My argument agin' the virtual church

As this post is the written form of an argument I am making in a debate today, I am waiting until the last second before class to post it.  I am arguing that the Virtual Church is not a faithful representation of Christ's church on earth.

My argument is centered on Christian eschatology.  We have an ultimate hope of seeing and touching our Savior Jesus Christ.  We have an ultimate hope of rejoicing in the presence of the angels in Heaven.  We shall be bidden, if we are so bold, to touch the scars in our Lord's hands and examine the spear wound in His side.  Though we shall be raised in spiritual, incorruptible bodies to the glorious presence of God, we shall be in bodies nonetheless.  Therefore we will be physically present with Christ and the saints of all ages.

The Bible commands believers, "Forsaking not the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is . . ." (Hebrews 10:25)

While virtual church may bring together those who cannot  physically attend a local church, it may also serve to separate out those who will not.  It can be a ready-made excuse for those too lazy, too interested in TV football analysts, and too self-centered to invest several hours a week building up others; meeting with their spiritual family.

I am not arguing that the Christian church should be absent from online and social media conversations regarding faith, spirituality, and practice.  I am saying as long as their are physical buildings with flesh-and-blood Christians attending them, worshipping and fellowshipping, then people interested in participating in the family life of God ought to get off their physical backsides and get to stepping into the Lord's house Sunday and whenever else the doors are open.  God forbid we allow the awesome tool of online communications become a barrier to giving and receiving physical touch from other believers.  God forbid a quick text ever subsitute for a shoulder to cry on.  And God forbid a happy Facebook post ever substitute for high fives, singing, and clapping.

As long as we have the freedom and means to assemble ourselves as disciples of Christ, we must not allow the Internet to temper or interfere with true Christian fellowship.    

Hugs Through the Screen

In The Virtual Church with Professor Ralph Watkins we have done a lot of discussion on "Facebook" vs. true "Face Time." (I realize FaceTime is an Apple app, but here I mean people seeing one another in person, face to face, no cameras or screens between them.)  We have wrestled with whether virtual interactive communities can truly replace old fashioned get-togethers in building relationships and dialogue.  We have come to the conclusion that online resources cannot ultimately be an alternative to person-to-person meetings, but that the two forms of communication can certainly compliment one another.  The new Christian yearning for human contact can step out of her online Life Circle and meet her peers for coffee at the local bistro.  The man with a Sunday morning over-the-road delivery can hear his church's worship service on live streaming through his iPhone.

I experienced the complimentary nature of online and face-to-face meetings this weekend as I traveled to my home church in Port Orange, FL to check in with friends and thank members for their support.  Going in I knew some of the joys and pains in peoples' lives because of texts, emails, and Facebook posts.  Seeing folks in church, we were not starting from scratch catching up on each others' lives.  We were able to achieve a deeper level of conversation because we already had one another's back stories as starting points.  I knew who the youth leaders were, who was in college, who recently had a baby, who was undergoing chemotherapy, and who had changed jobs or even careers.  There is something fun about "catching up" with people that we miss because we have so much of their lives available to us online, but it leads to much deeper and more meaningful conversations.  It also invites my wife and me to remain loved and integral members of a faith community from which we live a seven hours' drive away. 

Jesus' command finally realized?

Right before his ascension Jesus told the disciples, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Gost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)  What required a dispersion in the New Testament to get the baby Christians off their behinds in Jerusalem and spreading the Gospel to the rest of the world is now seemingly done with the typing of fingers on a keyboard anywhere there is Internet.

Is New Media God's way of helping us fulfill Jesus' prophecy?  The missions explosion of the 18th and 19th centuries nearly spread the Gospel to the uttermost reaches of the earth.  Yet there are still tribes, tounges, and peoples who have not heard the Good News of Jesus Christ.  While it may be easy to post our Christian convictions online and then call to the world, "Come and get it!," there must be people who physically travel to remote places, proclaim Christ, and help the people get copies of the Scriptures in their own language. 

Thankfully, online media can help missionaries stay in close contact with their sending organizations to provide prayers, money, and physical resources for the proclamation of Christ.  And when the missionaries have trained disciples of the local peoples and packed up to move where God is calling them next, they can in turn stay in close contact with their new brothers and sisters in Christ -- through satellite phones, smart phones, and solar chargers if there are no land lines or power stations.  Using a blend of old and new schools, we are within striking distance of being Christ's witnesses unto the uttermost part of the earth.    

Paul on Twitter

We have been comparing social media to old-fashioned forms of communication in my fall semester class, "The Virtual Church."  A question which keeps coming up in our readings and discussions is, "Would the apostle Paul tweet if he was alive today?"  The answer is, "You bet your last parchment he would tweet!"  The apostle Paul was all about disseminating God's word to everyone who could possibly receive it.  He sent letters to various churches, then instructed those churches to read the letters he had written to  other churches.  Scribes received his letters, copied them, and sent them to the far reaches of the Roman empire and beyond.  In a way he already was tweeting, 1,800 years before we had the technology to send or receive those messages instantaneously. (Notwithstanding the 3,000 year-old telephone systems discovered last century in Egyptian tombs and Hindu temples.)

When in prison Paul called for his cloak and some books, but especially the parchments (2Timothy 4:13).  He wanted the best technology of the time to be able to reach his churches.  A Christian pastor sitting in Libyan prison today might exclaim, "Get me the BlackBerry!"  What used to be accomplished with smoke signals and talking drums now occurs with cell phones and iPads.  The apostle Paul would not only be using the latest technology; he would be reading the latest tech blogs to see what was coming next. 

As Christians we should be out on the forefront of digital and all other media.  We must not miss the opportunity to proclaim Christ crucified, buried, and risen wherever people are gathered.  If that is the slam poetry festival, sister Proverbs will be there.  At the Kirking of the Tartans brother Taber will remind fellow Scottsmen of John Knox and their rich Scottish -Presbyterian heritage.  In digital media Professor Watkins will preach Apple, then help us use our limping PC's to proclaim the Gospel of Christ.  When people gather in the malls and street festivals, we ought to be the presence of Christ there.  And when they open their laptops to kill time on a long flight, we should be waiting for them, offering them the love of God so that they may experience it anew and bear it to whatever far destination they may be traveling.