Should someone brave to view message boards, and I imagine blogs these days, they would fairly quickly find that it’s a rough world out there. I’ve been frequenting message boards for about 6 years, and presently moderate on two boards. And even on the Christian boards I moderate on, it’s a rough world. I began reflecting on the nature of message boards, and how they might be a tool towards godliness in my own life. Because message boards are a limited form of communication in the guise of genuine conversation, they usually do a great job of bring out the worst in us: pride, presumption, arrogance. And for anybody who knows me, or happens on a random conversation with me anywhere, they’d easily know that I excel above all others in those areas. But, by God’s grace, I’ve been learning how message boards can fit into the Christian life, and how they can be a tool for godliness. I don’t think I’ve made all the mistakes, but I think I’ve made a majority of the blunders that you can make. So over the next week or two, I’m going to post a few blogs here on this subject, which I pray, will help other’s in those areas that I struggle as well.
It seems to me that first and foremost, James has a word for us when it comes to message boards: “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19). From my experience, posts are lightly read on message boards, with fast, presumptive responses. I noticed this in my own posts when I would read something, type up a response, post it, and go back and read the interchange. I notice that first, I had gone completely dyslexia on what the person was asking/saying. Then I saw a strong tone of annoyance or self-righteousness in answering their question – the sort of, “If you had actually read the Bible, you’d …” sort of thing people like to do.
In my conversations with folks, I’ll do this as well. It’s the whole thing of trying to comment in the middle of them talking. You know what I’m talking about; either finishing sentences, or starting to comment on the first phrase of a question, and not waiting until they’ve finished the second phrase. On message boards, I wonder how often we just give our thoughts right out without giving the time and respect to fully follow through what someone is saying. And then, once we’ve done the full read through, do we ask questions to clarify? I’ve found this to be enormously helpful. People come from different backgrounds, cultures, church habits, etc. that cause them to presume upon a common knowledge that may not actually be common. For example, how many people outside the Reformed tradition would understand it if I just started blabbing off on the “noetic effects of sin”? For that matter, how many non-philosophical people would understand that term, even in the Reformed tradition?
For some reason, message boards make us feel like we have to respond immediately, and promptly – we can’t wait until later to respond, we have to reply now! This is, in most cases, just simply pride at work because at least for me, the reason for responding sooner rather than later is so that people can: A) appreciate how smart I am, B) get what they deserve, C) see how utterly wrong they are, D) or, because my image is on the line (yap, that’s right, my image to people I’ve never met – talk about love of self!). Just simply waiting to reply on serious issues can serve the content of the conversation in exponential ways.
The following is a helpful question line that I’ve found helpful: “X, when you said…. I read it to mean (fill in the blank), did you mean it to sound like that? I’m struggling to follow you at A,B, and C point because I don’t understand what you mean by (fill in confusing word/phrase). Can you help me understand what you mean here?” When I’ve sought to kill my pride that I understand what someone is saying better than they do, and sought to draw them out with questions, I’ve effectively used the message board, which is a vanity fair for my sin, to be a tool for godliness in growing in humility. I don’t understand what they’re saying as best as I should, and James encourages me to stop, give some careful attention to listening, and proceed out of love, not anger.
We should always look at everything we engage in as Christians as opportunities to grow in godliness. Sin is comfortable, it’s our “gut” reaction – that’s because we’re born sinners. But thanks be to God that through Jesus Christ we have redemption from our sins, and the ability through the power of the Spirit to grow in the image of Christ. That’s all for now – more later.
The Strasbourg Inn 