Comments on: Talking with Frank: Using Whatever Technology I Have in Hand to Minister

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:28:17 +0000

Thanks, Tre. I hope this blog helps in some way.

By: Frank Johnson

Frank Johnson — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:59:13 +0000

Paul:

I agree – we should use whatever technology we have to build God’s kingdom.

My comment regarding 2 John 12 was meant only to point out that John preferred face-to-face communication to long-distance communication. He wasn’t saying (and neither should we) that long-distance communication has no value.

I do think that the verse calls into question the common belief among Christian internet strategists today that online community is as good as face-to-face community. John obviously thought there was something better than long-distance communication, and he longed for it. As you said, however, that didn’t stop him from using long-distance communication tools and neither should it stop us from using the technology tools we have available to us today.

In my opinion, the common strategy today among Christian web strategists is to do all we can to use today’s technology without even considering the thought that face-to-face communication could be better. And that’s where my concern lies.

Frank

By: Tre Lawrence

Tre Lawrence — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:01:06 +0000

Excellent points. The “in-hand” concept is a very valid idea.

By: God doesn’t only communicate face-to-face, so why should we? « Ipiphanist (Show + Tell)

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:16:27 +0000

[...] when you’re commenting on something thought-provoking, such as this post contending the the priority of face-to-face communication, my thoughts ran away with [...]

By: Nick Charalambous

Nick Charalambous — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:54:57 +0000

Another hugely insightful post, Paul. I think one of the more frustrating aspects to the critiques of online church is that it pretends a true and complete experience of God and one another is possible in the real world without technological facilitators … so where does that leave our Bibles? Our our church buildings?

First, God obviously thought that human speech and writing (symbolic meaning) were good technologies to transfer His meaning and action to us. And whether that symbolic communication is carried by a machine (a scroll, a book) a person (spoken word, deeds), or a visual sign (a burning bush, resurrection of the dead), it’s still symbolic action. And its value comes only from whether it corresponds with God’s ultimate Truth and God’s ultimate spiritual reality. (Let’s remember that Satan can deceive even believers with signs and wonders.)

So online expressions of worship, faith and community are simply ways to communicate an ultimate spiritual reality and to receive an experience of an ultimate spiritual reality. And I happen to think that the more powerful our tools for communicating, the more potential there is to for that technology to help us grow in greater faith, live more obediently in Truth and serve more fully in the body of Christ.

Philosophically and theologically, there is no black-white separation of the physical and the virtual. In the Bible, words shape hearts that shape deeds. And deeds shape hearts that shape words. Physical people, bodily and symbolically, are signifiers … and the only signified (or authentic reality, Truth) is the spiritual one — life in and through and for our triune God.

When rightly evaluating how God-honoring our online or offline culture is, physical reality alone counts for nothing (”God can raise up sons of Abraham from these stones”.) The question is whether you are present and alive! in the spirit of God in all that you do.