Well I'm just going to be straight out and I hope I don't offend anyone reading this, but I'm christian. I go to church on Sundays. Do the whole feed the poor during holidays. I'm basically what other people love calling me a "Jesus Freak". Just today, I went to other "Jesus Gathering" (my parents call it) it's called the Harvest Crusade, maybe you heard of it? I've been going to it for the past four years now. And each time I notice that technology becoming more and more involved in each Crusade every year. The first thing that popped in my first was chapter eight of Neil Postmans book "Amusing Ourselves To Death", he basically talked about how the media even effected religion to start religious programs on t.v. When first read this in the book I thought "no big deal, it's just on t.v.". But today was when I first noticed the religion programs on t.v. progressed into something bigger. Now a days you can "go to church" on your laptop, cell phone, even Ipod!
Anyway, back to the story; At the Crusade the hosts and preachers actually encouraged us to go on our Twitter or Facebook or Myspace to upload pictures or post a comment or status saying "I'm at the Harvest Crusade! You should watch on harvest.org!" Then after they said "Text "GREG" to 55678 to receive text messages of how many people receive the Christ in their lives tonight!" Then of course they said "Follow us on Twitter or Facebook!" It all seemed so strange as I sat there and just saw how much technology has effected our lives in the smallest thing now a days. It's gone far enough to be used in religion. Good or Bad? Well my opinion; it's both. I mean it sucks that they only way to reach out to people about God is though a cell phone or computer, but hey! if it works like everyone says it does then at least they're receiving Christ somehow right? But like I said, I'm what you would call a "Jesus Freak".
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What you have to remember is that the Church is an enterprise. They're trying to get their "product" out to everyone (Their product being Christianity). And they've been quick to notice a fast and easy way to get the word out to millions of people simultaneously is through the social networking sites like Facebook or Tweeter. Plus it's free of charge! So of course they're gonna use whatever technology facilitates their goal.
ReplyDeleteChurch is an enterprise. Authentic connection to a spiritual life is not.
ReplyDeleteTo continue that thought...so to attend to our spiritual lives, we have to withdraw from the voices and the chatter of the world.
ReplyDeleteRaul's right, religion is like a bureaucracy/ middle man between you and God. It needs to grow and attract more people so it uses new tools like social networking, television, and the internet. If you spoke to God himself, he probably wouldn't ask you to follow him on twitter (I'm sure it'd be entertaining though).
ReplyDeleteI follow the Dalai Lama on Twitter. :)
ReplyDeleteI just read a quick book called The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Phillip Pullman, the guy who wrote the Dark Materials trilogy -- (I have not read those, but think I will now.) Anyway, Pullman himself describes the Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ as part history, part novel, and part fairy tale. It retells the Jesus story in a historically authentic way (the historical Jesus of Nazareth as opposed to the mystical, son of God Jesus), and introduces us to his twin brother, Christ. Jesus and Christ grow up together, but are not close -- Jesus more rough and tumble and naughty, and Christ more introspective, thoughtful. As they grow into manhood, Jesus begins his ministry and Christ follows at a distance, recording his words. At that point, the book begins to speculate on the difference between history and truth, between idealism and pragmatism. Jesus was never interested in a church, as Pullman tells it. He holds God, himself and the people to a standard that no one can possibly live up to, believing, as many people of the time did believe, that the Kingdom of God was immediately at hand. Jesus, of course, runs afoul of the Sanhendrin and the Romans, and is murdered by crucifixion. The story likely would have ended there, had Christ not come in at this point. Remember, they are twins. He appears to the disciples, to the followers, to Mary, gets the ball rolling, and then retires to a little fishing village in the south where he makes nets for the rest of his life. What Christ regrets is that although the church will do great good, comfort and feed, and inspire great art, it will also punish, judge, kill and commit unspeakable evil in the name of God.
What was interesting to me was how a story can in itself become THE story, much like the news media will report on itself reporting. A snake swallowing its own tail.
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ReplyDeleteI feel like Celest's ministry's use of social networking is a desperate plea to gain more followers. They probably see it as a "cool", "hip" way for teenage outreach. To me, this shows how the Church's power is ailing in our society, that they will go to such lengths to promote their religion. Before, the Church empowered all of Europe and beyond in the name of the God, even using violence, as Ms. Fletcher mentioned. Today, our society has reduced religious influence in their day-to-day lives. Religion in Europe used to be required to live or else you would be shunned or punished. Today it's a choice, and it's not one that many people particularly choose. Spain, for example, used to be very religious and even went through with the Spanish Inquisition. Today, Spain is very secular and more than half of the country do not even attend church regularly. I was raised a Catholic, but I'm not a "Jesus-freak" like Celest. Last time I went to church (we only go occasionally...), a speaker came to talk about founding Catholic hospitals in Africa and how it's been going on for over a hundred years. I admire philanthropic outreach in places that really need it. Word of mouth also seems acceptable. But like the pamphlets, as Postman mentioned, that are modeled like a "Seventeen" magazine, using Facebook and Twitter is a bit desperate.
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