The Dawn Treader

I confess that blogging has lost its thrill.

It was so much fun in the early days. Back in 2004 when I started my blogging career, I hoped to change the world one conversation at a time. Blogs were still fairly new. There was some energy and excitement behind this new media. Now?

Why keep it going?

While pondering that question, I am reminded of someone else who journaled, and through her journaling, spoke to me after she had died. Her name was Margaret. Through her journals I learned about her journey with God, her trials as she battled illness or dealt with loneliness or experienced joy. I learned about faith.

Her shoe boxes full of journals left an indelible mark on my soul.

That is why blogging is worthwhile. It leaves a chronicle for others. It is a legacy of a life lived. It is an opportunity to better order my own thinking with the hope that it will not only benefit me, but maybe one other soul as well.

Therefore, the blogging continues.

I had the pleasure of meeting Brian the Worldview Warrior this past weekend. Brian is a follower of Christ, a "transplanted-into-Virginia" Virginian, a software engineer, a blogger, a Calvinist, a PCA'er, a second-year Centurion, a 24 enthusiast, and an alumni of Virginia Tech. Our differences appear to be mostly limited to our loyalties to different college basketball programs. Brian does not share my enthusiasm for Duke Blue Devil basketball. Other than, we have a tremendous amount in common.

Some people were born to blog.  Joe at Evangelical Outpost proves why he is one of those people in Lessons Of A Recovering Statistics-Addicted Influence Seeker.  Joe references a post called Numbers and Blogging written by pastor David Bayly...  Both bloggers raise important questions about blogging and pride ... and ultimately ask, what is the point?

Joe's post reminds me of a question my wife once asked me, "what if you were the only one who read your blog, would you still do it?"

 Joe Carter of EO made a cogent point in the April 25th Outtakes when he said,

"One of the saddest ironies in the blogosphere is that so many talented pundits waste their skills on national politics. While writing about local government and media probably won’t get you linked by Glenn Reynolds, it could lead to a ten-fold increase in readership. A low-traffic blog, for example, may have trouble finding ten people who care to hear their opinion on federal matters yet could have a hundred neighbors willing to tune into their daily musings on the local school board. "

Very good point.

Thanks to those who linked, posted and commented about apologetics blogging.  Your comments were rich and your points insightful.

My own $0.02...

Here are the benefits of apologetics blogging, imho.

One, the person who benefits the most is probably the apologist blogger himself or herself.

I am speaking at a small apologetics conference in April in North Carolina.  I am one of the break-out session speakers.  I will do two sessions.  I am considering using one of my breakout sessions to talk about Apologetics Blogging.

I would like to hear from the community of bloggers.  Please sound off and let me know what you think are the positives AND negatives to apologetics blogging.  Here are some questions to prime the pump.

1) What potential does blogging bring to apologetics?

2) What drawbacks and limitations are there to apologetics blogging?

3) What is the most significant challenge to apologetics blogging?

4) Is apologetics blogging really just another form of "preaching to the choir"?  If yes, why do it?  If no, do you think has an impact based on your own experience?

Here are some of my regular reads that dabble (some more than others) in apologetics : New Covenant, Cadre Comments, Imago Dei, Reasons Why, Evangelical Outpost, Jolly Blogger, Prosthesis, Roger Overton, He Lives! and Every Thought Captive.

I wonder what they think?

Update:  Phil Steiger at Every Thought Captive posted in response to the questions I posed.  He makes cogent points, as usual.  He suggests preaching to the choir ain't such a bad thing.

Update: Sozo at Reasons Why put together a thoughtful response.  He makes a bunch of good points.  I like the admonition he makes to blogger/apologists: "As a group of bloggers, I think apologists need to be careful to avoid a superior or snarky attitude. It's easy to ruffle feathers by the very nature of what's being written about. We don't need to offer additional offense by our attitude."

Update: Lots of amens in the comments to the notion that preaching to the choir is important and necessary.  I received an email as well from some thoughtful apologist bloggers who use their blog to model how to think with a Christian mind about all of life.  In their words: "We set out to write a blog that could be a bridge, easing people into the Christian perspective. To that end, we don't begin posts with scriptures or announce that we're going to defend some aspect of the faith. Rather, we tend to tell something that's interesting (at least to us), and then think aloud about what it means, its ramifications, etc."

Update: The distinguished apologists from Cadre Comments weigh in ... both on their blog and in the comments.  Excellent points.