The Future of Christian Websites
This is an old rant that surfaced again today when I came across an article in Newsweek. The comments I’m about to say are not new, I’m sure you’ve heard them before. But again…I’ve got to say something because I just find this kind of thing irritating.
The article begins with the question. What would Jesus download? Then goes on to tell about the youtube alternative for Bible toting, Disney Boycotting, O’reilly loving, vast right wing christian conservative moral majority conspirators, Godtube.com. I must confess I’ve not been to the sight yet, I promise I’ll check it out when I get home from work, but from the sounds of it, I already hate it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the content per say that I hate, but just the idea. The idea that a “Christian” alternative is needed. A separate, goodly, Godly site that Christians everywhere can go to protect themselves from the evil that lurks at our door like a monster waiting to gobble up our children and tear apart our faith. And that’s probably all who’ll visit the site, except for those “unbelievers” wanting to make fun of the “Crazy Christian” people, which I’m sure there’s ample content for that. (I’ve heard there’s a weird Ray Comfort / Banana video out there that you’ve just got to see). So add Godtube.com to the list of other stellar sites like Famster (Myspace alternative) and Conservapedia (Wiki alternative). I’m sure there’s some good content on these sites and I’m sure that the people behind them are well intentioned and not too crazy. I guess I just think that as Christians we should be immersed in the current culture working as subversive and redemptive agents of God rather then creating sub-cultures or counter-cultures that further polarize those who are “in” and those who are “out”.
So what are the future sites we can expect?
Goooooooooooodle - A search engine that ranks results by biblical/morale importance. No matter what word or phrase you search the number one result will always have to do with why homosexaulity is a sin and why we must crush the homosexual agenda in America. Result 2 will be about abortion, and how the life of the unborn is the utmost importance regardless of anything else. Result 3 will be something about Focus on the Family or James Dobson and it will tell us how they are always right and we should do everything they say. I could go on and on…
Godspot - A blog hosting site for those that want to talk about things like Absolute truth, Innerrancy of the Bible, Creationism, Conservativism, home schooling and the rapture. The sites has only two rules, you must believe in them all and you must never question anything.
G-bay - An auction site where you sell your new or used religious goods and wares. Mainly features, books like “Purpose Driven Life”, “The Left Behind Series”, Slightly used King James Bibles (1611 edition, written in the original language spoken by Jesus himself), and Bill Gaither’s 100 Disc DVD set of Homecoming videos.
Glickr - A site that hosts only christian themed images. Images consist mostly of beautiful buildings and protest signs.
yikes - reminds me of the awesome documentary i watched the other day called “friends of god” - it was about evangelical christians and a good majority of the time was spent capturing church billboards/and those letter boards outside of churches that say something about how hot hells fire is - also its main speaker was ted haggard, whenever he spoke (speaking out against the sexually immoral and godless society) there was this rolling print at the bottom telling about what happened with him - also there was a great scene where haggard was bragging that most evangelicals have sex every day and its ALWAYS great for the wives - he was interviewing young men outside the church to validate his point - so either people are going to watch it and laugh at the stupidity of the christians, be angry because they are being misrepresented, or think something is wrong with their evangelical marriage because it doesn’t look like haggard described. at least it was so over the top that most educated people would realize it wasn’t a fair representation at all…
“I guess I just think that as Christians we should be immersed in the current culture working as subversive and redemptive agents of God rather then creating sub-cultures or counter-cultures that further polarize those who are “in” and those who are “out”.”
It should ideally combine both. There is a place for fellowship with other believers as well as reaching out to the world.
Total - Thanks for checking out the blog. I looked at yours, awesome job with the weight loss. Keep up the great job.
If it was about fellowship, then I wouldn’t have much of a problem. But I think it’s more about a mindset that says, we’re the church, we’ve got to be separate, holy, pure, etc… So we’re going to start our own website to keep all the “bad” stuff out and put only the “Godly” stuff in it that we like. Don’t get me wrong there needs to be safe places for people to go and do things like put up pictures and videos. But I fear that we are creating walled in environments where Christians feel safe and withdrawing ourselves from our culture. I’m doing a poor job of explaining what I think. I’m sorry.
Amy - Never heard of the “Friends of God” movie I’ll have to check it out. Another one that I want to see is “Jesus Camp”. From what it sounds like both of those films represent Christians in a bad light, which is sad. Unfortunately we Christians don’t need help with that these days. I guess that was my point. The things we do (like create “Christian” Websites) seem great for Christians, but what message are we sending to the non-christians? Our club is better then yours, we’re better then you, you’re bad, you’re not good enough. So we’re taking our ball and going home. And guesse what? The world doesn’t care. The world keeps going on just with out us, we’re the ones left behind and we’ve just lost our influence in that realm.
i see what yall are saying and i completely understand where youre coming from. however, i dont think that there’s always something wrong with seperation within the body of Christ. think about the church, for example– that is a seperation from the world, but it’s not considered to be a negative thing because 1.) it is God’s structure and 2.) Christians need a place to recharge and encourage/ be encouraged in the midst of taking the Gospel to the world. while I am not trying to insinuate that GodTube is on the same level as the Church, i think that GodTube could be viewed along the same lines in the sense that it serves as on online community for encouragement and equipment in sharing the Good News. for instance, hundreds of people in closed Muslim countries view and comment on the website daily– there have already been known conversions! people in china and other various countries also comprise those who hit the site daily. this is a huge accomplishment considering the Gospel cannot get into some of those countries by any other means.
i guess what im trying to say is this: while GodTube may not seem necessary considering sites such as YouTube are out there that can be used to accomplish similar things, GodTube provides an environment conducive to Christianity (no porn, cussing, etc.)that the aforementioned lacks. GodTube provides a center for believers around the world to share methods of evangelism and encourage each other in the faith. On top of that, it is a self-proclaimed Christian site which holds a testimony to any non-believer who may stumble upon the site to check it out. GodTube’s mission statement is: GodTube utilizes Web based technology to connect Christians for the purpose of encouraging and advancing the Gospel worldwide. When Christians are fully equipped with the Gospel and encouraged by others in the faith, they are more capable of approaching the world with the Good News.
check this out: http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=c5a412816d494b15ca9f
correction: when i said “seperation within the body of Christ” i meant to say, seperation by the body of Christ from the world.
Amy - Well said…I can’t find anything to disagree with. Godtube is not for everyone…but for those who find it meaningful, that’s awesome. Especially if it’s leading people to Jesus. My rant was never intended to sling mud at Godtube (I’ve still never visited the site…I’m going to try and do that tonight). But to highlight a trend and attitude within the Body of Christ that I find unbiblical and un-Christlike. That is…withdrawing from the culture and creating a sub-culture to protect and safeguard yourself and what you believe. Thank you for your insightful comments. I promise to check out your link when I get home.