A rather new – or at least amplified – temptation common to the technological age in which we live is to allow our “smart” phones and computers to replace face to face, person-to-person, body-to-body, communication.  It’s so easy to text someone, or email them, and even send them pictures via the cell phone, that more intimate communication is falling behind. This is a serious deprivation of interpersonal friendship, and an aberration of the purpose of our Creator in fashioning us for personal interchange.  God made the human body – and the bodies of Christians are temples of God, his dwelling place among humanity, the place where God lives in our neighborhood. We cannot reflect God over the phone. We cannot love others, reach out and touch them, hug them, or, when helpful, hold them. God gave us a body for a reason. We should be neither so “Puritanical,” on the one hand – or so overly zealous of the human body, on the other hand – as to deny or distort the true bodilessness of God’s human creation. We should, as Christians, recognize, celebrate, and strengthen all that God has created the human body for. At the same time, we recognize the limitations of some in this area, and don’t insensitivity break through protective barriers. Recognizing differences, in education, temperament, up-bringing, good, and bad experiences, helps us as a body of Christ to be open and loving while being sensitive and understanding. Let’s not let the wonderful conveniences of modern technology, nor the inhibitions of a distorted background, minimize the purpose of godly and loving personal interaction and communion.

REV. DR. RICHARD L. SHAW, PASTOR