Using the Internet for Evangelization

[Maria]

Many people have found the Orthodox Church through browsing the Internet.

My family was introduced to the True Orthodox Church through reading the online forums, blogs, and websites of True Orthodox. The young man who introduced us to the GOC was a regular poster at several forums.

The Internet is a vast network that does a lot of harm, yet it is also a tremendous vehicle for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Internet is a great way to teach others about the Orthodox Church, sharing the ancient Christian path that has been unknown to most people in the Western world. It is also a wonderful vehicle for connecting Orthodox Christians from many lands, creating friendships and support for living a life that is in opposition to that of this world. It is easier to live the otherworldly life of an Orthodox Christian when you receive support and love from those who are doing so under the extreme conditions of the persecuted.

For the complete article, please click this link: http://morningoffering.blogspot.com/

[Barbara]

I will take a look, just in case there are some other good arguments.

In general, I am skeptical about both the premise and the writer, who seems rather like a liberal.
I know he was in the OCA for years, then brought his monastery to Rocor, then became an ardent promoter
of the notorious merger of MP with Subservient Rocor.

So I take anything at all he says with a large grain of healthy-salt [no additives !]

I have reservations MUCH about the TRUE, OVERALL utility of the internet. I see it as a trap of the Devil to ensnare souls
and get them lost in superfluous material.

Only the truly alert and discerning are able to master this way of learning. I fear a lot of others fall by the wayside.
Even, say, Orthodox inquirers may end up in the "glossy jurisdictions" due to fancy or appealing websites set up for them.

It may take them then YEARS, even DECADES, to extract themselves from World Orthodox jurisdictions and look deeper for the TRUE
Churches, where the Sacraments will be REALLY holy and thus nourishing to the hungry soul.

I understand others will disagree, but I am a hard-liner on almost all topics, so this is not different from the rest for me !

[jgress]

The same blog posted a nasty piece recently about how awful the True Orthodox are and how the MP has completely abandoned ecumenism and other nonsense. But that doesn't make everything it says bad.

[jgress]

And yes, Barbara, we do have to be careful. We all need to tread a thin line between being too strict and being too lax. I think it's all right to have your "position", as long as you are willing to hear out the other side.

[silverbeam]

Barbara, I really like reading what you write, I like your style and viewpoint. With this post you are EXACTLY spot on in describing my experience with the net. It took me over a decade and I found what I needed in the end, but I may never have gone astray if I had kept my internet to a minimum and kept reading the Fathers and Gospel directly, in book form, as I did before I got online.

Nothing wrong with taking a hard line, it was someone doing just that on a forum that brought me to my senses and set me aright.