CHRISTMAS STARTS HERE - THE iPAD WORLD
On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs launched the Apple iPhone.
He claimed:“Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.”
His claim has been justified. Now with Smartphones and every other digital device we can control our world by a touch on a pad.
In 1989 Tim Berners-Lee was a particle physicist at CERN’s Large Hadron Collidor at Geneva.
Since physicists were collaborating globally he devised a system for sharing scientific information speedily and accurately in a global environment. Thus was created the World Wide Web.What would we do without the Web and Internet?
So, the Christian gospel message lives in, and must communicate to the 21st century of global technology.
We now use robotic surgery, and a multitude of digital devices in an exciting world.
We have to communicate the two thousand year old gospel to citizens in the iPad world, and in particular younger generations
Christianity started in the ancient world of the Three Wise Men. They can be described in two ways.
Later Christian tradition regarded them as kings, who came seeking the birth of a new king and naturally enquired at Herod’s royal palace.
Or, they can be regarded as priest who studied astrology based on astronomical observations. In other words, they were the scientists of the ancient world.
They came to find Jesus because of a star and its movement in the sky (Matthew 2.2). They came seeking a king but found an ordinary child.
They went to a palace but were re-directed to a hovel. Were they disappointed? Is the modern scientific community disappointed in the weak demonstration of Christianity by the Christian community? I suspect they are indifferent. This modern generation is controlled by digital media.
The cumulative effect is that we now live in a communication’s world of truth, half truth, false truth, or no truth.
So how will the Christian community tell the age-long message of the gospel about Jesus? Or, in this Advent season, how will we speak of the Virgin Birth and the coming of the promised Messiah in Jesus the Son of God? We will certainly need to use modern language and terminology.
The gospel message tells us that God came himself came to us in Jesus Christ, that is the meaning of the Virgin Birth. When we see Jesus we see God. But that is precisely what we do with FaceTime. We talk with one another but we also see one another.With Jesus we can communicate with God and in Jesus see God. That is the gospel.
When we see Jesus we see God, when we encounter Jesus we are face to face with God. Jesus is our spiritual and personal FaceTime with God. Jesus was one born at Bethlehem, that is the meaning of Christmas.
Now, the person we see on our Smartphone is not there but we have faith that the picture we see is really our friend. That is the same with Jesus, we have faith that the image of God we see in Jesus is truly God
But there are dangers lurking in this cyber world. Many voice alarm at the harm to mental health through overuse of Smartphones.
So the Christian gospel message to young and old is the offer of a wholesome and superior form of living. Smartphones capture your mind but the Gospel liberates your soul.
Somebody asked Tim Berners-Lee if he knew how to use the Internet. He replied:“I should, I invented it.”If you ask God if He knows what human life is like, God will reply:“I should, I invented it.”
God will continue:“I tried it out for myself in Jesus of Bethlehem and I know my life does work.”
“You will call the Child Jesus for he will save his people”(Matthew 1.21).