A Blogging We Will Go

Had it not been for the miracles of modern technology, and most certainly God’s divine intervention, none of us in this group would have likely found one another. What a truly inspirational testimony this is as to how God’s touch leads us, even through technology.

For people to have found this site, you may have participated in a new trend called ‘surfing.’ And apparently the text I write is now called a ‘blog.’ But as a middle-aged adult, my natural instinct, up to just a few years ago, would have been to turn towards the written word, in the form of a reference book, rather than using a computer.

The comforting thing about a book is that before it comes into being it goes through a process of revision, assessment, and validation, which generally means that by the time it is published it has almost a seal of understood authority. However, with computer generated material there is no such process; anyone can produce professional looking material in his or her own home. Yet I have found myself, almost frighteningly, allowing myself to accept the premise that if I read it on the internet, it must be accurate. And when I ask my children to find information, they immediately rely upon the internet, rather than using the written word in our library.

This raises important issues for us. As religious people we may maintain that appearance is comparatively unimportant, it is substance that matters. The problem is that nowadays a professional looking document or Web page carries a kind of spurious authority, which demands from us constant caution to establish its relative value.

Creator God, you call us to rejoice in the discovery of new knowledge and to be fearless in the pursuit of truth and understanding wherever we may find it. May we not be distracted by outwards forms and ever watchful for the pitfalls which can befall the unwary. Amen