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Christianity Today, June (Web-only), 2009 |

Soulwork

Does Twitter Do Us Any Good?

How the movement of the Trinity can help us decide.

Mark Galli | posted 6/04/2009 09:42AM

The culture continues to be atwitter about Twitter and other electron-based social media. It's easy to find both scathing critiques and passionate defenses of the Internet. But as we approach what many ...

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ta	Posted: June 14, 2009 7:47 PM

There was once an invention called the automobile. It quickly brought neighbors together to meet and socialize. Then there was the radio. It brought news and information into our homes in an instant. And then came the television. Bringing the world into our homes. The automobile makes some congregations transient with low support during certain months of the year. Then the radio brought vulgarity into our homes, cars and lives. And the television has given us filth, bad language, nakedness, immorality, etc.. My point is that technology comes with purpose. Some use the purpose for good while others use it for evil. The internet like any other media, just like projector use during worship showing bible versus that discourage members to open their bibles, has a great use for spreading the message but if used to move us away from God's word then it is evil. Be watchful my brothers, God has given us the direction to spread the word. Its the sin not the sinner...

Melodie Fleming

Posted: June 14, 2009 6:56 PM


An underlying issue here is the innate godliness or ungodliness of twitter. Is technology godly? I've blogged my response to this article at www.melodiefleming.blogspot.com.

Leah	Posted: June 13, 2009 3:33 PM

To answer the question in the title, it depends on how we use it. It is possible to become addicted so that you have to type in everything you do, but it can also connect us to others. I don't use Twitter, but I do use Facebook and it helps me stay connected to my friends after we move away. It's not the same as a flesh and blood connection, but it is better than nothing. I think the internet can hinder us from making flesh and blood friendships, but it can also strengthen friendships made in the real world.

Lyn	Posted: June 12, 2009 5:24 PM

I'm surprised how many people have taken individual ideas from this article out of context. Taken as a whole, the author has encouraged us to look at God's example of community and use it to guide how we relate with others. What a great idea! Is technology a bad thing? Once upon a time the printing press was high tech and those in authority did not want Bibles printed because they assumed the untrained masses would not be able to understand it. Instead God used that technology to spread His Word in a previously unimaginable way. Who today would dare claim that every book or magazine is evil just because the technology is also used by the bad? The internet is a morally neutral tool, like the phone. A lot of garbage exists online, but so do a lot of excellent Christian and educational sites. We need to be responsible users. I agree that it is better to spend time enjoying the physical presence of friends and family, but many of my relationships are enriched by chatting online too.

Patrick Gann

Posted: June 12, 2009 8:46 AM

A very reasonable article; but the emphasis on "embodied" life and love, though it is good, orthodox and Christian, is not one that everyone would agree to. Futurists and transhumanists are getting to a point where they're happy to abandon their frail bodies. I would like to see some articles, in the future, on how Christians ought to approach this growing subculture of humans who want to abandon their human-ness.

Anonymous

Posted: June 11, 2009 1:59 PM


If you are walking the walk and talking the talk and living the way you should and letting the good Lord order your steps, keeping your eyes on Jesus and using the internet as an opportunity to spread the gospel. Well, you know the rest of the story. Be blessed not stressed. Brother Nixon

Angel

Posted: June 11, 2009 11:03 AM


Ah, but one can touch, smell, connect in the flesh. Can you do this on the internet? That's the argument.

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Cliff

Posted: June 10, 2009 9:39 PM

Just as Christians are supposed to reflect the glory of the Lord to the world, as found in 2 Cor. 3:18, the Internet reflects the nature of man to the world. Noble, aspiring ideas are found there as well as depravity. It answers our call for information whether good or evil. Our fallen nature drives the internet to abound the with pornography, gambling, and now even human trafficing. Human slavery has returned to America. We now need another liberator to imancipate, will we step up?

John Cozart

Posted: June 10, 2009 6:56 PM

I have found that there has to be balance when it comes to using the internet. The internet has allowed us to expand our presence and impact on peoples lives. The internet and social networking sites have allowed us to connect with people on such a large scale. So with the great good we also have seen the bad and harm that can come from inappropriate use. Unshackled Ministries works full time with individuals and families who have been taken captive by pornography's lies and false promises of intimacy. There must be boundaries and guidelines when using the internet. The internet is just as much a modern wonder as the automobile. Used properly it will serve us well into the future. With that said, let us never lose sight of the fact that like the automobile the internet was created to serve us. Try to avoid becoming a slave to either one. www.unshackledministries.org

yem samuel a

Posted: June 10, 2009 1:21 PM

i think this article is plain and relates very well to the activities of humans on the good and possibly bad effect of the internet. in a short analysis the writter describes the illusion that many tend to substitute the real situation for the imaginary one. though the internet is really an avenue to reachout to a million people around the world, i also supose that it creates a gap of really assessig the true natural expression of the gospel and its effects. the way i live as a christian how does it encourage a would be christian on the blog?. by and large the internet does have its good and bad effect.

