Disciples of the Technology Tribe (1)

  

If God were writing the tenth Commandment today it might sound a little different. To refresh our memories, The Great I Am said -- "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's." (Exodus 20:17NKJV) If spoken today, the Lord may have instead said, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his iPad, Not his iPhone 4g with Siri, nor the English lady inside his Tom Tom that tells him where to "exit the motorway", nor the voice activated GPS feature that helps him find the nearest Chinese restaurant, nor any of his apps."Coveting may be our most egregious sin in M3 America, and often what we covet most is the latest technology. Forget about the rapture, most Christians already feel "left behind" when some technology advances to one level better than what they own.

In an spirit of transparency I must admit I love many of these devices even though I cannot afford to own some of them. What I do own I have no difficulty rationalizing as ministry beneficial, and some of it actually is. Skype closes the distance to my overseas Christian friends. I've read nineteen books (about half Christian books) on my Nook this year, and my daily "washing in the Word" is done on the same device. I like keeping up with second and third tier friends via Facebook fellowship instead of having to commit to a phone call of indeterminable length.

Is this bad? Is desire for the latest technology coveting? Well, maybe. Let's look more closely.....

God calls coveting sin. What is coveting and how does it differ from ordinary wanting or aspiring to a better standard of living? Baker's Theological Dictionary defines covetousness as -- A strong desire to have what belongs to someone else. So wanting something isn't sin in and of itself. Wanting something that belongs to someone else is. We can also covet what God has provided to others and not to us. I have an iPhone 3G (no Siri). I never wanted Siri until I heard her on my brother's phone. Then I experienced a -- strong desire to have what belongs to someone else.

As a marketing program, what Apple did and still does to convince us to covet is genius. When they introduced the iPod, their advertising primarily displayed images of cool people with their ear buds installed and the rest of the not quite as cool folks suddenly experienced a need to join the ear bud tribe. In the Technology Tribe, social status can only be maintained by owning the newest and the best without regard for necessity. It boils down to this - Are we substituting membership as disciples of the Technology Tribe for time alone with God? My friend Pastor MK Babu in India put it this way in the latest online edition of www.PraistheAlmighty.com –

This is nothing but hypocrisy; it demands repentance......... God has not introduced and instituted a substitute way to fellowship with Him. He made everything needed perfectly in order to have fellowship with us. Without a devoted time and a committed (prayer) life in His presence none of us is going to have fellowship with Him. There are only two ways to live our lives on the face of the earth. Either live with God or without Him. There is no middle path. Our apathy towards developing and maintaining a relationship with God will result in a godless life.


Technology has provided instant and mobile access to information and has made it possible for us to become instant Jesus information junkies. Dr. Skip Moen (www.SkipMoen.com) recently suggested in his daily Greek and Hebrew word study, Today's Word, that it is possible to become a disciple of learning (about Jesus) rather than  disciple of following Him. Disciples of the technology tribe can morf into remote observers, information gatherers, and disciples of learning about Jesus, yet never leave the Technology Village to follow him by walking out a Jesus centric life.


Is the Technology Tribe leading me to a more intimate relationship with God, or have I become a disciple of learning instead of a disciple of following? I can only have intimate fellowship with the Lord in prayer and worship, and by the way........there's no app for that.


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