Technology and faith walk hand-in-hand

July 1, 12:06 PMLA Faith & Community ExaminerJennifer Oliver O'Connell

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Technology should not be an enemy to spirituality, but an ally.  Our technological age has made the disciplines of faith as easy as bookmarking a web page or tweeting on Twitter.  In reality, faith and its actions should be very simple things, and technology--current and emerging--take the difficulty out of weaving spirituality into the often frenzied pace of life. 

Residents of the San Fernando Valley and its surrounding environs battle with two-hour freeway commutes, hours spent on computers and cell phones, and other beeping electronic appendages; in the past, this served to crowd out bible study, prayer, and quiet time.  But when Jesus said, “for nothing is impossible with God,” he probably had technology in mind.  Now the gadgets that certain Christian factions bemoaned as a hindrance to spiritual life are now the tools used toward a greater spirituality in the everyday.

Here are a few very popular means by which technology and Christian disciplines walk hand-in-hand.

The monks that administer Sacred Space have taken to heart that God is everywhere, including on the Internet!  This micro-devotional combines meditation, scripture reading and prayer in a space of four clicks and five minutes.  As quoted on the site, "the prayers are for doing, rather than for reading out. Each stage is a kind of exercise or meditation aimed at helping you get in touch with God, and God's presence in your life."

So you can touch base with God while sipping your morning latte or on your afternoon break.

Bible Gateway and Blue Letter Bible offer a full search portal for the Bible in a variety of different versions and languages (including Cyrillic texts).  These sites allow you to search on a particular scripture passage, or certain key words, as well as provide concordances, thesauruses and devotionals.

Always ahead of the curve, Twitter has accounts like, abibleverseaday, adailyproverb, and a_verse_a_day that tweet the Word of God to followers for encouragement and memorization.  And bible study groups are in ample supply, with biblestudynow, lutheranbible, and biblestudytweet whose profile advertises: "Great bible quotes to bless your little heart, encourage you and inspire to walk the talk."

Of course, there are iPhone apps--the most popular being Olive Tree Software's BibleReader and Mobilis Bible --for those who wish to have the entire Bible at their fingertips.

To help you keep up with the new and novel, GospelShare Ministries created Christian Mobile Tech (CMT) as a central location to stay informed about the mobile technology industry in general, while offering practical ways for Christians to incorporate this technology into their daily lives.  Other sites like Mobile Ministry Magazine and Pod Bible are on a mission to marry "ability" and "responsibility" when it comes to mobile technology.  The owners of these sites desire to see technology utilized fully to not only enhance the beliver's daily walk, but to share the gospel and minister effectively to the world-at-large.

Jesus declared to his followers that new wine calls for new wineskins, and modern technology is such a container.  An effective use of secular means to house the sacred, helping us embrace and consecrate in fresh and tangible ways.