Love it or hate it, the Internet has dramatically changed how we live our lives. In so many conversations, a question of fact will come up, with the answer a mere Google search away. Shopping online is a great convenience, and the ability to keep up with friends and family – no matter what distance they may be from you – is a breeze. What’s more, access to information about our faith has never been more readily available. Recently, the Barna Group surveyed pastors about their views of online religious experiences, asking them if they believed that people would begin experiencing their faith exclusively online. Nearly half of the pastors surveyed (47%) believed that for at least some people, this would be true.
On the one hand, we should be encouraged that we have a powerful tool we can use to proclaim the Gospel, one with a reach that we could only have dreamed of just a few decades ago. Just within our own use of technology here at FBC, we have seen people in Southeast Asia – in nations where the Gospel is restricted – watch some of our sermons online! And those were not the only places that were accessing our sermon videos. The ease with which the Good News can be spread throughout the world should excite and encourage us to utilize it to the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom. Indeed, even this note will be posted online via our website!
On the other hand, we should be cautious about the specific wording of the question: people experiencing faith exclusively online. One of the dangers of the online world is that it can create a false sense of community. For instance, the Pew Research Center found that the average number of friends an adult Facebook user has is 338 (we may be stretching the definition of “friends” to new limits!). Often, there is no in-person interaction with the vast majority of those in our social networking circles, and yet we can feel deep connections to them – a false sense of community, at least from a Scriptural standpoint. In addition, the propensity for adopting a persona online that is different from the one you have in real life has been well documented (just read the comments section on a political or religious news article online to see how utterly vicious people become when they can hide behind the anonymity of their keyboards). When people simply become a collection of words typed onto a screen (or maybe a YouTube video), it can be very easy to dehumanize them and treat them in ways that we would never attempt were the person standing before us. Personal accountability evaporates quickly in the online ether.
What should be our response? First, let’s avoid the extremes of the technophiles and the Luddites; technology is neither the greatest nor the worst thing. When it comes to our faith, we should be ready to use technology to help us reach greater numbers with Christ, but we should be cautious that it does not draw us away from the local community of believers to which we have been called. May we never use it as an excuse to neglect meeting together regularly with our brothers and sisters. Just something to think about…
~Pastor Roy
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