Modern Technology is no Match for Old Fashioned Intimacy

GoodSalt.com-lwjas0455

Way back in the late 1990’s, before android devices, I was working for a delivery company, and would sometimes find myself in someone’s office waiting for them to get a package ready. To kill time I would play a little game on my cell phone. I remember thinking to myself, If they can put a game on these phones, they can put the Bible on here, and that would be a better use of my time.

In 2008 I got my first android phone. My vision became reality when the first app I downloaded was a Bible app. It was so cool having the Bible on my phone and so handy wherever I went. Sure I kept a hard copy Bible with me all the time before, but this was much easier and sleeker. Of course I also have the Ellen White Writings app. I have an entire library in my pocket!

One night I was hanging out with a friend at one of our favorite restaurants, when I got a text from a teen from the school where I teach. She was trying to give her friend a study on the Sabbath but could not find the verses she needed. I went to my In Light of the Cross Website and copied and pasted the Bible study into the text, and suddenly she was able to give her friend a complete Bible study at her finger tips.

Just a few weeks ago I saw an elderly lady in the hospital, when she lamented that she did not have her Sabbath School quarterly with her. I told her I had the Sabbath School lesson app on my phone, and she was very pleased when I studied that day’s lesson with her.

Having the Bible, Spirit of Prophecy writings, and Sabbath School lesson on my phone is way cool. A while back I even started using my cell phone to preach, and give devotional talks at school, in an effort to encourage young people to use their Bible apps.

For a long time I was really enjoying modern technology and my new way of studying the Bible and preparing sermons, as well as blogging and sharing inspirational thought on the Sabbath School Net Facebook page. Modern technology had sure put me in touch with the rest of the world. But was I closer to God? Spiritual information was at my fingertips, but was it really making me more intimate with God?

In the mornings I would start to read my Bible. I would run across a verse and an idea would come to me, and I would think to myself, Oh I have to share this with the world right now. I would go onto Facebook and post what I had just learned. Well, what could be wrong with that? What was wrong was that it started interfering with my intimacy with God! We weren’t alone any more. It was God, me and the Facebook world. I would be reading and “Bing” I had a text message or Facebook notification. It became distracting.

A while back I was eating at Taco Bell when I heard a little girl’s voice say, “Is this how you are spending more time with me? By texting on your cell phone?” I looked over and at the next table saw a young girl looking sorrowfully into her daddy’s eyes. The father put his cell phone away. One morning in my personal Bible study time, I felt the hurt in my heavenly Father’s eyes, when a “Bing” from my cell phone distracted me from my prayer while in mid sentence.

Yes, modern technology was helping me write Christian blog posts, and share Scriptures with people around the world. But when I caught myself distracted by my cell phone during personal prayer and Bible study time, that little girl and her daddy at Taco Bell reminded me of something.

God’s primary reason for creating me was not to have me preach sermons and write blogs. God’s primary reason for creating me was so we could be intimate with each other!

Friday nights I have a Bible study group with eight to eleven unchurched people. I was very pleased with myself when I helped them download Youversion onto their cell phones and tablets. The other night I was surprised when a lady, who is a wife and mother in our group suddenly made a rule for our group. She banned cell phones! She insisted we use hard copy Bibles¹instead of phones and tablets. Why? She said because her kids were being distracted from the Bible by their other apps, like Facebook and Instagram. I knew what she was talking about, because I had the same distractions myself in my personal studies. So we all got “real” Bibles.² No, not the scrolls but the real Bibles that came after the scrolls in hard copy books.

Today, I turn off my cell phone and pick up my hard copy Bible and you know what I feel? Intimacy! No distracting apps just me and my God! Alone! Everything else is disconnected so I can connect with God. With my hard copy Bible God has me all to Himself. No body else can call or text me on my Bible except God. This is our time. It is what I was created for. To be one with my God with nobody or anything in-between us.

Sure, after my alone time with God, I will share some things on social media and public sermons that happened during our alone time. Not everything though. Some things are just between Him and me. After all, God did not create me just so I could teach and preach. He created me for intimacy with Him!

Modern technology is wonderful and it has its place in my life. But intimacy with God is far more wonderful, and I won’t let modern technology take that away.

You can find a selection of Bibles at our Sabbath School Net Bible Page ↩
For a change, why not try a modern translation like the NLT? You may be surprised how much more “real” the Bible can become to you. ↩

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Comments

Modern Technology is no Match for Old Fashioned Intimacy — 26 Comments

Curtis Hall on April 7, 2015 at 11:43 am said:

Thanks William. I have those same conversations with myself. Recently I have begun closing my FB and email pages when studying online. I too noticed I was easily distracted w/ multi tasking. I'm trying to keep this awareness in mind throughout the day when I should be interacting with others face to face.

