Internet Inferno

While the Internet is a helpful tool in many ways, it has also become a cesspool for all forms of gossip and malicious slander. Many who use electronic media today seem to have little regard for the damage that can be done to the reputation of others through the issuance of lies and deception. What is especially troubling about this problem is that few today are aware of the divine judgment that awaits all those who bring about such destruction by their words (Proverbs 6:16-19, Revelation 22:15). Whether you are a Christian or not, this subject should give everyone serious pause regarding their conduct, thoughts, motives, and their every typed or spoken word. Though men may think nothing of slandering another human being, who is made in God's image (James 3:9), the Creator does not share such indifference. One day His justice will come and everything that has been said in secret will be made known before His holy tribunal (Luke 12:2-3). Thus, Internet Inferno has been written in order to issue a contemporary warning and reminder of this ancient truth:James 3:6: "...the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell."What James sets forth in this passage is quite grave and sobering. By it he seeks to awaken us out of the dangerous indifference that often prevails in our communication. Of course, the tongue is merely a vehicle of communication and nothing more. In the end, the tongue is not the principal danger, it is the human heart that has the dark capacity to unleash hell, or, as Jesus said: Matthew 15:19: "...out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders" (Matthew 15:19, 12:34). It is for this reason that every word we speak avails the opportunity to consider the motives and thoughts of our hearts, to the end that we might also contemplate the eternity of our souls.