"The net is, at its heart, a finely tuned BS detector. If it were a biological creature, it would be conclusive proof for evolution. It's an organism that's been fed so many self-serving sales pitches, self-important opinions, and hypocritical statements that it has developed a sharp and discerning eye for anything that carries the scent of incincerity. "This isn't to say that those on the net are all wise in their beliefs. On the contrary, the truth is often mocked. But the fact that we as Christians find ourselves running smack-dab into this well-oiled insincerity detector can also be cause for pause."

Bumper Sticker Christianity. We all know it -- it's the too-frequent phenomena that reduces the faith to cute and witty soundbytes, while neglecting the meat. It's named after those catchy bumper stickers often seen next to an ichthyus on the drive home from work. "Beam Me Up, Lord," "Jesus Loves You," and other homilies are often found glued to the backs of chrome bumpers. On the net, even in Christian circles, Bumper Sticker Christianity is regarded with a disdain normally reserved for email spammers and door to door insurance salesmen. It's not that there's anything wrong with bumper stickers, just that the slogan and sound-byte world they come from seems a world apart from the daily realities of the Christian walk. Bumper Sticker Christianity, one might say, is as different from practical Christianity as a picture-perfect hamburger in a TV commercial is from the one you fixed for dinner last week. The same thing can bite us as we surf on the net, however... Let's call it .sigline Christianity. Siglines, or signatures as they're often called, are bits of text automatically appended to the end of a message by many email or usenet newsgroup programs. Users often stuff them full of witty catch-phrases, favorite quotes, the URL for their web page, or the occasional bandwidth-sucking piece of ASCII art. We can't be sure who the first one was to realize the witnessing potential of the .sigline, but when they stuck John 3:16 at the end of their post to alt.fan.llamas, they started a trend that's caught on. I have a number of siglines, several related to my faith. They include quotations of writers like Francis Schaeffer and CS Lewis, favorite lyrics, and other inspiring bits of ASCII wisdom tucked into otherwise innocuous messages. Like bumper stickers plastered on the back of a station wagon, these siglines have povided opportunities to witness, and have merited a few emails from other netters. "What did you mean by that?" asked one person of my .sigline. "It's interesting." There's a dark side to the little things, though. Just like bumper sticker Christianity, sigline Christianity can tempt us with the convenience of reducing of an awe-inspiring, infinite God to catcy one-liners. And like bumper stickers, they can be a /bad/ thing; the 'Jesus Loves You' sticker on the car that cuts you off in traffic is more likely to draw a curse than a smile. In the same way, an inspiring sigline can turn sour when it follows a sarcastic, flame-filled message. Think about it.