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Question: “According to many reports, Apostolics on Myspace.com are posting less-than-Christian content. Why is there this disconnect between how we act in real life and how we act on the web? How can it be combated?”
Answer: “They think they won’t be caught—no one knows who they are. Only God sees the heart. It really doesn’t matter how they act, it is how they live on the inside! What a shame! Fake Apostolics—when will they learn?” Answer: “I’m the same everywhere—other people aren’t. I don’t know if there is any way to fix that/” Answer: “Why the disconnect? No accountability—probably no one posting there is worried about anyone finding out who they really are; and worse, they are not afraid of God seeing them put their thoughts into words and actions. How to combat it? Pray through—get a real relationship with Jesus and walk in the Spirit! If you can’t behave in a Christ-like manner in that forum, stay out of it!” Answer: “I prefer 90&9 to myspace.com. I have only ever gone to myspace to check up on a high school buddy.” Answer: “This is something I’ve noticed myself and I find the dynamic fascinating. Want to know if that guy you just met is really as sincere about his walk with God as he claimed? Just visit his myspace profile! Yay! Now we have one more standard by which to . . . judge . . . someone’s . . . Christianity. Oops. I’m not sure why there’s a disconnect between real life and virtual reality. Which personality is a more authentic gauge of who a person is? That’s not a question for a person of my intelligence to correctly puzzle out, but I do know this: When we’re faced with a less-than-Christian profile of a Christian friend, we have two options: 1) We can gossip (i.e. Did you see what Johnny put on his myspace?); or 2) We can encourage via Paul’s way (i.e. Hey, I noticed you had this stuff on your myspace, and I just thought it was uncharacteristic of you. You’re a prince, a son of God. Why are you acting like gutter scum? That’s not who you really are!). Please, please people, let’s use revelations of people’s shortcomings (whether it’s from myspace or wherever) not as an excuse to judge and condemn, but as an opportunity to reach out with Christ’s love and forgiveness, okay?” Answer: “How you act in private (or anonymously) is who you really are. Apostolics’ behavior on the Web is simply an outgrowth of heart issues. It can be combated with the Word and the Spirit.” Answer: “Walk down a crowded avenue and I feel anonymous, one face in a sea of faces. This applies to the internet in the same way. In order to draw attention to myself, I may create a different persona, wearing a mask that might cause someone to stop and look my way, to see that I am not a number, but an individual. To combat it the entire race of humans would need inoculation against the disease known as adolescence.” Answer: “Wish I knew. I found a myspace page from a young person in our church—it was filthy. Pictures included. At church she seems to be so full of the Holy Ghost, up on the platform, testifies, etc. She doesn’t know I found her page. Should I tell her?” Answer: “Simple answer—because it’s not in our hearts. Character is what you are when no body is watching. So much emphasis on the outward, in many cases warranted. But it never takes the place of inner holiness.” Answer: “The mouth speaks what is in the heart. The internet gives a person the anonymity to communicate what is really in their heart, not what they want people to believe about them. The people who post less-than-Christian things are only speaking out what is truly inside of them.” Answer: “People feel that there are no real consequences on the net. The best way to combat that is to realize that there is a real person on the other side of that “picture/post/blogsite” and also that you do not know ‘everything’ about that person. Don’t assume anything, about anyone online. If you can’t do that, well you probably don’t need to be online.” Answer: “I have been baffled with this as well. The only thing I can think is that people don’t realize how many viewers are on myspace. It’s an inner struggle—something internal that comes out in a supposed “safe” place. Only it’s not safe or holy!” Answer: “Because, their witness is not the same as if in service. You must be the same witness at all times, or else your witness will not be the same. You are opening up to ridicule your Apostolic faith/your witness. So that is what I believe, we must stay the same, until He comes. Answer: “What kind of question is that? It doesn’t make sense.” Answer: “Don’t let Pentecostals get on the internet anymore! Hahahahahahahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaa” Answer: “I have not seen too much of that type of behavior on some of these sites, including EC and MySpace. I think that it is in part due to the anonymity of the internet, because other people may not believe it is actually you there. I think there needs to be an accountability amongst individuals.” Answer: “Christianity—the only army that shoots it’s wounded. While the web has made the problem even worse, it’s nothing new. We need to get back to being known by our love, rather than our love of publicly attacking each other.” Answer: “Somehow it seems easier to type something on the keyboard rather than actually voice those thoughts. Combating it means we have to live by Philippians 4:8: ‘whatsoever things are pure...’” Answer: “People forget that, even though we’re fairly anonymous online, that God is still watching us. I believe that’s why they do things online that they wouldn’t do in real life. This problem can be combated by a revival of Godly conviction.” Answer: “If it’s not in your heart to act “right,” then you aren’t going to change.” Answer: “One thing is for sure “myspace” amid “everyonesconnected” is for a bunch of 14 year olds with nothing better to do with their time. Have we gotten so bored as Apostolics to really spend time looking at pictures and signing guest books?” Answer: “As a UPC pastor, I recently had to address this issue. I read an article in USA Today that dealt with MySpace. So, I decided to check it out and find out how many of the young people I pastor were on it. I found several who were on it, and two of them I could not access their personal pages. The ones I could access were disturbing enough. Then I heard that there were different “groups” on MySpace, including some UPC & other apostolic groups. The ones I looked at had a mixture of good and bad content, with some of it being real bad. Just the advertisements that come up while one is on the site can be bad enough, such as the one for intimate dating. I ended up dealing with this over a couple of weeks, and to make a long story short, I said that this was a site our young people should not be on. I also got the parents involved in (hopefully) checking out their child’s personal page content and their “friends.” Those who know the site will know what I am talking about. One of the things that bothered me is I was unaware that there was even a site like MySpace on the web, and now I find out there are several similar sites. MySpace just happens to be one of the more popular. It makes me wonder what else our young people know about, and are involved in, that pastors like myself have no clue about. It’s hard to advise and give spiritual direction if we don’t know what kinds of things out young people are involved with. I wonder how many parents really know what their children are doing as well? As far as the disconnect between how we act in real life and how we act on the web, I’m sure the relative anonymity of the web accounts for some of that. However, the root of the problem is the condition of our hearts, and this “disconnect” is not just with young people on the web. It can be found with the young and the old and everyone in-between. We act one way in church, or around other Christians, yet we may act in a very different way when we are not around them. This can be combated by falling in love with Jesus, instead of trying to follow a “system,” and when that happens, our behavior will be the same wherever we go, because Jesus is with us wherever we go. We will not want to disappoint the One we love with behavior that does not reflect His kingdom.”
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