What is the newest?

The “newest” could have made its appearance as recent as just the minute prior to the statement being made, or it could have been around from as far back as a month.

So, “new” is a relative term. In the media world, printing led to an information explosion that was accelerated by radio, followed by television. With the arrival of digital computers in the 1980s, the Internet and other digital applications like computer games ushered in an age where such media evolved into “new” media like podcasts (a newer form of radio), online publications (the newer form of print media) and digital videos (an Internet form of TV). Accompanying these has been an explosion of personal online communication platforms like blogs and vodcasts. Businesses have been quick to adopt these new marketing tools on an international scale through the use of websites and business/industry portals. Hardware has become increasingly miniaturized for convenience in tandem with the ease of communication facilitated by new media. Today’s mobile phone, an engineering and marketing marvel, is equivalent (almost) to a little customized computer in one’s hand!

New media has accelerated globalization so that the battle for hearts and minds is now fought on the virtual front as evidenced by Barack Obama’s Presidential victory being celebrated in even a little Japanese town named Obama. The reach of the public into our private lives is so insidious that we hardly notice it. In fact, local film producer Jason Lai made the point that today’s young are so “plugged in” to their electronic toys, that they might as well be born with it! 3 Feet Apart is an animation set in the near future, where a boy, Han, is born with a phone inside his head. He falls in love with Pepper, a girl who is born with two small speakers inside her head and a small TV inside her right palm. Han and Pepper are a pair of star crossed lovers – for they always have to be three feet apart because of static interference! The point about the inability to relate on a personal level because of the over-dependence on new media is charmingly and pointedly made. Hence, there is a dark side to these technological boons.

Literary works have been warning about some of these dangers that will confront our future generations. Aldous Huxley’s The Machine Stops, portrays the humans, who had survived a holocaust and were living underground in individual cells, as isolated beings who can barely walk since all that they need is provided by pressing buttons on a screen before them. The machine that provides their limited needs, is their God. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury also paints a deterministic world where the duty of firemen is, ironically, to start fires to destroy books because knowledge is dangerous – it gives ideas to people, a thought that is also present in the previous story. George Orwell’s 1984 suggests that globalization can bring about a mindless acceptance of whatever reality is presented as “truth” by “Big Brother”. The red flag has been raised about new media being a useful tool for spreading a pervasive philosophy that may be harmful if there is no self-regulation or self-reflection on the user’s part.

Hence, the young need to be warned. Youth today are so comfortable with technology that they are dependent on it. The increase in social networking platforms like Facebook and My Space capitalize on this preference for a virtual community where “like-minded” individuals have the opportunity to “meet.” Second Life is another platform that has increasingly taken on its own form of life and taken over the real lives of some individuals. This virtual world mimics the real world, allowing individuals to assume an alternative identity or “avatar” and act out a desired life and lifestyle. This escapist “hobby” can soon become the only meaning in life. Online “relationships” have been reported, ironically, as a cause for divorce and even suicide where these failed. In the same vein, it has also become increasingly easy to fall prey to cyber pornography, sex, and crime. Sociologists and educators have noted that the tendency to prefer personal space and privacy has bred socially inept individuals who lack the ability to work in teams with others, expressing their frustrations in various degrees of maladjusted behavior.

Internet compulsion and game addiction are further ills that may afflict our young. Parents who are IT-dinosaurs run the risk of unknowingly allowing their children to fall prey to some internet snares like pedophiles masquerading as online “secret friends” because they do not monitor their IT-savvy children’s online activities. Visits to video sites like YouTube should be chaperoned as young children may unwittingly stumble onto sexually explicit material and learn inappropriate behaviour without understanding that these may be socially unacceptable. A simple rule that parents should enforce is that personal computers must be placed only in common family areas rather than in the bedrooms of the children. Family members can then be vigilant over the sites that the children are visiting and monitor the amount of time being spent on the computer.

The need to be vigilant and true to oneself has never been more essential. As the Preacher succinctly expressed it, …all is vanity” (Ecc 12:8) and really “there is nothing new under the sun (Ecc 1:9).” The only truth we need to hold on to in a world of relativity is in Ecclesiastes 12:13, “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments…”

Elaine Lim is a high school teacher whose Bible remains the bound copy with real pages to leaf through and savor God’s wisdom. She worships with her family at the Salvation Army Central Corps.

The New American Standard Version of the Bible has been referenced.

Theoechnology is a term that was coined to describe the blending of ideas in theology and technology. While the truths of our faith are eternal and absolute, our understanding of the faith is contextualized by the world in which we live. Our environment provides the language, metaphors, and images by which we think about and contemplate our relationship towards God, others, and His creation. Today, we are immersed in a world of technology. We communicate via email, the Internet, and digital mobile networks. Our commerce, industry, and media are mostly electronic in nature. We work on computer desktops and notebooks. All of this creates new ways in which we interact with others.

The Internet began with a comic science-fiction story in 1946, A Logic Named Joe, by Murray Leinster. The story is particularly noteworthy as a prediction of massively networked personal computers and their drawbacks, written at a time when computing was in its infancy. However, it took more than a decade before reality began to catch up with this vision. By 1996, usage of the word Internet had become commonplace, and so had its use in reference to the World Wide Web.

