You won’t believe what Francis Bacon and King Solomon have to say about your Snapchat history!
What comes to mind when you complete the phrase, “Knowledge is ___________”?
When I ask this question as part of an exercise in a leadership workshop, the answer that most people share is power. Though not likely what Francis Bacon intended when he committed the phrase to paper[1], many take “knowledge is power” to mean “the more knowledge I have (or have access to), the more power and agency I will have.” Knowledge can be a gift offered to the world, a hard-won heroic boon[2]. So, in an age of knowledge-sharing, one would think we should enjoy greater agency and a sense of charmed existence because of the free-flowing currents of information all around us. Yet we know this is not the case[3]. Not all knowledge is created equal, and the vehicle through which “knowledge” is shared might itself be harmful and negate the benefit of whatever is being shared[4].
There’s another word that readily completes the phrase, this one attributed to the ancient king Solomon: Sorrow[5]. In the same workshop, people react to that ending of the statement with knowing laughter. They often have experience carrying the burden of sorrowful knowledge and resonate with the idea that blissful ignorance is a real thing. Some share how social media is a knowledge-as-sorrow place for them because of what they discover about the beliefs, postures, and attitudes of those they friend or follow.
The point in the workshop is that knowledge is often both things: power and sorrow. Shepherding this tension means giving space for celebration and grief and being wise with what information or knowledge is shared when (and how). Personally engaged leaders understand this relationally: the opportunity to be an agent of healing when invited by someone into their places of brokenness is a real thing, and so is the heartbreak of sitting with someone in that broken space—power and sorrow.
In many ways, I feel like the learning through this week’s readings on social media, democracy, and AI are inviting us each into a place of both greater agency and greater sorrow. We are given a window into our own proclivities as well as the power and sorrow others feel in the constant deluge of information, perspectives, and outrage curated for maximum emotional engagement —especially those who have been steeped in technology since birth[6]. As the father of two adolescents, I’m once again eying their devices—affirmed in some of my wife’s and my parenting choices often decried as “ridiculous,” “mean,” “torture,” or otherwise met with a facial expression that makes me wonder if we’re all going to make it to the college years without the help of day drinking.
Yet, while my children don’t have social media accounts, they do have phones—something that until a little while ago seemed like a necessary risk in our household with two parents in different professions often running in different directions after two kids navigating long bus rides, sports pick-ups, band rehearsals, choir practices, and babysitting gigs. I’m sitting with the questions: What does wisdom look like here? How do we protect and position our kids in the best ways possible for genuine, healthy community?[7]
There is application in my leadership context where the same questions must be asked regarding those I’m entrusted with. Cultivating unity in diversity amid raging social conflict has always been a task requiring the presence of Christ himself[8], yet these days, doing so seems much more challenging than ever. We have built and integrated technological and social systems designed for advancing performance over connection and extremism over mutual submission[9]. In many ways, (social) media appear to have become the primary disciplers in the lives of Christians. How do I most effectively disciple the Christians in my care in the way of Jesus—the way that invites and requires living counter to the empire-advancing and division-infused culture of our day? This is certainly not a new question, but it is one that has increasing urgency and deepening consequences.
Much of this—our division, extremism, and inability to see or hear each other—seem like places of spiritual strongholds or a new kind of warfare. This isn’t to say we should be Luddites or add to the social media miasma by being against yet another thing; instead, I wonder what it looks like to take a posture of being for our neighbor and their flourishing in this context. My hope is that the people of Jesus will take seriously the invitation and empowerment to abide in a new and living way. After all, “… though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Cor 10:3-4, NIV).
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[1] “Scientia Potentia Est.” Wikipedia, January 2, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientia_potentia_est
[2] Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Third edition. Novato, CA: New World Library, 2008.
[3] Haidt, Jonathan and Tobias Rose-Stockwell. “The Dark Psychology of Social Networks: Why it feels like everything is going haywire,” The Atlantic, December 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/social-media-democracy/600763/
[4] Smyth, Nicholas. “Smash the Technopoly!” After Babel, December 19, 2024, https://www.afterbabel.com/p/smash-the-technopoly.
