Friday, June 12, 2009

Computer Christianity

She walks out of her suburban household and sneezes at the buzz of the neighbor's lawnmower, slides into the four door luxury vehicle she bought online, and zips down the street with the Ipod shouting a play list of her select favorites. Pulling into the gas station, she unzips her wallet and pulls out a debit card. With a flick of the wrist, and a squeeze, she's all filled up and ready to go...
I did this terrible thing yesterday. Yes, in these brief moments of daily grind I was in the midst of transgression, and I hardly noticed it. How many people did I divert in my pursuit of convenience? My neighbor, the radio show hosts, the bank teller (a stretch), and the cashier at the gas station.

Looking back on a spring semester consumer behavior course, I recall my professor talking about how my generation and those after mine will have difficulty in their interpersonal relationships because they rely so heavily on the Internet and computer as methods of communicating. Let me just say that I have nothing against the advancement of technology, but it is important to consider how something as strong and lasting as the evolution of technology will change how we communicate, specifically the gospel.

As I see it, the human element of any demographic is the community fortified around it. When we forgo the human interaction of our daily pursuits we are losing community. While we will grow to be satisfied by the virtual communities we've create online, I can't help but be burdened by the thought that we would loose discernment for God's will by creating our own.
So I pose these questions:
What is Christianity in a world were we create our communities?
What is forgiveness/compassion/understanding if we elude those in need?
How do we discern Gods will while it is so easy and convenient to do our own?
And does Christianity have a real place in this virtual world?
These are the questions I will discuss and aim the answer over the next few weeks.
Please leave your existing thoughts and ideas with me, so that I can include them in my future responses.

1 comment:

Joe Kovac said...

A few of those ideas and questions you listed are ones I have struggled with (and still struggling) about a year ago.

I think I can bring some insight into the first question at the end of the post. When we "create" our communities, we have to realize that we are really incapable of creating anything original and we are simply finding a new way to express an old idea - in this case communities. So if we are creating a community, we must be mindful what exactly are we modeling.

Bottomline: Can Christ be gloried (the most important aspect of Christianity) in a community we create?

This almost might carry a little weight in your consideration of the last question listed.