Blind Carbon Copy (BCC), the List Manager and God

To start off, BCC or blind carbon copy, refers to sending a message to multiple recipients in a way that there may be additional addressees concealed from the complete list of recipients. Normally when you respond to a message where there are BCC recipients in the original mail, these BCC recipients will not see your response (you may think - wow, that's good news).

The list manager is actually a glorified mailing list with a central address. If one sends a message to the central address then the message goes out to all that are on the list. List managers can be configured in many different ways that I will not discuss at this time. For the purpose of this blog , just remember that if you are on the list, you and everyone else on the list will receive the message. Also remember you may not know all who are on the list. Be careful what you say if you have post privileges.

Why would one want to add someone as a BCC rather than sending a message TO or at least as a Carbon Copy (CC)? I can't answer this question for everyone but one answer would be, the sender is being sneaky. That is, the sender wants a person or persons to know about something but doesn't want the TO and CC recipients to know that he/she is letting others know on the sly. One would need to be a philosopher to go into greater depth on this subject. As you will see later on this isn't why I am writing this blog.

As for the list manager there is a different twist and generally there is nothing sneaky going on if one is a recipient on a list. You may have been added to a list without asking and want to get off. On a reputable list manager its normally a matter of asking to be removed. Normally I said. When you join a business, social or professional group you might be automatically added to the list. Sometimes one must submit a request to be added to a list. You get the idea..and you will see later on that this isn't why I am writing this blog.

OK, why am I writing this blog? While taking a shower this morning I thought about the relationship between God, blind carbon copies and list managers. I quickly finished taking a shower and here I am at the keyboard. I know that this is a long lead-in but I am getting there. Please continue to read.

If you are of religious nature you likely believe that God is all knowing or omniscient.

Hebrews 4:13 "And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account." 1 John 3:19-20 "By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything." Job 28:24 "For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens." There are more scriptures but you get the idea.

I must re-read this after typing since I must do a better job of following what I am writing ...and continue to keep this in mind each day...

If we are unwilling to say something directly to a person (not BCC) then it shouldn't be said or thought. If we subscribe to a list just to pass along gossip then we should unsubscribe.

We must remember that there is no BCC and God is a recipient of the contents on all list managers. If we say or intentionally do or even think of something unholy then we need to remind ourselves that God is already the recipient and we must self-correct. God will forgive you, but we shouldn't take Him for granted.

Jim - April 2012