Being in Galatians mode since the first of the year, I’ve found myself also slowly digesting N.T. Wright’s 2009 book Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision. Wright is always on the meaty side requiring much careful chewing. I’m enjoying the chew.
Courtesy of xkcd.com
Came across this statement as he reflected on our all too common tendencies to snarkiness in how we handle our discussions, and each other. Particularly online. It’s so easy to see others fling presumptuous words about what they think others believe or don’t believe (always very dicey ground, this commenting on the hearts of those we’ve never even met; in fact it’s still dicey icey ground even when we have) – and then to find ourselves doing the same thing to the flingers. Flingers are flingers. It’s so easy to become the mirror image of that which we despise.
Anyway, here’s the quote. Chew carefully.
Go to the blogsites, if you dare.
It really is high time we developed a Christian ethic of blogging. Bad temper is bad temper even in the apparent privacy of your own hard drive, and harsh and unjust words, when released into the wild, rampage around and do real damage. And as for the practice of saying mean and untrue things while hiding behind a pseudonym – well, if I get a letter like that it goes straight in the bin. But the cyberspace equivalents of road rage don’t happen by accident. People who type vicious, angry, slanderous and inaccurate accusations do so because they feel their worldview to be under attack. Yes, I have pastoral concern for such people. (And for that matter, a pastoral concern for anyone who spends more than a few minutes a day taking part in blogsite discussions, especially when they all use code names: was it for this that the creator God made human beings?)
NT Wright, Justification pp. 26-27
Love that last line. Was it for this that the creator God made human beings?
Ouch. In a very good way.
Takes me to James’ proverb which in Greek would sound something like this:
Tah-coos ace tow ah-kou-sai, brah-deuce ace tow lah-lace-sai, brah-deuce ace ore-gain.
Swift to hear, slow to post, slow to rant.
Not a bad start towards a Christian blogging ethic…
wordhavering 