Determining Values: The Great Commission

Here we are in our final instalment on determining values.  This week, we take a look at the invitation that our Certificate Authority, the person of Jesus Christ, has given to His followers: to take the obligation of the Great Commandment and turn it into the invitation of the Great Commission.  In a way, this was the start of Web 1.0; Jesus invited His disciples to start nodes around the entire planet that would tie together every culture, language, and people group into a universal bank of shared experience, empowered and filtered by and through Him.  Wow!  Jesus told His disciples, and those who would follow them,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

As we build our final sections of a foundation for further studies, we can summarise this commandment in this way: "Regarding the tools that I use, technological or otherwise: are they being used to not only edify myself and others, but to specifically present the Gospel in a clear and understandable fashion that includes an honest presentation of what it will cost to truly follow Jesus' example, and then are they being used to help in that training process?"

This site, in a sense, is one attempt by me to use the technology of blogging to share the gospel and to encourage thoughtful growth in myself and others who seek to follow the path of the Nazarene.  In what ways are you using technology to answer the Great Question, fulfill the Great Commandment, and live the Great Commission?

Here are some ways that I use technology to these ends:

• I use YouVersion to help me stay accountable to daily time in the word.
• I use the Notes on my iPad to constantly take down prayer requests from people and I use it every day for the people to whom I have committed to pray.
• I use OpenDNS, Flashblocker, and AdBlock Plus to set boundaries as to where I can go online.
• I use a cellphone to call my accountability partners on a weekly basis.
• I text and email friends with my prayer requests.
• I use my computer and instruments to write and record songs that I use in ministry contexts.
• I lead worship with my family using my keyboard and Powerpoint.

These are just a few simple ways that technology is being intentionally used in my life to try to live in a Christlike way.  I'd love to hear of any successes or struggles that you have to share.  Next time, we'll start a series of posts on how we can apply these values to our consumption and production of data. We'll start with looking at the diet of the mind.

Determining Values: The Great Commandment

We arrive now at the penultimate look at our Determining Values miniseries, and I hope that it's been interesting and helpful to you as a foundation.  When last we spoke, our discussion was around the choice of an authority; an authority which gives us the guideline for epistemological exploration, or, put another way, who enables us to know that and how what we know is true.  For the Christian, this Authority is Jesus, the Verb, as He was called in the early and medieval church, the I AM, who answers Pontius Pilate's question of "What is truth" with the answer, "I am the Truth, the Way, and the Life."

The entirety of the Law and the Prophets, as stated by Jesus, is found in the Great Commandment:

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

I really don't have a lot to add to this.  As we develop a view of technology that seeks to be biblical, we will have to ask ourselves a number of questions, or, more accurately, we will have to ask God a number of questions.  One of these will surely have to be, "Father, is the way that I am using technology bringing me to a point where I love you with all of my heart, my soul, and my mind?  Is it helping others to do the same?"  This second question is particularly apt for content producers, as they constantly strive to attract attention to their products.  If I allow some skanky photos on my sidebar (or in my own content!), will it drive people to my store/forum/blog/Deviant Art account?  Do I use profanity for humorous or attention-grabbing effect?  Do I talk casually about sacred things, such as sex?  Do I allow cynicism and sarcasm to supplant innocence and biblical meekness?

Admittedly, these are some of my personal issues.  Well, I don't really struggle with trying to attract more readers because according to Google Analytics, I'm wildly (and only) popular with bots in Russia, but I know that I have a language/humor/cynicism problem.  I have an innocence problem that God is working with me to heal.  Frame these questions around your sin issues and arrive at your own applications, and next week we'll take a look at how Jesus extends the obligation of the Great Commandment into the invitation of the Great Commission.