[5] Cf. Ecclesiastes 1:18
[6] Haidt, Jonathan and Eric Schmidt. “AI Is About to Make Social Media Much More Toxicm” The Atlantic, May 5, 2023, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/generative-ai-social-media-integration-dangers-disinformation-addiction/673940/
[7] Smyth, Nicholas. “Smash the Technopoly!”
[8] Cf. Matthew 18:15-20, Ephesians 4.
[9] Haidt, Jonathan. “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid: It’s not just a phase,” The Atlantic, April 11, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/
About the Author
Jeremiah Gómez
I get to be Sarah's husband and Jubilee's and Zechariah's dad. I also get to serve as lead pastor at Trinity Church, a dynamic church in the Midwest where we're diligently seeking to Love God, love others, live sent, and be transformed together in community. I love the privilege of working across differences, championing healing and reconciliation in many forms.13 responses to “You won’t believe what Francis Bacon and King Solomon have to say about your Snapchat history!”
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Jeremiah, your workshop sounds intriguing. I resonated with the exploration around sitting with people in their sorrow and supporting them as they grieve what they now know about the world. Knowledge can be painful, and innocence can be robbed so quickly.
Do you use online platforms to disciple people in your church? If so, how do you help them navigate social media and the digital world? Do you address it directly in your preaching, or do you take a more indirect approach—guiding them toward healthy living and fostering authentic, relational connections?
Thank you, Betsy –
We use a couple of online environments for some of our small groups — a digital library of videos and studies that can be used when meeting in-person or virtually, and a couple of Zoom-only groups that provide a level of connection for those who split residence between the frosty north and sunny south or for those who are more home-bound. Our biggest return on investment, though, has been when we are in seasons where we’re asking everybody to connect around the same set of discussions whether in-person or digitally, and in some of those spaces we’ve focused on a healhty order of identity and ideology (which has some real application to what we’re talking about here). I would love to say we have a great, working plan for how to address and disciple within a digital environment. We don’t , though I’m sure I will need to make that a greater priority.
That’s interesting, Jeremiah. We have an online library for similar purposes and have also found that momentum and connectivity across the church rise when there is a shared study around the topics of identity and purpose.
And your parenting sounds intentional. I’m cheering you on over here!
That’s kind–thank you!
Beyond the digital library, have you found any effective means and measures of “digital discipleship” in your journey?
I actually have a lot of online courses that are films of me teaching that are then hosted in groups with other leaders. We’ve had 1000s through, and the evaluations show that people have found them incredibly helpful. The group chats are vital, though, and the quality of host creating safe spaces and answering questions is the hard to find factor. Because I love data, we do send out evaluations a while after the courses, sometimes to monitor longer-term impact of the learning and group experience.
Jeremiah,
I appreciate the tension that you draw out with the responsibility to and for your own children and the risk of them not having a phone. It was frustrating to read in this week’s articles that NOT having social media can be damaging as well. What are your thoughts on this access / no access in what could be a no-win situation?
Darren –
It is a real tension! We’ve set a “no social media before you’re 16” posture (they can watch YouTube, they don’t post anything). This is getting more challenging for my kids, especially as my daughter gets older (she’ll be fifteen this year) and she develops a more robust FOMO.
We have a “family manifesto” that we revisit every now and again–a personalized set of statements that hangs in a few key places in our home and my office–that we use to remind us of the kind of family we desire to be. A couple of those statements are “there’s nothing we don’t talk about, and nowhere we don’t go” and “we live out loud, offering whole-hearted presence and vulnerability.” I don’t know how it will actually play out, but the more we’ve modeled these things together, the more hopeful I am that when we move more into navigating the minefileds of social media, together, we’ll have set a good foundation for processing what’s there and establishing healthy boundaries.
I’ll admit that I judge books by their covers and blog posts by their titles. I couldn’t not read yours this week, even though I have never been on Snapchat. I really appreciate your set-up on the multiple outcomes of knowledge.
I also appreciate hearing your current struggle with how to parent. My oldest received her first phone for my convenience, similar to your story. We wouldn’t let her lie about her age and sign up for Facebook until the calendar struck 13. That was 2014, which means we lived the realities that Haidt is now reviewing. Had I known then what I know now, it would have been flip phones for a few more years at least, but that is a really casual statement which ignores the ‘knowledge is power’ side.
