Technology VS God

We now have a variety of ways to communicate with each other instantaneously. Through e-mail, blogs, instant messaging, text messaging, and cellular phones we can talk to the world instantly. Yet, it seems to me, that the Church is using this new technology only to tear down each other through gossip and maliciousness.

For example, at the congregation I attend we receive a newsletter from a congregation in Mississippi that is always filled with the errors and problems of other congregations and our universities. Every month there are articles lambasting Abilene Christian or David Lipscomb University for some liberal movement that have partaken in. Likewise other congregations are decreed as unscriptural for something found in their bulletins, or spoken by one of their leaders.

This is but one example. There are many other places printing similar bulletins and writing similar things on blogs and webgroups.

My assumption is this newsletter’s editors are scouring these organizations web sites and bulletins for something damning. Likewise, like minded people are forwarding gossip over to their offices for write ups.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a liberal movement in the church, and there are congregations moving away from the Word. These things need to be dealt with, yet I cannot say that damning them in a printed bulleting is the way to do it.

Rare is it that I see one of these types of publications actually attempt to contact the offending congregation and get the full story. Few are the times when we gently try to lead those astray back to the fold before we print their hanging in large, bold type.

I guess I’m just tired of seeing so much hostility and gossip, and very little energy spent on encouragement and spreading the joy of the Gospels. It seems like technology could be used in such amazing ways to improve the Church, yet so often it is only used to attack others.