Pastor's Corner: Online Integrity

The world is a very different place these days. Everything is going digital, global, social. I heard a radio talk show host this morning talking about how he hasn't had a landline, a newspaper subscription or watched broadcast TV in 15 years, that everything is cell phones and internet and cable. [Side Note: I did have to laugh at his discussion of the New Media on talk radio station. Do people still listen to the radio (I mean, people besides me)?]

But his point was that there continues to be a push toward living life within the global connections of the internet. More and more people are living half of their life on the internet, and half in real life. People are putting their lives online, and as it turns out, that can be a dangerous place. The internet can easily give the impression of anonymity and safety. The temptation exists to indulge our "darker side" because no one will ever know.

I recently read an article by Alexandra Samuel in the Harvard Business Review entitled The Three Ps of Online Indulgence. She attempts to instruct the general public on protecting yourself online. Her idea of protection is a good one, but I believe her assumption is faulty. She says at one point:

Be clear about the secret parts of yourself that you want to encourage, and find room for them to grow online, while avoiding sites or people whose legitimate behaviors you know are unhealthy or wrong. You can take a principled approach to even the murkiest parts of your online life....

The assumption is that you can maintain two separate personalities, one in real life, and one online. That even the "murkiest parts" have a place. This is not exactly what Christ has in mind for us. We cannot be two different people. We were created to be one whole person.

Colossians 3.1-5 says this:

¹ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. ⁵ Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness,which is idolatry.

Paul goes on to talk about putting on the New Self, and getting rid of those things that pul us away from Christ. To me, an online "shadow persona" falls directly into that category of "earthly things". Ask yourself this question: is this alternate life satisfying? Or does it consist of things you are potentially ashamed of?

Are you living the full and abundant life Christ has promised? So often, that online persona is a search for something other than what your "normal" life offers. Invest in something that lasts, not in the shadows that an alternate life offers. As Jim Elliot said, "He is no fool, who gives what he cannot keep to gain something he cannot lose."