Good insight. Its encouraging to hear younger people asking these questions. One of the paradoxes is, with all this connection, we are still lonely and distant from each other. This commodification you write about, as you said, started before the internet but it is peaking now.
What is missed by faithTok is being online does not close the emotional distance that Jesus was always trying to do. He came close and he healed people that others wouldn't touch or be around. Jesus practiced a ministry of presence has a central tenet: Love God and love your neighbor. Love isnt about performance, it is so intimate that we risk getting hurt. Let that sink in.
I have very few Bible related apps on my phone because I would rather go for a walk and listen to God. This is a spiritual practice that is lost on the internet. The danger, as you said, is absorbing content about God but not being with God.
As a pastor I thank you for this helpful perspective, both reasoned and heartfelt. I am sharing it with all of the leaders at my church to help guide our decision-making.
God can draw you into His presence through Christ despite any level of distraction and fragmentation. May He increase your faith!
This must be very difficult! I was born a Catholic, then fell away from the faith, and have now returned. What has been very helpful for me recently is speaking openly to my priest and several nuns *in person*, and following their guidance. You’ll be made welcome, I’m sure.
Perhaps a delightful thing about Catholicism in the modern age (among multitudes) is that none of the sacraments can be administered through a phone…apps have zero authority here. Grace is mediated through embodied reality - one cannot be baptised, absolved, confirmed or share in the Eucharist through a screen. The Church has things that require a physical and spiritual presence that internet absolutely cannot give you.
Much of what you write is and should be taken Much more serious in this generation. I've read the physical Bible (1611 KVJ and 1599 Geneva) over 50 times cover to cover. Yes, the Bible is absolutely incredible verse by verse, page by page, cover to cover. Raised Roman Catholic, trained to be a Jesuit Priest from my very baptism and confirmation, and later converted to Scottish Presbyterian Covenanter. That was a massive leap if you know anything about the Jesuit order, or anything about the reformers and the 3 great reformations. The "literal sense" interpretation of Scripture will change your Roman Catholic views to reformed Presbyterian in time. Keep reading the most faithful translations and avoid the Roman Catholic Catechism as your final source of God's authority. Use the Bible as your primary standard and the Westminster Standards as your subordinate authority. Write me with any confusion.
I was in the position of being very curious about religion, especially "returning" to Christianity, two years ago.
I won't name the apps but some were so tacky and materialistic. Physically going into a church or cathedral was much more spiritually moving to me, but even then as an attempt to recruit people they can use like an Americanised or tech heavy way of trying to win you over especially if you're on the younger side. I didn't want that. I wanted GOD.
My journey lead me to the problems with the trinity, and finally to embracing Islam. Christianity became metaphysically incoherent to me once I examined it through necessity/contingency logic. ThoThomiThoTism helped but didn't resolve it and didn't make it more consistent than Islam.
Islam restored transcendence. I keep my religion private from my family and quite literally no one knows but me and God.
I find the Muslim community bound up with foreign culture and people who are here (England) to use Islam as a vehicle for colonialism. So, I fully accept Islam as revelation, I don't accept the migrant imported clan/cultural stuff and the people who use it to jab at the English/ Westerners. That's not God that's something else.
My religion is a private practice for me. I don't know what that will mean when it comes time for me to find a husband. I'm still young, 23. I don't veil yet, but I want to, but that'll be another bridge to cross. The ideal for me would be finding an English Muslim husband or at least a European Muslim husband but I don't think there are many.
My religion has brought SO much peace and beauty and resilience to my life I could cry. I can't put it into words how grateful and blessed I feel for finding Allāh. The beauty is so sweet it almost hurts. It has brought me pure existential relief. It's an ongoing journey, I'm still figuring bits out. Socially and culturally I still feel a dislocation inside the community even online because it's mostly ethically foreign. I really wish there were more European Muslim communities but we need help from others because we don't have the inheritence. A lot of it is passed on through the generations.
