Thursday, 20 August 2009
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A Reflection: What Have You Learned From Revelife?
I've been in a reflective mood lately, and a great deal of my reflection has been on things that have grown in importance for me this summer, one of which is blogging for Revelife. It's funny to think about it -- a blogging Web site, something you can engage in only from your computer screen, can play such a huge role in your life. But it's true -- on the main page, Revelife calls itself "Christian community for the heart, mind, and soul." And I truly think that Revelife comes as close as you can get to "community" online. As a student journalist, from the beginning, my blogging for Revelife was all about the writing. I wanted to improve my writing skills, and through my writing, share my faith with others. But the more that I wrote for Revelife, the more that I came to realize how much my posts affected others, and yes -- how others' posts have affected me. Without a doubt -- reading other people's posts on Revelife have affected me tremendously, and I've learned a lot.
The heartfelt, personal posts (which I wish would generate more comments!!) have always been favorites for me. They helped me to realize that I'm not alone in this journey of faith, and my brothers and sisters in Christ have had their ups and downs as well as they strive to grow closer to Jesus Christ.
The controversial posts (oh, how we all love controversy, as much as we might not like to admit it) have taught me a lot as well. I've learned to articulate my own viewpoints better, and I've become more opinionated! I've learned to accept viewpoints that may vastly differ from mine. I've read posts from others that I've thought -- wow, this is right on the money! I agree 100 percent.
But of course, there have been other posts that I've thought, where are these people coming from? I just can't agree with this! This has been healthy for me, though -- not harmful at all. Just because we are all Christian doesn't mean that we're bound to share the same standpoints on every single issue. That's as ludicrous as claiming that all members of your family will share the same viewpoints, or all college students will agree on everything. That's a resounding "no way!", right? Reading and responding to controversial posts has helped me to grow into the accepting kind of person that we are called to be.
Then there are the posts from non-Christians. In all honesty, I love reading those posts! I enjoy seeing how people of other faith backgrounds (or maybe no faith background) view Christianity. Although I definitely do not agree with all of the points brought up in these posts, they have definitely helped me to become more open to other ideas. A lot of these types of posts also help me to see where we have fallen short as Christians and perhaps failed to treat non-believers with the love and kindness that they, too, deserve.
It's amazing how this online blogging community has taught me so many lessons, simply from its posters and commenters alone. I'm just wondering if Revelife has done the same for you.
What have you learned from Revelife? Has anything in particular inspired you? What do you like the most/least about the site?
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Comments (7)
I like the debates. It's good to hear other people's views.
I have learned that there are many sincere Christians out there whom I've never met (and probably won't meet in this life). My desire is to know God more intimately every day and to learn more about the gifts and calling He has for me. It is such a blessing to hear from others who are walking that Way.
One of the contributors for revelife is a friend of mine, so I checked it out... I just can't get into it. It would hurt me too much to constantly see so many people that are wrong in what they're thinking, especially in the comments I've seen - and I'm scared that those comments will turn people away and do harm to the visitors of this site who are really searching for truth.
while i find some posts thought provoking on revelife, others make me so how different my beliefs vary from others who are part of the Kingdom...it's not a bad things most of the time, just interesting to realize. It's great to be introduced to other peoples blogs through revelife as well and follow them over the weeks and months and encourage each other in our faith as well.
what i learned most from Revelife is about catholics. people helped me understand why they believe what they believe. though i'm still a protestant, i realize the extent to which we have divided the church. usually the christian club meetings or church/prayer meetings i attend are protestant, and so i never got the sense of how divided christianity is until i came to revelife where there was such diversity of thought. it's suprising, and both unnerving. i never thought that the church was fragmented like this.
what i liked most about revelife is their oppenness to people of differing viewpoints. i really appreciated how they handled godlessliberal's Letter to Revelife. they did it with great tact and respect. i think i saw their vision in doing that. and normally one would think that creating a christian center like this on xanga would serve to alienate us from others, but the opposite was true here. revelife actually connected christians with non's.
what i like least about revelife is some of their commenters which annoy me to no end. oh, btw, you haven't done alot of revelife postings lately..
Amanda-Love the post! Hopefully you were a good girl and sent it to the vote tab. Feel free to send anything else in!
btw...I checked. Bad girl. I'll send it for you xoxo
Did you stop posting? Maybe you got too busy? I closed my HardestLevel account and finallt got around to making a new one on Xanga two weeks later and I noticed you were never featured on Revelife anymore. I hope all is ok.