In Theory: Has technology made it too easy to sin?

The Internet may have brought about a technological revolution in terms of information, entertainment and socializing, but it’s also brought about newer temptations for people, according to a survey by Christian research organization the Barna Group.

Almost 50% of Americans say they spend too much time on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, 11% feel they are too aggressive or “go off” on someone via text or email, and 18% admit to struggling with the temptation to look at pornography or other “inappropriate” material. These new temptations, labeled “virtual vices,” are most likely to affect Millennials, those born between 1980 and 2000, according to the survey.

Barna’s president, David Kinnaman, says, “For faith leaders, this shift [to digital vices] underscores the importance of including technology and media as part of a broader discussion of spirituality and stewardship.”

Q: Do you agree that technological temptations need to be addressed by faith leaders?

I would certainly agree that many, including me, spend a lot of time using technology to communicate with others. And some do spend too much time, in my opinion, playing video games or watching television. But I am not convinced that technology itself is to blame. There have always been temptations available to those who want to abuse them. The only difference today seems to be the method.

And it is not really unusual that Millennials, who are more adept at the use of technology, would be more prone to use those media.

But the thing that concerns me most about the current use and abuse of technology is not morality or sinful pursuits. It is that people who are wrapped up with technological methods are not communicating as much with real living, breathing human beings.

They have substituted artificial means of connection for the up-close-and-personal kind. The result, I believe, is the loss of real community and sensitivity to other people. It is just too easy to dash off a bit of invective to someone else via the Internet or Facebook.

The same kind or angry tirade would be much less likely in a personal conversation.

So, as a person of faith, my direction to those in the congregation I serve would be for them to refine the art of live communication and a sense of community rather than my berating them for their real or imagined sins. We need to share our truth in love and find ways to connect to each other — using technology when we can’t be together or for rest, relaxation and entertainment. I certainly appreciate a good movie and/or a chance to interact with my children, grandchildren, or geographically distant friends via Skype, Face Time and other Internet applications. What about you?

The Rev. Dr. Betty Stapleford
Unitarian Universalist Church of the Verdugo Hills
La Crescenta

---

Since technology is inseparable from our everyday life, then naturally the struggle between good and evil needs to be addressed by faith leaders with the new forms of technological temptations.

The new “virtual vices” can be addressed in two ways: first through religious adaptability, and second by transferring the responsibility of religious leadership to younger age demographics. There are several media reports about a growing trend of Americans religiously unaffiliated, 20% — greater than at any time in U.S. history; those under 30 are especially drifting from organized religion with 33% of young Americans saying they don’t belong to any religion. One contributing factor to this trend is the worldwide technological revolution and Americans under 30 not finding relevance in the typical religious services that do not address the new forms of temptation.

These alarming trends indicate a failure of most religious institutions to adapt the universal religious wisdom to a rapidly changing world. Technology intensifies the need for change, and most religious organizations are like “deer caught in the headlights,” offering no pertinent advice on the new manifestations of sin. So as we often do with our PCs, it’s time to hit the reset button on our religious organizations. By intentionally not offering specific ideas, my first recommendation is for all faith leaders to embrace change in a monumental way. The statistics reveal that religion is losing ground. Therefore, simple and superficial changes are not sufficient. Let’s think in terms of “reinventing” the way we inspire spirituality and instill ethics in a world driven by technology.

The starting point for this kind of change is leadership. We often see corporations of the future led by a much younger demographic compared to typical religious organizations. It’s time for a new partnership of leadership between the “respected elders” and the younger demographic. It’s time for a rapid transition of leadership where real authority and control is planned for and implemented by targeting the Millennials and the generation Y for leadership much, much sooner than is comfortable. A speedy succession of leadership by those who grew up with technology will bring the mind-set for creating real solutions to the newfangled technological temptations.

Levant Akbarut
Islamic Congregation of La Cañada Flintridge

---

I’m not all that alarmed by it. Social networking has always happened; it’s just digital these days. Ditto both pornography and interpersonal obnoxiousness. None of these are new to human experience. It’s just a new form, for which we need to learn both new etiquette and new time management skills.

In my day we got in trouble for spending too much time on the phone with our friends, or too much time watching TV instead of playing outside, and pornography was as nearby as your father’s stash of Playboy magazine. Very little is new under the sun.

There are far more serious, far more challenging threats to the spirituality of Millennials than these digital versions of dawdling.

From a lifetime of over-programmed, over-structured schedules, in which every decision was made for them and every hour filled with preset activities, many find themselves immobilized by indecision as adults, unable to take hold of the reins of their own lives.

Successive generations of decreasing possibility to go out into the world and grasp the brass ring have taken their toll.

