You Can't Win The Internet

Aaron Armstrong:

Although the Internet encourages a certain kind of zeal for one’s own views, we should always strive for something better. The Internet is not something you can win, therefore we shouldn’t try.

Instead, we should try to do these things:

1. Take a deep breath. Don’t get your fauxtrage on, friends. Or at least, don’t post/tweet/update/pin/plus/twerp when you’ve got it on. Take a deep breath. Go for a walk. Have a cookie. Get away from your device for a while to see if your rage is legit or you’re just a rampaging rageoholic. Who knows? You might just be gassy.

2. Try to actually understand the point. This might be a tall order, but I’m confident it can be done. A great way to do this is to ask good questions, which also means avoid leading or entrapment style ones whenever possible.

3. Keep our mouths shut. Sometimes the best thing we can do when we disagree with something on the Internet is to just say nothing. This is especially important when we’re dealing with other people who really, really want to goad you into a fight with click-baity blog posts and tweets. Remember, those people are trying to win the Intenets, too. And if you take the click-bait, they win.

Read the rest.  

Real vs. Faux Controversy and How to Know The Difference

I have feeling the weight of this wisdom lately.

R.C. Sproul Jr.:

There are true, important, eternity-in-the-balance controversies going on all around us. There are fights we are called not merely to egg on from the sidelines but to join. The calculus for the importance of any particular battle, in terms of its lasting impact on the great war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent, is simple enough. First, we need to know how large is the teaching ministry of the principals involved in the battle. We need to know how many unique visits this guy’s website gets. We need to know how many people recognize his name. The higher those numbers, the less important the battle. 

The real battles are these: Will I speak graciously to my children today? Will I have a grateful and cheerful heart about my neighbors, my fellow employees, those with whom I worship? Will I go to war against gossip, not by pointing out the gossip of others but by tending my own garden? Whether some evangelical superstar embraces some mystical prayer form is less important to the kingdom’s future than whether I will pray faithfully for that little girl with the brain tumor. 

It is true that the world out there matters. There are controversies that count. Martin Luther changed the world, facing bullies like David before Goliath. But when his beloved wife, Katie, trusted in the finished work of Christ alone, that changed eternity. 

Not many of us worry about what we will eat or what we will wear. Sadly, that’s not because we’re so spiritual; rather, it is because we are so prosperous. Having been freed from such worries, do we then focus on pursuing the kingdom of God and His righteousness, or do we instead worry about the future of this theological coalition or the direction of that shared blog? Pursue the kingdom by pursuing His righteousness. And then all these things will be added to you. Stop your fretting. The future does not depend on you. It depends on the One on whom you depend. 

There is someone wrong on the Internet. It’s probably you. Log off, hug your kids, kiss your wife, and go get some of His rest. The world will not only be there when you get back, it will have been made better.

Read the rest.  

Hungry For Outrage

Katelyn Beaty:

But there's something more insidious about our outrage. Journalist Katie J. M. Baker wrote that one reason she indulges in "hate-reading"—wherein one visits a website just to feel outraged—is that it "never makes me feel inferior. Instead, I've realized, it makes me feel superior." 

I wonder if at the root of our Internet outrage is the need to show that we are righteous—specifically, more righteous than others. That the ancient impulse to justify ourselves apart from God is driving so much Twitter and Facebook rage (including my own). It wouldn't be the first time that religious folks "trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt" (Luke 18:9, ESV).

The Reformed and the progressive bloggers, the Driscoll lovers and haters, the proponents of modesty culture and the despisers of it—forall of us are equally under the power of sin. All of us receive the righteousness we so long for only through redemption in Christ Jesus. We can cultivate an online culture where we speak the truth in love only when we set aside the sour candy and feed on him instead.

Read the rest.

"We need to fast from the information feast, lest we gorge ourselves on trivialities."

Good thoughts here from Kevin DeYoung.

