blogs & christian ethics

Blogs are all the latest rage on the net today. Everybody and their dog seems to have one, and they continue to serve as the world’s largest canvas of artistic expression, vocalized angst, free-spirited silliness, and (often enough) absolute garbage. No matter what you think of them, there’s no denying their popularity among both authors and audiences.

While an exceedingly large chunk of weblogs out there would make even the most worldly person blush, there can be an ethical benefit to blogs, provided one has a moral tether-point from which to explore. Many people on the net do not have that tether-point, and often the underlying sense of anonymity simply leads to an unbridled exploration of the ugliest aspects of human nature. Anyone who’s done a Google search for just about anything can attest to that.

When I refer to a “moral tether-point,” I am speaking in terms of absolutes – not a relativistic view that would judge morality based on shifting sociological standards. Society’s standards of right & wrong ebb and flow like sand on a beach, depending on the constantly fluctuating pressures of the ocean of popular opinion. And, of course, I am also speaking of “true moral absolutes,” and since I’m a Christian (Protestant), I believe the Bible is the only absolute source of truth, and therefore is the defining standard of morality. I recognize that most folks may disagree with me on that, but there it is. [Editor's Note: Actually, I believe God is the only source of truth... but we can get into the whole "sufficiency of scripture" discussion at a later time.]

Let’s cut to the chase: Of what benefit is a blog to a Christian?

Naw, I won’t even bother trying to make those kind of generalizations. The real question is, “Of what benefit is a blog to me, Pete, as a Christian?” If I address that question, you may feel free to agree or disagree, depending to what degree you can relate to my experiences.

For me, it boils down to one simple thing: Accountability. Despite what we may say, the vast majority of Internet Denizens can truly relate to Thomas A. Anderson as he sat at that cold, stainless-steel table, and Agent Smith exposed the truth: “It seems you have been living two lives.”

We often tend to be one person on the net, and another person in the real world. One would hope that there’s not a huge difference between the two, but occassionally, I fall into the trap of utilizing the anonymity of the net, and say or do something that is less than pleasing to God.

So, what I’ve done is create this blog to allow the net.me and the irl me to coalesce. You’ll find all sorts of stuff appearing on this page. Some of it just plain silly, some of it pretty cool. You’ll also find discussion on (what should be) my greatest love: The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You might find something that makes you laugh, smile, snort, or grimace. Leave your comments. Get involved on the message board. Correct me when you feel I need correction. More importantly, over time, this won’t be MY blog anymore. It will be everyone’s. You can reap all the benefits of this level of accountability without having worrying about maintaining a web host, or HTML, and whatnot. This page may even evolve into something pretty cool. Who knows. I guess we’ll find out.

May God bless you and yours!