I'm quietly sat in lots of social media channels and groups for different madhhabs that discuss and debate things are fascinating, even if at times unsettle me and ttest my faith. Can we make art? Can we enjoy music? But I'm refreshed by the differences of opinion. I have to say there are a lot of often ridiculous rigid Muslims online, usually men and they can be off-putting. Muslims are not perfect, Islam is. So I'm eternally grateful for all of the extremely patient, peaceful, mature and learned ones I've met who run counter to this narrative and have given me not only strength to stay in Islam but also revived faith in patriarchy just in general. These are some of the most responsible, restrained, sacrificial, morally serious, dutiful, patient, learned people I've ever met in my life. A lot of them feel like wise Wizards lol.
I love Christ dearly, but, when I tried to return to our spiritual inheritence of Christianity, I thought about it in a way that I'd never done so before.
My deep conclusion was that I cannot believe a man who entered time and died is the ground of reality. That God doesn't offer my stability. He cannot possibly be The Uncaused Being, "That Which Cannot Not Exist".
But, I would be really pleased with a Christian revival. There is definitely a meaning crises and something in the air. Multiple somethings! Of course there are some who will be returning to religion as purely a political reaction. But the same can be said for Islam. There are fools in every religion and at can't control the Internet. There will be cringe apps and cringe scholars but God is above and BEYOND ALL of that.
If anyone is interested in Islam I recommend simply by learning the Fajr prayer and learning the opening Surah of the Quran Surah Al-Fatihah and beginning there. Also, you don't have to share it with anyone, as I haven't. It's between you and God.
Quran.com has been my best friend, you can pick your favourite reciter / translator. My favourite is Dr. Mustafa Khattab for translation and Mishary Rashid Alafasy for the recitation. :)
I think a lot of today's problems are caused by the Internet but hay, its not all bad!
I’ve often wondered how Jesus would interact with a phone and screens if he walked on earth today.
I love the scripture “faith without deeds is dead” because a living faith requires action and it’s not just mental content absorption - it’s actually using our whole bodies to live and love and serve (and to risk walking into a church building with)!
Or in the words of The Message (Peterson) “Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?”
Also, so aware that the unique cultural context of each generation has shaped both the strength and flaws of the church in that generation. May intergenerational relationships heal some of these gaps!
I don’t think this is a new problem, even. The delivery method has evolved, but there’s no end to churches or other entities that use scripture as a product to bring you in, when the intent is to engage with the deliverer. I’ve found that most churches subtly worship themselves, wearing scriptures as a mask.
Faith as a checklist vs a truly ingested belief leads down very different paths.
I love this and I couldn’t agree more. The reason that I am a parish Priest in a couple of rural parishes is it’s not trendy, it’s not cool. It’s just the ordinary people that you meet every day on the street and it’s not even a hobby group or one particular type of person. As a village church, you’ll have everybody from the local Hairdresser to the local Squire that that’s what I love about it. You will sit alongside and rub shoulders with the great and the Good and they won’t always be the same people! It’s for the very young and the very Old for the single mum and the family of 4 it’s for everyone. Lots of love, dear Friend and see you soon. H
Christianity has had debates, schisms, and wars from the time before New Testament era scrolls were stashed at Nag Hammadi. The Old Testament had Jewish ascetics stashing the Dead Sea Scrolls. Martin Luther's 1517 theses started much of the modern debate, schisms, and more wars.
It may shock some but Christianity is neither Conservative nor Liberal.
OK. I own up. I listen to Pray as you go each time I have a prayer time (should be every day but I don’t 😔) and find it helps me built in a routine and encourages me to keep going.
Interesting.
My take has been the abundance of convenience has created a scarcity of meaning.
And even in its shortest forms, faith is an enduring vessel for just that.
I’ve personally found the Catholicism I grew up with far more resonate in recent years.
This was excellent Freya.
Good insight. Its encouraging to hear younger people asking these questions. One of the paradoxes is, with all this connection, we are still lonely and distant from each other. This commodification you write about, as you said, started before the internet but it is peaking now.
