Is it a GOOD or a BAD thing?
Long ago in ancient China, there lived an elderly farmer. One day his son came home excited. He had found a wonderful wild stallion in the forest, and he was going to keep it and train it. The farmer's friends said to him what a good thing that his son has found this wild stallion.
The farmer replied, “Maybe it's good. Maybe it's bad. Time will only tell.”
The next week, whilst trying to train the stallion, the horse threw off the farmer’s son and broke both the boy’s legs. The farmer's friend said to him what a bad thing it was that his son found this wild stallion, as it threw him and broke his legs
The farmer replied, “Maybe it's good. Maybe it's bad. Time will only tell.”
the following week, some soldiers arrived at the farm. They were looking for young men to conscript for a faraway war. When they saw the farmer's son had broken legs they said, “We cannot take him.” The farmer’s friends said what a good thing that his son found this stallion, who threw him and broke his legs. Now he will not go to war, and he will be here when he is healed to help the farmer with the farm.
The farmer replied, “Maybe it's good. Maybe it's bad. Time will only tell.”
And so on! You could keep adding instances to this. When I heard it this week, it made me think about how we can be very quick to judge whether things are good or bad. Usually based on our beliefs and those things we are comfortable with. But history is full of events that were considered good or bad by the people at the time, such as slavery, the discovery of tobacco, the superiority of the male gender, and colonialism, which are now recognised to have bad consequences.
Even today we debate the good or bad of many things in modern life.
Take social media for example; It has helped people to communicate with one another over greater distances. Many churches now Zoom their services, which allows people to experience worship, who are unable to come to church because of health or disability problems but excludes them from the personal interaction that being their face to face encourages. Whereas the answer may be to offer lifts or visits. In recent weeks we have seen how social media has stirred up violence on the streets of our cities, with misinformation and hatred communicated after the terrible events in Southport. Is social media a good thing? Is it a bad thing?
Rural Missions has our next online forum on October 15th. This will be an opportunity to meet with others across the country who are involved in ministry in rural areas and support one another. It is also an opportunity to hear Mark Greenwood speak on “How to create an invitational culture.” We also have a monthly online prayer meeting that allows our supporters from different areas of the U.K. to pray for us, and us for them. We also have our website which is being updated regularly and we are on Facebook and Instagram. However, although we are always eager to talk to you on social media, we still are keen to visit you further in person as this is how we can most successfully support you with on-site consultations.
Melvin Kranzberg was an American historian specializing in the history of technology. He is famous for saying, “Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral." I heard the opening story told by a speaker at the Greenbelt Festival this year. Another speaker talking about AI and social media says in his book "Neither is religion.”
This reminds me of Jesus’ disagreements with the Pharisees and Sadducees We often think of them as baddies. Although in their culture, they had the reputation of being Holy People, admired because of their moral lifestyle and wise advice. Yet Jesus calls them out because their strict adherence to traditional values was excluding people from the Love and blessing of God. Jesus said “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5: 17. However his attitude to the Law was that it was based on love As Paul says,” For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Galatians 5:15.
As followers of Jesus, our benchmark should be, “Is what we are doing, loving to others? Although the world is changing, this is an eternal principle. A principle that can be applied to our use of social media. For example, never say anything online that demeans other people. But also, a principle that shows how to approach other changes that are occurring today. Whether that is in politics, gender identity, racial relations, or our welcome to others in church.
God is good because God is love. If we are uncertain about the changes in our society, we can reply, “Is this a good thing? Is this a bad thing? Love only will tell.”
