Latest online Spiritual Fad

Looking for Faith in all the wrong places - “GWYTK @ Facebook”
Written by: Conrade Yap
Date: 5 Feb 2010
[The problem with "God-Wants-You-To-Know" Facebook Application]

Some of my Facebook friends are joining the next hip faith-based application called: “God Wants You to Know” (GWYTK). On a daily basis, inspirational devotionals will be sent to friends who sign up for free at the popular social networking Facebook platform. The application promises to “bring you back to love, to strength, to happiness. And in times of great need, ask for a prayer, and be supported by the caring prayers of friends around the world you never knew you had. ” With more than 6000 friends, and astonishing 1.8 million 'active users' per month, the application has certainly scratched where many people are itching. As I ponder on this new popular platform, GWYTK, I want to express some of my reservations.

1) It sounds like a Christian horoscope
People everywhere needs hope and assurance. This application attempts to fill the gap. People are hurting. This application tries to supply spiritual reliefs like how the ubiquitous Panadol does for headaches and general pain. The words expressed in the inspirationals tend to be general enough to reach a wide audience, and specific enough toward saying nice things and nice words people want to hear. Take the January 9th posting, which says: “God wants you to be you.”

I remember a couple of years ago, I read the story of a newspaper publication which ran out of horoscope contributions. Knowing that there is a sizeable following among readers for the horoscope predictions, the publishers decided to recycle some of the older horoscopes. No one really notice the difference. What a sham! What the newspaper did is essentially putting old stuff and calling it new for the day. Not only is it unethical, it makes a mockery of the readers concerned. GWYTK smells like that.


2) Hit-and-Miss
Sometimes, the application hits a raw nerve and triggers lots of appreciation and gratitude. Other times, one can simply read past the words without much feeling. Thus, it is sometimes hitting the mark, and other times missing it. If it is really from God, would not it be something that has more hits? Since God is perfect, would it not be reasonable enough to expect a 100% hit?

3) Claiming to be God?
This is perhaps the most troubling of all. Is the creator of the GWYTK God? What credentials do they have? It is one thing to believe in God. It is yet another to 'claim' to be God. This is often the root of ugly crusades and holy war. People who abuses the name of God and launch a worldly conquest often result in fatalities and damages far worse than expected. For the application to gain some credibility, change the name! Remember the words of Isaiah.

"I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. “ (Isa 42:8)

This can be scary. The road to idolatry is often paved with good intentions. I pray that believers will remember not to use the name of the LORD in vain. When the creators of GWYTK continue to register hits after hits, are they using God's name in vain, so that they can rise in popularity among people in the world?

4) Do 3D Devotionals

Each of us ought to do our own devotionals as much as possible. Sometimes we need help, but any external help should supplement, not substitute our daily feeding. Why should we deprive ourselves from eating solid food on our own, and consume processed food instead? Certainly, the Holy Spirit can work in any way. The best way is to adopt at least a 3-dimensional devotional, below.

First and foremost, personal devotions. Call it Quiet Time, or personal closet prayer. Whatever it is, read the Word of God personally. Make it a habit to make it regular, as frequently as possible.

Secondly, do devotions together in a community of faith. It can be a Bible study group, a prayer breakfast or any gathering. You will be surprised at how the Holy Spirit speaks insights into various hearts to form in our understanding a fuller and more wholesome image of the truth in God's Word.

Finally, devotional supplements. It could be the popular Our Daily Bread, recorded sermons online, books, or even online devotionals. This third way must never become the primary way. The fundamental devotional ways must always be personal and community.

Do our devotionals. Make it as wholesome as possible, with personal combined with community, supplemented by peripheral materials available both online and offline. For those of us who know people caught up with spiritual 'horoscope' like devotionals, remind them to read the Word of God for themselves first, and not depend on sudden moments of inspirations that are sadly too one-sided, without much reality check.

conrade

"Love is a Feeling to be Learned"

This is a small little booklet. It is only a short 37 pages long, but is not short on its message. I read it when I was still single. In a world which often puts happiness as synonymous with good feelings, the late Trobisch drives home the point that love is much greater. It covers a wide variety of emotions. We need to be constantly educated on what love actually is. We are called to learn what love is, and in this instance, feelings too have to be learned. I love this quote. It is applicable for both married and unmarried.

"Love is a feeling to be learned.
It is anxiety and contentment.
It is deep yearning and hostility.
It is pleasure and it is pain.
There is not one without the other.
Happiness is only a part of love.
Suffering belongs to love also.
This is the mystery of love,
its beauty and its burden.

Love is a feeling to be learned. "

[Walter Trobisch, Love is a Feeling to be Learned, Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1971, p9]

conrade

Case for Watching (Engaging) More TV

AUTHOR: Conrade Yap
Synopsis: Many Christians have consistently condemned the TV to the dungeons of evil. The question is, can we continue to do this? Can we afford to let the evil powers and principalities take over while Christians let them?

I come from a tradition that periodically demonizes the television set. Ugly names are regularly hurled at the helpless rectangular box. Derogatory labels range from ‘Idiot-box,’ ‘boob-tube,’ ‘the box,’ to more sinister ones such as the ‘devil’s chief weapon.’ My first experience with a colour television set was in 1974, where my father bought the new TV just in time for the World Cup Soccer tournament. Watching TV has been a favourite pastime for my family, despite the constant arguments that too much TV dulls the mind. I admit. There are some programs that are simply sick to the core. Others contain too much violence, vulgarity that turn a promising story into another opportunity to display artificial macho-ness. Sometimes I feel the TV lies more than its purported truth. The difference lies in how we read the director’s cut.

