All Christians are familiar with the Biblical directive from the Ten Commandments EXODUS 20:3 which states “THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME”. However, what some are not as familiar with is what exactly that could mean to you and I.
Exodus 20:3 (KJV)
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Elevating something in it’s importance beyond what it should be can easily become worship, perhaps without even realizing it. And the act of worship could ultimately constitute elevating that thing to the level of a god. Developing swiftly into popularity. Consuming focus and becoming a new idol. A new obsession in a fast paced society requiring the very best of everything.
Exploration of this topic as it relates to the new age of technology is a good idea. Such dangerous obsessions. And we are vulnerable to the possibility of elevating these new interests to the level of worship. If we have not done so already…
Smart Phones for Our Connection
“No Other Gods”
First and Last
Smartphones have become part of our every day lives. For many it is the first thing we think of when we rise and the last thing we think of before we go to sleep. The time in between is also consumed with our attention to the internet, e-mail, maps or GPS, work, entertainment, texts and actual telephone calls. It seems like there is a continual flow into the world of the smart phones. Let’s think about that for a moment…
The Connection
Suddenly there is contact with people and places all over the world at the tip of my fingers. I find myself looking forward to checking in with my friends, family. Communication is now available in a way we did not have before. Who would not be seduced by an availability of all things easily accessible?
17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
Overtakes the Individual
Next time you are in a restaurant having a meal look around for a moment. I wager you will find more than one person glancing diligently at their phone while their companion is speaking to them about this or that.
Overtakes the Group
Or even more disturbing groups of people sitting at a table in silence looking at their phones. Too consumed with the phone to even interact on any level while they are there face to face.
Replaces the Outside World
As our world becomes more deeply defined by the internet it overtakes our interactions in the outside real world, our perceptions of life continue to be influenced.
Slaves to the Influence
New psychological disorders, Smartphone addiction, signs of depression and anxiety disorders. The phone takes over lives, we become slaves to its influences creating a gambit of emotional problems as a result. Contemplating these facts it begins to look more and more like an idol.
Smart Phones Raising Our Children
“No Other Gods”
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
The Phone is Babysitter
We are teaching our children to worship the smart phone as the phone becomes a convenient babysitter, entertainer while we remain focused on our own attentions. As the children grow and learn their time is now consumed with the virtual world. They now live in a world of their friends and their games. Dictating how they should think and what they should believe.
Child Behaviors Change
They are being held to unknown standards by their peers. In a reality outside the view of the adult world. Normal child behaviors are magnified. Things like bullying increases. The bully no longer has to even face those being victimized.
Audience is Larger
The audience platform is much larger. Forced to succumb to peer pressures they are consumed. It becomes too easy to express feelings without consequence.
Filters are Down
Slowly societies filters come down. Respect for the opinions of others fades away a little at a time. Those adolescent behaviors are influenced by what the children themselves are coping with in this new world.
Defined by Social Media Standards
As the phone is elevated to worship, elevated to an idol our new generations have begun to define themselves based on the standards set in social media. Acting out for Likes and Views as a standard to measure their success and popularity. Losing the perception of what is real. Becoming alive in the virtual world. They do not always have the necessary maturity to understand what it all means. Their teacher has shifted from adult attention to the influences of an internet in all its glorious deception…
Smart Phones Effects on Health
“No Other Gods”
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world
Stress on the Body
If the consumption of the mind is not enough, if worship of this new idol is not enough, Smartphones have begun to take a physical toll on the human body. Repetitive stress injuries for example as a result of excessive typing/texting. These injuries cause pain, numbness, discomfort from overuse.
New Physical Disorders
Disorders like text neck that develops from the position of the head as we look down at the phone too much each day. We are experiencing a range of severity in upper back pain, shoulder pains and muscle spasms. Most recently there have even been allegations of an unacceptable level of radiation as a result of phone usage and WiFi…
Using to Extremes
The fact that we are using the phone to this extreme is evidence that it has in fact been elevated in our minds and in our society.
We are Dependent
And yet, we do not stop or slow down this idol worship. We have become dependent upon the Smartphone in every aspect of our daily lives. Most have developed a fear of not having their phone, fear that they will miss something important…For some this fear is greater than their fear of God.
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
The Age of Technologies
“No Other Gods”
The Internet Society
Could we be elevating to worship a focus on the internet itself? A limitless access to worlds outside what we had known before. Truths and lies are at our fingertips and it is difficult to determine the difference…Constant judgment on the social media platform. Conform to the majority opinions or pay the price. Comments come from everywhere a sudden sea of everyone’s opinion. It no longer matters if the opinions have a basis in fact or have merit. They have become a forum to express, to demand and to measure our lives. Going viral has it’s disadvantages and this form of worship, idolatry is a dangerous tool.
Focus on the Virtual
In addition to the danger of elevating the phones, tablets, laptops, internet to the level of worship also comes the danger of elevating ourselves in the same way. As we stay focused on the virtual world of selfies, likes, views and shares it is easier when we do not have to face the outside world unless we want to. Easier to only show that part of ourselves that we have created for a virtual world rather than allowing the truth. We are all as beautiful as we want to be, as smart as we want to be, as popular as we want to be and as important as we want to be with a virtual world at our fingertips.
Is it Worship?
Such a focus on the images in a world of photos, selfies and the like is representative of an idol worship. It is sad when the idol we worship becomes ourselves. As it is forbidden to just be natural and be ourselves, have we been once again manipulated, consumed by the enemies lies?…Pushed toward some unknown agenda?…
20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
Emerged Within Self
“No Other Gods”
I saw this video by Moby & The Void Pacific Choir and Steve Cutts. It is entitled, “Are you lost in the world like me?” I found the idea behind it so profound. I thought it hit on point for what this world is becoming. There was a sadness in the undertones that was clearly a reflection of the dark influence in the world. It was a perfect illustration of the point of the blog. Representative of the great deception and elevation with worship to the point of a god…
Joshua 24:23 (KJV)
23 Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel.
Knowledge is Power
So what is the answer to this dilemma of the new technologies and all that goes with them? We can not very well ignore them completely in the new world we live in. Just as knowledge is power for one it is also for another. If we are awakened to the danger we can be sure to takes steps to avoid it. It is not the technology that is the threat, it is merely a tool to be used against us. We have the choice as we do in all things.
Use the Tool with Caution
Just as a tool can be used by the enemy for his dark agenda, it can just as easily be used for the good that it can accomplish. Imagine a tool that has the ability to reach the multitudes is at the tip of your fingers.
Just make sure that you are not elevating the use of the tool to the point of worship. Use it appropriately and in moderation. Recognize the difference and remain focused on the truth of what is going on here. Do not be influenced by any doctrine against what the Bible teaches us. And most importantly, do not elevate the importance to the point it becomes an idol or a god. In my case, I chose to pray for guidance, for strength and for you…
For the Love of God,
Sparks
Take the time to watch the video “Are you lost in the world like me” by Moby & The Void Pacific Choir illustrated by Steve Cutts. It really hits the ball out of the park on the topic of this blog post in a visual representation of the subject. No, it has nothing to do with this blog officially but by chance we came upon it and found it to be profoundly on point. Well worth a watch. Expressed visually in a way we could never accomplish with words. Shout Out to the creative muse behind it!