Christians and Blogging: The Road to Hell?
By John A. Baker

The article below is to me very sad and sickening. It involves a “Christian” Blogger who began a campaign on his internet blog against R.C. Sproul’s Ligonier Ministries alleging Fraud in a recent purchase by Ligonier Ministries of a Christian Publisher. Now the “Christian” Blogger is basing his accusations on hearsay and rumor. He also uses very sarcastic and insulting language towards others on his “Blog site”

I have noticed that on an ever increasing basis so-called Christians are showing the true condition of their heart by the language they are using on their web sites and when commenting on other Web sites. Sarcasm and insulting language is rife. Not to mention making serious unsubstantiated charges against individuals and ministries.

Blogging has for some reason deceived many Christians into thinking they can say what they wish and how they wish. I am flabbergasted at how they come to this conclusion.

Is the internet and blogging somehow exempt from our Lord’s commandments in the word? I think not:

Titus 3: 9-11

“But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.”

Matthew 18:15-20

15 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’[a] 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

Deuteronomy 19:15-19

One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. 16 If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17 then both men in the controversy shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. 18 And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19 then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you.

Now there is a place for informing Christians of substantiated and proven heresies and wrong doings of Christians especially ones who occupy a place to have a large influence on other Christians for the express intent of warning other Christians against the heresy or blatant wrong doing. But the intent should never be to ridicule and insult another Christian, and this is what is happening in an ever increasing rate on the internet by so-called Christians.

Jesus himself said in:

Mark 7: 20-23

"What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "

Matthew 7:15-21

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Christians who engage in Sarcastic and insulting blogging on the internet are: a Bad Tree that bears Bad Fruit and are in danger of being cut down and thrown into the fire. Jesus says very clearly: “by their fruits you will know them Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."

Insulting and sarcastic blogging is BAD FRUIT! And those who practice it are in danger of Hell fire! Just as Jesus says above: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven” He is saying that if you bear bad fruit you are not going to heaven.

This needs to be reiterated especially to young people, who by far are the highest percentage of the Christian population who have blogs and online Journals.

God Bless,
John A. Baker


Lawsuit seeks to block blogger
First Amendment advocates decry 'prior restraint.'
Rene Stutzman Sentinel Staff Writer Posted September 5, 2006

SANFORD -- How much First Amendment protection do bloggers have? That's an issue now before a Sanford judge.Ligonier Ministries Inc., a Lake Mary religious publisher and broadcaster, is asking Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson to stop blogger Frank Vance from posting any more slurs about its president, Timothy A. Dick.In the past five months, Vance's blog has described Dick as part of a "family of nincompoops," "a very corrupt man" and "a lying, thieving con artist," according to the lawsuit.Two weeks ago, Dick and the ministry sued Vance for defamation, asking for unspecified monetary damages.It also asked for something that judges have historically refused to impose on news organizations -- a publishing ban.Media lawyers call that "prior restraint.""It's just so repugnant to the First Amendment that you would request one," said Marc Randazza, a First Amendment lawyer in Altamonte Springs.

Courts have long held that plaintiffs should seek justice only after an item has been published or aired. But judges have been less certain about how to handle bloggers and other material on the Internet.There are tens of millions of blogs on the Internet. Increasingly, bloggers are being sued -- for defamation, privacy issues and the use of unnamed sources, according to lawyers specializing in Internet issues.In a very small number of cases, judges are slapping them and other Web sites with prior-restraint orders.In May, a federal judge in Roanoke, Va., ordered the shutdown of a Web site critical of a nearby military school after the site's creators, the parents of a boy who had been expelled, criticized the academy.And earlier this year, a Wisconsin judge temporarily closed an Internet chat room that had been sued by a county official angry about comments posted there by anonymous writers.

First Amendment advocates say those judges were wrong. Bloggers and Web-site operators are entitled to the same protections as other media, said Kurt Opsahl, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco,Greg Herbert, a First Amendment lawyer in Orlando, said, "I think a lot of judges don't know what a blog is."Ligonier, which filed the Sanford case, is a nonprofit, interdenominational group with offices in a business park. The company employs about 50 people, publishes religious materials and its founder, R.C. Sproule, broadcasts a radio show called Renewing Your Mind.Dick is Sproule's son-in-law.

The Orlando Sentinel was unable to reach Dick or the company's attorney, Daniel Brodersen, for comment.Vance, the blogger, is less well known. He won't say where he's from, except that he is in the United States. He launched his Web site -- vancetribe.blogspot.com -- in May and has a day job.

He writes only about Ligonier.He has criticized its choice of president -- Dick -- and the way the group acquired another religious publisher.Vance learned about the lawsuit from the Sentinel."To prevent me from publishing, I view as a very serious breach of First Amendment rights," he said by phone Friday.Some plaintiffs sue bloggers, asking for things they would never dream of asking from a conventional news organization, said Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association."They think they can push bloggers around," he said.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-blog0506sep05,0,6545015.story