Babel Part 2: My Profile

BOTTOM LINE: YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH TECHNOLOGY CAN DISTORT YOUR VIEW OF WHO YOU REALLY ARE.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: GENESIS 1:20-27

We judge books by their covers. We determine whether we want to see a movie by the trailers. And as much as we would hate to admit it, we critique people based on what they say, post or send via technology.

Maybe that’s why we are so conscious of the images we project. We believe that profile, that pic, that list of favorites is the complete picture of who we are. We believe that we have the power to change who we are, or be someone that we wish we were. But there’s more to the story, isn’t there? God, the Creator, says who we are. Not technology. And the illusion of a changing image can lead us to forget who we are, or settle for a lesser definition.

Create meaningful conversation. Adjust questions as needed, and don’t feel like you need to answer all of them.

1. What are some of the things you try to communicate about your image and your identity through technology? Think of the things you choose to highlight on your Facebook page, or the things you tweet about, or the wallpaper you have on your cell phone or screen saver on your computer. What are the messages you hope to send by communicating these things?

2. What are the things about a person—technology or not—that influence how you think about them?

3. How often do you think of the fact that you were made in God’s image? Does that affect the way you view yourself? Do you put more confidence in the identity you can create for yourself, or the one God says you already have?

4. Look up the following verses:

John 1:12

John 15:15

Romans 8:37

1 Corinthians 12:27

Galatians 3:26,28

Ephesians 1:3-8

Ephesians 2:10

Ephesians 2:19

1 Thessalonians 1:4

Based on these verses, who does God say we are?

5. How do you use technology to define who you are? Is it easy to lose sight of who you really are in the process? Do you ever get consumed more with what other people think about you—what you say, how you look, what you’re interested in—than what God says about you?

6. How can you start living with confidence in who God says you are? What would a life lived in confidence of who God says you are look like?

7. What changes do you need to make when going home today that reflect your confidence in who God says you are, rather than what technology says you are?

8. After having participated in the technology detox this week, was it harder than you expected it to be, or easier? Did anything happen this week that surprised you when you gave up one aspect of technology?

9. Did technology affect your relationship with family and friends at all? (Good or bad?)

10. Would you ever do a technology detox again? Why or why not? Would you give up another aspect of technology or do the same one again?

11. What did this week long detox from technology show you about yourself?