Godtube: Do Christians Need Their Own Video Sites?
Posted: Sunday, January 13, 2008
by Laura Trahan
The latest video craze on the Internet isn't the well-known video site YouTube. A smaller site designed just for Christians is making a name for itself-GodTube.
What is GodTube? According to the site, GodTube.com is a social network designed to share the word of God. Individuals can watch videos, post videos (which are reviewed by editors before posting), find friends and do what other social networking sites offer.
Chris Wyatt, GodTube's founder and CEO, pointed out to co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez on The Early Show that Newsweek has dubbed the site "the Christian answer to YouTube." He calls it a "family-friendly answer to FaceBook" serving up "Christianity on-demand, 24/7."
My question is if your goal is to get people to convert to Christianity or to reach non-believers, why are you not posting them on a site that has non-believers like YouTube. I guess I am confused as to how many converts there will really be if all you are truly reaching is already self-confessed Christians?
I think this is where churches fail today. We, as Christians, are so caught up in our judging of the things non-believers participate in that we live in this culture that never travels outside.
We seem to fail Christ in his task of making new believers. As church members, we will go on mission trips overseas but we can't be on a site that has non-Christians on it because of the affect it might have on us. I think this thinking is failing to get new believers.
I am not judging this site. It just seems to kind of have an elitist attitude. Wyatt's response to this questioning seemed to be a little less of a response than what I wanted to hear.
"While YouTube is a great site, certainly there's content that some people might consider objectionable," Wyatt told CBS. "We really needed a non-threatening forum to express our religious views. We receive thousands of e-mails each week from people thanking us because there is a family-friendly, clean site that they can discuss these issues in."
Why, as believers, can we not discuss our religious views in a place that has opposing views? What are we scared of finding out?
Don't get me wrong, the site has some great videos. I just wish they were posted on a more non-believing site such as YouTube. Christians are not the only ones who have developed their own video sites.
For Jews, there's JewTube.com, and for Muslims, IslamicTube.net. Though the two sites are considerably smaller -- JewTube gets about 175,000 visitors per month and IslamicTube 23,000 -- the two sites are similar to GodTube in their mission to promote their individual faiths and surrounding cultures.
What are your thoughts on this issue? Should religious groups create these sites as an elitist group under the cover of being an outreach to get believers? Are they not just reaching their own in the process?
This Article has been viewed 455 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Ditto for the Christian radio stations, television networks, and the like. Of course, we all know there's nothing objectional on those media--well, maybe a doctrinal difference or forty, but nothing seriously wrong...! Great article, Laura!Danny-Thanks for the comment! Great points!
Good points, Laura, but I don't see any problem with Christian sites. There aren't many places I can let my guard down and enjoy what is offered. Many times I don't want to sort through all the junk to find entertainment without bad language and the latest in T&A. My question would be this: do the Christians to put their videos on both GodTube and YouTube? Of course, some video links will get sent out via the internet and many will frequent the Christian site to see what else they have.
Laura, As I have said on this site, this is "preaching to the choir." But the bigger problem is that it is done everyday on this website to the adulation of many, including those who evaluate the articles. We even have Chrisians who think it is Christ-like to personally smear and make fun of those individuals who do not share their own particular political philosophy. It's all too pathetic. Thanks for your questions regarding this subject.
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