Facebook – Everybody wants to look at Amber

In a recent edition of the excellent net@nite podcast, host Amber MacArther stated that Toronto is the Facebook capital of the world with a greater proportion of its inhabitants having Facebook pages than anywhere else on earth. (Facebook is a social network site that helps you to keep in touch with old friends – originally for university graduates but now open to all comers. One of the key features is the ability to upload your photographs for people to look at)
There is a growing number of these social networking sites which all feature the ability to load your photos which are then available for anyone to see. MySpace is one example and Flickr is another. On Amber's home page featured in the pod cast is a link to her Flickr page and sure enough there were some photo’s there of holidays and some events she had covered in her day job as a reporter.

I can understand the attraction of being able to load some family snaps up onto your internet homepage in a private album in order to share them with friends and family; I’ve done it myself with images of kids’ school plays for the grandparents living in Spain to see- but I feel distinctly uncomfortable about sites like Facebook and MySpace which not only encourage but facilitate a voyeuristic approach to looking into strangers lives and public photo albums. In fact looking at some of the comments posted under the photos on Amber’s Facebook- the majority appear to be from strangers, or is that strange guys, saying things like ‘phwaa she’s gorgeous…’

Is this the next evolution of the cult of celebrity where now ‘ordinary’ people become the objects of our adoration – unawares – and we live vicariously by reading their diaries and photo albums rather than by living our own life?

For me, I prefer the approach laid out in the Bible – Jesus said he came that we (all) should have life in all its fullness (John 10:10) – which to me means that my own life is full of joy, excitement and adventure – my own photo album is full of images I want to look at – and I don’t need to cast envious glances at anyone else’s. More than that, let’s not forget the prime directive in the 10 commandments (Exodus 20) not to be envious of other people’s possessions or relations as that road only ends in disaster for us.

The life that each of us has, is one destined for greatness – that’s what the bible says when it describes us as adopted sons and daughters of the master of the universe and co-labourers with him in the grand plan of the restoration and ultimate rule over all of creation.

Forget facebook, give me the good book any day.

Everything I need to know in life I learned from Star Trek

One of the truths of the human condition that many people not only fail to recognise but also seem to spend most of their lives in denial about and trying to avoid is this: mankind was designed to work. Idleness may be something we strive for, but it's something that ultimately we find unfulfilling.

A quick history lesson

God created the universe, God created the planet earth and all the living things thereon- including the slimey, creeping ones and the magnificent plumed ones. Then God creates man, in his own image. So man is created with the nature of God: God loves - and so do we, God delights in creating things - so do we. Creation=work. Get the picture?

So, why is it then, that so may churches and charities struggle to find the volunteers that they need? Thinking about churches just for now- why are we not getting involved in helping in the jobs needed to run the church and fulfill the great commission Jesus gave at the end of his earthly ministry. "Go into all the world," he said, "making disciples...."

STAR TREK
When Captain Kirk (or Picard (that reminds me of a funny thing that happened when I was privileged to meet and interview Gene Kranz, who was the NASA flight director for the Apollo 13 mission - but more of that another time!)) lands on a strange new world, or meets new life or new civilisations- he knows how to act because Star Fleet has issued him with the Prime Directive and other standing orders that define rules of behaviour and a framework of responses that can be used to work out the appropriate response to any given situation.

The Church's Prime Directives
So that got me thinking, what are the church's Prime Directives? Well lets start with the BIBLE- that's the Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. The BIBLE lists a number of requirements and responsibilities for God's people, including:

• Spread the Gospel
• Worship God
• Take care of the poor, the widows and the orphans and of course the aliens!
  

Now God did not lay these responsibilities on a chosen few- they were general command given to us all.

So breaking that down- if we all are charged with spreading the Gospel, then that not only includes the act of evangelism but also all those activities that are needed to make it possible such as designing the poster- handing out the invitations to the revival meeting, inviting pre-christian friends round for a dinner party... get the picture?

And the imperative to worship God, includes all those jobs that need to be done to make it possible such as (thinking about corporate worship) putting out the chairs, sweeping the floors, playing the music, running the projector or OHP, handing out the hymn books, being a steward... get the picture yet?

So why do we have so many Christians sitting in the pews on a Sunday not at all engaged in the work of the Kingdom, because they are waiting for 'the call' when actually God has already given very clear instructions to us all about what he wants to see being done and we just need to get on and do it. Once we start obeying the written instructions already given, then God may decide to give us some more responsibility- but not before!

SO that is how Star Trek taught me everything I need to know in life - obey your prime directives - and be nice to aliens!