There are no easy answers. While on family vacation two weeks ago, I was convicted that my 22 and 23 year old daughters need a present, interactive, 3D father in their lives on a regular basis. My NPO might suffer a bit. That’s OK. The Haidt readings this week further reinforced my conviction.
Thank you, Rich! The title was a nod to Haidt’s and Stockwell’s conversation around click-bait headlines in “The Dark Psychology of Social Networks.”
Your note that your daughters need a “present, interactive, 3D father in their lives” is poignant and a fantastic reminder. As they say, no one in their last days ever bemoans, “I wish I had spent more time on my NPO when I had the chance!”
A coach I know who spent years working with high-powered executives at a Fortune 100 company told me she was constantly reminding these leaders, “Your kids need to see your face, not the top of your head.” (She was referring to how when, you’re walking through the door with head down checking texts, emails, etc, the first thing your family sees is the top of your head and, thus your disengagement from them–your success at work is a tertiary concern (at best!) for them.) It sounds like you’re investing in having your daughters “see your face.” Do you have a sense of what an intentional rhythm or other boundaries might be to help make your presence as present, interactive, 3-D dad happen?
I stopped at the blank after knowledge is..______.
My mental response was “Knowledge is when learning is integrated.”
Then I read on. Power. “ahh power, dang it, I knew that one, of course, it’s power. How did I get that one wrong.”
I really like your writing style, it is fluid and easy to follow along with. As you describe “knowledge” being power and sorrow, I’m wondering if what your describing is more akin to information. It may be semantics, but what do you think about the difference between information and knowledge?
Thanks, Christian.
The truth is, there are many ways we can answer “knowledge is…”, and it reveals a lot about how we’re interacting with ourselves and others. “Integrated learning” is such a powerful thing, and I’m grateful for how you’re modeling learning and integration for us on this journey!
I think “information” is part of “knowledge.” The way I would describe it is information is data, and knowledge is a sense of what that data means and what to do with it. So, yes, much of what is said here really could be more about “information” than knowledge,” though it’s no doubt more nuanced than that.
That said, I also think most of us settle for others’ interpretation and application of data, relying on their “knowledge” (part of what I perceive is Dr. Clark’s push toward critical thinking). In many ways, this is because of the overload of information we receive–who can wade through it all and form a cognizant sense of what all of that information means and activates? From a Church perspective, I don’t know that we’ve done a great job of discipling people in the way of wisdom and knowledge. Even how we use the Bible can be more about information than transformation–mistaking it for something that tells us WHAT to think instead of inviting us into a new WAY of thinking.
There’s a great opportunity for the people of Jesus to walk in the way of humble wisdom and knowledge, offering that way to the world that is overloaded with so much.
Thanks Jeremiah…as you described the tension between knowledge been power and also sorrow, I recalled the scene in the garden of eden – where the tree man was commanded by God, not to eat from, contained the knowledge of good and evil. And it seems social media and technology (tech) propagates this same tension along with the one you describe. What is the impact of modeling positive practices in regards to tech and it’s use to those under our care? Do you think it makes a difference given the strong wave of social media and tech use?
Alex – I so appreciate your Eden reference!
Your questions are great and something I’ve been wrestling with for awhile. I think part of what we are to ask (and live into) is, “What is the Christ-formed and Cross-shaped way to interact with technology and social media?” This is hard because I understand that so much of social media is about self-advancement and amplification. I’ve probably “modeled” disengagement rather than healthy engagement, which isn’t super helpful in all of this.
In my church context, we’ve talked a lot about the healthy ordering of ideology, community, purpose, and relationship with Christ along with where we root our identity in all of that. I would like to think that if we root our identity in Jesus and follow him as he declares our purpose (missiology), that should inform our community (ecclesiology), which should inform our worldview (ideology). Unfortunately, we tend to do this backward–rooting our sense of self in an ideology that we use to inform our community (who’s ‘in’ and who’s ‘out) that shapes our sense of purpose. (When that happens, any question of our ideology/perspective feels like an attack on our identity…which never goes well.) All that to say, I think if our modeling of media/tech is stemming from a healthy rooting of identity, it can make a world of difference.