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Village SDA Church

Ron Kelly

The Digital Inebriate: Church, Society, and Salvation

Thank you, Lord, for a beautiful Sabbath.

Hope, togetherness, forgiveness, creation, a future.

They're all gifts from you, Lord, in the midst of strain and stress and tumult so now Lord I pray do with this message as you would liberate us as your people give us wisdom and strength to be discerners of the days and now Lord may your spirit be here to teach as we open the word.

We humble ourselves before you in Jesus' name, amen.

I'm entitled my message this morning, Digital, the Digital Inebriate, Church, Society, and Salvation.

Now, obviously, for those of you that have attended here for a while or watched online, I'm gonna touch on perhaps 1 of the greatest challenges to the Christian experience and to the civilness of civil society that has existed and only grows in power exponentially year by year.

Let's be praying for discernment in the midst of our own hearts, homes, lives, and church.

On Tuesday before the inauguration, I was listening to National Public Radio and I heard an interview with Tristan Harris.

Now some of you are familiar with who this man is.

He used to work as an ethicist for Google.

He stepped away from that and he has made himself an announcer of the less Noble sides of the digital media spectrum of social media, especially This was on the indicator from planet money interview by Stacey vanik Smith And I was intrigued by a number of the things he shared.

Now, I know nothing about his political arrangement with society, and I will say this at the beginning of this message.

I'm quite convinced that politics is the new religion for many Americans, And I don't think as a Seventh-day Adventist you're exempt.

And many people are interpreting what's said through the lens of politics before they interpret it as whether it's right or wrong.

So I'm inviting you this morning to come back to being Adventist.

When Joseph Bates went to Battle Creek and he wanted to spread the message.

He asked who the most honest man in town is.

I think God is still looking for the honest men and women who ask, is it true?

If we could step back from canceling people by way of what we believe their perspective to be and actually wrestle with the truth, I assure you that in any message there is probably something for you.

It could be the most boring monologue you've listened to, But if you come ready to hear something, God will make sure you get to hear it.

So this morning, I want to go on a journey, and I want to talk about digital inebriation.

Now, we don't talk about inebriation very much.

But I'm here to affirm this morning that if we're not discerners of our times and we partake of the spirit of the world, we shall find ourselves without the clear thinking sobriety we need to walk the narrow way, live with peace, confidence, and hope, for indeed, this is God's destiny for us.

On Tuesday, Stacy Vanick Smith was interviewing Tristan Harris, it was a discussion of social media and the part that played in the attack on the Capitol.

He says, the attack is what I saw as a 10-year culminating process.

This entire business model profited from giving us a more certain view of reality.

To which the host replies in some measure.

I pick what shared and Tristan Harris reminds us that behind these social media platforms are the most powerful Supercomputers in the world and they're asking basically 1 question, and here it is, what can I show you?

Now, he didn't say the rest, so I'll say it for you.

What can I show you that will keep your attention right here Because we're living in an attention economy and get you to click to 1 more thing Because you see what you need to understand is that some of these outlets are not really about news although they are about information and What they're doing is a constant confirmation bias because they're making money the longer you stay and the more they can show to those who want to advertise on them that they got this many clicks and they kept your attention for this long?

Now this morning, let it be completely understood.

When this message is over, if everyone goes out of here just a little bit agitated at something that was said, probably I did what I was hoping to do.

Which is to make sure that if you're on the left or you're on the right, You all have something to think about how to be on the path of life the truth of the matter is is that we have seen in this world a Constant polarization and it's not an accident It has happened because when you go to Facebook Or you go to Google or you go to Twitter as long as you keep paying attention Things will pop up that will deepen your attention and what you want to pay attention to confirmation bias and Selling information is what they're all about and if you don't understand that you're missing out on a key piece of disinformation in an age of supposed enlightenment.

When Jack Dorsey was on his island and he had to make his decision about whether to delist former President Trump from Twitter, He said, this is a bad precedent.

And Zuckerberg and Dorsey, according to Tristan Harris, both say they shouldn't have this much power.

Then he gave an illustration, which I'll skip for time.

But he says, this is now the central information infrastructure that governs our democracy.

And beyond the question of governance, is the system itself compatible with democracy, at least a democracy that works?

We have a system, he states, that produces a kind of cultural cancer and he identifies at least 4 symptoms of that cancer.

It creates more addiction, more polarization, and more outrage.

It does seem a little tricky to create regulation around this.

