There has been quite a bit written about why someone should or should not maintain a blog (I am speaking of the Christian blogosphere).
The opinions seem to be pretty mixed on the issue.
I thought I would write on why I maintain a blog.
Some Christians use their blog as an outlet to tell everyone what they think on a particular subject and/or doctrine. Some Christians may use their blog as a sort of journal (and some blog about everything). I personally don’t fall squarely in either one of those categories. The second one I never quite understood. Journals are typically something private, though I suppose you could classify it as a public journal which allows interaction, discussion, and feedback.
The reason I blog is twofold.
One reason is for reference/archive. I have always found it extremely easy to go back and reference a webpage with information if I happen to host the webpage myself. It is a great place for storage of information that I can access from pretty much anywhere. Blogging makes it easy for me to record and retrieve information I find interesting.
I must admit that some of this lies in the fact that perhaps I have bad research habits. I often dive hard into a subject (study) and by the time I come to a conclusion or find my answer, I no longer have much of the supporting data that allowed me to get to that point. Now that may be ok as I did at least do my DD, I just didn’t record it. However, if I document my journey/data in a blog I can go back at any time, retrace my steps, and look at all the supporting information that allowed me to arrive at my conclusion in the first place.
The second reason is to develop, discuss, and reflect upon certain subject matter (this ties in with the above paragraph too). This is actually the main reason I started a blog. I did not start a blog so that I could push my agenda. I started a blog so that I could further develop my thought process on certain subject matter. I find that writing about something (instead of just talking about it) requires you to think harder about the subject in question. It also allows you more time to think about and research the subject. In addition, it makes you more accountable for your statements/positions. It is recorded in a format which allows a wide range of access.
The beauty of a blog is that other people can interact with you (thus helping the thought process) in a time insensitive medium. It is like a chess game without a timer. You can take all the time you need in order to write, comment, or reply.
In all, I think blogging is a good thing as long as the blogger isn’t one who is blogging merely to tell the world how right they are about everything and how wrong everyone else is.
I like to think of blogs as a form of “dialogue of thought”, and thoughts and/or positions are something that can be changed (in regards to doctrinal matters this requires Scripture of course, which should actually be the basis of all thought).
AMDG
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