The mission of Issues in Perspective is to provide thoughtful, historical and biblically-centered perspectives on current ethical and cultural issues.

The intersection of digital technology and the church is a profoundly important issue in the 21st century.  The COVID pandemic has resulted in an explosion of livestreaming church services, with Zoom being the preferred platform for board meetings, Bible studies, mentoring sessions, etc.  Digital technology has therefore enabled the church to continue its various ministries during this deadly pandemic; we must be thankful to the Lord for this manifestation of His grace.  But digital technology that accesses the various forms of social media has had a deleterious impact on the “flock” of the typical church.  I want to address both aspects of the digital revolution and its impact on the church.

• First, Joe Holland of Ligonier Ministries offers several beneficial insights about digital technology and the church.  As the pandemic recedes, it is imperative to recall the importance of the local church in our lives (Hebrews 10:24-25).  “The in-person gathering of God’s people for worship and fellowship takes a significant priority over anything digital technology can or will ever produce . . . the Bible encourages us to pursue fellowship and worship in ways that maximize our humanity rather than highlight the more efficient or convenient aspects of a person . . . It is important to attend the live preaching and teaching of God’s Word . . . We need to hear the faint fuss of infants, enjoying one of their first worship services in the arms of their parents, surrounded by their church family.  The fastest fiber-optic cable, the most high-definition screen cannot provide the medium to rightly participate in the Lord’s Supper.  It takes whole people, situated in time and place, with the people to whom they have covenanted, before the face of God, to enjoy and participate in the sacrament, much less the rest of Christian worship.”

Holland also asks us to further reflect on our culture, the church and digital technology:  [1] Our culture, including the church, has placed significant weight on the shift from audio to video, where the screen replaces the person, where relational  intimacy is surrendered in the digital world.  “But it is important to experience God’s world and His church as whole people . . . The handshake or hug from a brother or sister in Christ communicates our connection in Christ.  The taste of the bread and [cup] is part of our complete participation in the Lord’s Supper.  God intended these things to be experienced in these ways.”  Streaming and all other forms of digital technology cannot substitute for the relational intimacy of the local church!

[2] This “super-awesome thing called-the-internet-in-our-pocket” is a major source of anxiety, stress, frustration and the distortion of reality.  Christians who know the Lord and have His Spirit certainly have the insight and discernment to find balance and self-control in how we use this “thing” in our pockets.  If we do not, it will master us!

• Second, the church is finding that it cannot compete with the digital technology that accesses social media.  Bonnie Kristian of Christianity Today asks us to ponder the effects of social media on the church.  Forcefully, she points to how Satan is utilizing social media to disrupt and sow discord in the church.  Digital technology and social media can serve as a “charm,” a form of spiritual delusion “in which we actively embrace falsehoods . . . (The demons in C.?S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters practice exactly this, pushing their human subject toward delusion about himself, his politics, his church, and anything and everything else.) . . . Isn’t that an apt description of how our use of political media, especially social media, affects us? How it has us believing lies? How it deceives us about ourselves and our neighbors? How it invites us into vainglory and distracts us from tasks of loving God and others? How it degrades our attention spans, incites our fears, escalates our (not always righteous) angers, and pulls us into delusion? How it can fool us into forgetting that our political opponents are beloved of God too?”  Kristian writes that “I regularly run across comments from pastors who say, ‘I’m doing my best to disciple my congregation, but I just can’t compete with Facebook and Fox News. I get one hour a week, and [the] media gets 20. If it’s Scripture and pulpit versus screen, the screen wins.’ Whether Facebook and Fox News, Twitter and MSNBC, YouTube and One America News, or Instagram and CNN, each pair possesses the same deliberately immersive, habitual, and titillating design.”  She appropriately encourages believers to ask these penetrating questions:  “Are Scripture and pulpit losing to screen in my own life? Is my soul being wounded by falsehood? Am I approving of and seeking approval for things that don’t deserve it?”

Holland concludes “We may be the most anxiety-ridden, addiction-riddled, lonely, and distracted culture to have ever walked the planet.  But, we crave more time online.”  Digital technology is a gift that reflects the common grace of God. But, as with any gift, we have the stewardship responsibility to use it for God’s glory, not our own.  Two important New Covenant mandates must apply:

[1] Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 6:12 [“’All things are lawful for me,’ but not everything is beneficial.  ‘Everything is permissible for me,’ but I will not be mastered by anything” ESV] is especially applicable:  We are free in Christ, but we must not be mastered by anything in the exercise of our freedom.  That which places us in bondage is not freedom. (See his broader discussion on liberty in chapters 8-10 of 1 Corinthians).

[2] One of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).  Self-control is absolutely essential in our use of digital technology and all forms of social media.  If we do not master them, they will master us.  Each of us needs to develop a strategy on how we use and utilize both digital technology and social media in our personal lives.  Our sanctification depends on it.

See Bonnie Kristian, “The Digital Devil Looks to Devour” in www.christiaintytoday.com (16 March 2021) and Joe Holland in Tabletalk (March 2021), pp. 72-75.