by Warren E. Berkley<\/p>\n
Yes, I know. As I write and post this, I know mine is only one voice in a growing chorus. Still, putting these thoughts into words will help me-and perhaps encourage greater vigilance among those who read them. These concerns have deepened as I have studied and taught the book of Acts this year.<\/p>\n
In our present culture, I fear that we are gradually drifting away from meaningful, devoted, face-to-face relationships.<\/p>\n
It is easy to send a text, write an email, connect through social media, stream a service, stay home, and look at a screen. These tools can be useful, but they should never replace genuine personal interaction. I hope and pray that we do not lose the direct, face-to-face fellowship seen throughout the book of Acts. This divinely designed and necessary connection with real people is what God intends, is it not? He said, “It is not good that the man should be alone<\/em>” (Genesis 2:18). Ecclesiastes 4 reminds us that “two are better than one<\/em>,” and Proverbs 18:24 speaks of a true friend who is closer than a brother.<\/p>\n In Acts, believers gathered together (Acts 2:42-47) and drew strength from those genuine relationships (Acts 4:24; 14:22; 16:5; 18:23). Christians stood “shoulder to shoulder” in heart and in work. They shared a strong sense of community and family-something Satan was always trying to infiltrate and divide.<\/p>\n They sought one another out, helped one another, and labored side by side. In doing so, they nurtured what Paul called “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace<\/em>” (Ephesians 4:3). I hope and pray that our togetherness will not be weakened by technology that is quick and convenient but often impersonal. If technology has allowed us to drift apart, may we deliberately make an effort to reconnect. As John wrote in III John, “I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.<\/em>“<\/p>\n Technology is like every other tool people use: it can serve good or harmful purposes; it can help or destroy. Do not throw away your phone, abandon your computer, or discard your iPad. Instead, stay keenly aware of technology’s power to divide and conquer us. Instant answers from an AI platform can weaken our ability to think deeply. Instant yet virtual contact can slowly draw us away from what John desired: “I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face<\/em>” (III John 14).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Warren E. Berkley Yes, I know. As I write and post this, I know mine is only one voice in a growing chorus. Still, putting these thoughts into words will help me-and perhaps encourage greater vigilance among those who read them. These concerns have deepened as I have studied and taught the book of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[253,456],"class_list":["post-97692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-fellowship","tag-unity"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46472,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/quite-an-impressive-list-of-topics\/","url_meta":{"origin":97692,"position":0},"title":"Quite an impressive list of topics","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I just came across your website, and I have to admit, I am impressed. I have bookmarked it so I can go back and read more of the articles that you have posted. That is quite an impressive list of topics and I can see that it would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21186,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-faith-and-hope-still-exist-in-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":97692,"position":1},"title":"Will faith and hope still exist in heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question from I Corinthians 13 about faith, hope, and love with the greatest of these being love. I have led public prayers in which I prayed something like this \"to bless us with faith, hope, and love. For one day we will close our eyes in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53479,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-am-just-amazed-at-how-beautiful-and-clear-you-made-luke-169\/","url_meta":{"origin":97692,"position":2},"title":"I am just amazed at how beautiful and clear you made Luke 16:9","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just had to send you an email. I was reading Luke 16. Part of it made no sense to me. I searched, looking for an answer. I came across your site. I am just amazed at\u00a0how beautiful and clear you made Luke 16:9. All I can say is\u00a0Thank\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2633,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-you-anti-or-liberal\/","url_meta":{"origin":97692,"position":3},"title":"Are you “anti” or “liberal”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Wow! I am so happy to see a site that holds to sound doctrine.\u00a0 There is only one thing that I don't see much written on Institutionalism.\u00a0 I do see the article on church spending which is correct.\u00a0 I was wondering though if you all were \"anti\" or \"liberal\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48902,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-made-god-say-that-abraham-will-be-the-father-of-the-nation\/","url_meta":{"origin":97692,"position":4},"title":"What made God say that Abraham will be the father of the nation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What made God say that Abraham will be the father of the nation? Answer: God promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations. See:\u00a0How was Abraham famous? God didn't have to offer that promise. He chose to make that promise and through that promise we see\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38932,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-hope-you-are-all-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":97692,"position":5},"title":"I hope you are all right!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Mr. Hamilton, This is not a question, simply a note to say I was so happy to see your new posts under the Q&A today. Each day I go to La Vista's website to read your answers. Many of the topics I do not struggle with (although some relate!),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97692"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97695,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97692\/revisions\/97695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}