There is a website for The Church of Google designed to answer the question: Is Google God? After the recent news stories about our government’s interest in Google and Facebook, I’m starting to think Homeland Security believes that answer is “yes.” Google was founded in 1998 by two PH.D. students from Stanford University. Its mission statement was, “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Its unofficial slogan is: “do not be evil.” By now you can understand why The Church of Google website exists. Why does the website believe Google and God have a lot in common? And why do I strongly disagree?
1. Google is scientifically verified omniscient (all-knowing.) No wonder the government is interested in knowing what Google knows! You can access more than 9.5 billion websites using Google. On the other hand, you can only access one true God and while he is all-knowing, he cannot be proven scientifically. He must be accepted by faith. The biggest difference between God and Google is this: Google can tell you what exists – God knows every one of those 9-5 billion websites, and he knows every website that will exist in the future. And to our government: God knows everything Homeland Security wishes they knew. A lot of us wish some of you were busy trying to access God instead of other, less dependable sources.
2. Google is everywhere, (omnipresent.) Not really. Google is everywhere mankind can go, as long as there is a good internet connection. God is everywhere mankind can go and will go – and is accessible 24/7 – as long as there is a faith connection.
3. Google answers prayers. The church of Google says that all you have to do is ask, and Google will give you an answer. The difference: God will give you THE answer.
4. Google is potentially immortal, her algorithms and connections can last forever. Maybe, but the point is this – people won’t. I’ve never seen a laptop installed in a coffin.
5. Google is infinite, it can be added to forever. (See #4.)
6. Google remembers all. That may be of interest to the government, but I’m most grateful that God chooses to forget. “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far he has removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:11-12).
7. Google can do no evil. I’m not sure any thinking person can agree with that last point. The reason the government is interested in what people “google” is because of the information that is available. People are learning how to build bombs, and the optimum time to detonate them. People are accessing websites to gamble and feed other unhealthy addictions. Maybe Google can do no evil, only people can. But by that standard, Google can do no good either. God is not limited to the actions of people. Not only can God not do evil, he can only be good and perfect.
The Church of Google points out ways that Google is like God. But that has always been an inclination of mankind. Genesis 3:4-5 says, “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” If the Church of Google reads the rest of Genesis, and the rest of the Bible, they would realize that only God is God.
The best Google can hope for is to become one of many “gods”, to people and governments that don’t mind having idols. For the people of faith, we remember what the one true God has said, “As surely as I live, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God” (Romans 14:11).
And to any government or Google employees that are monitoring this essay, I would suggest one more verse: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). Seek to know the one true God – everything else is something less.
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