The Dangers of Blogging (2): Breeding A Contentious Spirit
This week is shaping up to be quite a bit of blogging about blogging. Today I want to offer some more thoughts related to some of the pitfalls I strive to avoid. I’m not saying I always succeed. I’m simply pointing to some of the traps to which I am personally prone.
Yesterday we touched on the idea of simply speaking a lot, feeling the need to always have something to say. Most of my blogging is done in spurts, so I don’t think I’m as prone to that trap. However, one of the dangers any blogger must be aware of is the pursuit of increased traffic through fostering unnecessary disagreement. Wanting more visitors is not necessarily a bad thing, but the ways many acheive those goals often is a bad thing.
One of the things I’ve noticed about some of the more visited blogs is that they seem to thrive on what might most politely be defined as little more than arguing. Many of them center their entire output around a single or a set of theological points and their blogs stand or fall with those particular theological emphases. Some of these blogs do draw in a large number of visitors and their comments.
While there is a place for defending the faith (1 Peter 3:15, etc.), and we certainly must stand for not only orthodoxy but theological precision, far too often, the tone on many of these sites is sarcastic and simply not nice. We are certainly called to “follow the pattern of sound words” (2 Timothy 1:13), “guarding the good deposit” (2 Timothy 1:14), Paul also says much about how we are to go about this in 2 Timothy 2:23-26:
Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
Paul sets boundaries as to how we are to treat one another, even when there might be theological disagreements. We must avoid “foolish, ignorant controversies” because they breed quarrels. In fact, “the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone.” Our goal must be seeking our “opponents” salvation. This is certainly more important than being “right” and generating blog hits through controversy, the very thing Paul says we must avoid, treating each other with kindness. What’s more, for the most part, the “debates” taking place on many blogs are actually among people who all claim to be believers.
Being kind seems to have become a lost art in the blogosphere where everyone not only wants to be heard, but wants to be right. For all bloggers who profess to be Christians, being kind is not an option but a requirement. Loving others certainly seems to include being and we are commanded to love others (John 13:34, etc.). Fostering a contentious spirit does not appear to be part of truly loving one another.
While it probably means that I will receive fewer hits than other blogs, I have intentionally chosen to stay out of many of the frays sweeping across the blogosphere like tornadoes. I do, from time to time, interact with posts I find on other blogs and I am occassionally critical of the views I find out there, but I pray, and I want to be held accountable, that my tone is not contentiuos.
My only agenda here is exploring just how big the Gospel is and how it affects every area of life. When I fail to meet my own standards, I need to hear it. That’s one of the beauties of blogging is that there is a built-in microphone for everyone to be heard. This doesn’t mean that everyone is right by any means (which is another danger of blogging), but that we can truly hold one another accountable.
I want to see people treat one another graciously even in the midst of disagreement and I’m afraid that this happens far too infrequently on far too many blogs, my own included.
John 13:35
Those of us who preach with regularity AND blog have to double our efforts not to read our own publicity.
; )
Really, to stand (or write) and tell people what God thinks is no small task and one for which we are never worthy.
But, if God can use a donkey (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=num%2022:22-35;&version=47;), God can use critters like us as well.
Thanks for keepin’ it real, dog.
[...] 24th, 2007 · No Comments I haven’t been all that active writing for the last few weeks. Mostly recovery from the holidaysI guess. It takes longer for things to connect than it did say a decade ago. The second reason is that I read this and this and was given pause for my reasons. It’s always good to review your motives in any situation. Especially something like blogging where you interact with so many people—sometimes. The possibility is there I suppose, that you could write something and it would soon be all over the internet. People try to do that for the exposure. To jack up that hit counter and while I’m not so narcissistic that I’m certain that’s going to happen I still check my stats first thing when I log on. It’s hard to resist—like opening a present on Christmas morning. [...]
“I am occassionally critical of the views I find out there, but I pray, and I want to be held accountable, that my tone is not contentiuos.”
In my opinion, as soon as we criticise something, we are being contentious. I mean, how is disagreeing with something not being contentious? I don’t see this as a bad thing, but rather how we handle it and how we debate is the issue.