Here at Calvary we're utilizing the latest technology to allow members to tap into unlimited resources on their smartphone to optimize their experience in Bible study and worship. Church goers can use their smartphone to access Scripture, sermon notes, and more, all while the sermon is actually being preached. Wow, that sounds like an incredible TV commercial! And it's all true, but it gets me to thinking…
I know that in our modern culture that many people don't want to rely on their own God-given intelligence to function, and so put all their confidence in a man-made device called a smartphone. Granted, many people's evaluation is correct—they don't have the natural intellectual abilities God gave a duck, thus depending on a smartphone to think for them is actually the most intelligent thing they can do. Back when I was a kid (wow, I sound like my grandfather), the phone was something that sat on the credenza in the hallway, that when it rang (just plain old rrrrrrrrrrring, not Beethoven's 5th, the Tarzan yell, or the latest from Lady Gaga) either everyone would avoid like the plague, or risk life and limb to be the first to get to, depending on the mood in the house and/or the nature of the potential caller. It sat stoic and unmoving—and did ONE thing—transmitted the human voice via cable connections. The next thing you know, not only does every person on the planet have one (Side bar: did you know that in most major metropolitan hospitals now, that upon birth every child is issued a rattle, a pacifier, and a cell phone?!), but most have them surgically attached to their head! It still freaks me out when someone I have never seen before is walking directly towards me talking as if he/she knows me, when in reality they are talking into an unseen, embedded communication device known as a Bluetooth. I'm still tempted to call the local psychiatric hospital when I see someone "consulting" a row of green beans in the grocery store, only to find out they were making a food decision with their "significant other" via Bluetooth. Which brings up another topic, this constant, gotta-have-it-or-die attachment to our communication devices and communication itself, has literally turned us into a society unable to make any kind of decision on our own. Since when does it take serious deliberation and counsel to choose between 49 and 63 cent green beans? Come on, it's a can of beans—not the Cuban Missile Crisis!
Now I'm not naïve enough to think that people use smartphones simply for communication or information gathering on the web (important stuff like what time Twilight 12 or Harry Potter 23 is showing). People play video games—lots of video games! Return to "grandpa mode"—back when I was a kid there were two games—Pac Man and Donkey Kong. Even later when I was in Air Force pilot training, they had really only added two games: Defender and Galaga. We played these repeatedly because we needed to hone our hand-eye coordination, spatial perception, and catlike reflexes—hey, we were keeping the "friendly skies" friendly! Now nearly every person has enough games loaded into their smartphone to play a different game every hour of every day until the world ends (which according to the technological astrobiogeopharmacological knowledge of the Mayans is scheduled for 2012). What's up with that?! Just how many games can a person play, and just how exciting can it be to play a game on a screen the size of a postage stamp?! It might have "awesome graphics" but who would know!?
And don't get me started on texting…especially texting in a car! Are you kidding me?! Most people have a hard enough time driving and changing the radio station, but now people are driving while having a heartfelt convo with their BFF, breaking up with their former love interest, and making their case before mom and dad for a few more chow bucks so they can eat at Bonefish and not have to "slum it" at Outback. As John Stossel would say, "GIVE ME A BREAK!"
Anyway, now all these things are available at the touch of a button in our worship service. As with so many of our "modern miracles", we have to ask ourselves, does this really improve our lives, or open another Pandora's Box? I guess time will tell…
DISCLAIMER: I am not really anti-technology, although I have been labeled as technologically challenged. Sometimes I just feel the need to "rage against the machine". I do know that Bluetooth and smartphone technology is being used for many wonderful things. I just think we're becoming a little too dependent on this technology. After all, if God had meant for us to be constantly attached to a Bluetooth, He would have planted them in our head next to our bicuspids …uh oh, here we go again. CIAO!
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