Dark Magic (by Jonathan Storment)

“What other people think of you is none of your business.” –a saying in 12 step programs

A few months ago, before the now infamous cyber attack which released Sony executive emails filled with snarky comments about what they really thought about Angelina Jolie, the NY Times ran an op-ed piece called “I know what you think of Me.”

The author, Tim Krieder wrote a paragraph that looking back seems oddly prophetic:

I’ve often thought that the single most devastating cyberattack a diabolical and anarchic mind could design would not be on the military or financial sector but simply to simultaneously make every e-mail and text ever sent universally public.  It would be like suddenly subtracting the strong nuclear force from the universe; the fabric of society would instantly evaporate, every marriage, friendship and business partnership dissolved.  Civilization, which is held together by a fragile web of tactful phrasing, polite omissions and white lies, would collapse in an apocalypse of bitter recriminations and weeping, breakups and fistfights, divorces and bankruptcies, scandals and resignations, blood feuds, litigation, wholesale slaughter in the streets, and lingering ill will.

In one of C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia, “Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” there is a scene where the little girl Lucy finds a magic book, filled with a variety of spells used to manipulate reality, and Lucy comes to a spell that lets you know what your friends think about you.

She says the spell, and the book comes to life showing her a scene of a couple of her friends riding on a train, and talking about her in not-flattering ways.  Lucy begins to yell at the book, but the magic only flows one direction, leaving Lucy with information that she shouldn’t have and no outlet for how to deal with it.

Later in the chapter, Aslan confronts Lucy about her eavesdropping and tells her it is just as bad to spy on people by magic as by any other means.  Aslan goes on to tell her that her friend that betrayed her may be weak, but still loves Lucy, in spite of what she said.  But Lucy still knows something is lost that can never be fully restored.

I know that it is not popular, but I kind of liked Mark Driscoll.  I know that is a bit like admitting to liking Nickelback or Creed.  I never agreed with him on the crazy stuff, or his leadership style, but I liked him, mainly because I am a lot more like Mark Driscoll than I would like to admit.

Driscoll came of age with the internet and social media.  The very thing that gave the church the catalyst was also its undoing.  A few months ago, the world turned its attention to Mark’s confession that years earlier he had lurked around on the internet reading what people were saying about him and Mars Hill, and that he had joined in commenting as William Wallace II.

If you have followed this story, you know that Driscoll wrote a lot of regrettable stuff.  He wrote things that were misogynistic and homophobic and hateful.  He defended his honor and belittled others.  The only reason I am bringing it up is because I haven’t heard anyone else say the one thing that I believe is true of me, too.  I believe he said and did the kind of things I would like to say much of the time when I eavesdrop on people talking about me.

Driscoll’s sin, my sin, wasn’t just the words he used, it was the vanity of listening in and needing the opinion of others to justify himself, which I think most of us can relate to.

If this is true, please retweet this: What spying on others says about us? http://ow.ly/ItdIl

So here is my deep dark confession:  I Google my name…to find out what people are saying…sometimes I do twitter searches…sometimes I find people saying good things…often it’s not.

We now live in a time, where Lucy’s magic book is a reality that we take for granted, we can know what other people are thinking about us.  We live with the technology that for thousands of years would have been called “magic” and while it has great capacity for good (I am aware that I am writing this on a blog) it also has a strong capacity to be “dark magic”

The problem with this dark magic is, that in the words of Krieder:

We don’t give other people credit for the same interior complexity we take for granted in ourselves, the same capacity for holding contradictory feelings in balance, for complexly alloyed affections, for bottomless generosity of heart and petty, capricious malice.  We can’t believe that anyone could be unkind to us and still be genuinely fond of us, although we do it all the time.

If we want to be known (and we do), then that involves the bad bits of us too, and if we aren’t okay with that, then chances are, our relationship to our own reputation is something more akin to idolatry.

I get the pushback here, “Shouldn’t Christians be concerned with their reputation? Shouldn’t we be open to feedback?”  Yes of course, but there is a world of difference between listening to criticism and actively eavesdropping to make sure that we have enough, or the right kinds, of applause.

Idols make the promise, according to Andy Crouch, that we can be like God, idols promise us everything for the cost of nothing, but eventually Crouch warns, “Idols take everything and eventually give us nothing.”  I think that is what we saw with the implosion at Mars Hill.

Recently fired Mars Hill Pastor Ryan Welsh actually touched on this:

I long for the day when the Holy Spirit’s conviction is what leads Mars Hill to repentance, rather than negative media coverage.  I wait eagerly for the functional Trinity of Mars Hill Church to return to Father, Son, Holy Spirit from what seems to have become Father, Son, Holy Media.

I think that is more than Mars Hill’s problem, it is certainly not just Mark Driscoll’s problem.  It is a temptation of all pastors, or at least the one writing this.

But in the words of Aslan, “It’s just as bad to spy on people by magic as any other means.”