The Internet “god”
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our wrongdoings from us. Psalm 103:12 NASB
Removed – Humanity has come face to face with a new god, an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent god of eternal examination, a god that never forgets the worst things about you and provides the whole world with a portrait of your ignoble thoughts and deeds. While the God of the Bible declares that forgiveness includes the removal of the terrible act, this god, a god of our own creation, never forgets. You’ll live with your mistakes for the rest of your life and the lives that follow you. I am, of course, speaking of the electronic god called the “Internet.”
In his book, The Madness of Crowds, Douglas Murray raises concerns that should be foremost in the minds of every religious believer, regardless of the version of the faith. Murray is far from any orthodoxy, but he clearly sees that dystopian world we inhabit. He writes:
“Indeed, only the worst version of someone’s life contains the information that makes the internet stop and look. It is pure gold for a network addicted to shaming and schadenfreude.”[1]
“Here lies an additional quagmire. There is little enough recourse when old school journalism tramples across someone’s life. But on the internet there is not even a regulatory body to appeal to if your life has been raked over in this way. Thousands—perhaps millions—of people have been involved, and there is no mechanism to reach all of them and get them to admit that they raked over your life in an unfair manner.”[2]
“Part of forgiveness is the ability to forget. And yet the internet will never forget. Everything can always be summoned up afresh by new people.”[3]
There is a great Jewish legend that fits. Once upon a time in a small village a man in the synagogue made untrue disparaging remarks about the village rabbi. He broadcast his slander among the villagers until finally the news of his lashon ha’ra reached the rabbi. Some time later, the man repented. He went to the rabbi and asked for forgiveness. The rabbi instructed him to come back the next day with a feather pillow. Perplexed, the man followed the rabbi’s request and returned the following day with the pillow in hand. The rabbi told him, “Now cut open the pillow and scatter the feathers out the window—and when you have collected them all again, your sin will be forgiven.”
The Internet is humanity’s cruelest god and social media is his henchman. Perhaps one of the most important teachings we can impart to our children is just how dangerous and cruel this god really is—and turn to YHVH in repentance for our modern way of life.
Topical Index: internet, feather pillow, forgiveness, forget, Douglas Murray, Psalm 103:12
[1] Douglas Murray, The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity (Bloomsbury, 2019), p. 175.
[2] Ibid., p. 176.
[3] Ibid.
