When last I wrote about my Bulk Mail folder, it was an easy target for mockery. Its repetitive, unimaginative contents felt like a bad joke told by someone with no sense of humor. Since that previous entry, other thoughts about this recurring e-nuisance have come to mind. Before I begin another Deletion Session, these observations….
Like a rogue’s gallery—a hallway of Wanted Posters—specters of amazing offers, critical announcements, innocent questions and startling surprises beg for my sympathy. It’s as though they are pleading, “Yes, we know that our devilish temptations are really dumb, but won’t you please open just one link, one message—and respond just once?”
I don’t feel sorry for the purveyors of these scams, but I find myself wondering how they think about their work. Are there creative types among the writers of the titles and teasers? What gives them satisfaction at the end of a day? What kind of people/machines are they? How do they deal with the frustration of being ignored by 99.99% of their hoped-for audience? And what would cause them to give up, to repent?
The promises of the Bulkites fit hand-in-glove with what the Serpent promised Eve and Adam: “You will be like gods.” Since I already have an excellent god, I don’t need any others, including myself! Clicking on any of the links—like eating Forbidden Fruit—would be an act of worship of these digital idols. These replacement gods.
Before you send your bulk mail messages to Internet Hell, take some time to look—don’t click, just look—at what you are being tempted to think and do. And be glad that, by God’s grace, you have been saved from self-idolatry and can center yourself in the love and wisdom God gives you every day.
Back to deleting…..
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