In most cases, we do not care about the future implications of the trends we enjoy. Many times, we cannot see the future, so we ignore it, and thereby, live our lives out of context.
There are many technological trends that were major game-changers in life. The telegraph, radio, television, personal computers, internet, and cell phones have transformed the way we live in incredible ways.
The harnessing of the power from the ground, wind, sun, and atom has made it so that we can have “power” accomplish much of our work for us.
The results of many of these incredible advancements has been enabled us to leap forward in many areas, yet, as is often the case, new has not always been better.
We have increased our speed and capacity to communicate, yet we struggle with communication, and have often reduced and replaced eye-to-eye communication with soundbytes, electronic messages, and emojis. We have power to mow our lawns, move our bodies from one place to another, and keep us updated into the night, and have become lazy, obese and overtired.
The pretend world has encroached so much on the real world that reality is a blur, and far more attention is given to the make-believe. People learn about life from the television, youtube, or some social media platform, while ignoring the life that is happening around them.
Pastors and youth workers are told to keep their messages short because people lack the capability of paying attention to real people, real topics, and real presentations. People are able to entertain themselves for hours in the pretend media world, but only minutes in reality.
Add to this the idea of virtual reality and its Implications for the future, and we see mankind in a whole lot of hurt. We were made to enjoy real relationships with real people doing real work, enjoying real play, and looking at and touching real people. The virtual replacement is a cheap replacement.
This is not new, as there is really nothing new under the sun. Our methods may be new, but the subversive purposes of the evil one remain constant. A relationship with God and with people are the two foundational cornerstones of life, and the virtual world is attempting to satisfy these desires in an unsatisfactory way.
More people are shaped by the hours of influence the media presents rather than the minutes of influence they have given to God and to each other. Spiritual anorexia (the taking in of truth only to rid oneself of it so as not to actually be affected by it) is prevalent in many young people, while spiritual obesity (the consumption of spiritual food only to do nothing with the spiritual calories obtained) is the struggle of the old.
Substituting the pretend for the real is a problem. Lives are in existence, but people are not living. The portrayal by “others” of how they live, and what they think and do has become the norm on how we judge ourselves and our families.
Reality has been eclipsed by the virtual so much so that we no longer know how to live in the real world. This means that we, in our effort to enjoy what is not and cannot be, have destroyed what is and could be.
We, as individuals and a culture, need to begin to abandon the pretend, and once again move into the reality. We need to intentionally spend time with each other outside the presence of the virtual. We need to be intentional about serving together, playing together, working together, walking together, and so forth.
Christian camping is a tool that needs to be taken out of the church’s tool box and used on a regular basis. People need to get up and get out and sit on the back of a horse, along with others, while riding through a wooded trail. Bear, deer and frogs need to be seen and heard, for real, and we need to stare at stars that are unhindered by the lights of a city.
Pastors, leaders, and parents need to stop thinking about how to entertain, and start thinking about how to interact on a regular basis. We need to stop thinking how a week of reality, short-term mission project, can solve our problem, and begin to think about a life of reality.
Silver Birch Ranch has developed tools to help re-establish real relationships. You can come and serve on a regular basis as a dish crew, maintenance crew, or work on special projects. This can be done on a regular basis, and ownership of certain tasks and projects can be a reality. This time can be used to accomplish something real, be real examples, and interact with real people.
The Nicolet Bible Institute is a tool that has been developed to allow college-aged young people the opportunity to spend real time with God and each other, and to learn to serve, for real, the people who come onto the grounds of Silver Birch Ranch.
The Wolf River Refuge has been developed to give families, churches, and various ministries a place to get away, and to focus on God and each other in a comfortable Northwoods, river-side setting, and the new Relate365 ministry will be working hand-in-hand with the Wolf River Refuge to provide education, consultation, conferences, and other resources to once again move us to reality in relationships.
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