I am blogging for a few days as the guest blogger over at the Blue Fish Project. Here is today's post:
Several people over the last few months have told me either that a post
on my own blog is not theologically nuanced enough for them, or that I
didn't include enough exegesis when making a provocative comment. I
agree. The reason is not that I think theological nuance or good
exegesis are unimportant - actually the exact opposite - but that they
are impossible to deliver in a blog. Not if the blog is going to be
readable, anyway.
For all its ability to communicate widely and
brilliantly, the blog has some glaring inadequacies. For the serious
communicator the worst is that blog posts will always struggle for
detail and nuance. A blog is not a book. Nor a sermon. At its best it
can be a conversation when comments are posted and responded to, but we
should never assume that blogging can give us the kind of depth a book
can.
It is, however, incredibly addictive and potentially
time-consuming. I recently asked a pastor what he thought the big
dangers of the internet are for himself and his flock. His answer
surprised me: time wasting. We now have a medium in the home that takes
an incredible amount of time to use well. And on which it is possible
to spend an incredible amount of time for reasons that are merely
trivial.
It is tempting to assume, when surfing and interacting
with the best blogs (even this one!), that we are engaged in deeper
theological reflection than we actually are. Therefore if we let our
blog use take more time than we spend in God's Word or doing Christian
reading there is every danger that we get shallower, even while we
think we are receiving good stuff. It commits us to only ever expecting
to receive at a certain level. Or, worse, it commits us to only hearing
stuff we personally decide to surf because we already agree with it.
There are far too many theologically duff conversations that happen in
cyberspace where they can never mature through access to encouragement
or correction from the outside.
The writer to the Hebrews told
people in the churches that they should already have elementary
teachings under their belt and now be pressing on to maturity. If we
aren't careful the blog easily becomes a means of keeping us at the
elementary level. It is a poor medium for taking us further.
If
you more readily read a blog than a book - or the Bible - switch off
the computer now and get your Bible off the shelf. Linger over it.
Enjoy the presence of God. Turn your reading into worship. Write down
what you discover and how God wants you to respond. Don't rush it.
Then, if you have access to one, get a good Christian book off the
shelf. Nothing simplistic, go for some deep stuff and linger in that
too, letting wise people teach you.
And for those of us who
write blogs, let's acknowledge their limitations as well as all the
good things about them. And then do our utmost every time we write to
do so with as sparkling and scintillating a style AND as much penetrating depth and weight in the
scriptures as we can.