Evangelist Billy Graham understands the value of this technology. In his autobiography, Just As I Am, Graham recalls his first chat room experience on AOL (America Online). He characterizes it as “only an extension of what we had been doing throughout much of our ministry: seeking to use every means possible to extend the reach of the Gospel.”

Internet evangelism increases in importance as the availability, speed, and quality of Internet content grows. In the early 1990s, a group of Christian organizations came together at the Billy Graham Center to discuss the “emerging” technology called the Internet. The meeting was called by Dr Robert Coleman, an evangelist and professor who saw the early potential and danger of this communication revolution. Out of these meetings came the Internet Evangelism Coalition. More than twenty denominations and missions organizations work together to share the best practices to reach the 24/7 world.

Among other organizations, Campus Crusade for Christ in both the USA and Canada are doing groundbreaking work in this area. Campus Crusade for Christ Singapore has formalized a staff team early this year to explore the Internet ministry and they call this ministry “CLiCK!”

Do people make decisions for Christ over the Internet? Brown Governance Inc., an international consultant firm which provides governance expertise to organizations reported in their 2007 survey noted that: “Fifteen organizations reported a total of 732,469 decisions made in the last twelve months as a direct result of their Internet evangelism efforts!”

Lay Kuan, a member of “CLiCK!” affirms the use of this media in evangelism. She relates, “G* wrote in on May 18, 2008: ?’I am still quite clueless about what it means to be a Christian.’? We corresponded online and within a couple of weeks, she came to my church, even though it was a long way to travel. I found out that she became interested in Christianity after a schoolmate said a prayer of blessing for her when she was stressed out. She went online to do her own research and actually received Christ on her own through a prayer she found on a church website.”

If we visit ied.gospelcom.net, we can read many testimonies of how netizens (an Internet user who is trying to contribute to the Internet’s use and growth) come to know God.

One interesting story is that of Kasia, a Polish student who was looking for meaning in life when she contacted a web evangelist based in US. He suggested she visit Polish websites including VitaNovis. As a result of visiting the site, she began to correspond with a young Polish Baptist woman, who played a role in leading her to Christ.

It has been reported that in America, there are 88 million members of the Net Generation. These “N-Geners” are people who have been manipulating the mouse since an early age. While past generations made do with the telephone and television, today’s generation has access to those devices and super-realistic video games, the Internet, e-mail, instant messaging, online communities, and videos and music that can be downloaded over a computer.

A net culture has evolved and is still evolving. But central to this net culture is a libertarian, relativistic, and pantheistic philosophy. Dennis McCallum, a senior pastor of Xenos Christian Fellowship observed, “A huge shift is rocking every corner of western thought and culture like an earthquake.”

Should we, as Christians, feel threatened by this prevailing anti-Christian attitude? Probably not. Such an environment can also be an advantage for Christianity, if we recognize and seize the opportunities that are out there. If we read our church history books, Roman-occupied Judea was a seething cauldron of ideas, sects, and cultures, and from such a mix, Christianity was born.

April 26, 2009 has been designated Internet Evangelism Day. The purpose of this day is to communicate the outreach potential of the Web to the worldwide church. The official site ied.gospelcom.net has a twin-track purpose:

Firstly, to explain the strategies needed for evangelism, along with showcase examples, and demonstrate the many ways one could be involved. One surprising fact: you do not need to be technically gifted to do web evangelism!

Secondly, to enable one to communicate these truths to others, by providing free downloads: PowerPoint, video clips, drama scripts, handouts, etc. These enable churches and other groups to build a web evangelism focus program into a service or other activities.

In New Testament times, the Roman road system was strategic in God’s plan. It enabled the spread of the Gospel throughout the then-known world. In the same way, the Internet today is a worldwide network which can facilitate effective Gospel communication.

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus instructed His disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The main question is whether there are interested people on the Internet? If there are people connected, then we need to go, via the Internet. Today, after nearly 2,000 years of Christian outreach, we have a chance to share that same message in a new way, through a new medium – the Net, the first mass medium to come along since television.

Jesus’ plan to reach the entire world with the message of salvation is based on the efforts of ordinary Christians. Each of us is called to build relationships with pre-Christians, work to develop those relationships into friendships, create a level of trust, and then present the Gospel message to them at an appropriate time. It is a method that works on the job, in the home, with family members, friends, and acquaintances. It also works in the world of cyberspace through chat room sessions, participating in electronic forums, newsgroups, creating personal websites/blogs or engaging in social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace.

I believe that theology and technology, in particular the Internet technology, are inseparably linked. Theology provides a value structure for developing appropriate technologies. Technology provides the means for communicating the Good News and its theology to inhabitants of the world and improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the operation of the Church.

* Undisclosed identity

Billy Chan is a graduate from Trinity Theological College and also holds a MSc in Information Technology from University of Sheffield. He is currently the IT Manager and also serves in the evangelism ministry at Eagles Communications.