This paradox is constant: New computers, improved operating systems, enhanced software applications are steadily on the march. Arriving, too, are new gadgets and gizmos aimed at making life easier. Too busy to mow the lawn? A robotic mower is available. Can't figure out (still) how that VCR works? Grab a personal video recorder that will seek, find, and record your favorite programs with ease. Left the camera at home? Check your mobile; it might have a digital camera built in.
Perhaps the ultimate convergence of religion and new technology was a July 2001 contest in Britain to reduce the Lord's Prayer to the 160-character size of an SMS text message. Beginning "dad@hvn," it ended "&ur cool4eva!ok?"
It's easy to chuckle-or scratch your head-at such a thing, but are there moral implications to all this? Does the constant access many of us have to the Internet really benefit the believer's life or can it hamper spiritual growth? Should the church even use technology, or shrink from it because the apostle Paul didn't have a Web site?
"If we gab all the time, whether in person or online, we live noisily-and foolishly," Schultze asserts on his own Web site. "Such noise is one of the great setbacks of our age; it leads to greater isolation and incoherence. The more we try to communicate without first listening, the more confused and confounded we become. This is partly why our lives today tend to be technologically rich and communion poor."
In his book-which bears ringing endorsement from Internet enthusiasts, communications professors, and theologians-Schultze argues that a constant whir of Internet activity could isolate us from true communion with God, and with each other. He argues, strenuously, for disconnection from such technology to recover one-on-one listening and communication skills.
Much can be made to support this argument. From a time when "no Bible, no breakfast" was the watchword for Christians as they rose to greet the day, too many of us scurry to check our e-mail before opening a devotional book. Electronic message boards, chat rooms, and "IM-ing" ("instant messaging" to the rest of us) can sometimes rise in place of the fellowship hall, midweek prayer meeting, or conversation in the foyer.
Even the great convenience of satellite television with church services, Bible studies, and hymn singing available at the click of a button could deflect some from obeying the apostolic injunction to not forgo regular church attendance.
The Faith Factor
And yet there's substantial evidence that the technology that diverts some from their devotional life strengthens the faith and Christian lives of other pilgrims. Critics contended that the availability of unusual information on the Internet helped steer at least one person to the ruinous Heaven's Gate cult, whose members committed suicide expecting a UFO to transport them "to the next level." Yet several people can attest to having found Jesus through a Web site, online Bible study, or e-mail exchange with a concerned Christian.
It was, in fact, my own privilege to help someone leave a cultic group in part through an e-mail exchange in which I directed her to a Web site that contained evangelical answers to the cult's teachings. She also had counsel from other Christians. I do not mean to discount the working of the Holy Spirit, but being able to share information quickly and discreetly through the Internet helped this woman and her husband find some needed answers.
However, I would be less than honest if I didn't note that there's some pretty bizarre spiritual information to be found online. Much of it could confuse a person considering the claims of Jesus, or even a believer whose discernment is a bit rusty. A quick spin around the World Wide Web could make your head spin amid the confusing sites, claims, and counterclaims over this or that minor (or major) doctrine. Because anyone can publish his or her views on the Internet, just about everyone does, often without qualification or filter. An innocent reader could be misled.
So is Schultze right? Does the Internet, and even an SMS version of a classic Bible portion, rob us of something vital in terms of communion with God? Is the risk of wandering down a false path enough to put us off the Internet entirely?
I tend to agree with a friend, Gen. Paul Rader, who was the international leader of the Salvation Army, and is now president of Asbury College. Writing in 1996, Rader suggested that the Internet's "technology is in itself arguably morally neutral, without particular spiritual value or moral peril." In other words, it's what we make of the Internet that matters before God.
If I spend 10 hours daily in front of the computer and accomplish nothing good for my work, my family, or my God, then I'm an unprofitable servant at best, a miscreant at worst. But if I'm so wrapped up in career or personal pursuits that I'm not available to minister to those who may reach out electronically, am I not also missing something?
Going Online for God
Walter P. Wilson was a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur and executive-he helped Apple Computer make its mark in the Pacific Rim-and he's a dedicated Christian. After reading his book The Wired Church (Word, 2000), we spoke, and he posited a theory that may sound strange.
God, Wilson believes, allowed the Internet to spring forth so that we could "go into all the world" and bring the good news to everyone. If we fail to take advantage of that opportunity, he said, we'll have to answer for such a loss.
"What did you do with the Internet I allowed to exist so you could reach six billion people?" he imagined God asking.
What indeed? You see, while some Christians may sit aloof and apart from the Internet and its battles, spiritual seekers are still out there, still hungering, still searching. An American Web site, Beliefnet.com, has as its motto, "We all believe in something." Implicit in that statement is the notion that as long as we believe-in something-that's good enough. Such may be a passable advertising slogan, but to Jesus, who said no one sees God the Father "but by me" (John 14:6), it may seem wide of the mark.
If Christians, people who love Jesus and want to share His love with others, aren't out on the Internet setting up Web sites, hosting Bible studies, exchanging e-mails and IMs with the curious, even praying in a chat room-if Christians aren't there, who will be? What will those other people offer? Will such offerings lead searching hearts to Christ?
Just as Paul stood in the marketplace of ideas of his day, Mars Hill, it is incumbent upon Christians to be involved in the intellectual marketplaces of this era. By contending for the faith, online, we help fulfill the command of Christ to go "into all the world," even if it is a digital one.
I confess: I'm a gadget freak. I love getting and playing with new computing toys, and, thankfully, my career as a journalist covering technology allows me to do this and make a living. Sometimes I have to force myself away to review my contact with God. Yet I also know how technology can help me bring a message to people I'd otherwise not know, as well as put me in touch with other believers with resources that strengthen my faith walk.
Those who argue that we need to listen as much (or more) than we speak have a point. We need to "come apart," as Jesus said, and refresh our souls at the Lord's springs. But as my friends the Salvos sing: "The world is needing us." Part of that world is online and that means we should be there, too.
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*This article was originally published in the October 19, 2002, issue of the Record and is reprinted with permission.
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Mark Kellner is the assistant director for news and information for the General Conference Communications Department.
HE AGE-OLD CONFLICT BETWEEN TECHNOLOGICAL advances and the Christian life is taking on greater intensity. How can believers decide what is good and useful, and what they should do with today's technology-and tomorrow's?
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