My Rant on Google!

JUST GOOGLE-IT!   I'm pretty sure that my father would think I'm talking gibberish if he heard me say that!  "Just Google-it".   The Internet is the new world of information.  I've learned how to fillet fish, change the door pins on my truck and solve some of the most annoying computer problems.

I know people that Google health concerns for solutions.   We Google to find directions.   Today, at the tip of our fingers on most electronic devices we can just, "Google-it!"

The dangers of Googling-it are sobering.  I hear lots of people making disparaging remarks about the Internet and other digital media.  Some of it is true.  My biggest concern is that in many cases we are reading articles or opinions that form our opinion on what we are reading and they are not "source documents".

I was recently in a conversation where vitriol comments were made about a couple church leaders from days gone by.  Had that person read any source documents?  To be more self-debasing, I claim to NOT be a follower of James Arminius.  In reality I am only now starting to read the writings of James Arminius.  How unethical it would be for me to launch an assault on an individual based upon hearsay evidence.   Just Googling-It, is tantamount to hearsay evidence.  

Now there are source documents on the Internet.  But let's be honest, to read an article ABOUT someone is not the same as reading an article FROM someone.  If you are Christian, imagine would kind of progress you might make if you spent your time reading about the Bible, instead of reading the Bible?

Now the "push-back" that I've offered and you will offer is this: "I don't have time to read source documents on every person or issue."  That is true.  So that means we better refrain from a level of dogmatism that is arrives at a rigid intransigence.  Where we have not spoken to or read the source, we need to keep somewhat of a fair, charitable mind. 

Google did not exist in the 1st Century; and Christ did not use such resources.  But He did have something to say about judgment and decision.  He said, ““Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1–2, ESV).  Now I'm the first to admit that this verse gets misused, big time!  But let me suggest that the judgment Jesus was condemning was a judgment that was prejudicial – pre-judgment – a judgment before knowing the truth.  I would be deeply wounded (and I have) when someone has made unfair, unsubstantiated accusations about me.  We need to be careful to not do the same.

Let us be careful about arriving at conclusive judgments without knowing the truth.   That detective, Joe Friday, on the TV Show Dragnet said it all: "Just the facts, Ma'am. Just the facts." Facts are what we know to be certain.  Articles about someone or something may be false; they may be misrepresented; and they may be slanted to support the author's bias.

Be guarded in "Just Googling It."  OK, I'm done now!