It doesn’t happen every day, but I just read something from Brian McLaren that I not only agree with but applaud.
“[Philosopher Marshall] McLuhan said that every innovation is an amputation. For example, when you invent the wheel, your legs become weaker. When you invent the television, your ability to become present becomes weaker. When you invent the amplifier, your voice becomes weaker. We need to reflect on this powerful insight and ask, In what ways is technology subtracting or amputating just at the moment we think it’s adding and empowering? We should always use it with care, remembering that Jesus modeled personal incarnation, not projection and amplification.”
Keith | 18-Jan-08 at 1:14 pm | Permalink
I checked out the whole article just the other day. I think sometimes we get so excited about new technology and innovations, itching to try them out, that we don’t step back and take a moment to think about the consequences of using whatever the latest piece of technology may be. I think we could certainly benefit from looking at how it might harm our cause, and not just focusing on how it can help.
I think one question that the church should ask first and foremost before integrating the innovative is, ‘How might it be used to edify the body?’ A second that is related is, ‘How might it be used to share the gospel?’ I think if we started with these questions, we might rethink what innovations we adopt, and certainly we would rethink how we use them.
A new IPHC blog has made its way to the world wide web. I don’t know if it’s the first exclusively IPHC blog, but I wouldn’t doubt it. You can find it here, http://blog.iphc.org/. I thought you might get a kick out of it.