In this blog’s post we are going to discuss about the Science and Information Technology. And how all these related with mission.
We are not living in a non-religious world. In a world shaped by science and technology and all faith are challenges, including the Christian. The twenty-first century can rightly called the century of science; a century dominated by scientific discoveries, ideas, and principles.
Science and Information Technology
Science and religion are two most powerful influences in our contemporary world. They play a crucial role in determining our life style, shaping, our value system, and setting our expectation level.
There are both positive and negative aspects in Information Technology. On the positive side, people can communicate each other more freely and immediately. And the ability to store, retrieve, process, and publicize information has increased.
People are also able to transcend the traditional geographical boundaries of religions. Information technology may also allow the church to reach out to people who have withdrawn from institutional religious communities.
On the other side, “virtual” contact may become more important than personal contact. Moreover, the information Technology runs the risk of increasing the gap. The gap is between who have access the technology and who have not. The rich people have innovative more technologies than the poor. And become a greater hold between the affluent and poor nations and individuals of the world.
Mission and Science (and Information Technology)
The Mission can still characterize as the enterprise that brings the light of the gospel to people; who live in the darkness of not knowing the living God. And many Christians expect that the benefits of a rational order of life; which in large measure created by science; will follow as part of the changes related to embracing the gospel.
Science and mission seem to go hand in hand in winning the world, while science and Christianity are at odds at the mission’s home base. But as we articulate the message of the gospel for a post-Christian, knowledge-intensive society, we must propose anew the issue of the role and authority of science in the culture.
Science has grown to gigantic proportions; and carry out by large bureaucratic organizations in a complex web of relationships; involving government industry the military and the educational sectors.
The missionary enterprise must carefully consider the relationship between the means and ends of mission. For the most part, missionary work now involves the technical, communicational, and organizational means of scientific society.
Effective use of these means requires some acquaintances with their techno scientific development.
Mission and (Science and) Information Technology
It is important to remember that technological advance is not wrong, but it is good to have technological development that will help us to heal and do well. In other words, we have to use technology; but at the same time we also have taken responsibility for making sure. It is use for good purposes and not for unethical ones.
Sometimes, technology finds as idolatry in which is putting trust in an aspect of creation rather than in the Creator. Today technology becomes the source of security, and then it becomes a savior sometimes more than the ‘Savior’.
Mission and evangelism should address some of the issues regarding information technologies like digital divide, privacy issues, ethical issues, identity crisis and anonymity. At the same time, Missionaries and Mission agencies can also use technologies both for internal functioning and to accomplish their primary external mission.
Today tele-evangelism is one of the advanced ways for doing mission and evangelism. Cyber Church, social net workings, mobile phone, computer etc., are to be used for the betterment of the society through which we can also ease the hurdles of mission. Because we know that the great missionaries in the Bible like Paul took many days to reach a place, took much time to reach a message to other.
But today with the development of Science and technologies the world became small and near.
So, as missionaries we all should realize the possibilities and positives of science and technologies and use them wisely for the development of the kingdom of God. The scientific enterprise must ruled by love: love of God and of neighbor. Love of neighbor means that global human need and respect for the integrity of creation takes priority over personal “self-fulfillment.”
Hence the missiological challenge is not to renounce human creativity nor forego technological making; rather it is to insist that this creative activity be nourished by the love of God, the love of neighbor, and by the love of the world for the sake of God and neighbor.
You can also read contemporary issues such as
Conclusion
Evangelization is not, however, primarily an effort to snatch people out of hell. But it is an invitation to all believers to recognize the new spiritual reality made available to them in Jesus Christ. It is a call to sanctity and extraordinary friendship with the personal Triune God and to an apostleship to communicate this new order of salvation to all fellow human beings.
For Christianity is the call of the crucified Christ presented in the depth of suffering of his present day members, the exploited workers, the marginalized, the godless and the big mass of people in every religion who have lost faith is organized. Of course, we know that every means of progress has its own disadvantages. So the contemporary missiological challenge is to address such issues above mentioned wisely.