The Internet has made every believer a preacher. On the net, those who usually sit quietly in the pews every Sunday are given opportunity to speak. It is good to read expressions of the faith that are never heard. It is edifying to see how God is forming Christ in others and to be able to share fellowship in Christ on such a deep and meaningful level.
There is also a downside to this form of free expression. When all hearts are bared it is quite evident that each believer has a unique expression and understanding of their faith in God. It becomes evident that uniformity of believers in Christ was a denominational myth. Our need for the unifying factor of Jesus Himself is made very obvious for without Him this faith is utter confusion.
The confusion and our overwhelming human need for the security of uniformity cause us to divide much as the church has long been divided, along the lines of doctrine and simular understanding. Many of us, fleeing the division and strife of the traditional church and the religions formed around Christ, are now creating in cyberspace new religions as we gather with others on various web sites around the whats of our faith in Christ. What began as believers from many denominational backgrounds sharing faith in Jesus, centered upon Him, has given way to even more finite division than what existed in the church before the laity was empowered by the Internet to preach.
I for one am already quite weary of the division in the practice of cyberfaith and of all the cyberfaith wars. Jesus is not a video game. Jesus is not a religion to be fought for. Jesus is not a club to hold over the head of those we perceive as enemies. Jesus is the way we live and the way we treat each other. Our words are important and we will be held in account for every word that we have typed and sent out in the electronic world and either the good or the evil that those words unleash into cyberspace; an invisible world of invisible forces that shape the visible world in which we live. Every evil that we carelessly wish upon another and every bone of offense that we continually pick at is electronically recorded forever.
Let each of us who are in Christ remember our calling as Ambasadors for Christ, declaring the peace of God to a dying world. Let our every word be words of edification laced with the Hope that is only Jesus lest we cause one another to grow completely weary of well doing, lest we bring upon our own heads the destruction that we so often warn others of. Let each of us wait upon the Holy Spirit that our words would proceed from Him and that the Light that is only Jesus would shine brightly in a darkened world.
Woe to those on His left on that Day. They will be cast into the fire. ~ God [Letters from God and His Christ - Volume 1 - Those Whom the Lord Has Cleansed Are Now Clean Now Now, and Worthy of the Kingdom]