Will Twitter bring you closer to God?

[Pat Coyle]

Most churches want them turned off, but one North Carolina church encouraged its members to use their cell phones, BlackBerrys and other devices to help spread the word during Easter services.

Next Level church in Union County was alive with Twitter during the Easter Sunday service, The Charlotte Observer reported Monday.

"I hope many of you are tweeting this morning about your experience with God," Pastor Todd Hahn said before his sermon.

Seems several flocks are twittering these days (including Trinity Church in NYC).

Will tweeting in Church help or hurt the spiritual experience? Share your thoughts here

[Nicki Laycoax]

@Amy Great minds think alike! After all, we don't relate to anyone outside of our little social media circle... :)

[Amy Stark]

You typed, "These posts have nothing to do with Social Media. None whatsoever." Please clarify this statement for me Chris.

When you refer to, "These posts" did you mean all of the comments under Pat's initial post where he asked, "Will twitter bring you closer to God?"

Er, um... correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Twitter a social media platform?

[Amy Stark]

Then you should sit with the non-twitter crowd. =)

Surely you are not implying that, " 'tweeting' a spritual experience to be a joke. " is true for everyone and every occasion. I feel certain that you would not want to infringe upon someone's right to tweet, would you?

[Amy Stark]

It may not enhance YOUR inward spiritual experience, Chris, but it is the height of arrogance to suggest that how YOU experience something -- is the way EVERYONE else does. SURELY that is not what you meant.

[Amy Stark]

Chris... you typed, "So your premise is that by tweeting your personal experience with your spiritual leader, it enhances others?" No that is not my premise at all. You may find it useful to read through some posts again so that you get a better grasp on pronoun usage. Just a thought. =)

[Amy Stark]

I would be thrilled to specify, thanks for asking. Good conversations require a clear understanding of the terms used by the people involved.

To refresh your memory, Chris, the initial question was, "Will twitter bring YOU closer to God." The question was NOT, "Will twittering give you an opportunity to enhance the spiritual life of OTHERS?" If tweeting helps YOU as an individual (defined as, "an indefinitely specified person; one:" ) that has nothing whatsoever to do with helping OTHERS (defined as, "People aside from oneself" ) . Just let me know if you need further assistance with grammar or definitions. I will be happy to help.

[Amy Stark]

@chris .. Since you are not well-versed in the use of twitter, there is NO WAY you could comment effectively on how it helps or hinders the spirituality of the tweeter. I get the distinct impression that you don't care to learn either, and that's great! Thank God we live in a country where we are permitted to express our spirituality in whatever way works for us.

When you typed "you are tweeting to others" ... not really, and this bespeaks your inexperience with the platform. Unless you send a Direct Message (DM), an @reply directly to a person, or someone has CHOSEN to follow your tweets, it is highly unlikely anyone will see a given tweet. Twitter is a supremely permission based interaction and unfollowing someone or ignoring them is very easy. It is impossible to impose your thoughts on anyone unless they actively want you to.

Initially I was going to ignore something you typed earlier in this thread, but it fits well into this particular comment. It is arrogant to THINK the way YOU experience something is the only way or the right way or the BEST way. Just to make this clear-- that sentence does NOT mean I am calling YOU arrogant. I learned a long time ago that name-calling only indicates a weak argument, and you have nothing of value to add to a discussion.

There can be no argument that the THOUGHT that you know the only way-- or best way -- or the right way-- to do something is, by definition, arrogant. Once again, I am calling that THOUGHT arrogant.

[Amy Stark]

With the exception of the first few sentences, the entirety of this comment was written by my esteemed fellow smoosier, Chris. He posted it on my personal profile page. I'm not quite sure why he posted it there, but I am deeply interested in this topic and wanted to preserve the integrity of this discussion thread in one place, so I decided to cut and paste it below:
____________________________________________
FROM CHRIS:

I just read your last post on the Twittering issue with relation to church.

Your comments are so off base it's funny!

You say I am not "well-versed" in what Twittering is, but then when you explain it, it's exactly what I said it was, lol. You "tweet", and others read (whether they signed up to follow you or not is beside the point, they get your message), therefore, you are tweeting to others. That makes your first segment ridiculous.

Second, having thoughts, and posting them in no way makes anyone arrogant. I never said "my way" was the only way. In fact, I never even said what "my way" was. You don't know my religious background, my knowledge of religion, my knowledge of technology related to religion/churches, or anything else about me. To say that I am arrogant without knowing anything about me (only reading a post), is laughable.

I understand that when an idea is attacked in some way, people have the tendency to be defensive, call names, and make off-color remarks. They don't further your point though. The point of my statements are simple, spirituality is between each individual and their god, period. Any act that seeks to "bring others to god" or commercialize a religion is not about spirituality, but rather about the church itself or even worse, possibly self-interest (people feel they have done well when they "bring others to god").

You are welcome to think what you want about religion, and certainly about me...I don't mind others judging me or my ideas, if you have read many of my posts you will see I don't cater to people, but rather tell it like it is.

Study what spirituality is all about...not church, but real spirituality, and see if twittering has anything to do with it. If you are honest with your studies, you'll come to the right conclusion.

No need for a response, I don't have time for it, and probably won't even read it! Thanks!

[Elizabeth Friedland]

Hang in there, Amy. Chris is kind of a nut job. I actually had to block him.

[Michael R.]

So, back to Tweety Bird and his Twittering ways:)

[Kevin M. Hill]

Twittering from a church service is to me very comparable to the Pharisee (or whatever he was) sitting in the front of temple and making a display of himself so everyone knew he was praying. I believe Jesus said the right thing to do was exemplified more by the quiet man in the back. His personal experience with God.

[Ryan Sawrie]

In your view then, should Pastors not blog? Should Christians not comment on news boards and social networking sites? Should I never tweet that "church was great today" or "I love the book of John"? I'm just curious if what you believe the line for "making a display" of one's faith is when it comes to using today's technology?

@ryansawrie