We are now on the second wave (or third?) of young people who are predicted to be less financially successful than their parents. And as small businesses continue to fold, even those people with an opportunity for success must choose to follow a soulless path through fluorescent-lit cubicles and unfeeling corporate policies.

No wonder they’re hunkered down online, ignoring the grown-up world.

The threat to the souls of Millennials isn’t techno-temptations; it’s widespread shallowness and lethargy, brought on by the seeming impossibility of any prospect for a rich and fulfilling, stable and rewarding career.

Give them something better to do, a meaningful way to be an adult. Facebook and Twitter (and even porn) can’t compete with that.

The Rev. Amy Pringle
St. George’s Episcopal Church
La Cañada Flintridge

---

I agree. Through smart phones, emails, television and computers, technology touches our lives virtually every day and sometimes all day. It’s here, it’s not going away, and often it’s a source of great struggle for God’s people. That makes it a relevant issue for faith leaders to address. Technology constantly presents us with moral choices about how to use our time, what content we choose to view and how we will interact with and respond to people.

Technology changes frequently, but our basic temptations don’t. Technology too easily becomes a conduit of “the deeds of the flesh … which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions [and] factions.”

Because the Bible addresses these timeless struggles, it remains the relevant authority to help every technology user today. As faith leaders we can and should offer our people hope from the Bible’s message of forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ, of help by the power of the Holy Spirit and of God’s great love and willingness to guide us through the moral pitfalls that seem to surround us.

Pastor Jon Barta
Valley Baptist Church
Burbank

---

When it comes to sin, I think Ecclesiastes 1:9 sums it up perfectly: “Whatever has happened before will happen again. Whatever has been done before will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun.” The same basic sins have continued to tempt humankind throughout the ages. The form in which they present themselves may be modified, but their essential root remains unchanged.

Keeping up with technological changes and the way they can modify temptation is nothing new. Several generations ago, when young people began to have access to cars, and increased time alone, the subsequent increase in sexual temptation was hardly unanticipated.

Today, the rapidly increasing accessibility to various technological media is significant for two reasons. It increases an individual’s ease of exposure to various temptations like pornography, and provides greater anonymity for actions such as cyber bullying. These factors make it easier for people not only to succumb, but also to avoid personal accountability.

What I found disconcerting about this research was the fact that at least half the respondents had no idea why they gave in to temptation, and most relied on their own reason and willpower to avoid it. There was very little acknowledgment that temptation to sin might be avoided if God’s help is sought.

The research also concluded that young people may not see temptation as something to be avoided, but rather as a relatively benign feature of modern life. If accurate, this is a much more serious concern than the technological accessibility of temptation. It may indicate that we are losing our understanding of how sin damages our core identity as human beings, and robs us of the essential joy that God created us to experience.

Pastor Ché Ahn
HRock Church
Pasadena

---

The Internet has given mankind unprecedented access to knowledge, provided remarkable methods of communication, and offered many other positive tools that have enriched lives around the globe. But, like almost everything good in life, online technology also has a dark side. As time passes, we are becoming increasingly aware of the negative impacts that the Web can have on society.

Just as we have an obligation to harness the inherently good features of technology for the benefit of man, we have an equal responsibility to address its potential pitfalls. I therefore believe that faith leaders have a moral duty to caution their congregants about the dangers of Internet addictions and the destructive force of online pornography, violent video games, online gambling and the like. We should also underscore that while social media sites, texting and email provide a very effective mode of communication, they should never replace actual human interaction. Real contact with other people is crucial for our well-being and spiritual development.

I would also caution my fellow clergy to be careful when dealing with online addictions — or any addiction for that matter — and recognize when the effectiveness of faith-based methods ends and the need for professional help begins. For many individuals, a spiritual approach to dealing with life’s temptations is adequate. But for those who struggle with extreme addictions and addictive personalities, medical intervention is inevitably a necessity. Just as we would not counsel a person to heal a broken leg with prayer, we should not assume that serious cases of addiction and compulsion can be addressed solely through spiritual counseling.

Rabbi Simcha Backman
Chabad Jewish Center
Glendale

---

Heck, I can barely send an email, so I’m not going to feel comfortable talking about “virtual vices.”

Seriously, I am not exactly a cyber whiz. I’m not on Facebook, I don’t tweet on Twitter. Does MySpace even exist anymore? I have been invited to get on LinkedIn, but I’ve refused, mainly because it’s another distraction from what I feel my job is.

Anyway, I don’t even know how to address the issue of “virtual vices” other than to encourage my congregants not to get addicted to those porn sites! I am reminded of a story about President Calvin Coolidge, who was notoriously taciturn and remarkably short of wordy answers. Supposedly, after he went to church one Sunday, his wife asked him what the sermon was about. “Sin”, he replied. “Well, what did the minister say about sin?” said his wife. “He’s against it,” said the president.

