And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from blogging
D.W. Congdon recently posted about an irritating internet article that boldly asserted:
blogging
is
evil.
It is full of delightful reasoning such as:
‘Blogging has become a socially accepted practice—just as are dating seriously too young, underage drinking and general misbehaving. But just because someone else “jumps off the cliff” does not mean you should do the same.’Quite.
Apart from the fact that the argument only holds if ‘blogging’ is understood in the same order as ‘jumping off a cliff’!
...
Jack sees himself standing on a cliff with a man called Ron. Ron, given recent tragic turns in his life, is lemmingesque in his passion for self-extinction. Nevertheless, Ron has 3 children to look after so Chris shouts in desperation as Ron makes a bee-line for the cliff edge: ‘DON’T DO IT RON; PLEASE DON’T JUMP OFF OF THAT CLIFF ...
Jack pauses as if he had forgotten to say something
‘OH YES, AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T START YOUR OWN WEBLOG’
...
The article concludes:
‘Should teenagers and others in the Church express themselves to the world through blogs? Because of the obvious dangers; the clear biblical principles that apply; the fact that it gives one a voice; that it is almost always idle words; that teens often do not think before they do; that it is acting out of boredom; and it is filled with appearances of evil—blogging is simply not to be done in the Church. It should be clear that it is unnecessary and in fact dangerous on many levels.’But to draw attention to this baloney is not why I write. It was something said in the comments of D. W. Congdon’s post that really made my day.
No, not the comment of Ben Myers, who was quick to point out the irony of the fact that the advice ‘NO ONE ... should have a blog or personal website’ was published this on their own website!
It was the comment of a certain Curious Presbyterian that cheered me right up.
He/she wrote:
‘I thank God for blogs such as Ben’s and Chris’ and Jim’s and Alastair’s and several others. (There are too many good blogs to read them all).I’ve learned a lot from these blogs and they have encouraged me to get back into the personal study of theology again’
Inquisitive Presby, you have no idea how glad that makes me!
posted by Chris Tilling @ 1:49 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Just as I Thessalonians 5:17-21 reads:
Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from the blogosphere.
Exactly!
OK, first of all Myers is wrong. It's not ironic. They were saying that no individual should have his or her own website and thus publish stuff before its checked by brothers and sisters. Their post was on their organization's website and presumably went through peer review, perhaps the author was even asked by someone else to write it. They're against the individualism of the blog/personal site, not against the internet per se.
Secondly, the idea that these guys are "on the fast track to becoming a cult" shows a lack of research. These guys have been a cult for decades. In the USA in the middle of the 20th century a guy named Herbert Armstrong went off the doctrinal rails and founded a church called The WorldWide Church of God, he had a huge radio "ministry" and his magazine was called "Plain Truth."
After his death, the guys he entrusted to run the Church began to realize that his doctrines didn't square with Scripture. They publicly repented and sent their leadership to evangelical educational establishments for retraining en mass -- in the States it was Fuller, in the UK it was LBC, now LST.
Some folks in the church could not hack the public repentance and move away from Armstrong. THESE guys founded the church now called The Restored Church of God because they cannot get the legal right to use the name Worldwide Church of God.
Thanks for the lesson, Conrad!
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