Would Jesus walk in MySpace?

I recently updated my blogroll and fixed a couple of links like Travis Spencer and Fran's sermons.

Travis had an interesting post about the youth in his group having MySpace accounts and the inappropriateness that is so easily found there. It is my belief that Jesus certainly blurred the lines rather than drawing them clearly. Many talked about why Jesus hung out with sinners, especially tax collectors and women of questionable repute. So our church has blurred the lines and hopes to blur them even more.

The fact that Travis has to address the issue is a great sign. It means he is meeting kids where they are at and yet having to authentically admit to them that he is uncomfortable in some of the places they hang out. I too am usually uncomfortable at MySpace. But I have not been uncomfortable in reading the blogs of some of my friends, language and all. Though I have to say (and my daughter reads my blog), I really don't want her ranting on her teachers on a public blog. The teen blogs I've read (my daughter is not yet a teen so I'm not talking about her) do often rant on teachers, totally inappropriately. My wife is a teacher, and I've encouraged her to NOT read her students blogs.

My daughter doesn't have a blog, but is wanting her own website, mostly to publish her fashion designs, which honestly at the age of 10, I think some of them are pretty good. But I have been hesitant about her doing this because of opening herself up to a public community. As she moves to Middle School next year, some of her friends will have blogs and myspace accounts and so on. More than wanting to protect her, I want her to be able to navigate this culture, though I'm not sure what is worse -- being a "goody two shoes" who keeps herself completely out of the culture or being a "voice of reason" who draws the fire of the more rebellious of the group.

I think Jesus ends the list of Beatitudes with "Be the voice of reason and be willing to draw the fire." I've never read Jesus as saying completely withdraw from the surrounding culture, but rather to navigate it and show people that decadence (being careful not to label all things decadent) isn't the path to joy. When Jesus says not to judge, I think he clearly means not to judge someone as worthless because of their deeds. The voice of reason always shows respect and openness even to the most decadent voices.