Social Media: What's the use?

I really do like much of what the "Social Media" revolution has brought us. Through e-mail we can send out quick notes to people instead of letters, saving paper and the cost of stamps. Through blogging we are linked to untold numbers of articles, pictures and videos that we never would have known existed otherwise. Through Facebook many of us have "re-connected" with old friends, and maybe even made new acquaintances. Through Twitter we can see what all our favorite celebrities, politicians and friends are up to at that very second. I participate in all of these things because like I said, "I really do like much of what the 'Social Media' revolution has brought us."

That being said, Social Media also can be a HUGE waste of time. We can spend half our day sifting through junk e-mail or responding to unimportant e-mail. Blogging can easily turn into the rantings of mad men (that no one besides him reads), with hyper critical analysis of everything and everyone. Facebook can consume a person with games, constant narcissistic status updates (Example: "Heading to 7-11 for a bagel, yeah, that's how I roll." To which the first comment should be: "Who cares?"), even silly debates in the comment section of someone's post. (Frank Admission: I'm not picking on anyone in particular here except for myself; I have played the annoying games, posted incredibly self-exalting stuff, and debated people all in the alternate universe of Facebook). Yes, social media is ultimately media. It's not something inherently bad, nor is it inherently good. It is media that we can use for good or use for bad.

As a Pastor I use Facebook and Twitter to quote Scripture, or link to articles by thoughtful Christian writers. I send out sermons on video, and will make announcements to my Church body about upcoming events. Social Media is useful that way. It can be a small part of Pastoral ministry.

But there are things I just can't do through Social Media that are absolutely essential to serving the sheep. I can't hold the hand of the suffering through Social Media ("Sorry I didn't visit you in the hospital, but I did send you a message via Twitter."); through Social Media I can't see facial expressions so all I can do is "take a person's word for it" (That can be very deceiving. What they are writing may not be what they are saying). I can't hug a person, or counsel a person; I can't speak the Word into their lives at just that right moment, nor can I pray with them.

No matter how much media we have come between us, ultimately the calling of the Christian is to be next to and live with people; real flesh and blood people face to face. The model is Jesus: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us...." Helmut Thielicke commenting on the importance of the Incarnation said this:

“Jesus Christ did not remain at base headquarters in heaven, receiving reports of the world’s suffering from below and shouting a few encouraging words to us from a safe distance. No, he left the headquarters and came down to us in the front-line trenches, right down to where we live and worry about what the Bolsheviks (Communists) may do, where we contend with our anxieties and the feeling of emptiness and futility, where we sin and suffer guilt, and where we must finally die. There is nothing that he did not endure with us. He understands everything.”

Social Media is fine. Use it. Ultimately though use it in a way that shows we're like our Media-tor Jesus Christ, who indeed did come down, got his hands dirty and in the process saved the world.

D.A. Carson's 'The God Who is There'

This looks like an interesting series:

The God Who Is There - Part 1. The God Who Made Everything (Preview) from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

The Two Lost Sons (Part II)

The Prodigal Father Part II (The Older Son Type) from Erick Sorensen on Vimeo.

The Two Lost Sons (Part I)

Luke 15- The Prodigal Son (Younger Brother Lostness) from Erick Sorensen on Vimeo.

The Gospel Coalition 2011

Last year me and my buddy Tony got to go to The Gospel Coalition biennial conference in Chicago. Tim Keller, D.A. Carson, John Piper and a whole host of others preached through 2 Timothy, and needless to say, it was quite remarkable. So I was thrilled this morning when I saw that they have just announced their next conference in 2011!

The Conference will be held again in Chicago (Downtown), and this time their will be over 50 speakers from all different denominations being brought in to talk about how to preach Christ from the Old Testament (Professor Soenksen are you interested yet?). The title of the conference is, "They testify about me: Preaching Christ and the Gospel from the Old Testament," and the dates are April 12-14.

Check out the video below as Tim Keller and D.A. Carson talk about what to expect at this year's event:

When a newspaper posed the question "What's Wrong with the World?" G.K. Chesterton wrote a brief letter in response:

"Dear Sirs: I am. Sincerely Yours, G.K. Chesterton."

- from Tim Keller's "The Prodigal God"

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

-Paul (1 Timothy 1:15)

Luke 14:25-35

Everything and Nothing: The Cost of Being Jesus' Disciple from Erick Sorensen on Vimeo.

Dan Gilbert's Theology of the Cross:

Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, was not happy with Lebron James after Thursday night's ego-fest (oops, I mean "announcement") that Lebron would be joining the Miami Heat. In a bit of a ranting letter to Cleveland fans, he shares his contempt for Lebron's disloyalty, laziness, etc. etc.

However, what stuck out to me was Gilbert's picture of the cruciform life. He says of Lebron,

"Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.

Sorry, but that’s simply not how it works."

I have no idea who Dan Gilbert is, what his faith is, and what exactly he meant by his statement. But I do know that his point is that this life will inevitably have suffering before our final glory. And Jesus said, "You cannot be my disciple unless you pick up your cross and follow me."

A Culture of Distraction

I've been thinking a lot lately about distraction (that is, for as long as I can focus on the subject before getting distracted!) I have noticed in my own life, with the more social media (blogs, facebook, twitter, e-mail, etc., etc.,) that I have never been more busy doing nothing. Now, obviously, I don't think any of these things are sinful or wrong in it of themselves (I'm blogging now!), but oh how good we are at perverting all things, twisting them into something that hurts, rather than helps, ourselves and others.

With this in mind, I came across a quote from Pascal with commentary by Peter Kreeft onJustin Taylor's blog last night. Why do we have so much distraction? That question is answered rather marvelously:

Here is the line from Pascal:

I have often said that the sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.

Kreeft writes in response to this:

We ought to have much more time, more leisure, than our ancestors did, because technology, which is the most obvious and radical difference between their lives and ours, is essentially a series of time-saving devices.

In ancient societies, if you were rich you had slaves to do the menial work so that you could be freed to enjoy your leisure time. Life was like a vacation for the rich because the poor slaves were their machines. . . .

[But] now that everyone has slave-substitutes (machines), why doesn’t everyone enjoy the leisurely, vacationy lifestyle of the ancient rich? Why have we killed time instead of saving it? . . .

We want to complexify our lives. We don’t have to, we want to. We wanted to be harried and hassled and busy. Unconsciously, we want the very things we complain about. For if we had leisure, we would look at ourselves and listen to our hearts and see the great gaping hold in our hearts and be terrified, because that hole is so big that nothing but God can fill it.

So we run around like conscientious little bugs, scared rabbits, dancing attendance on our machines, our slaves, and making them our masters. We think we want peace and silence and freedom and leisure, but deep down we know that this would be unendurable to us, like a dark and empty room without distractions where we would be forced to confront ourselves. . .

If you are typically modern, your life is like a mansion with a terrifying hole right in the middle of the living-room floor. So you paper over the hole with a very busy wallpaper pattern to distract yourself. You find a rhinoceros in the middle of your house. The rhinoceros is wretchedness and death. How in the world can you hide a rhinoceros? Easy: cover it with a million mice. Multiple diversions."

Confirming this thought are the words of Romans 1, that we by nature "suppress the truth in unrighteousness," always looking for something to draw us away from standing naked before a holy God. But it is just there, naked, with all our warts, imperfections, distractions, and sin, that we must stand before God. And it is just there, that in Christ, we hear the precious words of the Gospel: "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

The Law would say focus all your mind, all your heart, all your soul and all your strength on loving Me and loving neighbor. Christ says, "You have not, but I have."

Now before faith came, you were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was your guardian until Christ came, in order that you might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, you are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.