Monday, November 12, 2007

Does technology undermine the Gospel?

I am really having a hard time with this ends/means debate. Two of the three examples I gave last week were, in my opinion, no-brainers:

No, we should not rejoice that Joel Osteen is reaching millions of people with his message. I have no doubt God can use Osteen's message to bring people to a real understanding of the Truth but, the fact is, Osteen preaches the anti-gospel: God exists to serve man.

And no, Halo is not a good idea even if it brings teens into the church. Since when was the beauty of Creation and the redemption of the soul so boring we needed a video game to attract a certain demographic?

The third -- the one about investing in water-saving technology a community desperately needed so a company could do business there -- is a bit tougher for me, but I'll save that one until next week because I thought Broun asked an interesting question about Halo that I think carries a lot of cultural significance: Why have we not thought or discussed critically "the embrace of technology as THE medium through which to communicate the solid truths of Scripture?"

The example shared last week described churches' use of Halo as a means to attract teens to fellowship where they can hear God's word. But the examples of technology being employed for ministry are pervasive and the utility of many is difficult to discern:
  • GodTube.com is the fastest growing website in America. The site is based heavily on concepts popularized by YouTube and Facebook but presented from a Christian point of view. The site has many videos of sermons, music, and other content screened by students at Dallas Theological Seminary and Chris Wyatt, GodTube's founder, highlights the fact that "GodTube users on Sunday mornings outnumber the congregation of the megachurch pastor Joel Osteen in Houston."
  • Kiva.org is a virtual interface to connect would-be lenders to entrepreneurs across the world looking to work their way out of poverty. The site was created by a Christian at Stanford Graduate School of Business and currently features, among many others, a Samoan woman seeking a loan of $475 to repair her canoe and buy new fishing gear. Sixteen people from Hawaii to British Columbia have loaned the funds with repayment terms set for 18 months.
  • Many churches -- including Mars Hill led by Mark Driscoll in Seattle, Bethlehem Baptist led by John Piper in Minneapolis, and The Village Church led by Matt Chandler in Dallas -- have begun videotaping their sermons and playing them during additional services to extend the church's ministry beyond what time, distance, or the church building's size would otherwise enable. On the Mars Hill website, Mark Driscoll explains that video services are a means to "humbly find ways use the opportunities that our culture would give us so that the person and work of Jesus could be known by as many people as possible" (interpreting 1 Corinthians 9:19-23).

Driscoll equates the use of technology today to Paul's means of engaging culture in 1 Corinthians 9 suggesting both have the same end: "that by all means, [we] might save some" (verse 22). He runs through a list of technological adaptations that have been adopted by churches throughout history -- including the pipe organ, air conditioning and heat, electricity and amplification -- that were often scandalous in their introduction but are now widely accepted.

So is technology a wise means to engage culture or are there aspects of some/all technology that fundamentally undermine the message of the Gospel?