Google God 2.0

As I mentioned in my first post, I'm looking at the revolutionary world of Google and analyzing how it affects people's view of and relationships to God. I'm using Marshall Mcluhan's 4 Laws of Media to see how Google is transforming this area of our lives. Google started out as just a search engine, but now has moved to being part of just about anything you do daily on a computer. Whether you're sending an email, checking your calendar, writing a document, watching a video, or browsing the internet, you can do it with Google. This is a heart-warming advertisement for Google Chrome, showing just a bit (and it really is only a small portion) of what Google can do:

 

 In Marshall Mcluhan's laws of media, there are two positive effects of media (what it enhances and retrieves) and two negative effects (what it obsolesces and reverses). I'll start with the good stuff for this post, and move on to the other two effects in the next post.

Google enhances many things, which is why it has had so much success. Since I'm looking at the spiritual side of things, it's obvious that Google has provided a great way of sharing things about God with other people. The search engine itself provides access to thousand of webpages that could be useful. Previously, you had to look through thick Bible concordances and dictionaries to find information on certain subjects dealing with God, but now you can search for anything and find it. Google may direct you to a website like Bible Gateway which has many resources and over 75 translations of the Bible. It may also link to a blog, like Desiring God, which comes out of the ministry of John Piper. 

Then there's the sharing aspect of Christianity that is enhances. Social media like Google+ allow people to share thoughts about God and new resources with each other. You can use Gmail to share an encouraging story, or YouTube to make and share a video. I've watched countless sermons on YouTube that would not have been available without this technology. Other video sites that Google might direct you to like GodVine are centered around inspirational and encouraging videos related to God. So basically Google's many facets give me the ability to go to any church, without actually going there. I'm sure many people have heard the gospel through YouTube, so all in all, it enhances the ability to talk about God with more people and gain access to a limitless supply of information.

I think Google retrieves a sense of community that has been slowly waning as technology has increased. Even though this community is not face to face (which I'll address in the next blog post), Google is all about sharing. Instead of just going to websites, looking at them, and feeling alone, we post pictures, videos, and share stories on social networks. So if I want to discuss something about God, but I'm not involved in a Bible study, I can post a question online and see other people's opinions about it. I can research it with the click of a button. I can get the thoughts of respected pastors and theologians. It's like we're one big community now. Back in the day we might discuss things with our close friends and see the pastor in town for spiritual questions, but that was in danger of being lost with the early stages of the internet, where you just interacted with a computer. Now, we're back to interaction with humans, but as we'll see next time, the other 2 laws of media do not leave us with as much optimism as the first two.