, Facebook is a tool that can enhance our friendships and allow us to walk into the lives of those outside of the faith.

Whether you use it as a noun or a verb, one word that should be in your vocabulary is Google. This company is a game-changer. There is no topic on the planet upon which you cannot become reasonably familiar within an hour or so by accessing free resources found in their search engines. At our company, we personified the tech juggernaut. As in, “I don’t know, but I’ll ask my friend, Mr. Google.”

In fact, search engines may change educational philosophy. Ask yourself why you should memorize caches of remedial facts, if you can access them with a few keystrokes. Save your brain for conceptual thinking. Beyond that, the free email, maps, satellite images, business software, calendars, etc. and the simplified integration of these tools into one seamless package provide unlimited versatility once deemed unthinkable in personal and business systems.

Also allow your discerning eye to see the humanist culture reflected in Google’s legendary model. They utilize cloud computing to aggregate immeasurable masses of information with proprietary mathematical formulas to access data. In other words, man’s combined energy and resources amass the world’s knowledge, all things knowable; man’s version of truth. Using its algorithmic equivalent of special revelation, this truth is accessed. Humanity’s desperate visage hides behind the veil of information technology.

What INCT list would be complete without a combination of technology and our thirst for possessions? Despite its predisposition to bring more stuff into our lives, Amazon, the world’s greatest online store, is a major enhancement to the Christian. When I was searching for C.T. Studd’s biography (now one of my favorite giveaways), I located one old copy at the nearest Bible college library. With a quick search at Amazon, I soon had five copies of the latest edition in transit.

In his excellent 2006 work The Long Tail, Wired editor Chris Anderson presents a clear picture of e-commerce philosophy and its cultural milieu, among which Amazon carries great influence. E-commerce resources like Half.com and Amazon have made locating difficult-to-find items a walk in the park.

Yet with the positive resources comes a soft underbelly of humanistic community. Amazon allows us to experience a new version of instant gratification. What an amazing feeling it is to load the cart with treasures. We ramp the exhilaration to religious fervor as we carry our burdens down the aisle to the checkout. With One-Click pay, we can even avoid the sting of accessing our credit card. We arrive at our culture’s version of Titus 2:13: “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great god and savior the Amazon-emblazoned package.” Our hope for contentment through faith in materialism quickly dissolves as we discover in horror that Amazon’s long tail is attached to a roaring lion.

There seems to be an infinite array of technological stars in the INCT universe, such as Twitter, Digg, Technorati and Evernote. These things can improve the quality of our personal journey in the faith. They are tools to be used. Peter wrote that God’s sovereign power has granted all things pertaining to life and godliness. God knows that we are going to enjoy life in areas that are not inherently liturgical. Although many followers of Christ spend too much time on the recreation side of life, there exists a resurgence within our generation that prefers the weight room to the spa. And for those, INCT can enhance personal ministry.

As you follow the Son of the living God, recognize what INCT represents. It is not a stream of overwhelming information, but a reflective cry of humanity. Our culture seeks to be heard. Our culture seeks to be connected. They walk as sheep with no shepherd, misunderstanding the very community their souls desire. Sadly the god of this age has blinded them to their real need. They believe in the triune god of the internet, the broadband and the holy laptop. Please don’t recoil from this generation. Embrace the INCT as a new medium for becoming all things to all people—that by all means you may rescue some.

Micah Pattisall earned his BA in Biblical Studies at Piedmont Baptist College and serves as Pastor of Church Life at Salem Chapel in Winston Salem, North Carolina. He lives with his wife and three sons in Pfafftown, NC.