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Maurice Ashton on April 7, 2015 at 5:46 pm said:

It is important that we reclaim out personal space for spending time with God and with people who are close to us. But at the same time we need to intelligently use new technologies for to enhance those experiences appropriately. It is not the technology that is wrong but our misuse of the "First-level Interrupt Handler". I am borrowing a bit of terminology from computer architecture. In the operating system of all computers there is a little process that examines interrupts as they happen and categorizes them according to importance. The important ones get handled immediately and the less important ones are put on the queue to be handled later when there is more time and the computer is not busy.

Unfortunately now-a-days an electronic ping is regarded as a high-level interrupt by most of us and we think that we need to respond immediately.

Immediacy is less important than appropriateness. One of the characteristics of our age is that we often respond with the casual "smart" response, rather than the considered, wise response.

When studying the Bible, conversing with friends, or driving (or sleeping, William!), a "ping" can wait. Electronics does not need to rule our lives, but if used appropriately can enhance our interaction with others and with God.

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William Earnhardt on April 7, 2015 at 8:17 pm said:

Thanks Maurice for the assurance that its okay if I continue sleeping when you e-mail me at 3 in the morning! 🙂

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- Chris Pemhiwa on April 9, 2015 at 10:39 pm said:
  
  Hahaha!! 🙂 Thanks for this highly relevant article. I can relate so much to it
  
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Grace Sealey on April 8, 2015 at 3:58 am said:

Thank you William for sharing this with us. I thought I was the only one who felt less satisfied studying my Bible and lessons on technology than using the actual book and the Bible. I see the same issue arising with the young people who I teach in Church. We have the lesson n our phones and the Bible is on our phones, but nobody is reading it any more than when they had only the paper versions. Searching for a the scripture reading on their phone inevitably lead to face book, instagram and twitter.
Even Pastors are not immune. A young pastor at our church just finished preaching a very good youth focused sermon. As soon as he sat down (he was not on the rostrum) he took out his phone, head down and and begun typing away.
Nothing works like sitting down in the stillness of the morning with the Bible opened. For all the easy access of technology, this is intimacy.

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John H Nichols on April 8, 2015 at 5:14 am said:

Thank you William where do you get such wisdom.

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Neven Grgas on April 8, 2015 at 6:01 am said:

Extremely good point, William.
My solution to distractions has com in two parts.
1. Download the App so I do not need to be on-line when I study the Word.
2. Set the cell-phone to Airplane mode. That prevents even the standard phone call from coming in and not to mention the "Bing" from lets say a Facebook notification.
The only time I use the printed page of the Lord's Word is when I get tired of reading the Lord's Word in emitted light, after all, reflected light characters are easier on our eyes on long term basis.

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- William Earnhardt on April 8, 2015 at 6:24 am said:
  
  Thank you all for your thoughtful comments. Excellent ideas Neven! I will do that.
  
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Sandra Baldwin on April 8, 2015 at 6:04 am said:

Thank you for such an inspirational post. I really needed to hear that today! Lately I've been caught up with playing Scrabble, a great game, of course, but I asked myself last night at 3 in the morning, would you stay up 'til three to read your Bible or spend alone time with God?

I notice you have the PDF version available for In Light of the Cross Study Bible Guides. Have you considered making an App available for devices? Thanks.

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- William Earnhardt on April 8, 2015 at 6:26 am said:
  
  Thanks for your comment Sandra. Yes I have a friend working on an app. He says it should be available soon. I will let you all know when its available. 🙂
  
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  - Janet George on April 12, 2015 at 8:37 pm said:
    
    Hi William,
    In enjoyed reading your blog post. I have been following the comments and when you mentioned having a friend working on on an app for In the Light of the Cross, I have to ask a favor.
    Today's technology has opened so many doors for people with disabilities, including myself who is blind. I have a library I carry around on my phone including the Bible app.
    Sometimes though I have not had the wonderful experience of using some great study tools/apps because they are inaccessible to the text to speech reader called Voice Over which I use to access the internet and apps with my IPhone.
    So, after all that nutshell of an explaination my favor to you is to ask your friend toinclude accessble features when creating his app. Be sure to label buttons. Make sure that all edit fields are voiced.
    Thanks for taking this into consideration.includeaccessibilty accessiblibilty woring
    
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Jane French on April 8, 2015 at 2:57 pm said:

My grandmother taught me 'all things in moderation'. Whilst that certainly does not apply to harmful habits, many of which did not exist in her time, the motto is useful as a 'rule of thumb'. I love having my mobile bible and spend time whilst waiting at airports, hospital etc to keep on track with God- but my morning worship is always from the written word and beautiful pages of my study bible. Electronics can wait!!

