Nuisance Calls, Click Bait, and the Real Thing

Keith Tyson August 07, 2017 1 comments

As I was preparing to write this blog I was the victim of two first-world problems in quick succession.

In the space of just 10 minutes I received two robo-calls in which the “caller” was speaking by the time got the receiver to my ear. I don’t know what they were selling, I just knew I didn’t want it. Nuisance calls!

Earlier, as I checked my Facebook, I was sucked into what has been dubbed “click bait”. It was one of those historical photo collections alleged to be made up of “World War Two photos never seen before”. I’m a sucker for history so I took the bait. It was soon obvious I had been sucked in again, because I had seen most, if not all, of the “rare” photos before. Just when I was proudly thinking I’d never fall for another quiz that said “Only 1 out of 50 Americans will score well on this test!” I was again a victim of click bait. I thought I was going to see newly discovered photos, but all I got was the usual avalanche of offers for anything from dream vacations to dubious promises for male enhancement.

Both of these nuisance phenomena are examples of how technology can be used to peddle what we don’t need by using the age-old practice of inauthenticity. Yes, being fake has been around for a long time, and that’s funny because you would think that we human beings would learn. But we don’t.

Even worse, the people of God are frequently accused (often justifiably so) of being less than authentic. As Christ Followers we need to take a good look in the mirror and see how well we reflect the One we follow because a pretender is swiftly revealed. James wrote, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27 (NIV). That seems doable. Let’s not be anything less than the real thing.