Not Many of You Should be Bloggers?

I read something recently in the online version of Christianity Today that caused me to smile. In an article titled Not Many of You Should Presume to Be Bloggers John Dyer, web development director at Dallas Theological Seminary, opines:

Throughout the history of public theological debate, there was one constant—those debates only took place between a few select people—Moses, Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, and so on—who gained respect through a lifetime of scholarship.
...
What few of us realize is that when we press those "Publish," "Post," "Comment," and "Send" buttons, we are making the shift away from merely "believing" truth and stepping into the arena of publishing that belief. In doing so we are effectively assuming a position of leadership and teaching that prior to 2004 was not available to us.
...
James warned us, "Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly" (James 3:1, NIV1984). James goes on to graphically portray the incredible power that our tongues have both to praise and to curse especially in the context of teaching.
...
Yet Facebook and Twitter do not encourage this kind of self-restraint. In fact, they encourage an opposing value system. Social media relentlessly asks us to publish our personal opinions on anything and everything that happens. There is no time for reflection in prayer, no place for discussion with other flesh and blood image bearers, and no incentive to remain silent.

My thinking on this is that these thoughts are commensurate with a person who works for a seminary. A few centuries ago a person of this ilk would have probably objected to the publishing of the bible for consumption by people who had not gained "respect through a lifetime of scholarship". Folks who work for seminaries seem to have missed the email telling them that non-clerics are often well read and educated in biblical matters. And they really do not understand the blessing that we receive when we exchange ideas in cyberspace.

For me, I have to say that interactions with other bloggers has helped me to be a bit more graceful and accepting of views that are different than mine. Even this week I have had two great dialogs with blogger friends about how God may or may not have been involved in the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. These discussions are so helpful and enlightening. I feel like the Holy Spirit uses cyber-friends like this to teach me.

Maybe that is the message that folks who work for seminaries miss.. the idea that the Holy Spirit teaches.. the idea that we should not substitute the theological thinkings of Moses, Plato, Augustine, Aquinas for those that come by the Holy Spirit through ordinary people who have not gained "respect through a lifetime of scholarship". I mean really.. we need to be less impressed with theologians and more impressed with God.

What is your thinking? Have you found it helpful to discuss issues like this online?