Has anyone noticed that more n more people just wanna talk at you instead of too? They wanna be the center of a talk but don't neva wanna have a conversation??...
It's the nature of the
beast medium. Beware that
nearly half of all internet traffic comes from bots. I've noticed it on this site as well as several others I post on.
Every one I have met on here think they are the greatest theologians that ever lived. Most think they can decipher Hebrew. In reality they are mindless twits who have no understanding of scripture,just their own interpretation and off the wall nonsense. I personally have no use for the majority here.
Here we have the instantaneous aspect available to the general public. Add a communal anonymity, then mix it with a healthy dose of special interest and agenda that is found in a
topical bulletin board. Now season thoroughly with a couple of outrageous offenders to instigate the fireworks, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Now place all of this in a "Christian" context where literally dozens of board browsers have varying levels of theological and emotional maturity. The result is a
silicon snakepit that brings the name of
Jesus Christ into a hideous disrepute through the linguistic antics of agent provocateurs that errantly believe they are believers. In short, the "Christian" electronic arena has become a cowardly electronic brawl that is embarrassing to people of good will everywhere.
The Apostle Paul found that "there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are
busybodies" (II Thessalonians 3:11). This
rebuke was related to the fact that these people had so much time on their hands that they spent it by
gossiping and creating
discord among the brethren. His command to the church was "that they with quietness
... work, and eat their own bread."
Later on, Paul warned Timothy about those that "wander about from house to house; and not only idle, but
tattlers also and
busybodies, speaking things which they ought not" (I Timothy 5:13). Paul was repeatedly attacked by these worthless gossips that divide the true church and said that it was "slanderously reported" that he taught people to "do evil" (Romans 3:8). To the church at Corinth, he rebuked those that were behind the "backbitings" and the "strifes" that are associated with what he dubbed "whisperings." Interestingly enough, these evils were all mentioned in conjunction with "debates" (II Corinthians 12:20). What is an internet forum but an emotionally charged instantaneous debate?
How appropriate in the present context is the classic caution found in Proverbs 6!
"These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."
