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Technologic

Ryan Hawthorne

08/10/09

Ever despaired at the amount of time you spend online or attached to technology in either your workplace or during your leisure time (or both!). And what's all this about christian community - can the two ever be reconciled? Put it another way, can modern technological advances be usefully redeemed from their tendency to isolate their users? This post briefly chews on these thoughts.

Daft Punk mused the following about our ‘technologic’ age…

Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
Trash it, change it, mail - upgrade it,
Charge it, pawn it, zoom it, press it,
Snap it, work it, quick - erase it,
Write it, cut it, paste it, save it,
Load it, check it, quick - rewrite it,
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
Drag and drop it, zip - unzip it,
Lock it, fill it, call it, find it,
View it, code it, jam - unlock it,
Surf it, scroll it, pause it, click it,
Cross it, crack it, switch - update it,
Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax - rename it,
Touch it, bring it, Pay it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, start - format it.

Today we could add things like “tweet, RT it” or “peer-to-peer it”, and in between phonecalls, meetings and the odd chat, Daft Punk have pretty much hit the nail on the head as to how a good portion of our days are spent. In front of a computer screen. The impersonal “it” of the tune. Thumping out the commands by keyboard or mouse and expecting the technological brain inside it’s shiny aluminium case to work it’s magic so we can save hours of head scratching and effort. I’m sad to say that it probably sums up more than enough of my leisure time than I’d care to admit in front of my minaturised iphone screen too! I remember reading John Piper, who I have huge appreciation for, muse on why he tweets. He summarised by quoting Colossians 1:16, “All things were created through Christ and for Christ”. He reasons that the world does not know it, but that is why Twitter exists and that’s why he tweets.

I like his thinking - tweeting to the glory of God! But. For all the emerging benefits of social networking media and the like, they are by nature solitary pursuits. Just you, your gadget of choice and the big old world wide interwebz. Not exactly eyeball to eyeball interaction!

Now consider those ‘one another/each other’ passages in the New Testament that give us the blueprint for what christian community is to look like. At first glance it probably only reinforces the near polar opposite natures of christian community and the C21 trend to turn on, tune in and drop out of meaningful face-to-face relationships through technology.

Love one another
Wash one another’s feet
Be devoted to one another
Honor one another
Live in harmony with one another
Stop passing judgment on one another
Accept one another
Instruct one another
Greet one another with a holy kiss
Agree with one another
Serve one another in love
Bearing with one another in love
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ
Bear with each other
Forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another
Admonish one another
Encourage one another and build each other up
Encourage one another daily
Spur one another on toward love and good deeds
Do not slander one another
Live in harmony with one another
Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling
Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another
Be at peace with each other
Have equal concern for each other
Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other
Carry each other’s burdens
Encourage each other
Live in peace with each other
Be kind to each other and to everyone else
Keep on loving each other as brothers
Don’t grumble against each other
Confess your sins to each other

So, I guess my thinking is this. In our world it’s easy to be right next to someone and yet more interested in the shiny piece of chrome and plastic you’re glued to. Don’t get me wrong, I love technology, and I can give you a list as long as your arm as to why Mac trumps PC every time (your salvation depends on it, ok?). But, I’m beginning to see how we can bring the ‘one another’s’ into our virtual world rather than the isolated and impersonal
‘Surf it, scroll it, pause it, click it” of the aforementioned little electronica number. This very website is one such way. I am being blessed all over the place by the collective articles here, and it’s an exciting prospect to try to make the virtual life of Redeemer a reflection of the genuine, intentional christian community it strives to be in the ‘real’ world. Let’s make it our business to look for other innovative ways to redeem technology!

Tags: Community, Internet, social networking