The Digital Deity

  
"The job of the church then is not to conform its ministry to the digital whims of its virtual congregants, but to proclaim and live boldly God's redemptive work in Christ."

"Running the technology race may simply cascade us into the arms of the digital deity, which most in our congregations blindly assume exists for their full and safe consumption.  Does our ministry in its content and method affirm their hearts' idolatrous affections or draw them to the idol-crushing, freedom-bearing, divinely authoritative Gospel of Jesus Christ?"

"What about the Wii-wielding, Internet-savvy youngsters of our congregations?  Do these children believe that Bible "stories" are any different than Harry Potter, Sponge Bob, and Alvin and the Chipmunks?  ...  Does our simplifying and dramatizing of Bible accounts into modern themes reinforce the Scripture's authority in the minds of our children or undermine it?  Do moralistic cartoons...reinforce the uniqueness of Scripture or lower children's view of the Bible to something indistinguishable from Aesop's fables?"

"How has the self-consuming, self-centering instant gratification of the entertainment media shaped preaching, the preacher, and our congregations?  Of course, certain American churches have essentially, if not entirely, replaced preaching with drama and video.  These mega-hip mega-church 'worship services' frequently prize performance over worship; the attendee is spectator, not participant.  Entertainment is why he comes, and entertainment he gets.  In this theater, the larger-than-life actors on stage carry out their frenzy-inducing feel-good magic, giving the digital junkies their religious fix."

--Dr. Dave Garner, "Rescuing the Church from the arms of digital deity," Equip to Disciple, pp. 6-9, 2, 2010.