What not blogging for 5 years has taught me

I think I killed badchristian. Once upon a time there were a number of folks who would sometimes come and read the things I wrote.

Sometimes they would share a comment, too.

Then, I went to grad school. Suprisingly, this didn't slow me down. I kept writing things. Kept linking to things I found funny, troubling, disturbing...

Then, we had a baby boy. That stopped my blogging. Maybe for good. Maybe (not).

The boy happened over five years ago.

I'm now the father of a five year-old. The professor of more students than I wish to count, at a University where I couldn't count the number of students we have if I wanted to.

I'm still a christian. I still do it badly. Sometimes I even do it as badly as everyone else. Sometimes worse.

I noticed that a lot of my blog-friends who were around when I started doing the blog-thing in about 2004 have left. Some of my mentors (not that they knew they were mentors) have either quit, experienced existential crises, or some other malady. Knowing this makes me sad for them.

I have to wonder if this virtually isolating (sometimes) echo chamber we call (or called, at least) the blogosphere has the power to drain but not replenish. Maybe we were just doing it wrong. I think I might have been doing it wrong.

I think some of us "liberal christian" bloggers reacted so strongly to other christians that we may have (just maybe) have set up an idol in the place of our God. Possibly we started to adhere first to an ideology and second to the King of the universe. And it was a good lie ole' uncle Screwtape fashioned, that one. That because we saw the crazy unholy rampant conservatism masquerading as "Christianity" that it might just be best to counter that with an unflinching adherence to radical realism, reason, and logic. The only problem with radical realism, reason, and logic is that humans aren't really capable of any of these things. We're not reasonable, realistic, or logical. In fact, adhering to the findings of social science (an act of reason and logic itself) would attest this fact.

And uncle Screwtape wisely suggested to his protoge that he not get us to adjust our aim 180 degrees out of whack...just 5 degrees off center would do. And we were fooled. We aimed at reason, logic, and reality. We said we did it because it was holy. And maybe we even did do it because we thought it was holy. But our motives belied our heart's aim. And the things we pursued, ultimately, they weren't the right things. It turns out that it's not enough to pursue the "not wrong" things. Things like logic and reason and realism. But if they're what you're aiming at, rather than aiming at loving Jesus and bringing glory to God, well, it's just not good enough.

Don't get me wrong. I was out Obama-canvassing in a battleground state yesterday. I believe strongly in liberal ideals. If I write here again, from time to time, I may well make those viewpoints clear.

But, if I do do it again. I want the target to be right. To glorify God.