Trina L. Grant

Posted: June 10, 2009 12:09 PM

As with any other human invention, the internet and all its trappings are flawed. I agree with Sue Talley: it is up to responsible Christians to utilize the internet to spread the Word of God. It is our obligation to react to sin and excess online just as we would in the "real world". We have before us an opportunity like never before to reach people with the Word. Imagine the number of people who are able to receive free publications like this one, who would not otherwise have been able to afford a magazine. I subscribe to countless Christian publications online. I would never have been able to to pay for the print version of everything I read and am influenced by. The bad things of this world, such as pornography, will insidiously creep into everything, whether print media or online. It is our responsibility as active witnesses of Christ to try to subvert this evil power, and instead use modern technology to further God's work. Are we willing to be catalysts for God's will?

fisherofmen

Posted: June 10, 2009 10:20 AM

I feel the Internet opened the World to Christianity a chance to reach out where a God loving person could interact and teach the Gospel. I use Twitter and a Blog with a website to go places I could not reach. I communicate with many religions and Countries all over the world. I just want to reach out to the whole wide world of God's Love for them, as he told me to do. I do not know who touched me on my death bed I could not see them but it was the Father or the Son or the Holy Ghost?

Lynette

Posted: June 10, 2009 8:51 AM

Deborah, You are so right. I have never connected with so many Christians and family members and friends in my life, via FaceBook. I feel closer to all of them as I see pictures of their families and catch up on their lives. I have reconnected with friends from school that don't know the Lord and are in a time of their lives in which they are seeking more. God can use people in anyway He wants, as long as we’re a willing vessel. I do see the unsafe side of computers too. But, we all have choices in life. Sin is where ever you go, even if you’re talking with someone face to face. What's in you're heart and mind? That's the real question. When you have the Holy Spirit living inside and hear His voice you will do what is right, whether on the Internet or in person. I choose to use it as an outreach to the hurting and staying close to my loved ones. I pray that God will use me in a mighty way. Even one soul is mighty to Him. I need the Armor of God's protection and His Holy Spirit.

Anonymous

Posted: June 10, 2009 8:18 AM


Pointless and with no resolution.

Susan Philip

Posted: June 10, 2009 12:23 AM

Twitter does help us get in touch with our family and friends who live away from us, However it is no substitute for real time talking and meeting with real persons made of flesh and blood. Much as virtual life has it's positive points it is a poor substitite for actions like sitting across atable and tlaking, hugging, comforting etc. Let us not throw the baby along with the bathwater and ask the Holy Spirit's guidance in all our relationships - be it virtual or real

Joanie

Posted: June 10, 2009 12:13 AM


Great!

Bernard

Posted: June 09, 2009 11:54 PM


I think you are wrong : only the father is God thats what 1 corinthians 8 tells us : no simpler truth than this: For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), 6yet for us there is but one God, the Father,

Deborah

Posted: June 09, 2009 11:24 PM

The internet, via blogs, is a great tool for witnessing the true word of God. It does not matter what the topic may be, there is always someone based on their comment that have never tasted, nor hungered for God's truth. People from all over the world can be witnessed to which I personally feel is very awesome. E-mail is my primary use on my computer, but I also look for blogs to give a comment, because it never fails that you will find someone in desperate need of God's truth based upon their comment. Most of the time, I get a negative response. But, that is ok, because they read my comment in order to make their negative comment. Only God knows if I planted His Holy seed. I know that the primary purpose in our life is to be faithful and obedient to God in order to bring the lost to Him. Giving God the glory for the most precious love of all, His love.

choppie

Posted: June 09, 2009 7:44 PM

I met my husband online, and I believe our relationship is stronger for it! We became best friends slowly, over three years, before we even talked on the phone! We fell in love soon after that, after seeing only "pixels" of each other,and he came to Iowa from Sweden and we married. Now we live in Sweden and even though my children and grandchildren are still in the states, I regularly see and talk with them. I would not change a thing! I would certainly not recommend it for everyone, but as a handicapped individual who cannot get out, and with grown children, it opened doors for me that before had been slammed shut.

Sue Talley

Posted: June 09, 2009 2:04 PM

As this article observes, for all its challenges, social networking is here. The fact is, only yesterday a friend left Facebook because of another friend's ill-judged communication. It is up to us, parents, teachers, pastors, and Christian mentors of all kinds, to TEACH the right use of the Internet and (most of all) to model the temperate and appropriate use of social networks ourselves. I question someone's commitment as an employee if they are constantly messaging. I question their commitment to their art if they are a musician. Yet to be able to check in frequently on one's friends and family and offer kind words is not without blessing, I believe. and, as a professor, I thoroughly enjoy sharing the fine music available on YouTube (from Bach's Brandenburgs to Gregorian chant) with our students. Our Metropolitan Museum of Art now puts wonderful lectures on YouTube that I can share. I am grateful to God for the great resources we can share in casual, friendly ways.

Abundant Life

Posted: June 07, 2009 4:21 PM

Mr. Galli, thank you for your thoughtful comments. I'm no Luddite, but I fear that many people today--especially younger ones--have virtually replaced flesh-and-blood relationships with electronic ones without understanding that each has its own proper place and purpose in a person's life. My 20-something nephew, for example, would tell you he has "dozens of friends" online. But recently, when he attempted suicide by taking a handful of sleeping pills, it wasn't his online "friends" who came to his rescue. No, it was his flesh-and-blood youth pastor who, worried when he didn't show up for an appointment, tracked him down and called paramedics before it was too late. The Internet is only a tool; it can be used for good or ill, but it can never replace hand-to-hand and heart-to-heart relationships. Thank God for people who are still willing to embody the incarnational aspects of His love for us!

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