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Your Time Is More Precious
06.4.2004 by Christian
The interneting, blogging, and on-line discussions held by so many Christians with non-Christians is futile. A waste of your time and theirs.
Christian “communities” on-line I’m sure are fine and even sometimes beneficial. Articles and websites such as this one are great. I personally benefit a great deal from reading the insights and teachings of my brothers and sisters. However, when it comes to those times and places (and there are many) when any number of Christians “face off” against non-Christians on the internet, nobody gets anywhere.
Sure, this is a generalization and there are probably some people out in the great beyond whom have benefited, but there are probably just as many Christians who have been torn to shreds because they were not mature enough, strong enough, or well studied enough. Beyond those issues though, people just don’t get anywhere. I see countless numbers of Christians on the internet yaking it up, arguing (quite poorly I might add) for their faith, and all the while making false assumptions and false claims about Christianity, God, and the Bible. These people need to spend their time READING THE BIBLE and other Christian works (to help them understand Scripture and the Faith applied to their lives) instead of debating and defending that which they barely understand or know.
Granted, there is a time and place for debate and defense. Want to practice your skills before you try to explain some Scripture to an agnostic friend? Go ahead and try it on-line. I guarentee that you will be tested. But let us not waste our time saving the internet community. It won’t happen (not that way). The apostles didn’t send letters to all the synagogues and to their neighbors who didn’t yet know Christ. They actually went out and visited them. Paul defended the faith, but he did it intelligently, to those who were open to hearing, and he did it in person.
Get off your butt. Go outside the safety of your computer. Make some friends. Share Christ.
June 4th, 2004 at 5:59 pm
I disagree with you for this reason: every sphere which Christians have either abandoned or created an all-Christian sector has been turned against us and we have had not way to defend ourselves from each particular area.
Movies
Music
TV
Journalism
These areas are only the most obvious examples. Withdrawing from the interactive web will have the same effect.
June 4th, 2004 at 11:20 pm
I didn’t say to withdraw or abandon the internet. And I also didn’t say that on-line ministries were futile (although I do sometimes question their impact, they aren’t the point of, nor a part of my article).
I would also have to say that the internet cannot be put into the same sphere of influence as those other media. Movies, tv, music, and journalism (all of which I might add are a part of the internet experience) all purposefully capture and create emotional interest by the audience in order to tell a story which makes a point (journalism less intensely so). These objects are carefully (at least the most powerful ones) crafted to achieve their goal. Many people also don’t think about what they are watching or listening to when it comes to music, tv, and movies. However, when such a person is scanning the internet looking for discussion or reading the thoughts of another, what they often see is raw, incomplete, not thought through, and void of the emotional and interpretive stimuli found in those other media. This is true for those millions of times a Christian tries to debate, argue against, preach to, convert, (whatever else) a non-Christian directly through written interaction. (Obviously this includes much of what happens on the internet, but the point is not about those other parts of the internet.)
June 6th, 2004 at 9:23 pm
Ironically enough, my friend Emily helped bring a friend to Christ through the internet. Emily lives in Ohio, and the friend lived in Montana. They’d never met in real life but had a genuine relationship that started in a politically based chatroom. Though Emily’s internet friendship wasn’t the only contribution, it did help, and in the least a true friendship was started.
June 9th, 2004 at 1:53 pm
So basically, written words are largely incapable of bringing people to Christ?
The Bible is written.
God’s Spirit can and will convict through practically any medium.
I will say, though, that Christians should be both well informed and wise/cautious when debating and discussing things online or anywhere with unbelievers, though that essentially boils down to the fact that we should govern our tongues with wisdom at all times.
June 10th, 2004 at 11:52 am
You read that into what I wrote. Ironically making my point for me. I never said that. Nor did I imply it. However, I could have taken more time on my article and articulated it better. Much like many of the things people write on the internet. I like your last comment though and it should be a part of the article.
June 10th, 2004 at 7:18 pm
I prefer to blog about Christianity with other Christians, the heretics.
June 20th, 2004 at 12:30 pm
I was given that impression by your comment, “However, when such a person is scanning the internet looking for discussion or reading the thoughts of another, what they often see is raw, incomplete, not thought through, and void of the emotional and interpretive stimuli found in those other media. This is true for those millions of times a Christian tries to debate, argue against, preach to, convert, (whatever else) a non-Christian directly through written interaction.”
So are you basically saying that Christians shouldn’t type stupid things? The only other conclusion that can be drawn from what you’ve said is that written words are vastly inferior to most other mediums.