Monday, May 22, 2006
A Comment On The State Of Godblogging
Last week saw two discussions in the Godblogosphere, both of which seem to have hubbed at Challies.
One concerned Challies analysis of Joe Carter's calling Andrew Sullivan a "Christian brother" and his proclaimation that the Roman Catholic Church is not a "true" church. Here is one of my posts on the subject - here is the other.
The other concerned Mark Driscoll's use, or misuse, of language in his latest book. Here is Adrian Warnock's very neutral links to some of the discussion which will give you a starting point.
Table laid - the first discussion saw less than 10 posts total amongst a few blogs - the second discussion I frankly have lost count of how many blogs have commented and opined.
There is an old adage in politics - when you cannot do anything about the problem at hand, either invent a problem, or pick a smaller one you can fix, and use it as a diversion. Somehow I sense that is what is going on here.
One the one hand we have a discussion wherein we are making judgements (ahem, er, excuse me - assumptions) about the the eternal fate of the largest and oldest church in the world and another where we are worrying about the use of slang terms for excrement. Does one of those strike you as really important, and the other as a bit of a side line? And yet, it is the side line that is drawing all the links, all the heat and all the discussion.
No doubt, everyone who reads this will at this point think I am just whining because I didn't get sufficient traffic in the discussion that I think is important. I can't change your impression - don't really care.
But I am really worried. We have here at our keyboards a tool that God can use to change us, the church, and the world. I for one, want Him to use my blogging that way. And yet somehow, it strikes me that we are letting ourselves be diverted from that effort when we concentrate on cussing in the face of really important and challenging issues.
Maybe if someone had said "*&^% the Roman Catholics" - then we would have a discussion. But then, isn't that pretty much what actually was said?
Related Tags: Roman Catholics, cussing, Godblogging, judgement, priorities
One concerned Challies analysis of Joe Carter's calling Andrew Sullivan a "Christian brother" and his proclaimation that the Roman Catholic Church is not a "true" church. Here is one of my posts on the subject - here is the other.
The other concerned Mark Driscoll's use, or misuse, of language in his latest book. Here is Adrian Warnock's very neutral links to some of the discussion which will give you a starting point.
Table laid - the first discussion saw less than 10 posts total amongst a few blogs - the second discussion I frankly have lost count of how many blogs have commented and opined.
There is an old adage in politics - when you cannot do anything about the problem at hand, either invent a problem, or pick a smaller one you can fix, and use it as a diversion. Somehow I sense that is what is going on here.
One the one hand we have a discussion wherein we are making judgements (ahem, er, excuse me - assumptions) about the the eternal fate of the largest and oldest church in the world and another where we are worrying about the use of slang terms for excrement. Does one of those strike you as really important, and the other as a bit of a side line? And yet, it is the side line that is drawing all the links, all the heat and all the discussion.
No doubt, everyone who reads this will at this point think I am just whining because I didn't get sufficient traffic in the discussion that I think is important. I can't change your impression - don't really care.
But I am really worried. We have here at our keyboards a tool that God can use to change us, the church, and the world. I for one, want Him to use my blogging that way. And yet somehow, it strikes me that we are letting ourselves be diverted from that effort when we concentrate on cussing in the face of really important and challenging issues.
Maybe if someone had said "*&^% the Roman Catholics" - then we would have a discussion. But then, isn't that pretty much what actually was said?
Related Tags: Roman Catholics, cussing, Godblogging, judgement, priorities