Michael Hyatt on What 10,000 Hours of Blogging Gets You

Guest Post by Owen Strachan

Michael Hyatt with an interesting post on what he's learned from blogging 1,000 posts. I made up the 10,000 hour number, which is of course what Malcolm Gladwell argues is the target you need to hit to be really good at something. Here's a snatch from Hyatt's article:

Blogging has established my authority and expertise. It used to be that you had to get a Ph.D. or write a book to establish your expertise in a subject area. While these are still valid paths, blogging provides a third alternative. For example, I do not have a degree in leadership nor have I written a book on that topic. Yet, I am constantly asked to speak on leadership and am interviewed by the media on this topic. Why? Because I have one of the most popular leadership blogs.

Being the Bride (and the Blogger) in Love

Guest post by BJ Stockman

Christian bloggers are known for being vigilantly (and sometimes annoyingly) after the pursuit of doctrinal faithfulness. Much of the purpose of the Christian blogosphere appears to be aimed at showing the popular preachers and pastors of large churches how, why, and where they are wrong. A sure way to increase traffic on your blog, no doubt, is to call out Christian leaders. Sure, at times, from the right person with the right attitude, this can be helpful. But the Christian blogosphere could use less heresy hunting and more writing encouraging readers to love Jesus with a love incorruptible (Eph. 6:24).

That’s what this blog post is for. This post is about calling blogging and non-blogging Christians to love Jesus. Live the kind of life that shows you are the Bride of Christ in love with Christ.

Faithfulness to Christ, like faithfulness to your spouse, is not enough for a flourishing relationship. Obviously, your spouse wants your faithfulness. That’s practically assumed. But your spouse also wants your love–to have won your heart.

Jesus too desires your affection. The resurrected Christ had “this against” the doctrinally faithful church in Ephesus–they “abandoned” the love they had for him (Rev. 2:4 NRSV). The Ephesian believers were caught in that awkward position of being faithful to Jesus but not loving him. Jesus was not pleased by this. He is a jealous lover who wants the affection of his Bride.

Affirmation of Jesus is not enough. He wants your heart.

Francis Schaeffer, one of the best Christian philosophers of the twentieth century, called Christians to more than just intellectual acumen for a Christian worldview but to love Christ. He writes,

We must ask, “Do I fight merely for doctrinal faithfulness?” This is like the wife who never sleeps with anybody else, but never shows love to her own husband. Is that a sufficient relationship in marriage? No, ten thousand times no. Yet if I am a Christian who speaks and acts for doctrinal faithfulness but do not show love to my divine bridegroom, I am in the same place as such a wife. What God wants from us is not only doctrinal faithfulness, but our love day by day… 

We must be the loving, true bride of the divine bridegroom in reality and in practice, day by day, in the midst of the spiritual adultery of our day. Our call is first to be the bride faithful, but that is not the total call. The call is not only to be the bride faithful, but to be the bride in love. [the Church at the End of the 20th Century (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1970), 129.]

How are you doing about being the bride in love?

Some Questions to Ask Before You Contribute to the Next Online Controversy

Timothy Dalrymple has a helpful post here. He suggests that before we crank out that heated blog post or FB rant in response to this or that swirling around on the internet we should ask some questions. They are:

• Am I responding to a controversy or creating one?
• Have I fully digested and assessed this issue?
• Do I really have anything important to add to the conversation?
• Assess your motives.
• Remember the power of compassion.

Click over to read his explanations of each point.


I would add:

1.  Have you solicited feedback on your piece from someone who is willing to not be a "yes man"?
2.  Are you saying anything unique?
3.  Have you given enough time to let the issue settle a bit?  Time oftentimes brings perspective.
4.  Have you considered the hypothetical objector and answered their concerns?
5.  Have you written in such a way that it would read well out loud with the person sitting in front of you that you are seeking to address?  Is it charitable?

Grace Means Saying, “I’m Sorry”

Here is a really good example of public repentance.  The Gospel informs this kind of response and I commend the author for it.  May we be willing and able to follow his lead in light of internet gossip.

