Teaching

Teaching, also called sermons, is the sharing of God’s message by an anointed leader

of the church to the people. The main text or reference comes from the Bible, interpreted by pastors or teachers for the benefit of the congregation.

Information Vault. The positive attitude towards the vast capacity of the online world for one’s questions is evident in all respondents. The practical and accessible nature of

online content enables the Christian to type up a query and be led at a series of possible answers at a single thought. Online use offers an easy search for questions and so much more

than you asked for.

Respondents shared that when going online, it’s hard to just watch one video clip but

would end up watching the related links accessible with a single click. He spends hours

online to supplement what he hears from the international church that he attends. Other respondents who are heavy online media users share how waiting for a week for the pastor’s

sermon on Sunday seems too long when you can get unending information online. “There’s so much to find out, I click on one link, click another,” she shared admitting that it’s in her

personal nature to be too interested in finding out for more.

Another respondent relies on online sources for information she herself wouldn’t know where to find, or what to look for to begin with. “I cannot rely on my own interpretation and I don’t have anyone to talk to so I go online to find out the materials,” shared one. Also, in a

struggle to find Christian literature in her language, online feeds her faith with resources that she can understand. Looking for resources in one’s native language is one of the benefits of online use. Because the main language in Taiwan is Chinese, bookstores don’t necessarily

carry a lot of English-language printed literature, prompting the foreign students to depend mainly on online sources for more online applications of Bible study tools, commentaries, and discipleship materials.

Conversely, the information available online also served as the foreign students attempt

to understand the Chinese songs sung at their local churches. They type up the songs and find translations so they can better understand the meaning or “get the feeling” as what one

respondent described, of what they were singing.

Also, the online version has become a replacement for printed copies of the Bible and devotional materials.

Online Selection and Source Credibility. Several participants mentioned that their

dependency on interpersonal relationships to locate religious websites, although the Internet enables autonomous quests for religious knowledge. Some responses, however, expressed trust in their pastoral leadership and reliance on other local church members to help recommend relevant online resources, with some interviewees in turn recommending resources to others.

Going online for answers proved to be helpful for the respondents, but they pose qualms as well. “Being online helps me, but for others it can be dangerous,” shared one who

mentioned how her maturity level has given her the ability to discern whether what is online

is the truth or blasphemy. She shared that she was listening to a sermon online when an alarm on her head hit off and realized that she has to reject those that don’t line up.

Most of the respondents go to the webpages of their home churches, while for those whose church does not have a website or an active online streaming service, go to international, mostly US-based resource websites that are backed by an actual physical

church. How they end up frequenting a particular webpage is mostly through the referrals of friends who either “liked” a Facebook group page or recommended by their own pastors back

home.

Pause and Play. Online teachings take on another dimension when the sermon is

played and replayed again and again for the benefit of the listener. This allows the message to be fully understood by the Christian since there is a replay function. “You can’t grasp

everything at once,” shared one respondent who listens to a message repeatedly until she

understands the point. The pause and rewind functions allow the listener do other things alongside listening to the teaching. Whether this is a good one or a bad one is discerned based

on what one respondent shared regarding her weekly online church habit of logging in to her home church website. “You have to manage how to control your thoughts and emotion,”

admitting that she struggled with multitasking such as doing her nails or eating while listening to a sermon online.

The online function creates a mobility that transforms the teaching and the person

teaching himself as a convenient take-away. One respondent shared how she would save the podcasts on her portable Ipod and listen to the sermons again and again when she’s on the

bus, walking, or travelling from one place to the other.

Narratives/Blogs. One respondent shared that he goes to check religious blogs

because his questions are not those that are simple Q and A questions, but it’s more of a

process of looking at other people experiences and by reading their personal experiences, he gets his own answers. Another respondent said she enjoyed reading others’ blogs because they let her see how others go through what she’s going through.

She reads some blogs written by girls and shared that she gets something about their

experiences and gives her things to think about. She clarified that this is just for information sharing, and there’s “no fellowship community”, because “you don’t see everyone, so many people, you don’t see the body language and you can’t trust the person.” For another

respondent though, looking into blogs evolves into a personal sharing experience beyond looking for answers online.

Another respondent who checks blogs sees this as a way to improve her Christian walk. “Even if I don’t live in the same country as them, I face the same struggles and challenges and can overcome them the same way.” The sharing she reads from the blog

inspires her to reinforce something that she already knew but would have to be reminded of.

This is a postmodern model of religion is characterized by people referring to and regulating one another” instead of having a fixed doctrine governing the people. What this

does is that it shifts the convincing value from traditionally-held doctrines to credible personal narratives or tales of people. What was originally a top-down communication of church doctrines from church authorities or texts to the people becomes horizontal in nature

as belief takes the form of two-way (more multi) interaction among the believers themselves as faith becomes a shared value. This “medium that so effectively propelled this horizontal interaction into a wider plane has been the Internet.” (Fukamizu, 2007)

Although a focus on narratives is a convincing way to bring people to believe what we believe in, one that has left out doctrine in lieu of the more in-demand interactive

narratives through online forum and discussion boards is in danger of losing control and direction. “Many online forums are filled with doubt and criticisms, and the absolute object of faith is lost.” The internet is an effective venue in welcoming people who are looking for religious support online, but “it also causes people to be critical, a trend antithetical to traditional faith.” (Fukamizu, 2007) The brand value of traditional religion is lost when too

much online dialogue foster doubt instead of faith, and contradicting personal narratives through the seeker into further confusion.

Shimazono in his work on religion in Japan mentioned how narratives are a

modernized form of religious expression. These narratives are a step beyond doctrinal truths passed on through some authorized printed texts, but are stories of common people’s

religious experiences. These are personalized units of analysis which portray modern

religious life. Moreso, these narratives are used as a persuasion tool to convince the others to

accept the religious beliefs fostered (Shimazono, 2004). This is like the concept of storyline, which is “a condensed version of a naturalized and conventional cultural narrative” of “a set

of sequences of actions and positions saturated with cultural meaning and therefore offering potential interpretations linked to characters and practices.” (Marie Søndergaard, 2002).