I have noticed in my three teenagers . . . and in myself if I am honest, that a lack of connection to the World Wide Web creates a tension, a slight sense of being discombobulated and out of focus. It is as if our connection to the world is severed. The world of the internet has changed everyday life in the same quantum manner as did the automobile 100 years ago. It has fundamentally changed the way life operates, regardless how much one does or does not use the internet. Society is changing because of the internet, and those changes affect everyone.
Cyberspace is mesmerizing for a world that is seeking to discover their own definitions of truth and for a world that is hungry for new realities that will save them from their real lives. This is one of those unrelenting and unstoppable changes in our world that every minister in the world has to come to grips with, both personally and professionally. I think most of us have the self-discipline to not live on the internet everyday and not define ourselves by what we read or see online. But, . . . I think the majority of the world is looking for personal significance and that they use the online world for that purpose . . . or at the very least, they have hope that somewhere out there in cyberspace they will find genuine relationships and desires fulfilled.
On the WWW one can re-invent themselves everyday. They can be whoever they want and they never have to be who they actually are to anyone. What does this mean for ministers? For missionaries? How do we stay connected to real reality and not fall into cyberspace escapism? Most important, how do we both live and express our connection to the Redeemer and at the same time gently and lovingly attract those caught in an endless World Wide Web?
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