So, those of you who are considering being tempted by racy Internet sites: Don’t do it!

The Rev. Skip Lindeman
La Cañada Congregational Church
La Cañada Flintridge

---

It’s not just Millennials hiding behind their texts and emails. Boomers and X-ers may not do as much hooking up and breaking up in 140 characters or fewer, but they can sure lob some good-sized grenades into that big ole “Reply All” field. I have picked the shrapnel out of my eyes more than once.

I think social media have all kinds of potential for strengthening relationships and movements. I honor the person(s) in front of me with my attention, but if there is no one in front of me, I don’t consider time spent connecting with others to be poor stewardship.

But the question is about the downside of technology and media. Certainly, any time we find a new place to hide our brokenness, our addictions or our secrets, we put our emotional health at risk. We put our souls at risk. It’s oddly funny how we hide from ourselves. We don’t acknowledge when an indulgence has become an addiction. We don’t want to realize when a flirtation has become an intimacy outside our primary relationship. We don’t see when we are scheduling our real lives around our addictions or the creation of our online ideal selves. We don’t blink as we cross the line into ugliness, using distance and screens to say things we would never say in person.

We can be the last to notice that we have lost sight of the person we meant to be. Other people see it. Certainly God sees it, for “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).

We sometimes need a mentor to help us find the way out of the hidden places that can trap us. Faith leaders, along with good friends and caring family members, have a responsibility to invite the people they love out of hiding and into spiritually healthy lives and relationships. So stop it with the sexting, acronymic insults, angry emails and passive-aggressive Facebook posts. We can lead each other to a better place.

The Rev. Paige Eaves
Crescenta Valley United Methodist Church
Montrose

---

As Solomon put it, “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecc 1:9). Techno-gadgetry may make some temptations more “tempting,” but it’s all the same; it’s a heart issue. So yes, technology needs to be included in the particulars of sermon how-to’s, but the foundational messages won’t change.

What the Internet does is to make us anonymous in our proclivities and yet-unsanctified behaviors, but they’re still motivated by our common issue of a wicked heart.

When online, we wear masks, and nobody knows who’s on the other end of our worldly presentations. Will we do right when only God sees, or is it only when people recognize us that we wear holiness? And will what we let through our eyegate be that which destroys us, or will we truly believe God, and bury those toxins of spiritual ill-health?

Maybe modern temptations require more personal responsibility, but man’s history of sin has always required people to assess weaknesses and work to quell them.

What haunts me, may not you, but when you recognize your Achilles’ heel, you must hedge accordingly. Addicts should stay away from places where addiction thrives, and if it be video games or online porn, then wisdom limits game time and prepares for alternates to base instincts when they strike.

Paul wrote, “I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members” (Rom 7:21-23 NIV). So whether Old Testament or New, ancient times or modern, we struggle with sin. Until Christ returns, we have two appetites competing for our eternal destinies: one says “give in,” the other says, “turn off the gadget.” You choose, but Christ alone will guarantee you final success (and Heaven’s reward).

The Rev. Bryan Griem
Montrose Community Church
Montrose

---

Religious leaders definitely have a responsibility to counsel their congregations about the dangers of the Internet.

In truth, the “new” temptations identified in the study are really the same old temptations that have existed from the beginning. There is nothing new about lurid images, misuse of time or mean-spirited comments. The Internet has simply made it easier to give in to them.

The Internet and related technologies are wonderful tools for learning and communication. It is unfortunate that it has also become a platform for spiritually harmful material, such as pornography and hateful speech, and has given child predators a new hunting ground.

Social scientists have commented on pornography’s potential to damage healthy relationships. Likewise, many have expressed concern about the social isolation that comes with spending many hours glued to a computer screen or mobile device.

LDS leaders counsel families to keep computers in commonly used areas of the home, make use of Internet filters and check their children’s mobile devices to track how they are being used.

Husbands and wives are advised to share passwords for websites and email accounts. Good reviews of filtering software for computers and smaller devices can be found on a number of sites, including www.consumersearch.com and www.topconsumerreviews.com.

Although filters aren’t an absolute protection, they can help.

Perhaps more important than these physical barriers is a diligent effort by individuals of faith to develop habits that draw us closer to God. In the sixth chapter of Ephesians, early Christians were counseled to seek protection by immersing themselves in the Gospel, a process referred to as donning “the whole armor of God.”

Even in our high-tech world, this ancient counsel to seek strength through prayer, study and worship still applies.

Michael White
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
La Crescenta