I saw this story on CNN about God’s iPod and was immediately ready to go crazy. I am not against using technology – I love it, but it was the guy’s rational for using it that was getting me upset – ready to violently yell at my TV set. His rational was that if Jesus was around today, he would use all the available technology he could to reach as many people as he could. I think reaching people is admirable, but that rational doesn’t jive with the picture of Jesus seen in the gospels.

In the gospels, Jesus is seen often retreating from people and unlike others in his day, stayed out of the large theatres and instead, spoke from hills with poor acoustics and gave many of his profound messages and miracles to a select few rather than to the masses.

In terms of technology…I am for it. In terms of using it for ministry, I am also for it with some provisos. I think technology should be used only if it adds to community and our human, God created, need for it rather than replaces or detracts from it.

For the most part I am in favour of the idea of podcasts for church. I think it is great for those who attend a local community and have missed a week so they can catch up with what is happening with the community. I also think it is a great resource for additional teaching or listening to the Bible in MP3 format. But it will NEVER replace the communal element of church and if it is used to substitute it, I think it then detracts for the very message it is trying to communicate. For those reasons I am for technology but with thought and critique so we don’t blindly accept or institute something that will in fact detract from church and the Good News. The problem is we rarely reflect on the possible effects of using a certain technology before we embrace it.