What is missed by faithTok is being online does not close the emotional distance that Jesus was always trying to do. He came close and he healed people that others wouldn't touch or be around. Jesus practiced a ministry of presence has a central tenet: Love God and love your neighbor. Love isnt about performance, it is so intimate that we risk getting hurt. Let that sink in.
I have very few Bible related apps on my phone because I would rather go for a walk and listen to God. This is a spiritual practice that is lost on the internet. The danger, as you said, is absorbing content about God but not being with God.
I wrote this essay last year on the importance of social proximity to Jesus: https://pastortee1.substack.com/p/would-jesus-have-a-smartphone?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2f8wkh
As a pastor I thank you for this helpful perspective, both reasoned and heartfelt. I am sharing it with all of the leaders at my church to help guide our decision-making.
God can draw you into His presence through Christ despite any level of distraction and fragmentation. May He increase your faith!
we went from people binging markets to church to church being a product in the market
Hello dear Freya,
This must be very difficult! I was born a Catholic, then fell away from the faith, and have now returned. What has been very helpful for me recently is speaking openly to my priest and several nuns *in person*, and following their guidance. You’ll be made welcome, I’m sure.
Perhaps a delightful thing about Catholicism in the modern age (among multitudes) is that none of the sacraments can be administered through a phone…apps have zero authority here. Grace is mediated through embodied reality - one cannot be baptised, absolved, confirmed or share in the Eucharist through a screen. The Church has things that require a physical and spiritual presence that internet absolutely cannot give you.
Many blessings, and you’re in my prayers 🙏🏼
Much of what you write is and should be taken Much more serious in this generation. I've read the physical Bible (1611 KVJ and 1599 Geneva) over 50 times cover to cover. Yes, the Bible is absolutely incredible verse by verse, page by page, cover to cover. Raised Roman Catholic, trained to be a Jesuit Priest from my very baptism and confirmation, and later converted to Scottish Presbyterian Covenanter. That was a massive leap if you know anything about the Jesuit order, or anything about the reformers and the 3 great reformations. The "literal sense" interpretation of Scripture will change your Roman Catholic views to reformed Presbyterian in time. Keep reading the most faithful translations and avoid the Roman Catholic Catechism as your final source of God's authority. Use the Bible as your primary standard and the Westminster Standards as your subordinate authority. Write me with any confusion.
Blue Letter Bible is a wonderful resource.
Also
Bible Hub with its commentaries, verse by verse, by learned expositors.
Thats the key. We need to treat these products as a resource, not the ekklesia.
I was in the position of being very curious about religion, especially "returning" to Christianity, two years ago.
I won't name the apps but some were so tacky and materialistic. Physically going into a church or cathedral was much more spiritually moving to me, but even then as an attempt to recruit people they can use like an Americanised or tech heavy way of trying to win you over especially if you're on the younger side. I didn't want that. I wanted GOD.
My journey lead me to the problems with the trinity, and finally to embracing Islam. Christianity became metaphysically incoherent to me once I examined it through necessity/contingency logic. ThoThomiThoTism helped but didn't resolve it and didn't make it more consistent than Islam.
Islam restored transcendence. I keep my religion private from my family and quite literally no one knows but me and God.
I find the Muslim community bound up with foreign culture and people who are here (England) to use Islam as a vehicle for colonialism. So, I fully accept Islam as revelation, I don't accept the migrant imported clan/cultural stuff and the people who use it to jab at the English/ Westerners. That's not God that's something else.
My religion is a private practice for me. I don't know what that will mean when it comes time for me to find a husband. I'm still young, 23. I don't veil yet, but I want to, but that'll be another bridge to cross. The ideal for me would be finding an English Muslim husband or at least a European Muslim husband but I don't think there are many.
