Virtual reality is a 3D Simulated World created through technology that makes it feel real. The three dimensions usually referred to are length, width, and depth. But we don’t even need the third dimension, depth, for us to get swept away in a fake world, which is swirling all around us, overtaking us, and 99% of people don’t even notice it.
My sister had her birthday yesterday, and though I don’t believe in celebrating birthdays for numerous reasons (see post), I sent her a text telling her ‘Happy Birthday’ and a warm greeting. We are close so I expected to hear back from her when she got off work, if not sooner. At bedtime I still had not received a response text from her (and I never did receive one), which I thought odd, but when I checked into Facebook, which I rather loathe, I saw she had posted a lot of stuff, and even posted a gratuitous ‘Thank You’ to all her online friends calling them out for wishing her a Happy Birthday, and various other sentiments.
My sister rarely if ever sees those people. I rarely see her, but I did make a point to visit her last year in Texas and I stayed with her for a week. I find it hurtful and strange that she has created this virtual reality for herself whereby she practically lives inside Facebook. And I know she is not alone. I know it is a problem for women, and even some men. Instead of spending her time connecting with me, her sister who actually sends her gifts and travels to see her, she prefers to spend her time interacting superficially with internet personas, people from her past whom she will likely never see again.
I have a problem with that, and it’s called Righteous Indignation.
God does not want us to interact inside the internet. The devil is the prince of the air and he is doing a great job of lulling the masses to sleep within it. Like the amortentia love potion from the wizarding world, it intoxicates its victim with whatever his greatest desire is: friendship, camaraderie, perfection, sex, and even love. But not real friendship, camaraderie, perfection, sex, or love, fake versions of these. Just enough reality so you think it is real, but not enough reality to be real. Not to mix up movie metaphors too much, but it’s like a hologram on Star Trek. In our ingenious minds which God has given us, we have created an infinite number of intertwining Towers of Babel that extend unto the heavens and beyond in an effort to make a name for ourselves and be known.
The internet is just an elaborate evil hologram of the Tower of Babel we live inside, created by our human minds, aided and abetted by the devil. God came and demolished the real Tower of Babel before the people could finish it. He did this by striking the people with different languages so they could not communicate with one another, and scattering them upon the face of the earth. But man has now, led by the devil, found a way to create his Tower of Babel, and extend it not just up, but out and around and inside everyone’s life, connecting nearly every single being alive. We have programs to translate any language into our own language so that we can continue to communicate with lands and peoples we never would have in real life. One program is literally called Babelfish! We call this progress. We call this good. But in light of the story of the Tower of Babel, we see that in God’s eyes it really is not good, but evil.
And God is allowing it to happen. That is another sign that we have lost His loving protection as His people.
Jesus said not to build our house on sand, lest it crumble when the rains come and the winds blow. But our internet isn’t even built on sand. It’s built on air. It’s built on nothing. The devil is the most cunning entity alive. Part fallen angel, part serpent, he is privy to men’s desires and the greatest darkness, and he combines the two together mercilessly. In his hands, this is a dangerous weapon which he uses effectively against man. He hypnotizes the masses by getting them addicted to the internet and gains control over them. The world wide web is just that: a worldly interconnected web for a creepy crawly demon to lurk in the middle of. Like a spider, he senses minute changes when prey moves in his web and he strikes, paralyzing his victims until they die.
The internet can be a tool for real good. It can be helpful. But only to the degree it brings people together in the real world! The internet ceases to be for good when you spend more time on it than off it, when you spend more time interacting with people whom you will never see than people God sends you in your every day life. When you get your gratification through someone clicking that they liked your post more than seeking out someone to like, you have to ask yourself if you are not caught in his web. Do not believe the lie that makes you think you are alive and fulfilled on the internet. The true reality is that you are avoiding life and have fallen asleep:
For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. ~1 Corinthians 11:29-31
~Song of Mary~ 