Sycamore

A bit back, we talked a bit about the effect of the internet and the idolatry of options that can slip into our lives if we’re not careful.  But there’s more to it than that - it’s not just idolatry of option, but idolatry of ease that can slip into our lives if we’re not careful.

By providing information with little to no effort, the internet has made diligent scholars more efficient and effective, but most people aren’t diligent scholars.  Most people haven’t used the internet to increase their productivity, they’ve used it to decrease their effort - the same way some people read books to learn, but others read just to pass the test (or just buy the cliff notes).  By providing social networking with little to no effort, you allow some diligent people to increase their community and stay in touch with more people.  But for most people, you simply dumb down the community forming process, and allow them to put in minimal effort and receive a community that almost like the real thing.  The problem is that almost isn’t good enough when it comes to learning, community, or just plain thinking.

As Christians, and as the church, we’ve got a responsibility to use the tools available to us to aid and increase our ministry.  But when we use those same tools to try and get away with almost the same ministry, just with a lot less effort on our parts, we’re idolizing ease and efficiency over real world ministry.  And we’re not nearly as efficient as our speed leads us to believe.

If you haven’t read it, Scott wrote an excellent post on the “facebook culture” that’s getting in the way of real relationships:

…I know that Phil is tired, Meredith and Karina are having lunch on Friday, and Amy has a new job.  “What’s wrong with that?” you ask?  I have spoken to these people lately, in fact they’re all my friends.  However, I haven’t talked individually with any of them about these facts…yet I know them.  I have a relationship with these people, but it feels more involved and intimate than it is.  I know things about them, but we haven’t really talked since those things happened.  It’s weird… Because of the tools at our disposal, we develop a false sense of intimacy with each other that doesn’t really deepen our relationships at all (and is definitely not the kind of relationship God desires for His church).

Facebook can be a great tool to aid community and ministry, if it’s used correctly.  But it can also be a temptation to feel like you’re building relationships at lightning speed when really, it’s just a convincing illusion.  The same applies to the way we learn, the way we study, even the way we think - the information at our fingertips tempts us to skim, not to reflect; to grab a few facts we can stream together, not to immerse ourselves in knowledge - or apply it.  Worship extends even to how we learn and think.