And in This Corner... Chat Debate? Or support?
Let's be really honest here for a moment. What is the point of chat anyway? Regardless of the topic, participants or what have you, we are called on by God's Word to build each other up, not tear each other down. Even criticism is to be constructive, positive in nature and for the support and edification of the Body of Christ. So why is it that in many chatrooms, especially Christian chatrooms there's more debate and arguments going on than fellowship and support? Why is it that arguments are more prevalent than praise reports?
One reason for this is that in the case of free chat services, many users are [news flash...] NOT CHRISTIANS! That's right folks. Even in the rooms that have "Christian" in the title, you'll find the atheist or agnostic who just came in to harrass you. I actually have an old friend from the military who did this on a regular, sometimes daily, basis and dubbed it "fundie bashing", a slam on fundamentalist Christian views and discussion. Needless to say we don't see eye to eye on many issues anymore, but it was a revelation that some people seek out this chatroom interaction as some form of sick sport.
Another reason for this trend is more disturbing than the rogue atheist out to ruin your chat-day. It's the Christian who would prefer to argue than to uplift and support the Body. I'm talking about that Christian you know who actively searches out people of other denominations, not different faiths, to tell them how wrong they are for their beliefs. You know the one I'm talking about. The one that believes that all Catholics/Baptists/Pentecostals/(insert denomination here...) are going straight to eternal damnation because they believe (insert belief here...).
I'm all for healthy debate in certain circumstances. But some people can't stop. They take it to unhealthy extremes. The worst part about this phenomenon is that it affects both free and subscription based chat services. It seems we're not safe anywhere...
What's to Come...
We've covered a lot of ground in this first installment. In Part 2 we'll take a closer look at how bad the problem really is and explain some ways that chat providers and users are trying to improve the system.