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Incarnational Blogging: Smart Guys on Being Christians in the Blogosphere

October 27th, 2006 | 1 min read

By Matthew Lee Anderson

Right now, the smart guys (picture at ThinkChristian) are talking about this quote by Linc Ashby of Common Grounds:

Is there any plausibility to the possibility that we are so inept at loving one another face to face that we have to create things like blogging to insure some pathetic measure of appreciation or encouragement or value or identity or worth in these tangled and wrecked lives of ours?

John Schroeder is pressing the smart guys to acknowledge that there are many bloggers who blog because they are looking for affirmation. The point really has merit, though. There have been times that I have not been critical of blog posts or positions because there is a desire to not appear confrontational or wrong. Christian envy of the quality of secular bloggers success can, and maybe does, cause it to compromise its Christian witness.

I raised the point, and Mark Roberts quickly pointed out the reverse problem: people are generally way too contentious in the blogosphere, and the way in which we critique ideas should reflect our Savior. There seems to me to be a fine line between wanting to express the truth in love, and wanting to love at the expense of truth. So here's the final thought:

I am not sure that young Christians should blog, or at least be linked to regularly and be brought to prominence as bloggers. If only because we are not yet ready to handle the responsibility of being effective Christian witnesses. What's the difference between blogging and real life? Blogging stays--it's permanent, and consequently increases the damage done.

Matthew Lee Anderson

Matthew Lee Anderson is an Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology in Baylor University's Honors College. He has a D.Phil. in Christian Ethics from Oxford University, and is a Perpetual Member of Biola University's Torrey Honors College. In 2005, he founded Mere Orthodoxy.