By Mark Naito
(Author’s note: This article is 100% not written by any screen-generated tech, like AI, but inspired by God-given creativity.)
When was the last time you left your smartphone at home for one or more days?
Do you attend church without your phone? If there were no internet or electrical power, what would you do?
These are questions that help you realize how AI might affect your faith. These simple situations may not seem like a big deal today, but wait for the day when screens go away and YOU become the screen.
Here are some key facts to think about from the Center for Humane Technology:
So what?
How does this affect my faith?
To start… As a culture we have widely accepted the addition of another “person,” per say, in our life that does not have the Holy Spirit and was not created by God. It would be okay if this so-called person did not heavily influence our day-to-day lives. But it does – anything from business insights to how to handle a relationship and even putting together a sermon for church.
Our screens… They’ve slowly crept into our daily lives and then moved into hyperspeed during COVID-19 because of a huge push to put everything – including our worship and sermons – online and without a physical representative from any business or organization.
Why could this be bad? Here are four reasons:
Do these screens make our lives easier? YES! Do they automate things we couldn’t do before? Yes. Do they provide us access to tools helpful in day-to-day life like language interpretation? Yes.
BUT… think of this one scenario that had a huge impact on my latest workshop in Montana. Let’s say you need to fix something, so you go to YouTube to find the answers. But what if you asked around on how to fix that ‘something’? And what if that person offered to help fix it for free? Not only that, but in the process you formed a new, fruitful relationship or had an opportunity to witness to someone in need.
Is that better? What eternal impact could you have?
One consistent thing I’ve been amazed at is the quality of time I have now. It reminds me of growing up on the farm when I was young. We mainly had ourselves and what was around us. We had to get creative – and during this time my family saw what potential I had.
Examples include: making a complete card catalogued library in my family’s living room, leading my younger brother to build a tree house, creating an enterprising vegetable stand on Highway 45, or M & P’s Candy Store. The entrepreneurialism and leadership oozed out of me. Mainly because I was bored and used what I had access to around me. I was creating (which is a skill God gave each of us) and using my own ideas, not just using what was shown to me on a screen.
In the Experiencing God Bible, 2022 CSB version, there are sections labeled, “Did you notice?” In Genesis 11-12, one of them was “Good communication is more important for societal advancement than is technology.” This was in reference to the Tower of Babylon. What are we pursuing to help us in our relationships with the Lord: the Holy Spirit or technology?
In Psalms 49:16-17 it reads, “Do not be afraid when a person gets rich, when the wealth of his house increases. For when he dies, he will take nothing at all; his wealth will not follow him down.”
This is something no screen will ever get you to pause and reflect on, to remind you what’s most important to meditate on every day, to make the biggest investment in, and to prioritize over anything else.
Relationships… God is the ultimate relational entity around. He is jealous of His time with you – in the best way. He wants nothing more than you. And what is ironic is that our screens demand more time with us than God – even the good content that is Christian.
Lately I’ve even been challenged by one more non-screen thing that eats at my time with the Lord: the radio – whether it’s Chuck Swindoll or Christian music. Again, not in itself bad, but when I do have it off, I end up spending more time praying or reflecting on things God is doing. I also found a feature on our car where you can “shut off” the entertainment screen so it’s black and only has a clock on it.
To clarify, this is not a minimalist movement. It’s simply dialing things back some so the Lord can remain number one in our households.
I remember a season with my old service technician/manager at a dealership in Portland, Ore. I was a sales representative and got to know him as we collaborated on different projects. He started inviting me over to his house. His wife Janice would always cook homemade meals, and we sat around a small, modest kitchen table and broke bread together with no screens. Then we proceeded to move into their living room. The main thing I could hear was the grandfather clock ticking in the background. But everything else was quiet.
That one season in my life has had an eternal impact on me. The couple had limited funds, their house was very dated, and had many inconveniences most of us would not like. Yet, they were very content people. As a result, I did anything for them, including house sitting on occasion, or if they needed help with any projects around the house, I made myself available.
When I got a major promotion in the company to go into product marketing and move to the Bay Area in California, Janice presented me with a knitted blanket she made and was holding onto for my wedding day. I still have it to this day. Such gifts are tangible things that lead to lasting memories and are altars of remembrance to what God has done and is doing.
Lately, we spoke at our latest conference in Helena, Mont. Our workshop was standing room only, as participants showed a hunger to understand how they can teach their kids balance with screens. As we prepared for the trip, we were challenged again with how to be more intentional with navigation without screens, and how to get to the conference without using technology. We decided to go to AAA and get some maps. During the trip, our daughter kept asking if we were still in Idaho or in Montana. We gave her a map that was of Idaho and Montana. We then decided to let her know what city we were approaching and ask her if it was in Idaho or Montana.
She loved it! And the best part was, there was no more, “Are we there yet, Dad?”
Things we also talked about, because we had no screens, were the farms – what they planted, what kind of tractors they were using, was there a dairy and what happens there, how irrigation works, and different types of power lines, water towers, road construction, etc. All were great learning opportunities, and as a family we worked together to walk through different scenarios.
Life can be rich if we get rid of the distractions pushed on us and use the boredom for good!
How does this all apply to AI and our faith?
Do not let screens or technology ever get in the middle of your time with our Heavenly Father, your marriage, or relationships with your kids and others. It may not impact you today or bear much fruit, but either at the end of your life or in heaven it will.
Don’t wait for later; start today. Our prayer is that you continue to appreciate what Jesus did on the cross (and God’s sacrifice) and let God use everything else to help you in your faith walk.
Mark Naito is passionate about helping people by seeking ‘root cause’, providing result-oriented solutions and good outcomes. His passion has always been to empower others to be educated to make their own informed decisions on what makes sense for themselves or their families. He started Navigating Tech Family toward that goal. He may be reached at mark@navtechfam.com.
