And Satan Said Unto Him...

Yea, you just read that right. And, yes, this is a Christian site!

Over the weekend, I read a lot of blog articles that linked to a church website that prominently features scripture from Luke 4:7, where Satan is speaking to Jesus. Now, I'm going to allow that church to save face and not point them out directly, but I would like to use this as an example of what not to do. As the person in charge of content on your church website, it also becomes your responsibility to use proper biblical context.

Now, last week I posted a story about the Ten Best E-Ministy Practices, with one of them being "Do your best, then post it", saying that in today's internet, errors are ok because they can be fixed. Today, I want to emphasize that statement, but constrain it to typographical and grammatical errors. These errors occur and shouldn't impact the nature of the content you are trying to convey. However, misleading biblical reference and using scripture out of context can have a long-lasting impact. Once people see an example of biblical illiteracy, it can be really hard to live down. It takes away the authority of the local church, and reflects poorly on the church as a whole.

So, while mistakes are sure to be made, do your best to demonstrate your church as biblically literate on your website. While doing so may not lead to many noticable benefits, not doing so will lead to numerous detractions.