You know what that picture above is — it’s a hammer. But if I asked you what a hammer is used for, what would say?
Despite its stark simplicity, a hammer is quite a remarkable tool. As I see it, a hammer has two purposes: building and tearing down. Construction and destruction, if you will. I’m struck by the versatility of a hammer — the same tool can play an important part in the establishment and demolition of a home.
Lately, these hammer-centric thoughts have dominated my little brain. I haven’t been able to shake them. Not because I think I missed my calling as a building contractor (I most certainly did not) or because I’ve been watching a lot of Handy Manny these days (my daughter prefers Wonder Pets). I can’t stop thinking about the hammer because I’ve come to see it as a fitting analogy for the media and tech tools we talk about in COLLIDE.
Film, animation, graphic design, music, websites, Twitter, Facebook — they’re all hammers. They can be used for construction or destruction. They can be used to build something or to tear something down.* It’s up to us to know the difference. Perhaps an increasingly important role for church leaders of the 21st-century is to fully realize the construction/destruction potential of new media and then model the responsible (oh, and Christ-like!) application of these tools.
Of course, this entire concept isn’t exactly revelatory. Almost 2,000 years ago, James wrote about taming the tongue (James 3:8-11):
But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restlesss evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in God’s image. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters. A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it?
Twitter and the other tools I mentioned above simply amplify our voice and provide new formats and channels through which we can bless the Lord and curse his handiwork. As James says, these things should not be. Let’s do our best to help one another tame our tongues and our tools.
* That’s not to say I believe tools are entirely neutral; I don’t. Swinging a hammer all day, whether to build or destroy, has an effect on the worker. These effects can be physical (muscles, blisters, aches and pains), psychological (as the old saying goes, “When you’re a hammer, you start to see everything else as a nail”), and so on.