Here's some of my musings on blogging - the pros and cons - in no particular order. I don't think my blog always measures up by the way, hence the musings. If anyone still reads this blog after such a long period of radio silence, tell me what you think.
When is Blogging Good?
1. When it is used to be an example - a way of sharing your life with others
In the bible Paul is big on being an example to others. This is something to pursue both in terms of modelling the Christian life to others, and in having others you look up to. Often we are coy about that in British culture, but is a biblical theme. Of course the primary application of this is within a gospel community - a church - where there is life-on-life involvement, but in a secondary sense, a blog can function in this way. Talk about the things that interest you, that inspire you, that God is doing in you, even the things that are struggles for you. To the extent that a blogger is being open and honest, it can be a great example to others. And of course the sharing of life can include prayer requests, news or just your sense of humour!
2. When it is a discipline to serious thought and reflection
I think it is
Tim Challies who talks about the discipline of blogging, and his determination to post something every day. When asked whether that was obsessive (and it possibly is!) his wife replied that before Tim started blogging he was not particularly disciplined at all, and how blogging something each day had helped to transform him in so many ways. I am putting this up from memory, so I hope I have remembered that correctly! Either way, it is true that blogging can be a helpful way of disciplining yourself to reflection just as a personal journal can. But others get to benefit from it too. Think about the big issues. Comment on issues of the day. Reflect on life.
3. When it glorifies God rather than you
This does not mean that you cannot mention yourself, but the angle should always be Godward. Talk about him, encourage others to follow him, share things you are learning about him, and make him great. Even in blogging about things that seem incidental or more mundane, God can be honoured as the one behind family life, hobbies, a good day out, funny observations about life and more. As the giver of all good things, he is honoured by a life lived well and with passion. But whatever else you do, use your blogging resources to make much of God's name.
4. When you promote and encourage what is good and link to it
There is great scope on a blog to spur others in thinking about good things. This is something that
Dave Bish's blog is especially good at.
The Blue Fish is often an inspiring read, not just in terms of the quality of Dave's own posts, but in terms of the helpful material he links to. He really does encourage what's good and frequently sets you off on a trail of uplifting reading.
When you are aware of websites and resources that encourage you, pointing others towards them is a worthy use of a blog.
5. When you make connections and new friendships emerge
There are people that I have only come to know through blogging. In some cases I have yet to meet them in person, but in other cases we have now met up and even worked together in small ways. Blogging can be a means to some great networking!
6. When you have something worthy to say but are not about to publish a book
One of the things blogging has allowed people to do is by-pass the restrictions of the traditional published media. There are many people who have worthwhile things to say, and blogs are a great free outlet for that. It does of course mean there is lots of trash out there too, and substantiating what is true is not always straightforward, but the derestriction of publishing enables many to write and speak out for good.
When is Blogging Bad and Ugly?
1. When it's all about me and becomes self-promoting
Self self self.... bad blogging promotes the idea that I am the most important person in the world and that everyone is interested in what I am doing, as of course do the other social networking crazes, which I confess to being a part of! This Venn diagram shows something of that in a very witty way. But we must be careful not to judge motives. For example, many people do use things like facebook effectively as a way of having an ongoing conversation and banter with a lot of scattered friends, and in that, it can be completely genuine. Nevertheless it is always in our hearts to want to look good and have people honour and praise us and blogging (or other e-media) can feed this. 'Look at me and all the things I do, all the things I know, all the people I know... praise me praise me...'. We don't write that in so many words, but you can sometimes hear it between the lines. Possibly even worse is when it becomes all about image and what is promoted is a fake version of you. Be real but be humble. It's not all about you.
2. When I am always comparing myself with others (as better or worse!)
Because there is so much on the blogosphere, we can easily go down the line of comparing ourselves with others, and either end up being quite disparaging of those we consider to be less well informed, less able as writers, less theologically aware/balanced/educated etc etc, or on the other hand, feeling inadequate because there are others who know so much more than we do. It can even go down the route of envy, as we think others have more interesting lives, know more famous people, are in what we think of as the 'in' crowd, and have more readers. At this point a statcounter can be lethal!
3. When it becomes a forum for arguments, and thus a bad witness
Some of the things I have read on Christian blogs make me cringe! Not so much because of the quality or content of writing, but rather the attitude that is displayed. You wonder whether it has ever occurred to the writers that all kinds of people will be reading their posts. Blogs can be a great place for debate, of course, but sometimes you find yourself thinking bloggers can't stand other! If we rip into one another online, lets remember, its not essentially any different to having a slanging match with your Christian brother or sister in the middle of the street, right before a watching world. It is the WORLD-WIDE-WEB after all!
4. When principles of confidentiality and privacy are breached
Although it is very similar, a blog cannot be the same as your personal journal. Again, we have to remember that it is online for anyone to read. You don't broadcast the fine details of conversations someone thought they were having just with you. You don't blog things that have been told to you in confidence. It's not the place to vent your spleen about people at work. It is a public website.
5. When the online world becomes a substitute for the real world
The internet can be addictive and the sheer amount of good blogs, resources, messages, and journals online could take forever to keep up with. This is something especially to be remembered if you are married and have a family - are you staring at the computer, reading this, and 20 other blogs, when maybe you should be sat down having a coffee with your wife and talking to her about her day, her life, her hopes, her fears, her spiritual growth? Or should you shut the laptop and go play with your children, or put them to bed, read them a story, or give them some of your attention. To paraphrase a well-known quote, 'noone on his deathbed will say, "I wish I had spent more time online"'. We should be investing in real lives around us as a priority, rather than losing ourselves for hours in an online world. Go and spend some time with your family. Go and spend some time out in your community. Go and chat to some of the regulars in your local pub. Ask your neighbour round for a coffee. Go and volunteer for some community project, or start one. Don't get addicted to blogs and blogging.
6. When it feeds the culture of Christian Celebrity
People have always been fans of certain authors or preachers, but blogging, and the internet in general, seems to have accentuated the cult of the celebrity Christian preacher-rockstar. It is good to have heroes and people to look up to as good examples, (encouraged by chapters like Hebrews 11 and Paul's call to follow his example, mentioned earlier) but we have an increasing phenomenon of people who are fans of certain preachers and writers. They are on tour all the time, and we are their groupies. This is a difficult one to get right, because yes, I love to hear certain people speak, and I find them inspiring to listen to, and they're often good models in many respects, but that healthy respect easily slides into hero worship. We put them on a pedestal, and almost think they are right on all they pronounce on. We can even get into online fights on behalf of our hero against someone else's hero. This celeb cult can even lead to a desire to become one of the celebs, trying to associate with them to get some reflected glory, and trying to get lots of followers for ourselves. David Jackman quotes JI Packer as saying that the danger in Christian ministry is that your people will want to put you on a pedestal, and that you will want to let them. Bad blogging plays right into this trap, either in putting people on pedestals, or trying to climb up on one ourselves. But would be something for a post all on its own methinks!
So blogging is both a great thing, and a dangerous thing. I expect there are other things I could have listed too on both sides, and possibly some of my comments are a little wide of the mark, but I'm off to play with my kids a bit rather than re-read my post and re-editing it, checking it through blah blah. What do you think?
