What do you think? Would Jesus have a Facebook page? Would he twitter or blog? (since Twitter is a little newer, the basic premise is that it’s like microblogging, short little posts added throughout the day to answer the question, “what are you doing?” at the moment)
How digitally connected would Jesus be and how much of himself would he reveal?
Obviously Jesus like creating networks of friends and followers. Obviously Jesus liked revealing himself to others. At the same time, he did so in very intentional ways. He had large crowds, but there were times when he only spoke to his disciples, and times when it was only his closest three, and times when it was only him and the Father. And there were even times when Jesus told his disciples not to tell others what they had heard. He knew what he wanted to reveal and to whom it should be revealed.
I see this as the key in our brave new world. You have to be intentional. As with many things, the technologies can be used for good or bad. This article in the NYT does a great job of walking down both sides. Social networking, blogs, and twitter can be tools that help other people come to know you better, help you understand friends and acquaintences in ways you never could before, and even help you achieve a level of self awareness that you never would have achieved without the technology. At the same time these tools can become susceptible to modern narcicissm and celebrity obsession. They can also be time killers as people throw hours into blogging minutia, delving into trivia, and discovering online friends, when there are stories about weighty issues to be read and people standing in front of you that you look past or around as you stare at the screen. That’s part of what this article argues.
So how are you going to use these technologies? How are you intentional in your use? How much should you reveal to your friends? How about your family? And what about everyone else out there? What things are better kept private? How much time will you devote to them and how will it impact your face to face, in the flesh relationships? Some weighty questions.
Tags: blogs, Facebook, faith, jesus, social networks, twitter