“Strangely Dim"

There is a lot of good Bible-believing content out there - the trouble is, it generally isn’t found without luck or labor. Fortunately, I’ve had a bit of both lately, and I came across something that I’m eager to recommend.

Strangely Dim: The Internet, Smartphones, and the “Modern” Christian, written by Benjamin Clark, the associate pastor of Anchor Baptist Church in Faulkner, Maryland, is well-worth few dollars expense and the time it takes to read its 253 pages. As the title suggests, Clark takes the pervasive (dare I say suffocating) presence of technology and explores it from a biblical standpoint. It is not only thought-provoking, but also well-researched, well-written, honest, balanced, and doctrinally sound. He explains with great clarity the what, the how, and the why behind the world’s reliance on the internet, then illustrates the practical and spiritual damage that is being done by it.

It would be impossible to summarize the book without oversimplifying Clark’s point (he even says as much in the concluding pages), but here are some statements from throughout the text that ought to whet your appetite for the full course:

Human nature has always protested to the reading of the word of God, but, thanks to the tangible impact that the internet has on the human brain, spiritual growth now requires a reader to think in a manner that is contrary to everything else they consume. (110)

Throughout the Dark Ages, Satan attempted to violently suppress the truth with fire and sword, which did not succeed. In some ways, it actually accelerated the growth of the Church. When the Age of Enlightenment arrived, the Devil pivoted to a new form of global deception. He decided that instead of trying to eat the seeds (Matthew 13:4, 19) he would simply poison the ground. Instead of destroying the truth, which is scriptutally impossible (as per Psalm 12:6-7, Matthew 24:35, Isaiah 30:8, and a host of other verses), he has chosen to rather destroy the concept of truth. He has made the only truth to be that all truth is relative and left to the discretion of the individual. If no truths can be proven to be universally sound, then truth itself cannot exist beyond the personal views held by each unique soul. (206-207)

If a person fully embraces the inventions of man, his ability and tendency to understand God will begin to fall away. This is why the word “invention” has such a negative connotation in the Bible. (224)

There is nothing about the internet that was made by God in Genesis 1, and it operates on a totally different set of rules than nature. This is part of the reason why humanity turns further from God as it spends more time on the internet. Even if the internet were a bastion of truth and purity, it would still corrupt a user’s understanding of who God is and how He works. There is a continuous subtle understanding gained of who God is that is spent by observing His creation. There is an equally subtle understanding that is lost by leaving it. (225)

The Devil is not consuming the lives of Christians by shuttering them away for years at a time in prisons or killing them outright. He is consuming their lives on a second-by-second basis by making distractions always available. This is spiritual “death by a thousand cuts.” He is crippling them through a thousand small impacts rather than a single, heavy-handed blow.” (228)

The internet is breaking apart the good done to the world by the Philadelphia Church Age, and the Laodicean church has no response for it. (247)

What I especially appreciate about Clark is that he concludes the book with thoughts on what Christians can do to live in a world that requires us to use the internet without being consumed by it. I planned to include some quotes from that section of the book, but I believe anything I quoted would fall flat if given out of context of the carefully crafted exploration of this subject leading up to Clark’s advice at the end. In other words, if you want to see what he recommends, I believe you’d be better off reading everything he has to say rather than a few hand-picked quotes that I highlighted as I read.

But lest I be accused of leaving you with to little to think about, here are a few more gems found in the text that I found applicable and edifying even apart from the context of Clark’s examination of the effects of technology:

Biblically speaking, the definition of covetousness is wanting something bad enough that you would sin to obtain it, since it will provide for you in a way God has not. (76)

Temperance, or moderation as it is sometimes referred to in the Bible, is being able to maintain a consistent control over one’s internal desires and emotions so that feelings to do override the will of God. (96)

It is by the words that God has given man that God Himself will judge man. This makes the words of God, by His own admission, the highest authority in the universe (Psalm 138:2) and the standard to which each individual must conform themselves in order to please God. The opinions of individuals, in light of this judgement, are entirely irrelevant. (210)

The entire notion of relative truth has no basis in reality, but then again, most people live on the internet, not reality. (248)

So there you have it! Strangely Dim is not only among the best Bible-believing books I have read (and I have read many), but it is also one of the most important for the day and age we find ourselves in. I hope you’ll consider prayerfully reading it yourself.

If you're interested in getting a copy to read, it is available for $12 plus shipping at the Bible Baptist Bookstore. Click here to go directly to the page where you can purchase it.