The current TV tax law proposal has heightened the animosity between the cable companies and the local networks. Local TV is asking the cable to pay their share for local programming. Cable companies refuse to pay, saying that any money gained by local networks simply means the end-users end up footing the bill. It strikes me as preposterous that each party speaks in such a way that they are ‘right,’ and the other is ‘wrong.’ Regardless of who you watch first, there is a nagging feeling that each of them are equally guilty of telling only their side of the story. Hence, who is correct? Depends on who you watch.

A Change of Heart
Recently I have a change of paradigm. Condemning TV itself is not going to be helpful. Yet, should we be content to tolerate some of those trash on the tube? No. Something more needs to be done. My change of heart stems from three observations. Firstly, despite the rise of the Internet, TV watching is rising, not falling. With the Vancouver Olympics next month, advertisers are gearing up for a sharp surge in viewership, especially on days when Team Canada competes in the Ice-Hockey games. Not only that, movie makers are no longer just dependent on the theatres to bring in the cash to recoup their movie-making investment. Releasing movies on the TV networks is a way to maintain revenue for old movies. For example, the Star Trek series made more money in reruns, despite its miserable returns when it was first released. Secondly, the culture around which my children is growing up in, seems headed toward more visual teaching, especially through videos on the television set. At one time, my kid excitedly comes back telling me that her teacher showed the whole class a full movie, simply because he does not feel like teaching that day. I was initially flabbergasted. However, as I think of my recent engagement with professors specializing in media, they tell me that this is a trend that is likely to increase. Thirdly, I have been asking whether it is more useful to villanize TV or to engage it. After all, TV remains one of the most used devices in any home. Yes, more people watch TV than they read books. For me, I watch more Harry Potter movies than Harry Potter books. I am not suggesting that we join the TV watching revolution simply because we cannot defeat it. I am saying that there is a more constructive way to approach TV. Instead of being passive TV watchers, which certainly dulls one’s mind and creativity, why not engage the TV and to let the producers, the TV media and the advertizers know that we can be a force not to be trifled with?

Beyond 'Viewing'  & Watching: The 7 Habits of TV Engagement
Quentin Schultze argues that there is a difference between ‘watching’ and ‘viewing’ television. The former is ‘passive and largely uncritical’ while the latter ‘requires one to look for the values and beliefs that animate television messages.’ I tend to agree, but feel that we need to move a step further from ‘viewing’ toward engagement.


One of my concerns is that it is not always that easy to make a distinction between ‘watching’ and ‘viewing.’ When my mind is tired, I just want to relax and let the television do all the talking and creating. It is only when I am relatively more awake that I can put on the thinking cap. Having said that, let me propose my idea of a 7-habits in highly Practical Engagement.

1. Advertising (Advertising Base): Write to the advertisers in the offending movie. Address it to “Customer Representative” or “Customer Relations” to state that you will not buy their product because you disagree with the values in the movie. Perhaps, if you write in to the cereal company, the beer or the ice-cream shop, they may even send you a free coupon.

2. Balance (Hear Views Fairly): It is easy to be swayed in a message by any one TV channel. Watch at least two viewpoints. I find the talk shows that gather different viewpoints really helpful, to realize the diversity of views.

3. Compliment (Positive Reinforcement): When a good movie or program is being shown, write an email to the station, or to convey a word of thanks for showing the program. Tell them specifically what are the values that you find should be repeated. You’ll be surprised that this gives producers and TV stations the incentive to look for similar programs in the future.

4. Discerning (Home-base): Every program on TV has a particular plot. Discern what it is, even the advertisements flashed. For parents, use the TV as another ‘parenting moment’ to teach our kids to watch with discernment.

5. Embrace Diversity: In an increasingly global world, choose programs that have a fair representation of as many ethnic groups as possible. I notice a gradual increase of non-white people in TV series such as 24, House, and others. Also be ready to send a message to the producers if you feel a particular show is too biased toward any one race.

6. Feedback (to TV station base): Sometimes, there are good programs that are unfortunately marred by bad language. Feedback to the producers. Tell the studios that you actively disagree with the subliminal message bent on portraying ‘vulgarity’ as reality in life. Just hearing a ‘four-letter’ word uttered does not mean that ALL places accept the vulgar word as a norm.

7. Group: This point is aimed particularly at Christians, especially those of the evangelical camp. Rather than to say that TV is evil, and then hide ourselves in the closet of separateness, it is better to be a visible salt and light to the world, and not allow the free reign of undesirable influences in Hollywood. Remember that when Christians take the movies seriously, Hollywood will learn to take Christians seriously. They need to know that Christians can be a powerful consumer group too.

The English philosopher, Edwin Burke has been widely quoted:

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Let me assert that if Christians do nothing about what they see on TV, we risk letting evil control a very powerful media. We risk becoming people who do nothing, except whining and complaining quietly about the world where evil reigns on the TV. May that never happen. Christians can be good citizens and at the same time, be helpful engagers of modern media.



Written by:

Conrade Yap (MDiv, Regent-College)
22 Jan 2010


Notes:
• Schultze, Quentin. "Television." The Complete Book of Everyday Christianity. Eds. R Paul Stevens and Robert Banks. Downers Grove: IVP, 1997. 1025-7.

Collaborative Blogging Initiative

What Is Collaborative Blogging?

Life is very much like a marathon. We believe that we can reach out further when we journey together. If we want to go fast, go it alone. If we want to go FAR, do it together. Collaborative Blogging will seek to tap the richness through diversity and the appreciation of one another's differences, as God has created. Thus, viewpoints will be made thoughtfully and respectfully.

Who Can Blog Here?

• You need to be an alumnus of Regent-College, BC Vancouver.
• You need to adhere to the statement of faith, or theological position as recorded here.
  
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• If you are interested to blog here, send me (conrade) an email [yapdates@aim.com]
  

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