Social Networking, Technology and God

Lately, I spent a lot of time thinking and contemplating about what an impact new technology has done in my life and this generation in terms of  sharing the "good news" or the" Love of God" in the virtual space. I also thought about how my time, habits and everyday rituals has changed dramatically over the years  because spending hours in my iMac and Mac laptop (Mac talaga noh, hehe)  whether I’d effectively communicated my ideas to friends and family – guess I’ll find out soon enough. Anyway, Marshall McLuhan became famous with the publication of Understanding Media, in which he states right at the beginning that a medium is "any extension of ourselves”, or most importantly, he defines media as technological extensions of the body. He passed away in 1980, but maybe he had a vision or imagined this 21st century with our laptops and iPhones, Blackberry  etc, “technological extensions” texting, IM-ing, emailing, Facebook-ing, Twitter-ing. 

Through social networking programs such as Facebook, Friendster and Twitter, we can now connect, interact and know the details of each other’s lives like never before. This will give your teens an avenue to connect with their peers and also allow you to know your young people. Better still, by allowing them to know some of the daily activities of your life, your thoughts, hobbies and interests, it will let them know you better. 

“These are the things that make you the man that leads your church. They’re the windows into your personality that perhaps stay shuttered when you’re teaching the Bible. Sometimes your people need to look in—not all the way in, and not into every room—but your people need some access to you as a person.

… It will give you access to your people’s minds and hearts in a unique way by giving them a chance to know you as a well-rounded person. You will no longer be only a preacher and a teacher, but also a guy who had a hard time putting together a swing-set for his kids last weekend. People will open up for you as you open up like this for them. Letting people catch an honest glimpse of your life will add authenticity to your teaching and depth to your ministry.”  

Mr. Piper

The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium - that is, of any extension of ourselves - result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.
Marshall McLuhan

Theologians Don’t Know Nothing

These days it is tough being a theologian. Polls show evidence of a widespread spiritual quest, but the search seldom leads to the theologian’s door. This is odd because by definition the theologian’s entire life is devoted to, studying “the science of God or of religion; the science which treats of the existence, character, and attributes of God, his laws and government, the doctrines we are to believe, and the duties we are to practice.”C.S. Lewis blamed the disinterest in theology on theologians saying fifty years ago, “When I began, Christianity came before the great mass of my unbelieving fellow countrymen either in the highly emotional form offered by revivalists or in the unintelligible language of the highly cultured clergymen. Most men were reached by neither. My task was therefore simply that of a translator—one turning Christian doctrine, or what he believed to be such, into the vernacular, into language that unscholarly people would attend to and could understand…One thing is sure. If the real theologians had tackled this laborious work of translation about a hundred years ago, when they began to lose touch with the people (for whom Christ died), there would have been no place for me.”The complaint about their irrelevance has entered popular culture through WILCO whose new album, A Ghost is Born,” features a song titled “Theologians,” the first line of which is, “theologians don’t know nothing, about my soul.”Students of culture know that in the 60’s everyday discussions about theology moved from religious and academic institutions into the popular culture. We may not like pop theology, but for many of today’s youth it is the only theology they know. SO I recommend we learn to “exegete” (Exposition; explanation; especially, a critical explanation of a text or portion of Scripture) -Dick Staub