1. Avoid the passive-aggressive Facebook status. (Example: “Christie Christianson prays that the Holy Spirit will convict certain people regarding certain over-the-top Vacation Bible School themes.”)
2. Remember that breaking fellowship via Twitter is just as bad as breaking up via text.
3. How many Bible verses are included in the comment? If it’s more than five, it’s not a comment, it’s a bibliography.
4. Try writing an actual letter before writing an “open letter” to a famous theologian or pastor. You never know when they might respond.
5. Don’t tell someone they’re going to hell in an email and then conclude it with “grace and peace.”
6. Try to read blog posts, books, and articles in their entirety before writing a comment or review.
7. If you suspect you might have a sin nature like everyone else on the planet, consider waiting a few minutes before you broadcast your first reaction across the Internet.
8. Have opinions. Be nice about them. (Check out How to Write a Controversial Blog Post with No Regrets.)
9. If using an image of Jesus or the cross as a profile picture, avoid calling people idiots…since, you know, Jesus said not to do that (Matthew 5:22).
10. Before posting, go through Saint Paul’s Blogging Checklist (via Gary David Stratton):
Is this post?
(1) Patient
(2) Kind
(3) Free from envy
(4) Devoid of boasting
(5) Stripped of arrogance
Or is this post?
(6) Rude
(7) Self-seeking
(8) Angry
(9) Unforgiving
(10) Believing/assuming the worst about others
Hmmmm...Good thing "snarky" is not on that list! :-)
Your turn! What would you add?
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