Why not just let these companies make money as they will and let these conversations happen as they will?

And Tristan interjects, because we won't survive as a civilization.

Now you say, oh, pastor, you're falling in to some of the lines of the left.

If I fall into some of the lines of the left sometimes, and I fall into the lines of the right sometimes, more power to me because I believe balance is important.

Now it just so happens over the last week or month there are moments when I've been carrying buckets sometimes full of heavy things.

Do you know the easiest way to carry a heavy bucket in this hand is to have a heavy bucket in this hand.

Some of you are familiar with working with your hands, and you understand the componentry of balance.

This is clearly, he states, a moment we cannot survive as a civilization and as a democracy.

We've already infected ourselves with a kind of divisive malware where our minds are not able to agree with each other, even if you subtract social media right now.

We are clearly seeing such different understandings of reality and we're not really interested in abandoning our own perspectives." to which the host again feels a little sense of well What's different than before and he clarifies?

We've never had Supercomputers pointed at our brain perfectly able to simulate our emotions and know more about us Powerful stentons than we know about ourselves It knows that and he hesitates that resonant frequency, that minor seventh of which anger to put into your nervous system next because it's literally playing chess against 3000000000000 calculations of which 1 will do the best job of that.

It's checkmate against the human nervous system because it's seen more patterns, that is about you, of which emotions and which kinds of texts will tend to produce the results that it wants for its business model.

And let us not forget, friends, it is a business.

And last sentence again, this is possible to escape but only if we collectively recognize that it is a completely unsustainable, unsurvivable situation if we don't fundamentally change this business model.

Now, if I didn't agree, I wouldn't be sharing it.

I'm watching people move left and right who have no real interest in hearing anything from this side or that.

I had a two-hour conversation this last week with someone who came to the conversation with certainly somewhat of a different perspective than me.

The truth of the matter was, was that there were things he needed to say I needed to hear, and I think in reverse as well.

And when the discussion was all done, I think we both went out of the room benefited by following 1 of those simple little axioms of Scripture, and that is, sit down and talk to each other.

Leviticus 19.18, don't harbor a grudge in your heart, but speak frankly with your brother and love your neighbor as yourself." Yes, those words are all together, almost quoted verbatim.

When we allow ourselves to live in echo chambers and silos of affirmation, which Zuckerberg will say is what we're getting, we're getting affirmation not so much, I should say, Harris, information, the fact of the matter is, is it becomes easier and easier to go farther and farther away from each other.

And while there are cultural cornerstones that would appear to have no compromise, and for certainly some there will be none.

But at the ability of us to listen to each other and talk to each other, in the church's case, pray for each other." Here's an article, Biases make people vulnerable to misinformation spread by social media.

Tristan Harris, this article would be interesting to read from a TED Radio Hour.

What is the cost of infinite distractions?

And another 1 by Harris, how tech hijacks our brain, corrupts our culture, and what to do now.

So in reflecting on this, I have to ask myself this question.

What is the church's role, and how self-aware are we in this area of social or digital inebriation I watched an interesting video in preparation for this moment here.

It's put out by the Southern Poverty Law Center So you have a point of reference if they lean left take it into consideration if they lean right take it into consideration I can tell you what's happening in your life just by talking with you for a few minutes.

Because if all you're ever getting is news from the things that come up in your Facebook feed, they just keep taking you farther into what you already believed, because that's how they make money.

But if you actually have enough objectivity and critical thinking without a critical spirit, you can actually pay attention to what's going on and start Understanding that the controversy is deepening and the chasm is widening Unity is evaporating from the face of the planet even basic cooperation That five-minute video would be an interesting 1 for all to watch.

I highly recommend it It's called the miss education of Dylan roof Now some of you remember who Dylan Roof was.

Many of us probably doesn't draw to mind any real idea.

So let me Remind you because we've gotten to a place where there's a litany of these things that have gone on and we forget who the players Are but Dylan roof when you watch the video is a little boy and the pictures are just so sweet He looks like anybody else's little boy who grows to be an innocent preteen.

And then all of a sudden, Dylan Roof is radicalized.

And he becomes so radical that someday he can walk into a church with 9 African-Americans, a historic church, He can walk into it, 9 people praying.

Yes, The education of, or miseducation of, Dylann Roof.

This morning I want to talk with you about the difference between the spirit of the world and the spirit of truth.

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The Digital Inebriate: Church, Society, and Salvation

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