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Jenny Barry on April 8, 2015 at 6:26 pm said:

Thanks for this inspiring story it has opened my eyes

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maud thomas on April 9, 2015 at 4:05 am said:

The Holy spirit is so marvellous, He impressed me to go back to my hard cover bible,and reading your article made me determined to do that
Thanks

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Lurene [Surname?] on April 9, 2015 at 4:16 am said:

This reading is so true the phone is taking over the bible in churches to today it is the plan of the enemy children of God wake up and get back to the basic

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Angie [Surname?] on April 9, 2015 at 8:25 am said:

Thanks, William! I am guilty of being distracted by technology during my intimate times with the Lord. Sometimes I think it is a good idea to go on a media fast...to get away from all of it. I think Jesus is hurt when my attention drifts to other things and I lose focus during our time together. Thanks for reiterating some very good points. We are waaaay too addicted to technology in our world. God help us all to remember the "off" and "mute" buttons. God bless and thanks for sharing.

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Esther Garce on April 9, 2015 at 12:23 pm said:

Thank you so much for such a wonderful input !!! I will be doing that so I spend more intimacy time with my Creator and God Almighty.
Stay Blessed

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Simon Zimuto on April 10, 2015 at 6:56 am said:

Thank you for the message. I hope also I must adjust myself. But your blogs have been helping me so much. I could share some of your ideas to family and friends without meeting you in person even so I will share information on this article Is it bad

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Paul Blanke on April 10, 2015 at 8:11 pm said:

Are we too busy? Too busy to do things that take up all of our waking hours? I think so. Technology has developed a faster way to do many things that we used to do at a much slower pace. So now we can, with aid of all the electronic devices, cram much more into those hours. Unfortunately we also have lost the valuable time we used to spend with God. There is a song called, "I miss my time with You". Talking about time with God and what we do to try to please Him. I find myself on the computer more than I need, also. I do study the Bible from several printed versions. However if there is a question that we seek answers for, the computer is the source of choice for multiple answers. Is there a need for tablets and phones and laptops during a church service? I see more and more of this and wonder is this appropriate for a worship service? Is Reverence not in style or appropriate any more? There is an old adage that may be somewhat applicable. A place for everything and everything in it's place. What do we treasure? Matt6:21

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j. folkes on April 10, 2015 at 9:51 pm said:

It also interferes with fellowship among the young. Countless times I've seen kids in church with smartphones standing in a group, heads down, tapping away. But how do we get them to interact face to face?

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Sbu on April 11, 2015 at 9:57 am said:

Very powerful massage God is able

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Isaac Amponsah on April 11, 2015 at 2:50 pm said:

Thanks so much for those inspiring messages
Please I have a question to ask.
Please at the time of Jesus' baptism, was He the only one who witnessed heaven's declaration of He being God's beloved son and the descension of the dove or John and those gathered also saw that scene?

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- Paul Blanke on April 11, 2015 at 9:40 pm said:
  
  No Isaac, Peter says in 2Peter 2:16-18, we were eyewitnesses an heard the Voice.
  
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  - Isaac Amponsah on April 12, 2015 at 12:01 am said:
    
    Thank you so much Paul
    
    Please I checked and it wasn't chapter 2 but chapter 1 that recorded that. 2 Peter 1:16-18
    
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Amogelang [Surname?] on April 13, 2015 at 12:27 pm said:

Hi Isaac, according to The Desire of Ages; pg 112, John and a few of the throng actually witnessed the vision

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Robbie Noordzy on April 14, 2015 at 5:23 pm said:

Thanks William for the reminder of something I already knew but for the pressure of convenience have let slip. The ability to search/cut/paste when invariably my devotion time merges with sabbath school/sermon preparation time in the wee small hours of the morning...

Like a lot of posters here I grew up in the days when we just didn't have PCs or even the technology to make electronic reading possible. I never took to the electronic option even once when they came out. There's just something about having a real book in your hands that you can lose yourself in, call it old fashioned, personal, intimate... I think the key is that it has no other function than to immerse you in its contents.

Intimacy is something lacking everywhere today thanks to the blessings of technology and it can affect our relation ship with God as it does with other people around us if we are not mindful.

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