Screaming Hypocrite
I’ve been thinking a ton about the pressures and demands that I have, which aren’t that heavy. I don’t have a wife and children to provide for, my job at Chase seems pretty secure, and I’m not in debt, except I’m a little behind in paying for the Pastors College. (Support, anyone?) But really, I have some ministry responsibilities, house chores, important relationships, but none of them are great in weight. (There are others things weighing me, but that’s not for the blog.) But for some reason, not having the Internet is a huge weight on my shoulders. This sounds silly, and maybe it is, but I have to go somewhere else, primarily the church house, to get so much of my ‘work’ done because it’s bound to the Internet. It’s through emails, websites, Facebook, etc, and not having immediate access, yet everyone assuming you, do frustrates me. I don’t send over half the emails I write because they’re immediate responses that are obsolete by the time I go to send them. I just don’t get things done not having the Internet.
Here’s the other side of the story. Real relationships suffer. I’ve been thinking about this over and over and I’ve almost come to the conclusion that the Internet should not be used for personal/social interaction. Send me a file, okay. Need me to send in homework, fine. Want me to get to know you through Facebook, which can tell me more information that I’d ever want to know, sick. Now, no one is saying get to know me through Facebook. We’re just screaming it in our profiles. It took me many months to put up anything about myself because of convictions along these lines. But again the point is, real relationships suffer, and rarely are ever edified by Internet interaction, what I’ll just call Inter-action. It’s the same idea as text messaging when you have a freakin’ cell phone in your hand. Let’s talk to each other! I know I sound stupid saying this on a blog, but where would I say it in public? Where’s public discourse, debate, and interaction? The newspaper does, but then again, it doesn’t. In the university? While being the only place for a face to face interaction with a group of peers, this is hardly an honest attempt to facilitate profitable dialogue. Everyone can share their opinion, except the Christian whose thoughts are informed by the Word of God.
Okay, so here’s what I’m really asking for. I want to think criticially about how I use the Internet. What should the Internet be used for? What should the Internet not be used for? I’m not saying it’s devoid of value, but as with everything man gets his hands on, it’s perverted and abused. So really this is a confession of my own abuse, and how I feel pressure from others to abuse it. Honestly, I’m scared that we’re able to access all our passionate lusts at our fingertips, and think we’ll spiral out of control. There really are few restrictions on the Internet and we can get almost anything we want from it in some way, shape or form. So I’m just confessing and asking that we be aware of ourselves. Maybe this will start a discussion where we could get together in person and investigate what kind of guidelines should inform a godly use of the Web. I’m up for talking. And if you’re not in Bloomington, feel free to leave a comment. I know one thing the Internet does is bridge gaps of time and space. So that’s my rambling. Aren’t you glad I haven’t said anything else in two months?
