The world of information in the Digital Era has fuelled and accelerated confusion in the minds of adolescents and teenagers. Some even become violent to kill others, or attempt suicide. For questions: Who am I? Why am I here? Throughout history, humans have self-defined themselves.
1) I survive; therefore, I am: In the primitive times, survival was a challenge. Hunting for food, being safe from wild animal attacks, having health to survive, and adapting to the climate were the priorities.
2) I make; therefore, I am: Then came the human progress of making tools, instruments, and discovering new things. The making of fire, wheels, and tools began human progress. It was also possible because of the discovery of metals.
3) I think, therefore, I am: Scientific discoveries, printing technology, catapulted modernism. People thought, opined, reasoned, argued, discussed, discovered, invented, and wrote.
4) I feel, therefore, I am: Postmodernism emphasises feeling. Whatever a person feels, they should get it or achieve it. Even careers and professions were based on feeling.
5) I create; therefore, I am: Digital technology gave impetus to Artistic expression. Apps like TikTok opened opportunities for anybody to express, create, and display to a global audience.
Being and not doing: It is not what humans can do that defines them. Who are they? How did they come into existence? While other sub-human living beings were created by God by His Word, Adam was created from the dust, and God breathed into his nostrils to make him a living soul.
Image of God: It is a futile effort to self-define. God, the creator, has to define, not the creature. God created Adam and Eve in His Image. (Genesis 1:27) Being in God’s image means not only to do all five: survive, make, think, feel and create; but to have the spiritual faculty to be in fellowship with God. Knowing God, being known by Him. This spiritual reality and relationship define humans. They are neither descendants of monkeys nor cosmic orphans.
Child of God: Those who receive Him are children of the living God. (John 1:12)
Do I have a new identity in Christ?