Quote from Michael Goheen:
“The danger of the internet isn’t necessarily the porn, but the continued wasting of time to find the next great thing.”
(ht: drew goodnmanson)
wow… i stand convicted.
i can easily say that i spend more time on the internet than watching television, and wasn’t television the great satan of culture past? maybe the internet will become the great satan of culture future…
Related posts:
- 9 suspenseful minutes=2 hours of boring television
- tired… but not finished.
- can moderns and postmoderns co-exist in the church?
- The Muslim Jerry Falwell?
- a sabbath day.
without the Internet, i would never have learned that you emergent types weren’t trying to take jesus out of the church, but put the real one back in.
without the Internet, i would never get to listen to sermons from talented speakers from all over the world
without the Internet, I would never get to provide micro-loans to third-world participants on kiva.org and receive updates of their progress
without the Internet, I would not be learning from those whose mindset is different from mine on a daily basis
without the Internet, people trapped in communist countries will never know what the possibilities of a free society are like
without the Internet, my sinful heart would still be the same. I just would not be able to give in as easily
but can’t too much of a good thing be bad?
i think that’s the point of the statement… and not just that, but if you were to take your statements and replace ‘internet’ with ‘tv’ they’d still ring true… but isn’t television considered a “great satan” by many in the church community? i think that’s what might happen with the internet in the near future. there are already groupings of people that are “internet free” meaning they’ve chosen to live their lives without the internet. (i couldn’t even imagine!)
yes, but too much sex, food and drink can be bad too.
but, by classifying them as devil’s tools because of this possibility, we mislabel a good gift as bad when it’s the misuse that’s bad, not the gift.
i agree… and i don’t mean to classify the internet as the devil’s tool… my wonderings are if there will be some within the church that will lean this way in the future with the internet as they did in the past with tv.
and the conviction that i spoke of comes from the fact that i spend way to much time surfing the net for the “next great thing”… which is funny because i don’t often times find it!
Yo, totally off the subject, but my dad is reading this book called “Misquoting Jesus” that explores what actually took place with the transcription of the New Testament. I read the intro, and it seems very interesting – probably even a little controversal, but it’s pretty legit.
So, since I don’t read much, and you do, you should at it to your list and put up a review sometime. Peace.
i’ve heard of the book but never really looked into it much… however, i did find a terrific review by the much esteemed professor/theologian ben witherington… witherington’s review.
he has an interesting take as well as a few great quotes regarding the scholarship of the book… but this one is spectacular:
and then his conclusion:
i’ll add it to the list… but it’ll be a while before i’m able to read it!
The Internet has done much more good that bad for my life. I’d hate to go back to life without it.
i agree… i just hope (for myself) that it doesn’t spiral downward into an obsessive addiction that consumes my every minute!