This new blog of mine hasn’t taken up much time because, so far, I’ve just been posting short book reviews and some of my more profitable papers that I’ve written while in seminary. I read through them to make sure nothing off-the-wall is going on (since some of them I wrote a couple years ago), and to remove overly polemical notes, or just silly things that I should never have put on paper in the first place.

When I finish reading a thought-provoking book, I check the web to see if anyone has written a review on it — I usually appreciate these reviews, even though everyone understands (or ought to) that they aren’t “scholarly,” having not gone through an editorial process for publishing, etc. So, I intend to use my blog as a motivation to write short book reviews, which will help me think through and remember what I’ve learned in my reading.

I also understand that it’s a means to communicate with family and friends, by putting up pictures and family happenings. This could be beneficial in communicating with many people at long distances, but could cause one to be less willing to pick up the phone or visit someone in person. I heard an interesting discussion on a Mars Hill Audio Journal in which the guest was explaining that it’s a strange day we live in when what used to be private for teenage girls (their diaries, carefully guarded!) is now being advertised to the world! Not good.

In reading through Wells’ book Losing Our Virtue, he commented on how technology can give us the sense of true community, without it being true community, usually because we’re dealing with people we’ve never actually met and, in many cases, we don’t even know where they live (nor does it matter). I suppose such a pseudo-community could be developed through blogging. This should not be allowed to replace true community or in any way act as a substitute.

Of course there’s always the possibility of not controlling your tongue (fingers) by publishing electronically something that is either wrong theologically (thus spreading error), or misrepresentative of others, or simply motivated by hate (gossip). It seems pretty easy to get in trouble when you hit “Publish” and the world can see it. (Of course no one visits my blog, so I don’t have to worry about that right now!)

Gone are the days when publishing was limited to a select people. Gone are the days when it actually cost money to publish. Gone are the days when what is made visible to the world first goes through and edits and checks and a process. Now it’s popular to think out loud, instead of thinking to yourself. If your thoughts aren’t formed on a subject, why publish your ramblings?

A very practical problem with blogging is that it could take up more time than it’s worth and prevent other duties from being performed. The problem here is Sloth. On another note, as one seeks to popularize his blog, he also, it seems, is in many ways marketing and popularizing himself. In a world where self-image is a commodity, blogging submissively follows suit. For the Christian, the problem here is Pride.

My motivation for wanting a blog, in part, is that blogging is a new form of communication that is rising with the next generation. There’s nothing sinful in itself about blogging, though it has its own temptations and pitfalls associated with it. Maybe at times it’s tempting to abandon technology altogether, wishing it were possible to live in another era when things were simple (from our perspective only, of course). But this would lead to an abandonment of the culture and lessen the ability to communicate to and in the culture. Or is blogging tantamount to succumbing to the culture?

These things are worth thinking about. And I can’t help but feel a smidgen of irony as I think about it on my blog.