More on this here.

Anonymous Blog Commenter

Tough Guys and Fluff Guys

Carl Trueman:

...there are tough guys and there are fluff guys. The fluff guys, rather like eunuchs, are often quite brilliant. They also (like eunuchs) know what should be done, how it should be done and who should be doing it but are sadly not actually capable of doing it themselves. The tough guys may not be perfect and may never achieve all that they hope to achieve. Calvin managed what? Maybe 70% of what he really wanted in Geneva? But they do actually do some reformation, they have the backbone to sit in meetings, say unpopular things to the face of those who oppose them, and take the consequent hits; they take personal risks with their careers for the sake of making a difference; they do not simply talk about reformation from the safe distance provided by the internet. Talk is fun; the internet is a hobby; only action makes a difference.

Read the rest to some background on these comments.

Flipboard

If you are using an iPad and like to read blogs you are definitely going to want to use Flipboard. Amazing app and free!

The Internet Hate Machine?

Michael Geertsma writes this for ThinkChristian.net:

We have something in common, you and I. You may not realize it yet, and this may come as a bit of a shock, but we’re part of the same hate group. We’re large, powerful, angry and effective. We have causes – millions of causes – that we’re passionate about, at least for a moment. My causes aren’t the same as your causes. I may even hate your causes, but in our division there is strength. We all hate something, and we’re all taking out that hate in the same place. We are the Internet, and we are a Hate Machine. 

Rob Bell and Rebecca Black are two recent examples of Internet Hate Machine carnage. They have nothing substantial in common, other than shared initials and victimhood. Bell is a pseudo-famous Christian pastor,author and speaker, best known for his mega church and Nooma video series. Black is a 13-year-old girl who wasn’t known for anything before unwittingly becoming a viral video star. 

Somehow, both managed to get on the wrong side of our angry Machine. It’s not hard to do, because anything can set us off – and just about everything does. We hate Democrats, Republicans, Christians, Muslims, atheists, homosexuals, homophobes, rich people, poor people, jocks, nerds, celebrities, athletes, musicians, movie directors, journalists, dictators, presidents, Helvetica and Comic Sans.

Read the rest.

I have some questions for Michael and his piece:

1.  Biblically speaking, are there not some things that are worth hating?

2.  When you read Galatians or Jesus' condemnation of the Pharisees, wouldn't you see some "hating" going on?  How does that relate to your piece?

3.  Are there not significant differences between Rebecca Black and Rob Bell?  In my mind the motives for the publicity are quite different between those two individuals.

4.  Is it possible to "hate" the theology or ideology of a person without hating the person?  It seems that that notion is becoming more and more scare in our cultural "free" market of ideas.  It is not possible to write a piece condemning Rob's theology and not loathe him as a person?  Seems to me that we need to work hard at promoting that ideal to a much greater measure in our culture.  Without it we anesthetize the any real conversation away from having real substance.

Not Many of You Should Presume to Be Bloggers

Jon Dyer:

Do you think it is wrong for Rob Bell to question traditional views of heaven and hell? 

Answer: I don't care. 

Do you think it is wrong for traditionalist writers to label Rob Bell a universalist? 

Answer: I don't care. 

Do you think it is wrong for every Christian with an iPhone to tweet their answers to the above questions from restaurant bathrooms and then go home and blog about it? 

Answer: Now there's an interesting question.

Read the rest.  

1 Tim. 6:4 and Blogging

. . . an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people . . . --1 Timothy 6:4b

Dane Ortlund:

Hard to imagine a text more relevant to the blogosphere.

In context, Paul is describing someone 'puffed up with conceit' who doesn’t promote 'the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness' (6:3-4a). And he says that this kind of person has a 'craving for controversy.' Interesting phrase. This person has a weird impulse within him that enjoys 'quarrels about words' (lit. ‘word-wars’). The result--'envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction.'

