THESIS ON CHRISTIAN CHATROOMS

                          In 2003 or so, I began to do Christian "chatting". Although i owned a computer since the 90's and heard about chatrooms, and from what i saw of them at that time, i wasn't interested. My friend was doing it and invited me to join. i tried, but it just wasn't for me. Then one day i was on my computer and for kicks decided to re-visit a room, and looked specifically for a Christian one. I could never have guessed that , that day would be a sort of milestone in my life. As i observed the chatter in that room the first day, i was surprised to find so much worthless chit chat, Godless arguing, and even mean-spirited attacks on God and His word there. I guess i was expecting that since this room was marked "Christian chat", that it would be actual Christians there, fellowshipping and building one another up in faith, and having good enlightening discussions. A decade later I'm still looking for such a venue. It has always been a huge point of fascination for me, that even though there are several so-called "Christian chat" sites, it seems nearly impossible to find a site that has just good , stimulating discussion of God and His word among fellow believers, conducted in love and respect. What you have with most of them , is idle chit chat, if any chat at all. People sitting there saying hi to one another, greeting those who enter, talking about food and the weather, and doing a little playful flirting at times. Let me be clear that my assessment of them is in no way meant to be judgmental or any kind of commentary on the reality of any one's salvation or spiritual condition. Christians indeed are normal people who have regular conversations about the everyday things of life, and my idea of a true Christian is not a picture of a Bible thumper who walks around always quoting scripture and preaching, and "so heavenly minded that they are no Earthly good". It comes down to what these rooms are, and why people come to them. the majority of their users are stay at home moms, and disabled people who use their computers as a means of time killing. In addition you have bored teenagers added to the mix, mostly in evenings and on weekends. This kind of demographic accounts for the style of chat you find there, people chit chatting, getting acquainted, having someone to talk to. I was looking for something else. But in '03, God gave to me a calling to evangelize in there instead. On that first day, at least three separate people wanted to do private messaging with me and i think 2 of them prayed with me to either receive Christ or ask Him for revival and help. I saw that as a sign, and fell prostrate on the carpet with emotion, worshipping God that after so long a time in my walk with Him, it seemed i finally had a clear calling and ministry.

                   The sad thing is, that joy was very short lived. The venue of note was "Yahoo Messenger", which hosted hundreds of chat rooms, and in its categories had Christian rooms, at that time nearly 50, but you had to poke around to find one with anyone in them to have discussions with. Then came the "bots", which i wont go too deeply into, but basically they were empty user profiles that were programmed to post automated messages in the room like a chatter would, sexual in nature for the purpose of luring people to their porn sites. We learned to either tune them out as i did, or many people spent a lot of time banning or blocking them. But the rooms were inundated with them and even though the user list appeared to have many people in them, it was mostly bots. Yahoo made a useless attempt to rid their rooms of them, by installing "Captcha", a screen that supposedly filters automated programs out when the user has to type in a word in order to enter. All it did was make the experience more cumbersome for the real users. There were other sites...Paltalk, Talkcity, etc. All of them small potatoes in comparison to Yahoo.
                    My experience evolved from looking for stimulating fellowship at the very first, to evangelism (which taking place in Christian rooms itself seems odd, but i always likened that to Jesus saying "you wont have gone through the cities of Israel till I come".),... to a kind of ministry to nominal Christians who dominated the ranks of these rooms, along with muslims, atheists, and every conceivable kind of antagonist you can imagine.I came in there day and night. I made friends, but never very close ones. Indeed i could write a book about my experiences with that chatting...the dialogues, the encounters with abusers and attackers and how it taught me many things about my own character...and even the small amount of times i made a good friend or two, and was able to help a couple Christians by way of encouragement. When i would say to someone at church or whatever, that i was doing this kind of ministry, no one ever responded with much passion, because no one really could relate to it. I really felt like a pioneer in the field of chatroom evangelism.

                  Eventually Yahoo closed it's chatrooms. Some of the people who lived in those rooms, went in groups to new sites. Upon visiting them, i found little worth. It was the same kind of cliques of unregenerate Christians i had become passionate against, and who's behavior i disdained. In many of those sites i was banned, because unlike Yahoo, they offered you a way to permanently kick people out who disagreed with you or challenged you in any way, and the rooms become little nazi nests for those cliques. In other upstart chat sites, you have the small talk ladies. I want to find a way now to seek out souls online that i can have stimulating Christian chat with. On one or two very short occasions back in Yahoo, i found a little conversation like that...a couple people having good respectful dialogue about the Bible and things, but i have some opinions about why it's so rare i want to air here.
                  The biggest reason i believe , that you have so hard a time finding deeper discussions about God's word, is Christians flat out aren't very deep in it. They aren't interested in thinking and contemplating on God much. I've said for years that the chatrooms were a microcosm of the world at large. I seriously believe that even in our best Bible believing churches, as much as half the congregation are in danger of surface Christian religious faith that Jesus will vomit away from Him. With chatrooms its even worse, because of the dynamic of anonymity. You are free to be more real, to be even exposed for the deep person you are...no mask and religious airs are at play like when you are in church. All the ugliness comes to the surface, because subconsciously you feel you have nothing to hide from the strangers in cyberspace that you will never meet. What surfaces are Christians who haven't gone deep with God, who haven't walked in the Spirit to the point of self-death. They want to have Bible discussions ok, but in the flesh. Showing you how much they know, or how little. A spiritual "peeing contest" (hope that doesn't offend). "Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" Paul said in 2 Tim 3:7, what truth????? the truth that in Jesus its all about love, and not about displays of how much you know...its about caring for the hearer...about having grace in your conversation..about building others up, what scripture calls "exhortation". You wont find that conduct much in the so called "Christian chatrooms" these days. They are territorial and defensive, and hostile to anyone who dares give an opinion that might ruffle their feathers. In some of the new rooms i've tried lately, they put up huge banners of rules and policies, stating ever emphatically how they will not tolerate anyone causing disturbance. A fair attempt to keep peace and love in their rooms, but what you have instead, is nazis who feel its their God given mission to police the room, and watch your every word...like the pharisee hoping to catch something out of your mouth so that they can railroad you out of the room. It's a power trip. And it brings about unGodly cliques. One such site states in it's disclaimer above where you would post a forum comment, "this forum is to be used with respect and love...they'll know we are Christians by our love,.." then in the same breath says "doctrinal issues are NOT permitted". They have a different forum for that, but i thought for a second, isn't love itself a "doctrine"? They separate the forums on their site that way for a reason, but in a true Spirit-filled setting,  it seems to me that we can discuss Christian doctrine as we would the weather. It's even more important, and it's what we live. Why should it be set aside as something that needs to be seen as potentially divisive?...It's a sad commentary i think.
                   What you have in the post Yahoo chatroom sites, are room monitors, administrators, or, "admins". Sites like "Paltalk" have had them all along. It may well be that , the absence of that one thing in the Yahoo rooms set them aside , and made them a breeding ground for chaos and strife. They were virtually unpoliced. So there you have , the two extremes. Conversational anarchy, or room monitor power tripping. A study could be done at that dichotomy alone.

                   So again in conclusion, if anyone knows of anything online, a Christian think tank even, where theology and the Bible can be talked about in the Spirit that Authored it, in a causal setting, or possibly in live chat, please share it with me.

in Him,
Mark (shiloh/shiloh_kset/chatnoah)

peace