Friday, January 11, 2013

YouTube and the Internet

As I mentioned in a post from the first year I started this public blog, I loved going into the library as a kid and just exploring. The knowledge and experiences of people fascinated me. I experienced that today and I was doing a wondering about folks interest in what I write here. The most viewed entry is the one I wrote about an article in the LA Times on Pastor Chuck Smith, Jr. I was quite interested in what came up when I Googled his name. As I watched on an interview with him, YouTube provided suggestions on the side that I wish I had a bit more time to explore. I seem to have stumbled onto a bit of an online conversation about some of the issues about Christianity that really interest me. I don't always easily find much to further my exploration. I have wondered about adulation of Rick Warren so this expose of Pastor Rick Warren was an interesting discovery. In my faith exploration, I have come to grapple with the issue of suffering in the world and specifically Jesus' suffering. Some folks say it is the main issue in any discussion of God so I was interested in that this interview with Rob Bell on a regular news station starts out with a question about suffering. The journalist probes without being judgmental or trying to promote his own opinion.

I just wanted to set down a few comments for my future reference. The comments under the interview with Smith are horrible. I hope they those folks don't find my blog as their comments express, as I quoted in the blog entry about Smith, "a general hopelessness about the world, one salved only by the promise of an imminent, cataclysmic Second Coming."