My religion has brought SO much peace and beauty and resilience to my life I could cry. I can't put it into words how grateful and blessed I feel for finding Allāh. The beauty is so sweet it almost hurts. It has brought me pure existential relief. It's an ongoing journey, I'm still figuring bits out. Socially and culturally I still feel a dislocation inside the community even online because it's mostly ethically foreign. I really wish there were more European Muslim communities but we need help from others because we don't have the inheritence. A lot of it is passed on through the generations.
I'm quietly sat in lots of social media channels and groups for different madhhabs that discuss and debate things are fascinating, even if at times unsettle me and ttest my faith. Can we make art? Can we enjoy music? But I'm refreshed by the differences of opinion. I have to say there are a lot of often ridiculous rigid Muslims online, usually men and they can be off-putting. Muslims are not perfect, Islam is. So I'm eternally grateful for all of the extremely patient, peaceful, mature and learned ones I've met who run counter to this narrative and have given me not only strength to stay in Islam but also revived faith in patriarchy just in general. These are some of the most responsible, restrained, sacrificial, morally serious, dutiful, patient, learned people I've ever met in my life. A lot of them feel like wise Wizards lol.
I love Christ dearly, but, when I tried to return to our spiritual inheritence of Christianity, I thought about it in a way that I'd never done so before.
My deep conclusion was that I cannot believe a man who entered time and died is the ground of reality. That God doesn't offer my stability. He cannot possibly be The Uncaused Being, "That Which Cannot Not Exist".
But, I would be really pleased with a Christian revival. There is definitely a meaning crises and something in the air. Multiple somethings! Of course there are some who will be returning to religion as purely a political reaction. But the same can be said for Islam. There are fools in every religion and at can't control the Internet. There will be cringe apps and cringe scholars but God is above and BEYOND ALL of that.
If anyone is interested in Islam I recommend simply by learning the Fajr prayer and learning the opening Surah of the Quran Surah Al-Fatihah and beginning there. Also, you don't have to share it with anyone, as I haven't. It's between you and God.
Quran.com has been my best friend, you can pick your favourite reciter / translator. My favourite is Dr. Mustafa Khattab for translation and Mishary Rashid Alafasy for the recitation. :)
I think a lot of today's problems are caused by the Internet but hay, its not all bad!
Lovely, thoughtful, challenging insights.
I’ve often wondered how Jesus would interact with a phone and screens if he walked on earth today.
I love the scripture “faith without deeds is dead” because a living faith requires action and it’s not just mental content absorption - it’s actually using our whole bodies to live and love and serve (and to risk walking into a church building with)!
Or in the words of The Message (Peterson) “Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?”
Also, so aware that the unique cultural context of each generation has shaped both the strength and flaws of the church in that generation. May intergenerational relationships heal some of these gaps!
I don’t think this is a new problem, even. The delivery method has evolved, but there’s no end to churches or other entities that use scripture as a product to bring you in, when the intent is to engage with the deliverer. I’ve found that most churches subtly worship themselves, wearing scriptures as a mask.
Faith as a checklist vs a truly ingested belief leads down very different paths.
I love this and I couldn’t agree more. The reason that I am a parish Priest in a couple of rural parishes is it’s not trendy, it’s not cool. It’s just the ordinary people that you meet every day on the street and it’s not even a hobby group or one particular type of person. As a village church, you’ll have everybody from the local Hairdresser to the local Squire that that’s what I love about it. You will sit alongside and rub shoulders with the great and the Good and they won’t always be the same people! It’s for the very young and the very Old for the single mum and the family of 4 it’s for everyone. Lots of love, dear Friend and see you soon. H
Scathingly accurate
Well said, spot of as ever!
Christianity has had debates, schisms, and wars from the time before New Testament era scrolls were stashed at Nag Hammadi. The Old Testament had Jewish ascetics stashing the Dead Sea Scrolls. Martin Luther's 1517 theses started much of the modern debate, schisms, and more wars.
It may shock some but Christianity is neither Conservative nor Liberal.
OK. I own up. I listen to Pray as you go each time I have a prayer time (should be every day but I don’t 😔) and find it helps me built in a routine and encourages me to keep going.