A Thinking Reed

St. Peter on blogging

Written by

Lee M.

in

I suspect many Christians who blog might see themselves as doing the sort of thing that 1 Peter advises:

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

However, the very next sentence may bring us up a bit short:

But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Speaking for myself alone, there have certainly been times when I’ve blogged with something less than “gentleness and respect” (let’s not even talk about my behavior in real life!). It’s so easy to be snarky or dismissive or just plain mean in the relatively anonymous realm of the internet.

So, is blogging a spiritually dangerous activity?

Comments

7 responses to “St. Peter on blogging”

  1. millinerd

    Yes, it is spiritually dangerous. But then again what isn’t?

    I, by the way, prefer Acts 20:20 as a blogging “mission statement.”

    Reply
  2. Lee

    Touché. Though I think I may, from time to time, have failed to keep back a few unprofitable things.

    Reply
  3. Andy

    Blogs can definitely be a place of meanness and slander, but they’re a haven of tranquility compared to online message boards.

    Reply
  4. Eric Lee

    Oh heck yah blogging can be dangerous.

    See: most of my posts from the year 2004 where I was pretty vitriolic.

    Sometimes it takes me a really long time to comment on things, if I decide to comment at all, because my initial tendencies is to want to go “HAR HAR YUO ARE SO WRONG!!!1” so I have to edit a lot.

    Hauerwas talks about how intellectual people like himself are dangerous because, like a chess game, they’re always thinking ahead, trying to cut off one’s opponent in their next move, when really, that’s not who we should be as Christians.

    I often point to this great penny-arcade comic for a good (yet profane) illustration of the potential problem with internet communication: Green Blackboards (and other anomalies)

    Anywho.

    Peace,

    Eric

    Reply
  5. *Christopher

    Indeed it can be. I think it ramps up a lot of vitriolic discourse without much practice of the faith.

    I’m still learning how to not press “publish”.

    Reply
  6. millinerd

    Perhaps blogging is not as dangerous as publishing in print, for if conscience summons one to retraction – at least bloggers can do a post facto edit or erase.

    Reply
  7. Joshie

    Of course it’s spiritually dangerous, now shut up and crawl back into your book, college boy.

    And the rest of you, I think I hear your mommy calling, time to log off http://www.bustycoeds.com, go up the basement stairs and get your mac and cheese losers.

    Reply

Leave a comment

More posts