July 12, 2005

Responsible Blogging

Cruising through the SBC Aggregator, as I do pretty much daily, I found this post by Marty Duren. He sets out pretty clearly what he wants to accomplish, and what he doesn't want to accomplish, with his blog.

Interesting that this should come up right now. Over at Blogcritics, we've had a bit of an uproar about a post that was borderline libelous (in some peoples' opinions) concerning an actor and his girlfriend. I can't comment on it, because I have only read the edited version of the post (and the comment storm that followed), but I DO know that it caused the editorial staff at BC to do some thinking about the fine line separating free speech and irresponsible journalism. And there has been talk around the internet about weblogs as online diaries, and what could happen in another ten or so years with those "innermost thoughts" that were put out for public consumption.

I like Marty's list. From what I've read of his blog, he does an excellent job, and I wish I had found his blog sooner. And he's inspired me to try and write my own "purpose statement."

1. My primary goal is to educate. My pet peeve is Christians who have decided that logic and reason are the enemy, and have therefor abandoned all attempts at understanding anything. God is not the author of confusion. I don't believe that He would ever leave His creation without the capacity to understand Him. We do that through learning and study. We have a rich intellectual history, and we've all but abandoned it because of what other people have said about us.
2. I also want to challenge peoples thinking. I want to change what the perception of evangelical Christian is to many people -- for the better.
3. I want to hold up a mirror to Christian society. When we do something dumb, I want to show how dumb it was, NOT to bash people, but so that we can learn from our mistakes.
4. I want to learn. I end up learning about a LOT of things just by writing a blog post about them. I learn more when people comment.

There's my four. I'm not going to say what I don't want to do, since that will only jinx me. I WILL steal one of Marty's ideas and say that I need to be careful with humor, because I tend to be rather sarcastic. It becomes more obvious when you hear me than when you read what I say, so I may keep the humor to the podcast (whenever I get it started -- more on that later on).

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 04:02 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Guess I'm a little over the line huh? Well, I enjoy your blog and aggregator. Grace, Howie

Posted by: Howie Luvzus at July 13, 2005 01:27 PM (cPf9b)

2 It's a shame that Mr. Olsteen doesn't refer to the 1st century saints as he writes and talks about how God will give anyone whatever they "conceive and believe". The Apostle Paul was beheaded; John the Baptist was beheaded; Stephen was stoned; Peter, according to history, was crucified upside down; and first century Christians were burnt at the stake by Nero. What was wrong with their faith? As for "hell" being a concept opposed to the Gospel. The greek word "gehenna" (or hell) is used 12 times in the New Testament; Jesus used it 11 of the 12 times. Was Jesus "anti-gospel"? I agree that the judgements of men are worthless; but just read the Bible. In John 14, Jesus claimed to be the only way to God. I don't have to judge people by saying that rejection of Jesus condemns a person; Jesus did. If Mr. Olsteen or anyone else is unhappy with that, they will be able to set Jesus straight in the not too distant future. Frankly, I don't want to witness that brief exchange. For those willing to read; start with and stay with your Bible. It will not lead you astray.

Posted by: Thad... at August 02, 2005 09:33 AM (gMzHr)

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