Comments on: Ministry in a Post-Christian, Digital Society – Part One

By: Man Marries Video Game Girlfriend…Really. | thejakers

Man Marries Video Game Girlfriend…Really. | thejakers — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:09:20 +0000

[...] this is a prime example of emergence of digitalism and digitalist culture, which I wrote about here. The inherent narcism of the Internet and digital media is leading to men who are unable to love [...]

By: Jake

Jake — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:56:40 +0000

Thank, Keith. Great points to keep in mind.

By: Keith

Keith — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:19:38 +0000

Good observations re: the demise of postmoderns. Most of those we call “postmodern” no longer use the term.

And re: the latest “Did You Know” video.
Like all the previous DYK videos, the statistics are impressive, as you say, but the analysis (or lack there of) less so.
Two examples:
“The number of unique visitors to American network TV vs. MySpace, FB, & YouTube: 10M vs. 250M”
Potential audience for American television vs. global internet –
the percentage of total population:
10M out of 308 M in the US = 3.24%
250M out of 6.8B in the world = 3.67%

I’m no statistician, but am pretty sure that’s a statistically insignificant difference (tho’ a pretty big, impressive number!)

“What used to fit in a building now fits in your pocket. What fits in your pocket now will fit inside a blood cell in 25 years.”

This statement is based on the assumption of uniformitarianism – that the current rate of change will remain the same over the next 25 years. (It’s also the basis of old-earth evolutionists dating of the earth.) That same faulty assumption was the basis of Thomas Malthus’ fear-mongering that the world would soon be so overpopulated that we would run out of food. The fact is, as technology improves and new technologies are invented all the time, we have no reliable way to estimate how much data & how powerful a computer could be that might possibly fit inside a blood cell 25 years from now.

By: Ministry in a Post-Christian, Digital Age – Part Three | thejakers

Ministry in a Post-Christian, Digital Age – Part Three | thejakers — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:28:50 +0000

[...] third and final post in my series on ministry and the internet. You can catch up on the other posts here and [...]

By: Show and Tell: Favorite Links for Week of 9/27/09 | thejakers

Show and Tell: Favorite Links for Week of 9/27/09 | thejakers — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:44:49 +0000

[...] Virtual church membership. Is it legit? Church Crunch discusses here. Ties in with my series on the internet and ministry here. [...]

By: Ministry in a Post-Christian, Digital Society – Part 2 | thejakers

Ministry in a Post-Christian, Digital Society – Part 2 | thejakers — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:05:29 +0000

[...] is the second post in a series on doing ministry in a post-Christian, digital society. In the first post, I explored what I perceive to be a cultural shift from post-modernism to what I defined as [...]

By: daniel zehring

daniel zehring — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:38:10 +0000

My thought is that form and content must be differentiated to redeem the digital. The (philosophical?) form of ultra-personalized digital narrative (if there is such a thing) must be fit with the content of Biblical truth. However, for a Christian who is being transformed this ought not be as dangerous or difficult as it seems. If we believe and agree that all Good things come from God and that his power has become, and is increasingly becoming, a life directing, mind-forming, heart-altering force in our lives; then how could we begin to tell our personal story apart from the foundational truths, inseparable identity, and pervasive story of the Gospel. In fact, it seems that Digitalism’s form and focus may even support this because things like Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, and all that is about the day to day. One crazy conversion experience is trumped on Twitter by the persistent, honest, humorous, and insightful commentary of a life exposed. Logistics may be a bigger battle as we figure out what rhythms just can’t be accomplished in front of a computer screen.

By: Jake

Jake — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:25:04 +0000

Thanks for your thoughts, Tyler. Can you give some examples of modernist mindset in the prevailing culture? And flesh out your ideas on post-modernism being just in the beginning stages?

By: Tyler

Tyler — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:40:53 +0000

I agree with your thoughts on digitalism, but I would say post modernism is just in the beginning stages. I say that because there is plenty of modern thought that remains in our churches and in our society. We won’t truly be postmodern until those are less dominant..and right now I think modern thought is still the dominant stream.

By: Jake

Jake — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:51:03 +0000

Daniel,

Thanks for your thoughts and for stopping by and making a great comment. I was hoping you’d make it over here soon! All the things you mention are good points. But I’m worried about the implications of relying on the personal story (a conversion experience) in a culture that is so ego driven. Though the role of the personalized story is important in Biblical narrative, the story of the Gospel – the arc of God’s redemptive story for all creation – is found in a communal mandate.

For instance God speaks to Abraham and that through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. The outpouring of the holy spirit (a very experiential event) was accomplished in corporate worship, we are told that when two or more are gathered together that God is with them, and the daily rhythms of the early church clearly placed an emphasis on public gathering.

I’m tipping my hand a bit here on some of the topics I want to cover going forward. I’m concerned that our ecclesiological attempts to engage digitalists (i.e. – online campuses) may be actually (and unintentionally) syncretizing the worst elements of the digitalist culture with the church rather than using the parts of that culture that are conducive to the Gospel to draw them into meaningful Christian community. More on this in later posts.