So...continuing from my previous post. What does this 'Internet of Things' mean for the Gospel?
I (AM) <Immediacy_of_Gospel>
The Internet is a world of immediacy where technology is instantly jettisoning what I write here off to multiple platforms simultaneously. Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, people's phones, people's smart pads, etc. In a moment’s notice I can share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with anyone, anywhere and anytime. My intent would be to bring the hearer to faith in Christ on the spot. The ultimate intent would be to instantly deliver instructional resources like this blog as point and click information. Heck, I even used a click-bait title to suck people in to reading this. As I’ve gotten to know my readership and my social interactions in realtime I’ve learned to personalize for the individuals. I know my audience.
I (AM) <Imminence_of_Gospel>
As with the previous description of immediacy so too imminence. It is here now and right within reach. It’s just around the corner for Internet surfers. One needs only search and click. It is amazing how many times I’ll start YouTube surfing and end up on Facebook for something totally not Gospel related and somehow end up in the realm of theology and the Gospel anyway. We have a transcendent God with a transcendent message. The Gospel. A message that can reach you no matter where you are at. The Internet has made this ‘serendipitous’ connection much more common.
You no longer need to stay up until the wee hours of Sunday night as a strung out junkie in a skanky hotel room watching an altar call on a Jimmy Swaggart rerun to have a 'God moment' or an encounter with salvation peddled by charlatans (like I did). Its there. Now. The Kingdom is imminent. It is the Kingdom in digital. It makes The Message much more ubiquitous and attainable. Because it is so readily available it is also a pathway to help others with the hard parts of the Gospel that are either too hard for beginners to understand or too hard to accept because of one’s sin. Which leads me to the next idea...
I (AM) <Interpretation_of_Gospel>
Just as software companies provide online support for their products, new and maturing converts will need help in understanding and interpreting the Bible. These new believers would be motivated to test any and all claims about who Jesus was, the life he lived, the death he died, and the reality of His relationship to the church in this present age. Digital teachers could lead these people to the Scripture and to the answers in Scripture. Help with application in their lives.
The Internet can help create social networks, self-organized by people using the new smart systems. Yes, even on Facebook. Especially on Facebook. Now you know one of the reasons I started this blog nearly 10 years ago. Once I realized we would have pocket-sized computers with touchscreens that would have access to what is essentially a neural network (smartphones) anywhere on the globe…. I could see the future and where it was leading me. It is the reason I have returned. The future beckons once again. The Gospel beckons…always.
I (AM) <Illustration_of_Gospel>
What happens if what I write can be projected anywhere, anytime and anyplace? I have the ability to weave a tapestry of truth in the fabric of people’s lives. A tapestry that is in reality an illustration of the Good Message. In so doing I intertwine my life into other people’s lives. Like a network of vines.
I (AM) <Illumination_of_Gospel>
The readily available nature of the Gospel on the Internet will shine light in what has always been a dark world controlled by the prince of the power of the air. That dark prince will not be able to do much to prevent access to a network that is virtually ubiquitous. Instead of seeing the pervasiveness of technology as a threat we should engage it with both hands on the wheel, white-knuckled. Waving it with reckless abandon. If we don’t the darkness of this world will. It can shine light in a person’s life that is a train wreck after the lost of a friend, a spouse, a child, a job. Darkness cannot stop light but light can certainly stop darkness. Light a match in a dark place and it will light the entire room and be seen from a mile away. Try to create a shadow in the sun and it will be engulfed by the light and be overlooked while staring right at it.
<//IMPORTANCE_OF_GOSPEL//>
The reality of the spiritual state in the world is pretty disgusting. But there is nothing more original, more trustworthy and more needed in the world today than the Gospel of Christ. Will it be immediately available, rightly interpreted, and creatively illustrated in the Internet of Things? I suppose that’s up to you and I and how we see it. How we approach it.
There are a million chances to reach the lost. There are a million potential books to be written about the Gospel. A million new songs to be sung, millions of applications, millions of everything on this ‘Internet of Things’. Do we not see it for what it is and see it’s potential reach? Or to we ignore it so that the enemy can use it against us?
The irony of it all? Once you’re on the Internet of Things…that information and illustration…its free. Just like the gift of the Gospel. You need only accept it. New vehicle…same message.
<Command Line> Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.> Ephesians 5:16
<Command Line> Go_Make_D1s1pl3s
<Command Line> Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command> <John 15:12-14>
<Command Line> ...therefore go and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And
surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.> Matthew 28:19-20
<ARE YOU SURE YOU WISH TO RESTART?>
1 comment:
Hi nicce reading your post
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