Chaplain's Corner

These days it seems impossible to separate Christmas and technology. Technology for many of us it will be front and center next week when we open gifts. There will be new laptops, game systems, smart phones, and gadgets that by virtue of the microchip get smaller and  more powerful each year. I am admittedly not a technology person. I don’t own a laptop, or a cell phone let alone a smart phone. I have never downloaded a movie or music, the PVR that sits atop my TV is a mystery and an electronic air pump that my son bought me for Christmas three years ago, well, I finally gave it back to him because I couldn’t figure out how to make it work. You get the picture.

Technology if we are honest is not good or bad, it simply is, we have it because of the intellect that God has given us and like all the inventions and advancements that have come as our race has exercised the gift of intellect, technology can be used for good or for evil.

Those of you from Mennonite tradition are familiar with some from your broader community that have been very resistant to technological advancements. Some of you lived through the “rubber tire” controversy that caused a division between some Mennonite groups. I grew up in close proximity to the Amish in Southern Pennsylvania and wondered about their horses and buggies and their refusal to use tractors, not understanding until I was much older the reasons for their decisions.

Some of you by virtue of personal or congregational conviction do not have televisions or radios in your homes because it has been deemed that the messages they bring are not compatible with your faith. I understand these convictions and although I do have these in my home, it becomes increasingly difficult to find programs that meet the standards of Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

The point is: as time marches on and as our God given ability to create technological advancements grows, our depravity remains unchanged. No amount of technology can alter the depraved nature of our race. Thus as each generation embraces the newest technology, there are those whose faith in God creates an unsettling lack of harmony between what God calls us to be and do and where our culture takes these technological advancements.

This dissonance will not be resolved for the realities of our depravity and God’s higher calling are a tension that we must live with. Even if I were to disavow myself of all the technological advancements, separate myself as completely as possible from society and seek to create a place free of these external influences, the dissonance would persist, because each of us carry it within us. This reality shouldn’t make us feel defeated, just the opposite, this reality should spur us on to do the hard work of seeking to live lives pleasing to God as we live in a technologically advanced society that is tainted deeply by depravity

What choices we make about the use of this technology are personal. I understand and respect the people and the reasons used on each side. One thing we must never forget. The only way to deal with both the technological advancements and the depravity that can always find a sinful use for everything is to live in an open and honest relationship with God, rejoicing in his love, appreciating his forgiveness and aspiring to focus on the things in life that will encourage us to love God and each other.