By Keith M. Lyndaker
Be not conformed to this world but rather be transformed by the latest app.
Oops! I misquoted. But sometimes I wonder. I am fascinated by the phenomenon of friends who seem to be more excited over the latest app than the application of their faith to everyday life.
So how do we as modern-day Anabaptists (Mennos and other such ikthes) relate to technology? I believe our early Anabaptist forebears offer us some clues.
The Anabaptist concept of the church set them distinctly apart from the Roman Catholic church and the Protestant reformers of their day. To them, the notion of the church and society as one unit was unacceptable. Instead the early Anabaptists believed in a voluntary church separate from the world. So strongly did they believe in such a separation that they were willing to suffer persecution at the hands of this said alliance of religious and civil authorities rather than conform to the status quo.
The early Anabaptists took seriously the misquoted verse above: they were among the first non-conformists, attempting to live separate from the world, a “peculiar” people. They tended to behave in ways that were different from the general population. I am reminded of this not-so-distant heritage every time I visit my Amish relatives in Ohio or my conservative Mennonite kin in New York. They have chosen a very different relationship to society and to technology in particular. They are doing fine and perhaps, are even more content than I. Such visits lead me to ponder whether Menno, Zwingli, (or Jesus for that matter) would stand in line for hours just to get the latest I-gadget.
But the early Anabaptists did not reject technology out of hand. They believed in separation from the world with two exceptions: a commitment to evangelism and a willingness to offer criticism of the social order. Such commitments led them to seek more effective ways to get their message out...
