In the long and proud history of the humankind, there has hardly been anything that could be appreciated more than information. The precious bits of data are sometimes worth their weight in gold, and even put one’s life at a stake.
However, in the present-day world, when information is transported to ant corner of the world within a blink of an eye, it seems to have cheapened considerably. In addition, with online media, the redundancy of information seems to have become an issue for a lot of people who do not know how to handle with the information torrent.
Analyzing the problem of information redundancy from a theological standpoint can not only help figure out whether the abundance of information can be considered a positive phenomenon, but also offer a solution on how to handle the information torrent which every single person in the modern world faces each day.
First of all, the negative aspects of the information torrent as the theology sees it must be taken into account. Unlike one might expect, there are quite a few downsides concerning the abundance and the availability of all sorts of information in the modern and traditional media. One of the first issues which can be found in the information torrent is the timeliness of learning certain data.
To be more exact, there are some kinds of information which might be not quite appropriate for people of certain age group to find out; e.g., the notorious concept of the birds and the bees should not be offered to children of a certain age group in such graphic and uncompromising way as some of the inappropriate images online do.
On the one hand, the given issue has little to do with the Holy Script; on the other, however, the problem of cognition sends the audience to the tale of Adam, Eve and the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
Reading between the lines of the Biblical legend, one can come to the conclusion that certain pieces information cannot be accepted by the people of all ages and all kinds of experience behind their backs. Hence, the unceasing torrent of information from a theological standpoint can be considered dangerous when not being regulated somehow.
Another concern which can be raised about the XXI-century information torrent is that the latter can possibly push people into certain extremes, finally leading them to some of the deadly sins.
For instance, one of the possible traps which one can stumble upon while being in the torrent of information is colliding with the people who have completely different and even opposite ideas on a certain issue and, therefore, taste overwhelming anger. Another demon that can take over the soul of the one who is currently in the torrent of information is the demon of acedia.
Since with the help of Internet it takes little to nothing to learn about a certain issue, the delight of fighting the obstacles for learning something can be reduced to zero, which, in its turn, will drive to the unwillingness to make any conscious effort to learn anything new.
As it has been mentioned above, one of the key problems with the information torrent of the modern world is a complete absence of any filters which can prevent one from seeing something that contradicts one’s beliefs and moral viewpoint. In addition to the fact that the unfiltered information can shake one’s morality, corrupting one completely, it can also sin the audience into the depth of avarice, with the today emphasis on such negative phenomena as crises, catastrophes, etc.
However, in a slight departure from revealing the dreadful effects of an information torrent which the entire world has been caught since the recent media development, it is necessary to admit that the latter does have its doubtless advantages from the theological point of view. One of the obvious advantages of the information torrent is that it can be used as a powerful means to help spread the Word of God and His commandments to begin with.
Indeed, it is crucial that the present-day media does not require covering long distances to reach other people and attempt at converting them into Christianity or involving them into a conversation on a religion-related topic hence, it must be admitted that the information torrent can be headed towards making people aware of the Holy Script and its postulates.
In addition, modern theology can address the information torrent as a means to bring the believers all over the world closer. Hence, the informational phenomenon which can be observed in the present-day media can also be treated as a positive one from the point of theology.
Once various issues concerning the Christian belief, such as the discussions of the topical issues, polemics among several opponents, and other related issues become available for all those who are interested in the issues of faith and Christian belief, it will be possible to bring the believers closer.
Finally, such an important aspect of an information torrent as the availability of the Bible itself, i.e., the New and the Old Testaments, the Gospels, and other readings of the kind, must be mentioned. While in the previous centuries, the word of God was spread only by missionaries, in the modern world, the Internet and other mass media can become missionaries and provide the necessary information for people to learn about the Christian religion.
Hence, theology interacts with the issue of information in a very active manner when it comes to spreading awareness of the religious issues, as well as certain common misconceptions about the Christian belief.
At the end of the day, whether obtained information is going to be used for a good or a bad cause depends on the person for whom the given information is intended.
Though it cannot be argued that the amounts of useless and even harmful information which can be found online are increasingly huge, it is still worth admitting that a reasonable person is able to filter the incoming data according to their relevance and pick only the issues which are considered safe and useful.
Hence, the problem of excessive information in the online world exists rather in people’s heads than in reality. While the existing theological postulates do not make one against surfing in the torrent of information, they offer the way to look at this torrent and to pick only the decent ideas and the information which will spur the further spiritual, intellectual and personal growth.