How well we know this in blogdom! Of course the internet and blogs did not create the problem. But they do exacerbate the problem, giving a disturbingly natural platform to act out what 1 Timothy 6 warns against.

A few thoughts.

Read the rest for some wise reflections.  

New Media and the Local Church

Colin Hansen with much food for thought for those of us who are dialed-in to new media (FB, twitter, blogs, etc)

Why Christians are Jerks Online

Worth the read, especially if you read blogs (which you probably do if you are reading this...).

On the excuses that bricks make

A guest post from Chris Brauns

The point of 1 Peter 2:5a is that God makes bricks with a building in mind.

You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house

If you’ve ever talked with a loose brick that isn’t part of a building, then you have probably heard some sort of excuse or explanation.

• I don’t have to be in a building to be a “brick.”
• I plan to get mortared into a building at some point.
• I am disillusioned with all the lop-sided and hypocritical bricks.
• I was a “brick” in a building, but the whole thing burned down, and I said, “never again.”

But, none of those excuses work, do they?  No brick was ever made with the dream that it would be laying out in the weeds.  Bricks are made with the dream of a building.
Read a longer version about why I call my blog, ‘A Brick in the Valley’

5 Reasons I Take Vitamin Z

I am looking forward to doing some guest posts for Zach this week.  I begin by giving 5 of the reasons why I take Vitamin Z.  Chris Brauns. . . Any reasons you would add?


#5 – The Bizarre Posts – Zach is eclectic in his posting and the humor often connects with me.  In fact, when I reviewed the “stupid stuff” category on my blog, I noticed that no one has more hat tips than Vitamin Z.  Zach’s Ken Lee post (see here) may be my favorite all-time post in this category. 
If you haven’t watched Ken Lee, you really must do so: click here.
#4 – Zach is a native of the GSOI and a University of Northern Iowa Panther alum.  Likewise, I am from the GSOI and my MBA is from there.
#3 - I like his music.  

 #2 – Zach is pro-life and pro-adoption without apology. 
#1 – Zach is helping lead a church plant in Madison, Wisconsin.  (See here).  There may be no strategic place to plant churches in our day, than in University communities.  They are at the crossroads of the world.  I can’t wait to hear how this goes. 
Why do you take Vitamin Z? 

Just Being Honest

Brody Harper has a convicting post about those who use the perceived safety and anonymity of social networks to lash out.  Usually these messages come shrouded with a message of "just being honest".  He writes:

I think if we’re really being ‘honest’ the posts would look a little more like this:

I’m an insecure person.  Technology has allowed me to have a platform to a handful of people who agree with my views and opinions on certain things.  Because I have this circle of people digitally surrounding me I feel safe to lash out at people I’ve never met because I know that a good percentage of ‘my people’ will agree with me.

Because of this digital expression I have also found a small niche of things that I have thought about maybe a little more than others, and can now claim to be an expert on it, thus giving me the right to berate people who feel differently or haven’t thought about it as much as me.  After all ‘my people’ will agree with me right?  And if they don’t “I’m just being honest and, they apparently just can’t handle my honesty.  That’s not my fault.  It’s theirs.

Read the rest.  

5 Ways To Lose/Win An Argument On-line

Shaun Groves:

Over the years of online debate and discussion I’ve made enough mistakes to compile this short list of do’s and don’ts. It’s certainly not complete so please share your own.

5 Ways To Lose (Even If You Win):

1. USE ALL CAPS AND EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. Generalize and stereotype
3. Exaggerate
4. Assume
5. Bring up Hitler

5 Ways To Win (Even If You Lose):

1. Take the discussion offline over e-mail, phone or (gasp) face to face
2. Say “I Don’t Know”, “I’m sorry” and “Thank you”
3. Don’t write anything you wouldn’t want your mama, your spouse, your pastor and the police to see
4. Admit when you’re wrong and encourage when she’s right
5. Discuss ideas, not people