Comments on: Flickering Pixels – Group Blogging Project – Chapter 12

By: Graham Brenna

Graham Brenna — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:01:58 +0000

True… I suppose there are those people that would rather spend time online instead of hanging out with friends in person. To them I say that they just have to "get out of the boat" and take a chance. You never know where God is going to lead you unless you try something new.

By: Paul Steinbrueck

Paul Steinbrueck — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:06:49 +0000

>>There is just no way we can completely ignore our physical communities.

Are you sure that is true for everyone?

I think that's probably true for most of us in the group blogging project, but then most of us are relatively far along in our walk with Christ and leaders.

By: Graham Brenna

Graham Brenna — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:42:22 +0000

This topic of balancing your online time with your offline time seems to get a lot of 'online' attention. While it is an important topic (I've blogged on it before) I don't think it is as big a deal as we're making it out to be. There is just no way we can completely ignore our physical communities. We go to lunch with friends, we hang out with our families, we are involved in our church and/or local communities. These are the topics that most of our blogs are talking about. If we only blogged on ideas from reading other blogs… we'd be running in circles, which we're not. I've not been blogging as frequently lately simply because my life is very busy right now. I'll tweet when I'm at my desk but perhaps not about what restaurant I'm eating at… because I'm with friends and taking the time away from them to send a tweet seems rude to me.

But that's just my opinion… I could be wrong. Great post dude!

By: SCBubba

SCBubba — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:34:55 +0000

Paul, I think you nailed the point here. We can, and often do, toss out anything uncomfortable or difficult because we are lead to believe that it is easier or better to get a new or different one.

The prevailing thought, in Hipps' book and in the general population, is that virtual communities just make it easier to do what a lot of people are doing in "real" communities.

What I notice about the people blogging on this book and commenting (myself included) is representation from people who have had (in general) success with communities, are drawn to or intrigued by technology/media, and are more intentional about relationship – virtual or otherwise. That is to say, we might not be representative of the general population Hipps is referencing in this chapter or in the book as a whole.

Either way, if our culture is so ready to throw away relationships with people that share the same house, of course it will be ready to throw away relationships with people we've never seen in person. The technology is, at best, a minimal factor.

The bigger question is whether or not technology/media has led us to this disposable culture or not…

By: rhettsmith

rhettsmith — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:32:23 +0000

Luke,

Thanks for the shout out. How you and I met is just an example of how meeting online and can lead to offline friendship, etc. I look forward to getting together again soon.

Stbx in Coppell?

Rhett

By: Paul Steinbrueck

Paul Steinbrueck — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:41:55 +0000

Yeah, great point and quote!

By: Flickering Pixels Group Blogging Project Chapter 12 « Welcome To My Head

Flickering Pixels Group Blogging Project Chapter 12 « Welcome To My Head — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:21:57 +0000

[...] 12 of our Flickering Pixels group blogging project is now up and running. You can check it out here. Great chapter this week on conflict and loving others. Check [...]

By: philter

philter — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:16:52 +0000

Some great thoughts Paul. I like how Shane say's "how we disagree matters more than what we disagree about." My friend Mark Scandrett http://www.reimagine.org/ told me once that the reason we avoid conflict and confronting people on things is that we care more about what they are going to think about us than we have love for them. This was profound to me as I, like you Paul I am not good at conflict somewhat because of the points and fears you mentioned above. I want to love others as Jesus loves and Jesus was confronting people all the time, even calling them Satan.

By: Live Intentionally » Blog Archive » More conflict, please

Live Intentionally » Blog Archive » More conflict, please — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:03:11 +0000

[...] we’re discussing Chapter 12 in the Flickering Pixels group blog [...]

By: Paul Steinbrueck

Paul Steinbrueck — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:35:23 +0000

The points that stood out most to me in this chapter was that our individualism has led to the high rate of failure of intentional communities and marriages. And that we need to develop better habits of interpersonal conflict.

Think about how quick people are to quit their job, end a friendship, leave a church, or get divorced. People dump their "communities" all the time, sometimes over minor personality issues or differences in opinions. It's partially because we have so many options today. Don't like your church, your friend, your job, your spouse? You can just get a new one.

Because it's so easy for people in our communities to dump us, we're afraid of conflict. We're afraid to disagree. We're afraid we might hurt someones feelings. So, we don't tell people what we're really think. We don't criticize a bad idea. We don't say anything to the friend who is about to do something that may ruin his life. We don't use the biblical pattern for conflict resolution described by Jesus in Matthew 18.

I personally feel convicted on this point. My plan going forward is to speak my mind more freely and risk conflict. Along with that though, I think I'll be asking a lot more people, "Hey, are we cool? Or do we need to talk?"